This is why I think there should be multiple titles and/or lines.  One for "classic" comics and one for older, long term readers.  However, I think the regular Marvel titles should be the "classic" comics, instead of the "Ultimate" line.

Amazing Spider-Man should always feature the original, Amazing Spider-Man, and I too think he should not be married.

Instead of the "Ultimate" line, Marvel Knights, or something sooner, could have been created for (us?) older readers with higher-quality formats (and prices) geared toward more "mature readers."  I am not saying that they should be labeled that way (I do not care one way or the other), but I see this line as spinning off the regular, classic line (sharing the same history), and then moving forward, away from the classic line.

The Marvel Knights titles "Spider-Man" and "Four" could have done this.  I see them as sharing the same history as Amazing and Fantastic, but providing the mature, older reader with a progressive continuity wherein the characters grow and change.

Now relax, I care barely enough, either way, to write these words.  It just seems that a publisher could give everybody what they want without making it such an issue.  Marvel Knights almost did this, but now that it is gone and their creator is the boss, it sems that the regular line has become this "older" line and JQ had to create his "Ultimate" line to re-create what he lost.  Problem is, this way he got them both wrong, and people are not happy.

My way, Marvel Knights (for lack of a better term) could have taken Daredevil, Spider-Man, the FF, and the New Avengers (yes New Avengers) forward and left the "classic" Marvels in the original Marvel Universe.

As time went by in the Marvel Knight world, I propose a 4:1 ratio (4 years of comics = 1 year of Knight-time), these titles would creep ahead and slowly grow with their aging, mature audience.  This "experiment" would continue as long as the demand was there, identified by the market and sales.

Today, I think the demand for multiple titles is there, especially among older, working readers with more disposable income.  And if the time came to end the experiment, imagine the fun you could have curing the Thing and/or the Hulk, or having Spidey retire, wives giving birth, etc.  How would it all end?  If this line did have to be dropped, you could tell these stories without destroying the Marvel Universe.  Maybe Galactus would finally feast!

But they did not do this.  Instead, the Marvel Universe is left changed with nobody brave enough or bold enough to fix it.  Even JQ thinks Spidey cannot be fixed, and everybody complains.

But this is comics, and there is always a way!  I have a bunch of ideas myself, and I bet you do too.  To be continued...

This is why I think there should be multiple titles and/or lines.  One for "classic" comics and one for older, long term readers.  However, I think the regular Marvel titles should be the "classic" comics, instead of the "Ultimate" line.

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They already do this with the Marvel Adventures line. The problem with ghettoizing titles like this is that you give the sense that one of them is "not real". A silly complaint, but it's how one of the lines will be perceived.

I don't think Peter's marriage to MJ added anything to Spider-Man, but it didn't really detract anything.  Peter was not a gigolo and always faithful to his girlfriend at the time.  Even during the Betty Brant-Liz Allen love triangle, it was obvious that Peter only wanted Betty.

If one wants there to be problems between Pete and MJ occassionally, instead of breaking up over them (which they might do if dating), they'd have to work them out like real couples do.  Marriage does not equal all romance problems go away.  Important note though: no infidelity stories of either party ever.

The major mistake was deciding that MJ was a super-model.  That was way too glamorous on one hand and way too corrupt on the other (with plenty of stories of drug use, eating disorders, and other immorality in that industry).  One can be a model and not be a super-model.  If MJ was just a model (appearing in the occasional local retailer fall catalog ( not Victoria's Secret), or being the eye candy hired at some business convention) then it still might have been OK.  If not, lots of people don't hack it and move on to something else so they can have a career.

Many couples go through financial hard times, especially early in the marriage.  Handled rightly, nothing essential would have changed about the character or his situation.  If one is willing to complain about Peter and MJ being in love and married was too happy, then one could Peter being in love and dating Betty, Gwen, or MJ earlier was too happy.

Peter could still be married to MJ while having financial difficulties, having occassional quarrels, worrying about Aunt May, and working on his PhD at Empire State.

The only retcon needed to Peter's marriage is for MJ to not be a super-model/aspiring actress/other glamorous or well paid profession.