The Spider-Verse is at Risk in Spider-Geddon

Welcome back to our SPIDER-GEDDON spotlight series!

Last time around, we recapped issues #0-#2, which saw the return of the Inheritors, several painful deaths, and the dimensional misplacement of Spider-Gwen AKA Ghost-Spider.

The Superior-Octopus of San Francisco got his hands on the Inheritors’ cloning technology and was too arrogant to believe that they would not use it to make their return. And that’s exactly what happened; not even the Web of Life and Destiny is safe, as Karn was slain in issue #2.

Before he died, however, he allowed the numerous spider-people to travel to other universes in order to recruit more help in the coming battle. Even so, a gap has begun to grow among the arachnid heroes, split between the Superior Spider-Man that wants to murder the Inheritors and Miles Morales who doesn’t want to...

With the final issue of the event on the horizon, here’s a little refresher of issues #3 and #4…

SPIDER-GEDDON #3

Peter Parker of Earth-1048 and the Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius in the body of another Peter Parker) travel to Earth-51778 to seek out a powerful spider-person ally. This ally is Leopardon, a giant robot piloted by one Takuya Yamashiro, the Spider-Man of this reality. When they arrive, Yamashiro’s mech-giant is in the middle of fighting a massive, one-eyed monster. 

Superior Spider-Man advises Yamashiro to kill the monster with his sword, so that they can move on to fighting the Inheritors. Yamashiro disagrees, feeling that it would be dishonorable to finish off the mighty beast in such an easy way. Finally, he is swayed to Otto’s way of thinking and kills the kaiju with one swift throw of his blade.

Meanwhile, Miles Morales heads to Earth-50101 to recruit Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar) to the cause. Miles doesn’t believe that the Inheritors should be killed (a point of view held by the Superior Spider-Man). Spider-Man India thinks it is not wise to cause a schism among the spider-heroes.

Prabhakar agrees to join the fight and accompanies Miles to a rendezvous that includes Spider-Ham, Spider-Ben, Petey, Silk, Peni Parker, Spinneret, and an older version of Peter Parker. Miles tells them that a younger version of Peter is taking on Morlun, so that the rest of them can stop Jennix from building more cloning vats and bringing back the Inheritors’ father, Solus. To prevent Verna from getting the crystal that houses her father’s soul, Kaine Parker leads a crack squad of Spider-People handpicked by the Superior Spider-Man.

Elsewhere, May, Anya, and Annie May are on taking after the Inheritors, hunting after Spider-totems that could reveal the villains’ weaknesses (a tale further documented in SPIDER-GIRLS).

Back aboard Leopardon, the Superior Spider-Man’s swayed a number of spider-people to his side, mainly Yamashiro, Web-Slinger (a cowboy version of Spider-Man), Octavia Otto, Spider-Punk, Spider-Man of Earth-44145 (a version of Norman Osborn), and Spiders-Man (thousands of sentient spiders that believe themselves to be Peter Parker).

Surprisingly, Octavia and Spider-Punk have recruited the Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly (formerly the Jackal) to the team, as he has extensive cloning knowledge. The Superior Spider-Man states that he does not want to work with a madman on defeating the Inheritors. Reilly says that his multiple deaths and resurrections drove him insane, but he is now here to make amends for his past sins.

Just then, the younger Spider-Man’s team wants to attack the Inheritors, but Superior feels that it’s too early and such a move would be suicide. Octavius is willing to let the other team die without backup from him and his supporters.

In their lab, the Inheritors successful re-create their father’s body, but Jennix still needs to complete body banks for themselves so that they can fight without the fear of permanent death. Up above, Spider-Ham secretly peers at them, crawling through the air vents like a super spy. He relays what he saw to the rest of the spider-heroes, who plan to blow up the building without even having to fight.

Unfortunately, Bora shows up and hits the detonator out of Miles’ hand.

A fight between the spider-people and Inheritors breaks out, with the latter group starting to feast on certain members. Peni is urged to detonate the charges from her SP//dr, which would kill everyone present, but there isn’t much time for thinking. Before she can do it, though, Leopardon and the rest of Superior Spider-Man’s group show up to save the day. It’s revealed that Otto decided to use the failed assault to sneak into the lab and sabotage the cloning technology. Otto scans Solus’ body to see what is required to kill him, but Solus’ children burst in and force them to run.

All of the spider-people retreat to Leopardon, which transforms into a rocket-like ship and flies off. While everyone recaps what happened and what they know, the many-eyed version of Norman Osborn tells Spiders-Man that that they should just trap the Inheritors on Earth-616, which would mean the death of themselves and every other spider-hero with them. Nevertheless, it would mean the Multiverse was safe...

But don’t tell anyone just yet. He wants to keep it a secret for now!

SPIDER-GEDDON #4

In this issue, we open with Jessica Drew (AKA Spider-Woman) in possession of the Solus Crystal, which houses the soul of the Inheritors’ father. Drew is captured by the Inheritors, who are delighted to become a complete family again. However, they cannot feast on Jessica, because she’s got radiation inside her, which is toxic to the spider-people soul-suckers (whew, that’s a mouthful!). Jennix sees Drew’s appearance as an opportunity to make himself and the other Inheritors immune to radiation. He revives Solus, who is hungry not only for spider-heroes, but for sweet, sweet revenge....

Cut to: The spider-people on Earth-13, where the spider-army fought the Inheritors. Miles recounts how Solus killed the most powerful spider-hero he’d ever seen. Obsorn says that it’s a waste of time to dwell on the past and that they should be recruiting as many spider-people as they can. Superior Spider-Man suggests that they try to find the Enigma Force/Captain Universe of their dimension.

Spider-Punk breaks up the meeting in Central Park to let the group know that Solus is back and angrier than ever. The group begins squabbling with Superior Spider-Man telling Osborn that he is a cancer and no longer welcome. The rest of the heroes agree and Norman says he’ll return to his reality to work on a solitary solution. Spiders-Man is the only one to join him. Osborn then departs...

Once Osborn is gone, the remaining spider-heroes debate the best way to stop Solus. They could use Leopardon’s giant sword, but Solus defeated the robot last time. Miles says it’s time to recruit more heroes, but Superior Spider-Man rebuffs this idea, stating that it is too late for such a course of action. Instead, they must find the Inheritors’ biggest weakness and exploit it.

Then, it’s revealed that Osborn didn’t go to his own reality, but to Loomworld. Spiders-Man begins to devour Karn, while Osborn slices off a piece of the Web of Life and Destiny for himself. His real goal, however, is to seal off Earth-616 so that the Inheritors cannot escape. Spiders-Man says it may not be a permanent solution due to all the Web-Watches that allow Spider-People to travel between dimensions.

That’s why Osborn blows it up.

Miles looks up a bunch of good candidates to recruit (like a giant red T-rex and a veteran cop) and sends out Pavitr Prabhakar to bring them in. Before Pavitr can leave, the Web blows up, frying all of their Web Watches. Superior Spider-Man immediately knows that someone has sealed off the dimension. They intuit that it must have been Osborn’s doing, but Miles refuses to start panicking, insisting that there is a solution to be found. Everyone then realizes that Superior Spider-Man and Ben Reilly are gone.

They go back to the Inheritors’ base of operations in the Transamerica Pyramid. They know that Jennix still cannot make the cloning vats work and Superior Spider-Man warns him that there will be trouble, should the former Jackal try anything funny. Reilly insists that he’s changed, but surprise! Doc Ock is a double agent, delivering Reilly to the Inheritors, so Jennix can absorb his life-force and truly learn how the cloning tech works. As part of their bargain with Superior, they must spare Earth-616.

Back on Leopardon, the Enigma Force is found, but it’s not very happy.

The fifth and final issue of the epic SPIDER-GEDDON event hits your local comic shop on December 19!

And while you're here, check out today's episode of Earth's Mightiest Show, which takes a look at every spider-hero in the Marvel Multiverse!