Spider-Man’s Most Controversial Story Officially Set to Be Undone After Almost Two Decades

Published Oct 29, 2026, 12:38 PM EDT Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A.V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast. One More Day may be no more, thanks to Chip Zdarsky Image: Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia/Marvel Sign in to your Polygon.com account In 2007, much to the chagrin of comics readers everywhere, Peter Parker made a deal with the demon Mephisto that changed reality in the story One More Day. Nearly twenty years later, that deal is still in effect and has been the elephant in the room in almost every Spider-Man story told since. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more universally hated comic story. Those dark days may finally be over. In the pages of Captain America #16 of all places, author Chip Zdarsky has thrown a wrench in the status quo of the Marvel Universe. Doctor Doom has taken control of hell (just go with it) and in doing so has declared that all contracts made with Mephisto are now null and void. That could potentially mean that One More Day is going to be reversed, or, at the very least, Peter and Mary Jane will remember their lives before Mephisto altered reality. Image: Marvel Comics Captain America #16 includes a brief panel of Spider-Man sensing something, asking himself, "What's — What's happening?" Steve then narrates that because of his actions (which relate to how Doom got his new position), "the world changed." How this exactly plays out in the imminent future is yet to be seen, but Zdarsky doesn't seem done with the story. How would reversing One More Day work in Marvel comics? Image: Marvel Comics The simple summary of One More Day is that Peter made a deal with Mephisto to save Aunt May when she was at death's door. In exchange for May's life, Peter gave up his marriage to Mary Jane. In effect, this rewrote canon. The immediate ramifications mean that nobody remembered Peter Parker was Spider-Man (something revealed in Civil War), Mary Jane and Peter were never married and were not together, Harry Osborn is shown to be alive, and Aunt May is alive. As this has been canon now for almost twenty years, it seems complicated to unravel. Still, Zdarsky is clearly interested in pulling on this thread in his upcoming work. The author is set to write the new mainline Avengers book, which includes Spider-Man. Solicitations for the book show that the team will be going head-to-head with Mephisto. During New York Comic Con, new Marvel editor-in-chief Steve Wacker teased a new project called "1 Day." The logline is "This June . . . Tomorrow is one day away. Save the date . . . because no one is promised the future." It appears this could be a new line of books and is set to launch in June 2027. While not confirmed, it strongly evokes One More Day. We could be about to see the biggest shake-up in Marvel Comics in a long time.