Marvel Comics has confirmed that the "notorious" Spider-Man sequel it previously teased will in fact be a sequel to writer/artist Kaare Andrews' 2006 limited series Spider-Man: Reign.
Spider-Man: Reign tells the tale of an older Peter Parker coming out of retirement for one last big adventure as Spider-Man (not unlike the classic Batman story The Dark Knight Returns).
Why is that notorious? Because in the world of Spider-Man: Reign, Mary Jane is dead after getting cancer from exposure to radiation through… well… Peter Parker's most intimate bodily fluids… if you know what I mean.
But would be Reign be considered the most notorious Spider-Man story by fans? There's no doubt it has its own controversy, but there are several Spider-Man stories that would likely be considered far more "notorious" among Spider-fans.
The dubious honor, at least among fans, more likely goes to Spider-Man: One More Day, in which Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson trade their marriage - and several years of their history - to the demon Mephisto to save the life of Aunt May.
There are also stories such as Trouble, a non-continuity romance comic limited series which implied that Peter Parker's aunt May and his mother Mary were troubled teens who were embroiled in a devastating love triangle. And 'Sins Past,' a story in which it was revealed that Norman Osborn had an affair with Peter's long dead girlfriend Gwen Stacy, and that the two had secret twin children together - a secret which has since thankfully been retconned as totally fake.
Marvel promises more information in the coming days. Stay tuned to Newsarama for the full details.
Read up on the most controversial Spider-Man stories of all time.
