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Did that header get your attention? I was reading Superior Spider-Man 9 (Affiliate Link) and I saw something that was a thing of nightmares. Peter Parker rips his face off to reveal his Spider-Man mask beneath it. Of course, this had little to do with the shocking plot twist in Superior Spider-Man 9, but to me it was the part that, ironically, stood out in my mind.
In Superior Spider-Man issue 9 Doctor Octopus, Spider-Man’s former enemy, had taken over Spider-Man’s body, thus killing Peter Parker. Well it turned out that Peter’s consciousness still remained in Spider-Man’s brain, coexisting with Doc Oc’s consciousness. So Doc Oc went on a little mind trip to battle his enemy one last time, and thus erase Peter’s mind from existence once and for all. During this battle, a lot of weird stuff was going on. For example, Peter Parker rips his face off to reveal his true self: that he is Spider-Man.
Of course none of this really matters because Doc Oc won in the end, and deleted Peter Parker from all existence, forever. So the question is, why was there hope in the storyline in the first place? Why wasn’t Peter just killed on the spot, when his mind was replaced? I suppose it was a safety net for the writers. If fans wouldn’t tolerate the new Spider-Man, bring the old one back. That is my guess, anyhow.
Superior Spider-Man was a turning point in comics. It was a new beginning for Spider-Man in general, and solidified the new series. Reading it (Affiliate Link) is essential to understanding the history of Spider-Man.