This is pure speculation as to the big event that’s going to happen in Amazing Spider-Man #700. This is just a guess.

As I’ve written before, the milestone issue Amazing Spider-Man #700 is coming out in November, and writer Dan Slott has said that what he’s doing in this issue is the single biggest thing he’s ever done to a character. Something huge is going to happen, some kind of seismic change to Spider-Man’s world. But as Slott has also said, it’s not going to be a nice change. He’s worried about having to go into hiding when the issue comes out in order to escape the fans’ ire. As I wrote before, I hate this kind of hype and I hate big, dramatic changes that exist solely to piss off the fans and get them riled up.

The most obvious pun in the world

We also now know that Amazing Spider-Man #700 is going to be the last issue of the series. This was announced the other day when the November solicitations came out. Most likely this is going to lead to a new #1 issue as part of Marvel NOW! No one said Spider-Man would be exempt from Marvel NOW! And rumor has it, though it’s not yet confirmed, that the title is going to change to ‘Superior Spider-Man’. Nobody yet knows what that means or implies.

So what will Slott write that will be so huge as to really anger the fans and warrant an entire relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man?

I think Doctor Octopus is going to kill Mary Jane Watson.

Hopefully after she’s finished posing

Join me after the jump to find out why!

We already know that the storyline leading up to #700 is about Doctor Octopus on his death bed, and what he does with those final hours. He’s been dying for some time now, and his time has finally run out. But in his last hours alive, Doctor Octopus has learned Spider-Man’s secret identity. He knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and Doc Ock is going to do something with this knowledge.

Slott and Marvel haven’t revealed what that is yet. (Though I think it’s safe to say the surprise will be spoiled in USA Today or some other newspaper a few days before the actual comic comes out. Because that’s how Marvel rolls these days.)

So just for the sake of speculation, and to get my guess down in writing in case I’m right, let me tell you why I think Doc Ock is going to kill Mary Jane Watson.

1. He’s not going to kill Peter Parker.

When Marvel killed Ultimate Peter Parker last year, they were not shy about telling us. They advertised the “Death of Spider-Man” for months, even in major media outlets. They were more than happy to let the world know that they were killing Spider-Man and that everybody should buy the issues. It was a big deal – all for Ultimate Spider-Man. So if Marvel was going to kill the real Spider-Man, you better believe we would know it by now. It would be all over the airwaves. Marvel would make TV appearances to advertise such a momentous event, all in the name of selling more comics.

Plus since they killed Ultimate Peter Parker only last year, they’re not going to do it again so soon. Likewise, they’re not going to just depower Spider-Man. It’s been done a million times before, even in the movies. Likewise with having him quit at being Spider-Man.

2. Mary Jane has been a pretty important character recently.

In the past couple issues, Mary Jane has been taking a bigger role in Peter’s life again. She even bought and opened her own night club. After the two broke up in Brand New Day, Mary Jane was gone for a a long time. Then slowly but surely, she started returning to Peter’s life as a friend and confident. And over the past year, she’s been more prominent than ever in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. I think the two have even flirted a little bit. This has set up Mary Jane to be an important part of Peter’s life again – making it extra heartbreaking to snatch her away. So heartbreaking that it might lead to Peter Parker doing something drastic that warrants a new #1 relaunch.

3. Peter told Mary Jane his declaration that “No one dies”. 

Ever since J. Jonah Jameson’s wife was killed by a super-villain, Peter Parker has declared that no one else will die while he is around. He’s made it his motto, and hasn’t been afraid to tell people. In Amazing Spider-Man #688, he told Mary Jane.

Don’t call Spider-Man stupid!

Considering Mary Jane’s dismissive reaction, it only makes sense that she would be the one who breaks Peter’s declaration. Boy, will she have egg on her face then…oh right.

4. People like Mary Jane, or at least they were very angry when Marvel got rid of the marriage.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane were once a married couple, which is why Mary Jane was selected as the love interest in the first Spider-Man movies. But a few years ago, Marvel wanted a young, hip, single Peter Parker. So they wrote a big, convoluted story in which Peter Parker makes a deal with the devil, trading his marriage to spare Aunt May’s life. It’s a long story. They didn’t get divorced, the devil simply made it so that Peter and MJ were never married. It was a deeply hated story. The fans were venomously irate that Marvel would just undo their marriage like that, using what essentially amounted to “It’s magic, we don’t have to explain how it worked” so that Peter could be single again. The reaction from fans was explosive. I know some people who still refuse to read Spider-Man comics as a result.

But all Marvel saw was how passionate their fans could be, even if that passion was anger. I’m sure Marvel remembers the reaction they got when they ended Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage. I bet they believe that all of that passion was due, at least in part, to Mary Jane herself. So Marvel and Slott expect a similar reaction to killing Mary Jane. Fans may not like it, but at least they’ll respond to it.

Or at least that’s my theory. And no, it doesn’t matter that Mary Jane was “killed” once before back in the 90s. Nobody remembers that story.