Peter Parker is Barry, not Hal.

[starwolf_oakley]

Information from the San Diego Comic Con and some thoughts about the Green Lantern movie gave me an epiphany about Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man.

We want Peter Parker to be Barry Allen, not Hal Jordan.



It started with J. Michael Straczynski and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Vol 2) #30, and the idea that the radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker *chose* him to be a Spider-Totem. The radiation killed the spider and affected Peter's blood, but that was an unwanted side-effect.



The problem with the Spider-Totem idea? Getting chosen as a Spider-Totem turns Peter Parker into Hal Jordan (chosen because he's special) instead of Barry Allen (victim of random chance who becomes a good guy).

We don't want Peter Parker to be Hal Jordan. A lot of the complaints about Peter in the post-OMD era is that he has characteristics in common with Hal.

Peter Parker should be Barry Allen. A science-minded guy who gets super powers totally by accident. Stan Lee added dead relatives and a massive guilt complex into Peter's background, but the similarity is there and should stay there. Alternate future stories (Spider-Girl, Earth X) even have Peter becoming a police scientist, which is Barry's profession.

There's something familiar about this picture of Barry Allen and his mom...

Comments

[biod]

What I liked about JMS' approach to the whole thing was that he left it open. His powers may be magical in nature, they may be scientific (or what passes for science in the MU), or they may be both. What matters in the end is that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and that is awesome.

[biod]

And didn't Barry Allen become the lightning bolt that gave him the powers in Crisis on Inifinite Earths anyway?

[starwolf_oakley]

And didn't Barry Allen become the lightning bolt that gave him the powers in Crisis on Inifinite Earths anyway?

They've tossed that around, but it was only one story. (Secret Origins, I think.)

FLASHPOINT does seem to be saying Barry somehow created the Speed Force all "fast" characters tap into, whether they know it or not. It seems in the Flashpoint universe, Jay Garrick never became the Flash. Is that because Barry never became the Flash? (Just a theory, I'll admit)

[darkknightjrk]

It was actually in Rebirth where that was established--that Barry's accident caused the Speed Force to be truly opened and accessed by people, and previous attempts were sort of back-door cheats into it.