My first honorable mention! I'm moving up in the world!

I once had a notion to justify the Clone Saga and even retcon the ridiculous Stacy twins that stretched the notion of comic book science further than Mr. Fantastic's...ego, but honestly, that right there is brilliant. Mr. Morrison, I would buy SEVERAL copies of that issue. That right there would get me back into Spider-Man comics.

Am I destined to only be "desperate" on this site? Sigh. I didn't really have a theory that wasn't already addressed so I had to improvise. But hey! After winning my spoon, and having a few weeks off the HM list, I'm finally back on, maybe that means my second wave is coming? Muahaha you all must bow under the nerd QUEEN!!!

I once got an honorable mention, but was later told that the only thing I deserved was to feel ashamed about my self.

But I'm actually married to one of those who got an honorable mention. :)

Well done, Matt. A theory we can all get behind.

One More Day ruined Spider-Man forever.
I'm serious. I can never look at Marvel Comics without thinking about how Spider-Man, my childhood hero, made a deal with the devil specifically after his aunt told him she was ready to die. How the fuck could he do that to MJ? He guilted her into giving away her happiness. It isn't right. I would say that Sins Past, The Other, and One More Day should be eliminated. I don't care how. Gwen Stacy fucking Norman Osborn, the ruining of the very fitting end to the Totem arc ("You say the sun rises because of orbital mechanics and thermodynamics. I say the sun rises because it's supposed to. I see no contradiction. Do you?), and having the epitome of responsibility get rid of problems by making a deal with SATAN have ruined the character and all of Marvel. I'd join DC, but I fucking hate Crisises.

It turns out, OMD, BND and all of this is still an extension of Norman Osborn's delusions from the insanity brought on by the Gathering of Five at the end of the first volumes of Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spider-Man in the late '90s. Just as the Goblin winning the final fight against Spidey in the conclusion of those titles before their reboots, surely One More Day and Dark Reign will prove to be merely the contents of the screwed-up mind of Osborn.

But then...why would Osborn/Mephisto "re-secretify" Spider-Man?

I got an honorable mention!!! Thanks Rob!

Now I must finish my 10 page paper on Batman. Not even joking.

Because a secret is more precious if you're the only one who has it.

Star Trek 12 Theories
One: Maybe the Klingons would get involved. Since this is a alternate universe, the dead Klingon Commanders (Kruge, Chang, etc) are alive again. Have the Klingons test the Federations new status quo with a squadron of Battlecruisers and Bird of Preys (with Vulcan destroyed, the Federation is out one of their founding worlds and might have to build a starbase where Vulcan once was.) The Klingon squadron would of course come into conflict with the Enterprise, whose captain is still learning the ropes (since Kirk made Captian earler than the Prime timeline) as well as maybe a couple other starships (Excalibur, Farraguat, Exeter, Hood, etc)
Two: Have the Enterprise encounter Khan. The Botany Bay is probably still adrift in space now. Only maybe this time Kirk would recognize the threat posed by Khan before Khan can attempt to take over the ship.
Three: Harry Mudd could pop up, maybe wanted for various minor crimes and clainming to have the blueprints to the Narada availible to the hightest bidder, which would mean Starfleet, the Kilingons, the Tholians, the Gorn, the Cardassians, and the Romulans would be clashing over themselves thinking that the specs to a futuristic ship are up for grabs

@Decoy Brian: Oh man, the possibility of a still-frozen had me excited immediately after I saw the film. I hope, hope they capitalize on this.

And remember folks, Enterprise is still cannon!

Still-frozen Khan, I meant to say.

I would laugh if for OMD/ BND that Peter was just sleeping and dreaming during the early stages of Civil War (before he unmasked) That's right, they go all Dallas on us for Spider-Man. Either that or his Spider sense causes him to hullicinate the events from when he unmasks on (Barry Allen sometimes had split second premonitions back in the silver age), so we can have him change his mind and siding with Captain America's side early

The Spiderman/One More Day theory is definately sound... but The Cobra Commander theory is brilliant.

Wow.

First of all, thank you - all of you - who voted for me over the weekend or otherwise expressed your support for the theory.

Thank you, Rob, for giving me this honor again. I didn't think I'd ever get it again after the "Worst Video Game Hero" contest but... hey. There it is.

Thank you, all the readers of my blog, who have read this idea at least twice before now and have yet to come up with any damning evidence as to why it can't/shouldn't work.

And to think, I almost posted my "how Peter Petrelli's powers work" theory instead. :)

So... if we got a petition started over this, who would sign it? I doubt we could get Marvel to cut me a check but I'd gladly forego any cash reward just to be known as The Man Who Saved Spider-Man. Or an autographed personal letter from Stan Lee thanking me. Just sayin'. :)

As for a retcon to OMD, I personally think their won't be one. Eventually, MJ and Peter will get back together and Marvel will just ignore/never mention this again. And expect everyone else to forget it also.
(Also, not to be a jerk but Harry coming back to life was no less plausable than Norman's return, and Flash Thompson is actually an injured war veteran, who the Chameleon was recently a jerk to in the guise of Peter). Besides, the new Avengers and the FF know Peter's secret idenitity again and it's heavily implied MJ does, too.

@Niko

That's easy. The Batman told the Riddler as such at the end of Hush: a riddle that everyone knows the answer to is worthless. Hell, Osborn in a jail cell ranted against Spidey outing himself during Civil War for that very reason. Osborn LOVED holding that power over Parker, like any blackmailer does. Sure, he could let some villains, such as Venom (even Osborn isn't crazy enough to fuck with Venom), but Parker effectively took away Osborn's favorite power of all. If anything, making Peter's identity secret again only strengthen's the above theory.

However, as much as I'd prefer Aunt May to be dead as she was at the end of the awesome Amazing Spider-Man 400, I don't think it wise to risk resetting Spidey (and Marvel) history back to the Gathering of the Five, as ridiculous as that was.

Sorry, meant to say @manobon

Hats off to Starman! I'd actually pick up a Spider-Man comic if this was the conclusion to such a drag of an arc.

Holy crap, that one "Bruce in Arkham Theory" would make for one of the greatest Elseworlds to read. EVER.

Steve N.

Just some clarification.

1. Granting that Norman's return from the dead after two decades of real time was a bit of an ass-pull, there is no reason why erasing Peter and MJ's marriage from the time-stream would result in Harry Osborn suddenly being alive again. Everything Harry did to become The Green Goblin after his father's death would have happened anyway, as would his eventual death.

2. Flash didn't re-enlist and become an injured veteran until after OMD.

3. As I understand it, the F4 and New Avengers knowing who Peter is was the result of Dan Slott - one of the few writers at Marvel who gives a damn about continuity anymore - saying that there was no way that erasing the marriage would also erase the stories where Peter outed himself to his teammates/friends.

I'm pretty sure he just did this so that Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm With Stupid would remain in continuity, but that story was awesome, so I'll roll with it. :)

4. From what I've seen on scans_daily, there's been a story recently where it was outright said that MJ knew. Which only makes sense, since a) there's a story that shows she knew before she ever met Peter formally (she saw him crawling out of his bedroom in-costume the night Uncle Ben was killed), b) I'd like to think Peter would be responsible enough to tell his wife - sorry LONGTIME GIRLFRIEND AND ROOMMATE - that he's a superhero and c) even if he wasn't, she's smart enough to have figured it out.

And here's something else I just realized - if MJ and Peter were never married and Peter never told her he was Spider-man, than the people who made this statue have a whole lot of 'splain to do. :)

damn, that One More Day fix IS pretty good.

yahoo! Honorable mention! I'm getting closer to that shirt! Starman you made OMD interesting and fun... You are a nerd GOD!!

I totally agree that Starman's nerd theory is awesome. It totally fits and I really would love it if Marvel would do this for Spider-man. The only thing I can't agree with is the idea that Norman Osborn being in charge of Hammer and basically running the country doesn't make sense. You don't have to like it, but if you read Secret Invasion, it makes perfect sense. Now what I'm saying doesn't change the fact that this would be great, but still, if you read more than just Spider-man titles, it DOES makes sense that Norman is "top dog" now. Now I could buy that because of his deal, mephisto set up the circumstances to make him look awesome, but still.

I like the "We got the crappy John Connor" theory. I would alter it thus: The original John Connor was a guy named Bob who worked in the lab that invented time travel. John Connor was the guy in the next cube over, average guy, no real life, talked about his mom a lot. Judgment Day happens, the machines take over, John is killed when they hit the time travel lab building, Bob is spared. Knowing that they'll get the time travel tech, he steals John Connor's identity, because he's clever enough to realise Skynet will use the tech to go back and try and retcon any trouble spots - and he doesn't want anyone coming back to erase him (and his ex-special forces history). When he meets up with other survivors, he leads them against the machine, including being able to figure out the time travel thing straight away because he worked on it.

Skynet's been chasing the wrong guy the whole time.

also, starman, I would gladly sign a petition to make your theory really happen in the comics. anyone else on board with this?

I'm on board with the starman petition. BRILLIANT.

And I also love the Arkham-inmate Bruce Elseworlds idea.

I'm a little disappointed that Pacman/No Exit was only an honorable mention as that was one of my favorites, but I'm also glad that it DID make the list.

Also, woo-hoo third honorable mention, and first after my t-shirt win!

Congrats, Starman. Good win. When you get that job at Marvel, could you please also retro-fix Ultimates 3/Ultimatum, too? Pretty please?

@Kayla:
The Emperor with
His new clothes are aghast at
Nerd Queen with no shirt.

[Apologies. It came to me and I had to share.]

Apologies again. This time for the typo. That would be 'is aghast'.

I won again! YES!! I love this site...except for the vomit inducing fan fic...but other than that, I love this site! I've been DYING to get that G.I. Joe theory out to the world since 1987! Thank you Rob, for giving me that chance. I will now lock my inner nerd back inside the Sloth-like dungeon I keep him in.

Starman, great idea and input about Spidey! I read that with great interest over the weekend. Good job sir!

This is so freakin' cool!

I just want to say thank you to all of you for sharing your theorys. I want to thank Rob Bricken for using my idea for a contest. It was not exactly what I suggested but it was awesome all the same. I did not enter the contest myself because it did not feel right. If I am going to win a t-shirt it will be another time. Now that the contest is over I would like to share a few nerd theories of my own. The first one is yet to be proven or disproven and it is about Lost so it will be long

MY theory about the nature of the Island and everything that happens there.

The Lost Island is not an Island at all it is a massive time machine fotress from far in the future. They were experimenting with time travel on this artificial island fortress and something went wrong. The base was hurled thousands of years into the past and landed somewhere near ancient Egypt. The Egyptians found it and built statues and other monuments of the island believing it was of divine origin.
The island moves because its engines are still partially intact but the mechanism to control them is damaged so the island is always moving although at various speeds at different times.
The smoke monster is an advanced nano-machine cloud that is in fact the islands security system.
Jacob and loophole-guy are not human. They are actually the artificial intelligence programs that ran the islands basic functions. As time went by the started to go insane like the robots in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. To keep themselves from completely losing their mind they used the islands medical facility to grow organic bodies for themselves. this kind of technology is standard from how far in the future this island base is from. The artificial bodies they made to not break down over time but once they are killed they can't be replaced because the download of consciousness into the body can only be done once.
It is also possible that Jacob and loophole-guy were once part of the same artificial intelligence program but it developed a split personality and downloaded these opposing personalities into different bodies. The reason loophole-guy can't directly kill Jacob is because they were once one being and killing Jacob would violate his self preservation programming. The "rules" they follow are all an extension of their original programming from when they were still part of the islands harddrive.
Richard is immortal because Jacob used the islands technology to make and immortal body for him and downloaded his mind into it because he was such a devout servant of the island.
The reason people are healed on the island is because there are medical nanites in the food and water that can repair any injury whether it be cancer or a broken spine.
Most of the islands original staff were probably killed when it was hurled back through time. Some of them may have survived to mix with past humans and produce bloodlines that live on to this day. These desendants of the original time travel project staff are drawn to the island because they have latent programmed genes that lead them toward their ancestors goals of control over time and space. Most of the characters on Lost are decesnded from these people and are conflicted with this genetic imperative and their desire to be their own person.
Jacob works to replenish the islands staff and keep the rpoject going because that was part of his programming. Loophole-guy may have been part of the islands original security program so he works to keep people away from the island to protect it and seeks to undermine Jacob's work.
Men have increased feritlity on the island because of the medical nanites working to increase population and keep the island staffed. However the nanites program to assist in childbirth are malfunctioning, this leads to the death of pregnant woman who concieved on the island. Their bodies are so saturated with nanites that their body can't give birth without the aid of the nanites.
Over time a persons body becomes so saturated with nanites that they become a part of the island in a way. The Island has security protocols in place to prevent another time travel accident like the one that sent it to the past in the first place. The island can be moved but it will no longer travel long spans of time to prevent damage to the timestream. However if a person has not been on the island long enough to absorb enough nanites into their biology they are not protected from the dangers of time travel. The island is already slightly out of phase with the regular flow of time a person on the isalnd when it moves can become unstuck from time. John Locke turned the time wheel and was able to reboot the islands time travel protocols but everyone reentered the timestream in the wrong place. Each time travel event sends ripples across time that can be measured and on some level interacted with to allow reentry to the islands place at the edge of time.
Okay that is all i have to say about Lost, feel free to point out the various gaping holes that may exist in my theory.

I also have a theory about the manga and anime Bleach by Tite Kubo.
My theory is that Captain-General Yamamoto is evil. Under his watch the Soul Society has become littered with corruption. Three of his captains were working against the Soul Society and psycopaths like Kenpachi Zeraki and Mayuri Kurotsachi became captains. Yamamoto probably knew about Aizen's evil plans all along and let it happen so that when Aizen revealed himself everyone would be concentrated on that and Yamamoto himself would be free to carry out his own evil agenda without anyone noticing.
I am also not convinced that Gin Ichimaru is totally loyal to Aizen. Gin probably has his own evil agenda and is just hanging around Aizen until he can stab him in the back and pursue his own goals.

My final theory I would like to share was disproven a long time ago but I want you to knwo abou it anyway.
Way back in the early episodes of Heroes, I was sure that Nathan Petrelli was Sylar. Now we know that Sylar is actually a young time traveling mirror universe Spock, but that is besides the point.

Oh wait I also have a theory about how Xorn is still out there and still the greatest threat the Marvel universe has ever known and only Darkhawk can stop him. I will save that one for another time.

I don't even care if Marvel officially co-opts that theory; it's now officially in continuity in my books and I will happily read Spider-Man with that theory in the back of my mind.

I like Starman's theory about One More Day, but I'm definitely not on board. For one, it was largely Mary Jane who accepted the deal with Mephisto, which is in character for her because she doesn't have a history of dealing with things well and making great decisions. Also, what does Norman Osborne have that Mephisto would enjoy taking? A deal like that would have to come with a hefty price tag. What could the devil take from Osborne that would make him feel hollow inside for not having? (I guess the good, sound argument would be Spider-Man's identity...and the removal of that knowledge from almost the entire world...)

@GospelX

That's a fair cop. Even if you believe that Mephisto's spiel about not being interested in souls in One More Day (I personally don't and Mephisto's profile on Marvel.com backs me up on this, saying that he is "empowered by the souls of the damned" and is that he "takes particular interest in the souls of extremely powerful or exceptionally pure beings".) there is still one thing Norman offers Mephisto that he needs - a means to an end.

From what I remember of Deal-Making Demons in Marvel Comics, they're effectively powerless to affect big changes without a human pulling the strings. In other words, as all-powerful as he is in his own realm, Mephisto can't do much on the mortal plane except within the terms of a bargain with a mortal.

Norman then, is Mephisto's tool, to get carte blanche to mess with everything and everyone on a grand scale. Sure, Norman is small potatoes and almost certainly damned anyway at this point. But by putting him in charge, Mephisto pushes a LOT of buttons and forces a lot of good people into very difficult positions, where they too might be willing to play "Deal or No Deal".

I liked the idea of midichlorians being a communicable disease.

What would Mephisto gain from Norman's wish? Tainting Parker's soul. Creating a world in which Peter accepts a deal with "the Devil." The "elimination of the marriage" also helps the tainting of Parker's soul. (Mephisto did say something about part of Peter's and MJ's souls knowing the truth.) This "unmarried" Peter is sleeping around left and right. He is commiting the sin of Adultery. (Since the Devil cannot undo a holy union, Peter's getting his soul dirtier.)
Didn't this deal KILL Baby May and/or "the possible second Parker Child hinted in OMD"
Making a Faustian pact, Adultery, Mystic abortion... The squeaky clean soul of the hero is looking more like Norman's...
What better reward than getting a tainted soul AND corrupting the soul of a hero.

Dude, can we do this again sometime? I want in.

Thanks for the Honorable Mention. I'm told there's something in the first movie that disproves the theory, but hey.

I actually got an honorable mention! That's awesome!

I know the contest is over, but here's my favourite nerd theory [and it is mine, though I don't know if anyone else has thought of it]...

In Highlander 4: Endgame, Connor MacLeod goes into the sanctuary, into a kind of suspended animation. During this time, he HALLUCINATED HIGHLANDER 2: THE QUICKENING!

Highlander 2 was so bad the producers have said it should not be considered a part of the Highlander universe, and they released their own Renegade version intended to fix the many, many, many mistakes. Aliens from the planet Zeist, for crying out loud?!? What the frell?

And the beauty of it is, it can cover any other part of the Highlander universe you want. [eg The Source]. Aliens from Zeist? Hallucination. Connor being restored to youth? Hallucination. Connor being 18 years old [check the dates in the first movie]? Hallucination. Telling useless blonde babe...I mean, Louise, that he was banished from Zeist 500 years ago and he can't die...and it WORKING as a pick-up line? Hallucination. Connor and Ramirez being banished at the same time and yet Ramirez being 1000 years older, not to mention all the non-immortals back on Zeist still being alive 500 years later. Connor and Ramirez not knowing each other on Earth even though they were comrades on Zeist. The entire concept of the shield. The fact that Zeist aliens become immortal on Earth. Katana being stupid enough to send Connor and Ramirez to Earth, instead of killing them. The fact that Ramirez dies of embarrassment...no, wait, that was Sean Connery, also known as Terminal Contractual Obligation Shame. The fact that the second movie completely ignored everything already established in the first movie.

So, yeah. Hallucination.

And yes, I realize that dream/hallucination is the standard 'oh we didn't really mean it' device. It just works too perfectly with the suspended animation in Endgame.

Actually, I'm getting a little sick of the whining over One More Day. Was it a sucky way to get where they are? Yes. But is the book better for it? HELL YES.

They explained Harry being alive, and it's no big deal. He's alive for the same reason Norman's alive; Goblin serum grants a healing factor. Norman came back long before One More Day, and so it only makes sense that the same healing factor brought back Harry. His return was not due to the deal with Mephisto, but it did coincide with it.

Flash is NOT picking on Parker. Flash hasn't really been a featured character, and so there's no "puny Parker" stuff going on.

Harry's friends vanished because Norman made everyone believe he was dead, and moved him to Europe where he was placed in rehab and kept away from everybody- Even his wife. They explained all this, and it's a lot more feasible than Batman killing Darkseid with a gun.

Norman's appointment to the top cop in the USA was because he was running the Thunderbolts for a while before he pulled the trigger on the Skrull Queen on national television. Most people don't know him as the Green Goblin, and those who do never saw him in action. What they know and see on TV is a confident, powerful, get-things-done kind of guy with what seems to be a serious dedication to law & order... Because he's a genius and a master at public relations. If there's one thing Norman Osborn can do well, it's lie to everyone about who he really is.

And no... Norman's not a loving father. He hates Harry. He's hated Harry for years, seeing him as weak and worthless. He wouldn't make a deal with Mephisto for Harry's life. He'd tell Mephisto to whip the hell out of Harry and turn him into a "real man".

I've been reading ASM all along (not buying it, but reading it off the rack), and I think they're doing a fantastic job. All this whining over One More Day is petty at this point, as it was over a year ago now. It's done. I can't forgive HOW they got here, but the stories they've been giving us for the past year have been really good, and they crank the book out WEEKLY. That takes some effort and hard work, and as someone who has read *every* issue of Amazing Spider-Man, I appreciate it.

All the "plot holes" are being explained. Many already have been explained well, and I'm pretty sure the only people still bitching about One More Day and Brand New Day are people who haven't been reading the book or giving the new team a chance.

Dump the book if you want, but you're missing some of the best writing in ASM since the 1980s.

Oh, and as for Mayday Parker (Spider-Girl), she's an alternate-universe (MC2) character. MJ didn't have the baby in the 616 universe (long before One More Day). It was stillborn because she was poisoned... And yes, this happened even though MJ & Peter were not married in the new timeline. They still lived together, and still moved to Oregon when Ben Reilly showed up, but just never made their union official.

I should note that the marriage was only shoehorned into ASM when the newspaper comic strip made Peter and MJ get married. Pete and MJ weren't even together when they suddenly decided to get married in ASM. They only did it to match the comic strip and gain publicity. It made as much sense in continuity as One More Day did.

I've never been a fan of MJ, though. I think Pete was much more interesting with Gwen, Betty, Glory, Deb, and Felicia... And he's now officially back to being fuck-buddies with Felicia, so I'm not complaining.

I like how you gave a mention to the One More Day one, even though it's full of blatant lies.

Flash has not returned to bullying Peter. It hasn't happened ONCE since Brand New Day began.

And Harry's return was explained and had nothing to do with Mephisto.

And Norman having power happened months after the Mephisto deal. It didn't even happen in a Spider-Man book.

Good job, guys.

damn i should of submitted my theory. i still think the greatest nerd theory was the "Matrix" movies. that in itself was an insane concept.

If there is any justice in this world, Joey "Cheesy" Quesadilla will read this and hire Starman Matt to write Spider-Man and fix the travesty that was "One More Day".

i cannot even start to count how many hours i've wasted reading all these theories, and i loved every minute of it.
wish i knew about this before it ended, so i can add mine (somehow, i dont care about the tshirt, but it would be cool)
keep this up!

Wow that was a damn good theory. Well done. $20 says that someone a Marvel reads this and sometime next year we'll learn how Norman Osborn made a deal with the Mephisto after loosing some epic battle with...I don't know, lets say The Fantastic Four with someone else sitting in for The Thing.

I would totally sign a petition for Marvel to make Matt Morrison's One More Day fix canon, and so would many other people I know. Just let me know where and when.

It seems like I may be one of the only people who disagree with Morrison. I don't think his rationale makes sense let alone stand as a better explanation.

After reading his reasoning it just seemed like he was yet another person who after reading OMD dropped ASM. One of the many readers that put the whole blame on Peter when it was MJ who agreed to Mephisto's deal first. One who didn't bother to read about how the editors sated that the only things that changed were the fact that Pete and MJ weren't married and his identity was a secret again. That everything else that happened up to BND still happened. And what should be a most grievous offense in believing that Harry coming back from the dead was because of the marriage as opposed to what is actually CANON.

It really just seemed like Morrison was running with opinions on what would be better reasoning based on assumptions made about an arc that hadn't even been completed yet. For instance, is it really so hard to believe Norman could achieve such a goal considering the Earth was taken over by skrulls and to the best of the world's knowledge HE was the one that saved them? As readers we are privy to information about Osbourne that the fictional populous of Earth 616 just doesn't have so it's no more inconceivable than some of the presidents that have been elected in America who after many years have been revealed to have not been the noblest of people.