. The MC2 Universe was conceived by writer/editor
Tom DeFalco as a possible alternate future for the Marvel Universe, •
Spider-Girl, starring the daughter of Spider-Man. •
A-Next, featuring a new team of Avengers who come together after the original Avengers disbanded. •
J2, starring the
Juggernaut's son, a heroic teenager.
A-Next and
J2 ended after twelve issues and were replaced by: •
Fantastic Five, featuring the expanded
Fantastic Four. •
Wild Thing, starring
Wolverine and
Elektra's daughter.
Spider-Girl meanwhile continued publication. However, with the collapse of a deal to sell the comics in
Kmart and
Target both
Fantastic Five and
Wild Thing were canceled after five issues, leaving
Spider-Girl as the only title in the MC2 Universe still published. A few spin-off
limited series were launched during the time Spider-Girl was published, such as
Darkdevil and
Spider-Girl Presents The Buzz. The Spider-Girl title was nearly canceled several times due to low sales. Each time, campaigns by Tom DeFalco and fans of the title prevented cancelation. Fans created a webpage, savespidergirl.com, to help gain support for the book. In an effort to boost sales on the title, Marvel reprinted
Spider-Girl in small "
Digest-sized"
trade paperbacks. A five-issue limited series set in the MC2 Universe titled
Last Hero Standing was printed. In 2006, Marvel released another limited series set in the MC2 Universe titled
Last Planet Standing. The series was intended to wrap up all the loose ends in the MC2 Universe and destroy it at the series' conclusion. As a result,
Spider-Girl was slated to be canceled at issue 100, where the character would die. Due to backlash from DeFalco and fans, Marvel quashed the move and announced the relaunching of
Spider-Girl under the title of
Amazing Spider-Girl. The "Amazing" title lasted until early 2009, when the book was again canceled due to low sales. A third title,
The Spectacular Spider-Girl, was then launched. Initially a digital exclusive, the
Spectacular book was incorporated into the
Amazing Spider-Man Family anthology magazine. After
Amazing Spider-Man Family and its successor,
Web of Spider-Man, folded, a final four-issue
Spectacular Spider-Girl mini-series was produced, allowing many of the long-running plot threads from the book to be tied up. The final MC2-oriented story to date, a one-shot called
Spider-Girl: The End, was published in 2010, which gave the title character a happy ending while leaving the door open for further adventures. In 2008, a prequel strip,
Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man, was launched in the pages of
Amazing Spider-Man Family. DeFalco confirmed on the official Spider-Girl boards that this strip would serve as the definitive continuity of the MC2 Spider-Man timeline. However, the
Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man strips were quickly ended so the
Spider-Man Family title could make room for the relaunched Spider-Girl book.
American Dream has appeared in both her own 2008 limited series and the 2011 five-issue limited series
Captain America Corps, marking the first time an MC2 character has met or teamed up with characters from the mainstream Marvel universe. Spider-Girl returns in the
Spider-Verse storyline in 2014, where she enters
Earth-616. During
Spider-Verse, the MC2 Peter Parker is killed by
Daemos. Following
Spider-Geddon, it is revealed that
the Other chose Peter as its host, thus resurrecting him. The MC2 Universe also appears in the
Secret Wars event in the Spider-Island tie-in backup. In late 2022, a new serialized adventure starring Mayday was launched on the
Marvel Unlimited Infinity Comics app, with the story penned by Stephanie Williams, rather than DeFalco, a first for the series. In 2023, DeFalco and Frenz reunited for a new A-Next story in
Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic that details the team's first adventure. ==Comments on style==