The Weirdest Heroes of the Spider-Verse (So Far)

From Peter Parker and Miles Morales to Ghost-Spider and Spider-Punk, the heroes of the Spider-Verse have proven themselves to be some of the Multiverse’s greatest defenders. In SPIDER-VERSE (2014) and SPIDER-GEDDON (2018), these Web Warriors teamed up with their variants to save the Multiverse from the Spider-consuming Inheritors, and they’re about to face their greatest challenge yet later this year in END OF SPIDER-VERSE.

With EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE (2022) #1 catching up with fan-favorite characters like Spider-Man Noir and introducing spectacular new Multiverse heroes like Spider-Rex, let’s take a look back at some of the Spider-Verse’s strangest super hero variants.

Spider-Ham

Spider-Ham has always been one of the Multiverse’s strangest heroes. Introduced in MARVEL TAILS STARRING PETER PORKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-HAM (1983) #1 by Tom Defalco and Mark Armstrong, Peter was a spider who was bitten by the irradiated scientist May Porker, which transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig with spider-like powers. 

After some light-hearted adventures with other animal heroes and villains like Captain Americat and Ducktor Doom, Spider-Ham teamed up with his Multiversal counterparts for serious roles in the original SPIDER-VERSE and its follow-up tales. Even when facing real threats like the Inheritors, Mojo, and the Ringmaster, Spider-Ham’s cartoony Spider-Nonsense abilities make him one of Marvel’s most unpredictable heroes. 

Bruce Banner Spider-Man 

In the alternate reality of BULLET POINTS (2006) by J. Michael Straczynski and Tommy Lee Edwards, Bruce Banner swapped alter egos with Peter Parker to become his world’s Spider-Man. In this world, Dr. Abraham Erskine was murdered before Steve Rogers could be injected with the Super Soldier Serum, and Ben Parker was killed in the ensuing chaos. 

After a gamma bomb test transformed a rebellious Peter Parker into his world’s Hulk, Banner was bitten by a spider that had been exposed to similar radiation. This triggered an intense, violent reaction that left a feral Banner roaming New York for years before S.H.I.E.L.D. rehabilitated him and turned him into Spider-Man. However, Banner’s Spider-Man died as one of the Inheritors’ victims during SPIDER-VERSE.

Web-Slinger

Alongside his trusty horse Widow, gunslinger Patrick O’Hara traveled around a world based on the Old West with Doc Morbius, the peddler of a mystical elixir. After a spider was doused in the elixir, it bit O’Hara and his horse, giving both spider powers in Cullen Bunn and Javier Pulido’s VAULT OF SPIDERS #1 story. 

Unfortunately, the elixir turned Morbius into a murderous vampire. After a brief confrontation with his remorseful partner, Web-Slinger was recruited into the Web-Warriors of SPIDER-VERSE and the Superior Spider-Army of SPIDER-GEDDON. Upon returning to their world, Web-Slinger and his masked horse Widow continued to protect the frontier and even teamed up with a dimension-hopping Miles Morales.

Spider-Ma’am

Aunt May has always been a big part of Spider-Man’s mythology, but she took center stage as Spider-Ma’am in Steve Skeates and Alan Kupperberg’s WHAT IF? (1977) #23. When a teenage Peter Parker forgot his lunch, she tried to give it to him at a science demonstration, where she was bitten by a radioactive spider. After trying to earn some extra money as a performer, Spider-Ma’am launched her crime-fighting career when she defeated the Leap-Frog. Then, when SPIDER-GEDDON left the villainous Inheritors transformed into human infants, May took them in as her own and raised them with help from her world’s Ben and Peter.

Arachnosaur

While Spider-Rex is one of the Spider-Verse’s newest heroes, he’s not the first dinosaur-themed Spider-Man in the Multiverse. That distinction belongs to Arachnosaur, who debuted in EXCALIBUR (1988) #51 by Alan Davis and Doug Braithwaite. In a world where anthropomorphized dinosaurs were the dominant species, this raptor-like Spider-Man belonged to the Fantastic Five. 

After falling under the control of the High Evolutionary, the Arachnosaur and his teammates tried to keep his world’s Excalibur from saving a small group of humans from Earth-616. Although he was freed from the High Evolutionary’s control, Arachnosaur was killed during the Inheritors’ attack in SPIDER-VERSE.

Peni Parker and Sp//dr

Peni Parker has piloted the SP//dr, a giant mech suit, on Earth-14512 since Gerard Way and Jake Wyatt introduced her in EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE (2014) #5. Assembled by Oscorp, the SP//dr suit requires both a pilot and a sentient radioactive spider to function. Although the suit was originally operated by Peni’s father, she started piloting the suit after his mysterious death. 

Under the eyes of her aunt and uncle, Peni carries on her family legacy as a public hero, complete with her own obsessed fans, like her world’s Mysterio. When she isn’t teaming up with the variant Spider-Heroes of the Multiverse, Peni has faced off against threats like the electricity-absorbing kaiju M.O.R.B.I.U.S. and the rampaging VEN#m mech.

Peter Parker’s Ghost Spider 

While Uncle Ben’s wisdom is usually the basis of Peter Parker’s morality, Ben’s survival wasn’t enough to save one world’s Peter from the dark path that turned him into Ghost Spider in INCREDIBLE HULKS ANNUAL (2011) #1 by John Layman and Al Barrionuevo. 

Under Ben’s guidance, Peter became the Amazing Spider, a successful superhero and famous scientist. However, the Parkers secretly increased Peter’s powers by luring in the Spider-Men of other worlds and absorbing their abilities. After a remorseful Peter seemingly died saving Earth-616’s Spider-Man, he was restored as Ghost Spider, with the power of repentant souls effectively turning him into his world’s Ghost Rider.

Japanese Spider-Man

Takuya Yamashiro stands alongside his giant robot Leopardon as one of the most imposing heroes of the Spider-Verse. Yamashiro was a professional driver who started receiving telepathic instructions from Garia, an alien from Planet Spider. Before his father died, he warned Takuya about the alien Iron Cross Army, and so Takuya used the powerful Spider Bracelet to become Spider-Man and pilot Leopardon in battle. 

When Takuya made his comics debut in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2015) #12, Leopardon was destroyed, only to be rebuilt and modified by the Spider-Army. Together, Takuya and Leopardon went on to play decisive roles in SPIDER-VERSE and SPIDER-GEDDON.

Astro-Spider

Like his Earth-616 counterpart, the John Jameson of Earth-3145 is the astronaut son of J. Jonah Jameson. But after an incident with Doctor Octopus turned Earth into a nuclear wasteland, this Jameson became one of the last people in his world. 

Created by Christopher Priest and Paulo Siqueira in SPIDER-FORCE (2018) #1, Jameson was bitten by a cosmically irradiated spider while in space, which gave him telepathic powers and the ability to produce telekinetic webs. After Earth’s annihilation, Astro-Spider lived with 35 other astronauts on a space station. However, John and the rest of the station’s crew were killed by Verna the Inheritor during SPIDER-GEDDON.

Ultimate Spider-Ham

While Peter Porker has always been quick to crack a joke, the Ultimate Spider-Ham, Miles Morhames, meant serious business when he debuted in ULTIMATE FF (2014) #4 by Joshua Hale Fialkov and André Lima Araújo. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, he was inspired by the death of his world’s Peter Porker to become Spider-Ham, just in time to watch his reality destroyed by riffs in space-time. 

When Miles landed in the Ultimate Universe, he sought out the Future Foundation and warned them about the impending doom. Miles advised the FF until the daughter of the Invisible Woman and the Thing was powerful enough to stabilize space-time.

Savage Land Spider-Man

Filled with dinosaurs and other gigantic creatures, the Savage Land is one of the most dangerous places in any universe. But for the Savage Spider-Man of Earth-83043, it’s been home since his debut in James Asmus and Juan Gedeon’s VAULT OF SPIDERS (2018) #1 story. 

After Wilson Fisk sabotaged a plane the Parker family was on, Peter fell into a giant spider’s den in the Savage Land. Through thousands of venomous spider bites over the ensuing years, Peter’s body was transformed, and he began protecting the Savage Land from threats like Ka-Zar the Hunter. When Fisk traveled there to confirm Peter’s death, Spider-Man and his spider brethren showed him just how savage they truly are.

Spiders-Man

Before he even suited up as Spider-Man, the Peter Parker of Earth-11580 died after being eaten by a colony of irradiated spiders at Horizon Labs. But as a Cullen Bunn and Mark Bagley’s story in VAULT OF SPIDERS (2018) #2 detailed, thousands of those spiders joined together to form Spiders-Man, a hive mind with the apparent consciousness of Peter… and a taste for human flesh. 

After rejecting his world’s Gwen Stacy, Spiders-Man briefly joined the Spider-Heroes of the Multiverse during SPIDER-GEDDON. However, Spiders-Man eventually teamed up with a Norman Osborn variant and planned to trap the Inheritors on Earth-616. After this plan was foiled, the spiders that made up Spiders-Man spread throughout the Multiverse, only to have their plots stopped by the Superior Spider-Man.

Revisit some fan favorite Spider-heroes and meet a few new ones in EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE (2022) #1 by Alex Segura, Dan Slott, Karla Pacheco, Pere Perez, Caio Majado, Martin Coccolo, and more, on sale now!

You can grab these comics and more digitally or at your favorite local comic book shop. Be sure to ask your local shop about their current business policies to observe social distancing or other services they may offer, including holding or creating pull lists, curbside pick-ups, special deliveries, and other options to accommodate. Find and support your local comic book shop at ComicShopLocator.com or by visiting Marvel.com/LoveComicShops.

For digital comics, all purchases in the Marvel Comics app can be read on iPhone®, iPad® and select Android™ devices! Our smart-paneling feature provides an intuitive reader experience, ideal for all types of mobile device and tablet users! Download the app on iOS and Android now!