WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Heroes Reborn: Peter Parker The Amazing Shutterbug #1 by Marc Berardi, Rafael De Latorre, Ron Lim, Scott Hanna, Jim Campbell and VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now.
In the world of Heroes Reborn, most of the classic Marvel heroes no longer exist thanks to a ripple effect of the changed timeline where the Squadron Supreme has replaced the Avengers in history as the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. This extends to Peter Parker, who in this reality was never bitten by the radioactive spider that would give him the powers to become the Amazing Spider-Man.
Peter Parker instead graduates high school as a relatively normal young man. He never loses his Uncle Ben, he never makes a bond with Mary-Jane Watson and he never makes peace with Flash Thompson. It turns out that he even briefly gets a far different love interest — someone who is typically an enemy of the heroic web-swinger.
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Instead, Peter goes to Empire State University and becomes an average enough engineering major — working on a series of small but effective drones. While experimenting with them on the college grounds, one of them is damaged and accidentally almost collides with a fellow student — Carolyn Trainer. A fellow science student, Carolyn learns that Peter had the idea thanks to his dreams of swinging through the air — and is impressed with his drone tech.
A clearly flustered Peter eventually uses the drones to follow after Hyperion when he flies overhead just to impress Carolyn. But this means that his drone is present for a fight between Hyperion and the Hover-Master, and Peter witnesses how the fight gets out of control and Hyperion throws a billboard into Gambell’s — a large store that Aunt May is presently in, killing her. It’s a tragic new fate for May Parker, and one that leads Peter to drop out of college to help take care of his Uncle — turning his drone tech into a means to get pictures of Hyperion for the Daily Bugle.
Although the circumstances of their meeting prevent Peter from seeing his new crush again in Heroes Reborn: Peter Parker The Amazing Shutterbug, Parker had actually encountered Caroyln before in the core-Marvel Universe. This is because, in the true Marvel Universe of Earth-616, Carolyn was one of his minor enemies — Lady Octopus. Introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #405 by J.M. DeMatteis and Angel Medina, Carolyn is the daughter of the brilliant scientist (and devoted student of Otto Octavius) Seward Trainer. Carolyn replaced Otto as Doctor Octopus during a period where he was dead following a confrontation with Kaine, donning copies of his metallic tentacle arms and becoming a criminal in her own right as Lady Octopus.
Carolyn became an enemy of the Scarlet Spider, took part in the Hand’s resurrection of Doctor Octopus, and has become a frequent enemy of many heroes in the Marvel Universe. Notably, she’s recently been working as a member of the new Sinister Syndicate, a female-only supervillain group led by the Beetle. She’s even been quietly connected to Peter’s life, advising Beetle on the romance she shares with Randy Robertson — Peter Parker’s friend and roommate, who Peter has also been advising on the situation.
Carolyn being a possible love interest for Peter Parker is an interesting concept, given their shared interests in science. But since the pair have long been on different sides of the law (and Peter had, by the time he ever met Carolyn, been married to Mary-Jane for years), it makes sense why the relationship was never given a chance to play out. Still, it’s an interesting wrinkle to Peter’s Heroes Reborn life.