Dying Wish takes this pretty comfortably for me. I remember reading ASM 698 and being completely taken aback by the reveal at the end, despite the hints. And ASM 700 was a great battle to (temporarily) send Peter off.

@thor-parker: Hunted. Easily. EASILY.

Dying Wish leads to Superior, one of the worst Spider-Man stories I have ever read. Irredeemable garbage IMO.

Dying wish.

Hunted is one of those comics with an awesome concept, but terrible execution.

Dying Wish isn't great either, but it still gets my vote.

Dying Wish

Love both, Hunted is vastly underrated in here, but I'll vote Dying Wish.

Peter seeing Uncle Ben in heaven brought a couple tears to my eyes, and there was this constant tension wondering whether or not Peter would gain his body back.

Both stories are conceptually great with some very strong and heart-felt moments. However, both lack that little thing to make them truly special in my eyes. I guess Hunted entertained me more and I found it more appealing than Dying Wish, so my vote will go for it.

Hunted

Hunted was a pretty great sendoff to Kraven.....even if he already had one lol. People kinda hype up Dying Wish more now than when everyone HATED it when it came out.

Hunted

Dying Wish

I’m really split here. Throw my vote to whichever one is losing at the end.

Dyin Wish barely takes the win 7-6

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Stage 1, Round 5

Back in Black (Amazing Spider-Man #539-543) by J. Michael Straczynski and Ron Garney

Synopsis: Reeling in the aftermath of CIVIL WAR, Peter Parker has plenty of reasons to consider a change of wardrobe: Black is his state of mind. But the worst is yet to come for Spider-Man! In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, events are set in motion that will forever change the life of your favorite web-slinger. There IS no going back!

American Son (Amazing Spider-Man #595-599) by Joe Kelly, Phil Jimenez, Paulo Siqueira and Marco Checchetto

Synopsis: Norman Osborn has risen to power and Spider-Man blames himself for this so in an attempt to redeem himself and save his best friend Harry, he infiltrates Avengers Tower to put an end to Osborn's Dark Reign once and for all!

Callouts:

Back in Black gets my vote, even though American Son is great and easily one of the best BND era stories.

Back in Black

@thor-parker: BACK. IN. BLACK

Both are good, but Black was one of the far better things to come out of Civil War. Showcased a more brutal Spidey and has probably one of his cooler moments in confronting Kingpin.

This. Both stories do cover similar ground to some extent (showcasing a more serious/brutal Peter) but Back in Black did it first, and probably better. It's a shame to see American Son out so early, but there aren't going to be many easy rounds in this contest so I can't expect anything else.

Back in Black

Back and Black.

Back in Black

Back in Black for me as well.

Back In Black

Back in Black wins 11-0

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Stage 1, Round 6

Death of Spider-Man (Ultimate Spider-Man #153-160) by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

Synopsis: Young Peter Parker has led a heroic life and tried to live by the simple and powerful philosophy that with great power comes great responsibility, but will that philosophy be enough to save him from the horror that awaits him here?

Original Clone Saga (Amazing Spider-Man #139-150) by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr

Synopsis: Losing Gwen was one of the greatest tragedies in Peter Parker's life, however, only a few months later, after finally coming to grips with his loss, he would have to go through emotional turmoil once again when Gwen Stacy seemingly returns from the dead. As he would come to discover, her return was the work of a new super villain named Jackal.

Callouts:

Death of Spider-Man easily wins, it's one of the most emotional and gripping stories out there, with an ending that hits you harder than a gut punch.

On the other hand, if I could take away any story out of canon it would be One More Day obviously, but the second choice without a doubt would be anything regarding the clones and their sagas, it is the one major misstep in Peter Parker's history, it completely turns upside down and damages the relatability on one of the most down to earth and relatable heroes. Any kind of relatability goes away when the dude has clones of himself running around.

USM#153-160. Back when Bendis was good

@thor-parker:Original Clone Saga

Death of Spider-Man. It's one of the best written and crafted Spidey stories of all time imo. One of Bendis' best works and a real tribute to what makes Spidey who he is.

Death of Ultimate Spider-Man is a good story, but considering Bendis brought back Peter, it loses any real sense of weight. As the prelude to the era of Miles Morales, it remains significant however, and as stated by many, it's one of Bendis' peak triumphs as a writer.

The original clone saga on the other hand introduced timeless Marvel vigilante The Punisher and Peter finally accepted that his love for Gwen was gone and he had moved emotionally on to Mary Jane, establishing a blissful relationship that has endured to this day (give or take the occasional bump in the road from idiots in editorial), Ben Reilly was also introduced, and he has a significant cult following. If only the story had been kinder to Joyce Delaney' as she'd come to be known, while it can be argued the concept of a live Gwen running around having moved on from Peter had promise and potential, the simple fact Gwen is an exciting as a blade of grass probably made her less enticing to utilise beyond a prop for drama in Peter's life.

So my vote goes to original clone saga.

Clone saga

Death of Spider-Man. Clone Saga was fine, but ofc led to the terrible 90's follow-ups, which is pretty unforgivable. Sure Ult Spidey's death got reverted, but the gravity of the story itself still holds weight: it's a marvellous celebration of all the good that the Ult universe was able to build with Peter in particular, a celebration of his best qualities, and his status as a eternal underdog. For many, that was their ending to the story (many didn't read follow-ups with Miles) so it was closure for them.

The OCS was a pretty solid story but I would definitely place DoSM above it in terms of emotional impact.

To me this is the only saving grace of the arc, I mean, the story was fine I guess, but I'd rather not have clones as part of Peter's history.

Ppl think clone saga was good? What?!

@phisigmatau: The second clone saga is underrated and it gave us Spider-Girl, Kaine and Ben Reily.

Ben Reiley is a disgrace

Death of Spider-Man wins 7-3

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Stage 1, Round 7

Owl/Octopus War (Spectacular Spider-Man #72-79) by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom

Synopsis: Doctor Octopus and the Owl battle each other for the New York city supremacy, and with Black Cat in the middle of it, Spider-Man will have to join the battle and put a stop to the war.

Sins Rising/Last Remains (Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #44-57) by Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley and Mark Bagley

Synopsis: For months, perhaps years, he has crawled in the shadows, manipulating events from afar. Now the demon known as Kindred is finally ready to take his revenge — not on Spider-Man, but on Peter Parker! And he's resurrected one of Spidey's most disturbing foes: the fanatical Sin-Eater! But who is the Sin-Eater, and why is it so terrifying that he's back? What secret history will be revealed? And who will the shotgun-toting villain target in the here and now?

Callouts:

Both of these arcs are very good, but I will toss my vote in the hat for the Owl/Octopus War because of how consistently intense it was, and for the last effects it had on major characters like the Black Cat and Doc Ock. Sins Rising/Last Remains were very good as well, but personally I found them much more inconsistent with some very good issues and some boring/filler-y issues, which slightly took away from the effect of the story as a whole for me.

Owl/Octopus War

Never liked Sin-Eater since he killed Jean Dewolffe

But....that was the point of the story, that's what makes him good, it's like not liking Green Goblin because he killed Gwen.

Sins Rising/Last Remains

Never read Octopus War. However, Sin-Eater ruined Spencer's amazing run, so I will pass on voting for now.

Owl/Octopus War for me. It was much more intense, made those two look very formidable while making it pretty grounded.

Maybe it's still pretty fresh Sins Rising/Last Remains and hasn't really managed to age in any way to see if I still like it after time or what.

Owl/Octopus War

Spectacular #72-79