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Peter Parker has had a tough 50th anniversary. He's punched Al Gore, saved the world from Doc Ock, fought the Lizard again, and he even got a side kick for a few issues. But Peter's morality and "I will never kill" mentality has kept him going through these rough patches, no doubt. That's what makes the coming months all the more exciting. Dan Slott, currently the lead writer for "The Amazing Spider-man," has said there will be big changes. "I'm very serious — after #700 comes out, I'm not doing interviews for a bit. I'm not sticking my head up out of the hole. People are going to be like, "What have you done?" and the message on my machine will just say, "Keep reading." That's a pretty big claim, but what does it mean?

Theories range from Peter killing Doc Ock to Ben Reilly (The clone Peter Parker from the 90's clone saga) coming back. Maybe Peter dies. We've seen it happen in the ultimate universe and Miles Morales, the new ultimate Spider-Man, has been well received. The only thing we know for sure is that after issue 700, everything changes. With the reveal of the new Spider-Man title, The Superior Spider-Man, for MarvelNOW!, at least we know that Peter won't be the man behind the mask. Amazing Spider-Man editior, Stephen Wacker has been teasing publicly that it might be time for a new Spidey who isn't Peter Parker, Slott says, but the writer remains cryptic about who exactly will be under the mask. It's a big step and some people might not be happy. It can't be Kaine as he is still in Houston, being a part of the best series Marvel has. It can't be Flash Thompson as he is still legless and using the symbiote suit to do black ops.

Could it be Ben Reilly? They already brought back two clone saga characters in Kaine and the Jackal so it's possible. With the "Dark and edgy" direction Dan Slott seems to be taking, plucking a character form the 90's could very well be what's going on. In any case, big things are coming for our friendly neighborhood web slinger. Stay tuned.