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Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)

 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
type
TVTItem
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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TroubleMarvelComics
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Trouble is a story set in the Marvel Comics universe, published in 2003 by their Epic Comics imprint. The story was written by Mark Millar based on a concept developed by Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada, and illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson.The five-issue series follows the adventures of brothers Ben and Richie, and best friends May and Mary. The four, along with numerous other youths, meet at a resort during summer work and hook up, Ben with May and Richie with Mary. However, their sexual misadventures end up taking more dramatic turns that change their lives forever when the negative effects of such a lifestyle begin to catch up to them.What makes Trouble particularly infamous is that it was apparently meant to be a prequel to the Spider-Man mythos; Ben and May are Peter Parker's uncle and aunt, and Richie and Mary are his parents. The premise and subsequent plot reveals about Spider-Man's family resulted in it being widely unaccepted and ignored by fans and creators alike.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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2023-09-04T18:44:29Z
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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2023-09-04T18:44:29Z
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Dropped link to Fanservice: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Dropped link to InNameOnly: Not a Feature - ITEM
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Dropped link to SpiderMan: Not a Feature - ITEM
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DBTropes
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_121b3725
type
Age Lift
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_121b3725
comment
Age Lift: In the main comic, Ben and May Parker are both about twenty years older than Richard and Mary. However, this comic portrays them all as being in the same age group. This only occurs so that the infamous teen pregnancy twist can happen.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_272abb98
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Shoot the Shaggy Dog
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_272abb98
comment
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Even the most casual Spider-Man fan knows that Richard and Mary will die in an plane crash two or three years after the comic's ending and he'll spend most of his life being raised by May and Ben.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_3b27cf16
type
Hormone-Addled Teenager
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_3b27cf16
comment
Hormone-Addled Teenager: Pretty much every teenage character in the series is constantly looking to get laid. A major reason Richie cheats on Mary with May is because Mary won't sleep with him.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_3b27cf16
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_3ffce9c2
type
Family Relationship Switcheroo
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_3ffce9c2
comment
Family Relationship Switcheroo: The infamous part of the story and the reason it's so reviled by both fans and creators — attempting to retcon that May was Peter's biological mother via an affair she and Richard engaged in, and Mary took the baby as her own to avoid May being in trouble with her fundamentalist father.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_4548bae
type
Teen Pregnancy
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_4548bae
comment
Teen Pregnancy: Part of the reason it was hated: trying to retcon that Peter Parker was the product of an affair Richard and May had as teens.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536
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Wham Line
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536
comment
Wham Line: If you don't know the story's ties to the Spider-Man mythos going in, the "face it, tiger" line will likely clue you in.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_590eb583
type
Domestic Abuse
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_590eb583
comment
Domestic Abuse: May, fearing her dad's reaction to pregnancy, fears he'll take his anger out on her or her mother.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_590eb583
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_5f4f15ba
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Two-Timing with the Bestie
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_5f4f15ba
comment
Two-Timing with the Bestie: A teenage May and Mary worked together at a resort for a summer job. At the resort they meet Ben and Richard, after which May starts dating Ben and Mary starts dating Richard. Since Mary doesn't want to have sex with Richard, he has sex with May instead, while she is already having sex with Ben. She ends up pregnant with Richard's baby, since Ben was revealed to be sterile.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_6d332aea
type
Driven to Suicide
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: May at one point considers suicide over dealing with becoming a teen mom with a devout fundamentalist father at home. Mary offers her a solution.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_6d332aea
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_7286e96d
type
Idiot Ball
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_7286e96d
comment
Idiot Ball: May has a firm grasp on this when she has sex multiple times (and on at least one occasion without using protection) knowing, and even telling Ben about it, how easy the women in her family are to impregnate. Despite this, she still acts shocked when she discovers she's pregnant. Admittedly, May's justification for all this is because she and Mary visited a fortune teller who said nobody would ever call May mom, thus May interprets that to mean she'll never get pregnant. However...
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_7453bc5b
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Spared by the Adaptation
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_7453bc5b
comment
Spared by the Adaptation: As mentioned under Canon Discontinuity, this was written before Captain America: Winter Soldier retconned that Bucky Barnes was still alive as the titular Brainwashed and Crazy Winter Soldier, thus the Bucky of the mainstream Marvel Universe was canonically dead at the time.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_7eb2bc15
type
Ambiguous Time Period
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_7eb2bc15
comment
Ambiguous Time Period: As Present-Day Past below explains, the series seems to take place in the late '70s, but it isn't clear. Anachronistic pop culture references aside, the ages of the characters do not help. The series was published in 2003, and if it was meant to take place in the late '70s, the birth of Peter Parker in this story would put him at his mid 20s or so. However, in the main Marvel universe by this time, Peter had married Mary-Jane, gone through secondary school, and was working as a high school teacher; even accounting for Comic-Book Time, it seems more reasonable that Peter is at least in his late 20s and more likely somewhere in his 30s. To say nothing that if May was a teenager when Peter was born, she'd probably be in her 40s, maybe her 50s, by the time he's an adult, but she's typically depicted as much older than that.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_82a631b8
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Present-Day Past
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_82a631b8
comment
Present-Day Past: With no specific year pinned down, the series is awash in '60s and '70s pop culture references that don't all gel properly. Trying to line up the references to the Ford Mustang (1964), Scooby Doo (1969), Disney World (1971), the Emmanuelle film series (1974) and Reese's Pieces (1977), implies the comic takes place in the late '70s. However, one scene has Richie and Ben discussing the in-universe recent increase in comic prices to 12 cents, which was in the early '60s; by the '70s, the price was up to 15 cents.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_82a631b8
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_8cbd311b
type
Good Angel, Bad Angel
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_8cbd311b
comment
Good Angel, Bad Angel: May has such a moment when she considers aborting the baby who will become Peter Parker.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_8cbd311b
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a1154544
type
Grumpy Old Man
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a1154544
comment
Grumpy Old Man: Mr. Shelby, the manager of the resort, seems to like being mean just to be mean to the kids and keep them from having fun as much as he can. At one point, even his wife calls him out on being such a killjoy.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a1154544
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a32334b4
type
Canon Discontinuity
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a32334b4
comment
Canon Discontinuity: Marvel made vague comments that suggested that the comic's storyline was either removed from canon or never meant to be canon in the first place. Millar tried to make it canon to the Ultimate Marvel universe via references to Bucky Barnes still being alive (as Ultimate Bucky became a writer post-WWII and it was written before Captain America: Winter Soldier revealed that the classic Bucky was still alive as the titular Winter Soldier), but ultimately it got revealed as a comic in-universe in the Ultimate universe.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a4d8473b
type
Stealth Sequel
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a4d8473b
comment
Stealth Sequel: Or prequel in this case, but as noted, it was advertised as a random romance comic, but the names of the main characters gives away that it was an attempt to retcon the details of Spider-Man's birth. The final issue includes an appearance by an elderly Bucky Barnes, presented as a photographer, possibly making it part of the Ultimate Comics continuity.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a70223
type
Karma Houdini
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_a70223
comment
Karma Houdini: The jerkass hotel patron who belittles May by the poolside. When we think she retaliates against him, turns out it's just an Imagine Spot and she holds her tongue for the sake of keeping her job. Ben tries to fight him in a restroom, but ends up getting beaten up instead and we don't see the patron for the reminder of the story.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_b11ac9f5
type
Abusive Parents
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_b11ac9f5
comment
Abusive Parents: When May's freaking out about her pregnancy, she fears for her and her mother suffering her father's wrath. This is an Informed Attribute, however; as we never see him acting even remotely like this in any of his appearances.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_b11ac9f5
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_b1dde8fd
type
Loophole Abuse
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_b1dde8fd
comment
Loophole Abuse: See Prophecy Twist. The fortuneteller's predictions for May and Mary come true in a roundabout way.
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_b1dde8fd
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_bb5126ec
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Prophecy Twist
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_bb5126ec
comment
Prophecy Twist: A fortune teller foretold that Mary would be a mother before she was twenty, but no-one would ever call May "mom". Mary presumes this means she'll get pregnant as a young mother, while May thinks it means she'll never have children. In actuality, May gets pregnant and Mary passes the baby off as hers; Mary becomes a mother without getting pregnant, and May has a child who, being raised by her future sister-in-law, will think May is his aunt.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_c3448a6f
type
Informed Attribute
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_c3448a6f
comment
Informed Attribute: In the second half of the story, May makes several comments that suggest her father is regularly abusive to her and her mother. Absolutely nothing about his appearances, before and after we hear this, suggest anything of the sort, he's depicted as a normal, if slightly overbearing, father. He doesn't even end up being particularly mad about May's pregnancy, despite this being what caused her to bring up said claims of abuse.
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_da1c8191
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Writers Cannot Do Math
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book) / int_da1c8191
comment
Writers Cannot Do Math: May Parker is a senior citizen in the main comic, and her Ultimate counterpart was middle-aged. If May had gotten pregnant with Peter when she was a teenager, then she would barely be in her mid-thirties when he first became Spider-Man. A similar issue is with Richard and Mary. In the Marvel Universe, they were secret agents when they died. They died when Peter was a baby, so about two or three years after this comic. How could they be experienced secret agents if they were in their teens/early twenties?
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Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Bile Fascination / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Comic Books of the 2000s / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Franchise Killer / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Genre Relaunch / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Good Angel, Bad Angel / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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One-Word Title / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Prophecy Twist / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Stealth Sequel / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Teen Pregnancy / int_231cf3d2
 Trouble (Marvel Comics) (Comic Book)
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Two-Timing with the Bestie / int_231cf3d2