Behind the Panel: Dan Slott shares his Spider-Man regrets and Fantastic Four future

For over ten years, Dan Slott chronicled Peter Parker’s adventures in Amazing Spider-Man. Along the way, Marvel’s Wall-Crawler went from crashing on Aunt May’s couch to leading a billion dollar company as the CEO and co-founder. Slott eventually brought Peter back down to Earth in his “factory setting.” But when SYFY WIRE recently caught up with Slott, he told us that his biggest Spider-Man regret isn’t that he made Peter rich, it’s that he didn’t go further with the idea.

“My big regret of that whole era is I didn’t go far enough,” said Slott. “I should have gone even more ludicrous and insane. You know, Peter with a flying S.H.I.E.L.D. car everywhere... Peter living in the Monte Carlo Casino.”

According to Slott, classic Spider-Man scribe Gerry Conway told him that the most unique part of his run is that he was writing Spidey in the age of social media. That included the highs and the lows, including the early response to Superior Spider-Man that had a few death threats attached to it. Slott correctly suspected that the reactions would turn around by the time his tale was finished. However, he still has reservations about Alpha, Peter’s temporary sidekick.

“I look at my entire run of Spidey, and there’s like one or two clunkers where... I wish I could do it again,” admitted Slott. “The biggest one was Alpha. [It] just did not work.”

Slott went on to explain why he feels Alpha was only meant to work as a self-contained story, which may have also explained why fans hated Alpha so intensely. Slott also shared several of his high points from the run, as well as his encounter with Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko.

Additionally, Slott revealed how he finally landed Iron Man and Fantastic Four, and shared a few hints about the FF’s short-term future. For more intel from Slott, check out his entire 40-minute interview.