You can't keep Pete in High School- that's too far back to go.

College then, but firmly at the start of his academic career, 20-21 years old absolute tops. Preferably 19.

Married? Sure! He knew MJ for a few years let's say, they got hitched. Is she a supermodel? No! She's a part-time student (they can't both afford tuition at the same time, and major loans would kill them) and she models on the side in local flyers and for bus stop ads or something. It's not great money - but it's like the model equivalent of Peter's freelance photo gig.

They still struggle with finances, they struggle to spend time together, Peter needs MJ to help care for May but MJ feels guilty about always making excuses. They're young, probably too young to be married, but they're in love and they're trying to make it work. The Big Bad World is still out there, and they aren't quite a part of it yet because they haven't entered real careers or started a family, and ...

That's it. That's the point at which Spider-Man is "grown-up" and "married" while still maintaining his underdog nature. I understand, Victor, that he's not alone - and that's a HUGE deal, I won't deny - but he has a sickly aunt, he's barely scraping by... MJ could have been his ONE GOOD THING and even that is strained by his night job.

I would argue having her be a "super-model" and him an award winning photographer with a published book and having dropped out of college for the time being and thus being forced into a Job job as opposed to a part-time between classes thing is what aged him more than the marriage.

The dissolution of the marriage, no matter what, was going to be a mess. But since it happened, and it existed... it should have been written as a typical Parker marriage, not a Peter makes it big marriage.

Leave Mephisto out of it!

It's an interesting thing. The writers say there must be major continuity and that everything has to be explained. Meanwhile, they feel free to 'update' an origin story by moving it from one old war (Was it Korea or Vietnam I can never remember) to another (Afghanistan).

Now, the updating in that way I have no problem with but why can't they just apply that same logic to everything else and just say 'It doesn't need an explaination'. We are giving the appearance of change without real change? I have not seen a single complaint that The Simpsons still have a baby after how ever many years and no one complains, no one says 'This makes no sense'. We understand this and the characters grow but remain the same recognisable characters we first watched. Because they are drawn. If actors were playing them then yes, we would see those actors grow and age and so the characters would most likely have to as well, but we only hear their voices.

This is how it should be in comics (For the most part). Instead, writers, desperate to make a mark, add things that mark a date, alter the status quo beyond what it should be and the steady drip drip effect becomes an avalance and the characters become unrecognisable to what they were.

And before you know it, it's been 8 years since Thor, Iron Man and Captain America were part of the Avengers.

And there's the other thing. The Avengers were made up of heavy hitters, having large scale adventures. Now, the rosta includes:
Luke Cage
Spider-Man
Wolverine
Spider-Woman
Hawkeye
Mockingbird
Ms Marvel

No real heavy hitters. And what are they dealing with? Street level problems for the most part. Where are the big guys? They can't even deal with the Green Goblin for crying out loud. 

Reed and Sue getting married also works differently because they're part of a team that functions as a family in their book, and you've still got the trials and tribulations of Ben and Johnny to deal with as singles (and, as grumpy outcast and hotheaded teenager, the Thing and Johnny give you two distinct reader-identification types to set against Mr. Fantastic, who's both Dad and bookworm/intellectual -- and probably the best heroic argument for book-larnin' in American pop culture since Doc Savage and his Amazing Five).

Cheers, Jon