Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and today we’re diving into the Spider-Verse
and all the members of the Spider-Family.
If you’ve seen Into the Spider-Verse recently, you’re likely interested in who might show
up in future movies.
We’re going to speed by these characters but give you enough for you to decide if this
is a character you’re interested in.
We’re also not covering all the characters literally because some show up for a moment
and then die or are only mentioned, but we’re covering over 40 significant and cool characters,
hopefully your favorites are all here.
Also, we’re not including symbiote characters, I’ve already got a rundown of all of them
that you can go check out.
So… Let’s start with the basics, Spider-Man. Peter Parker.
Earth 616, that’s our mainstream normal Marvel universe.
Peter Parker was bit by a radioactive spider and was given spider-powers.
He was a bit of a genius as well, building web-shooters and a highly advanced suit.
He wasn’t the only one bitten though, we also have Cindy Moon known as Silk, who the
spider bit on the ankle before dying.
Cindy gained the ability to shoot organic webs from her hands, unlike Parker.
She also has an incredible connection to Parker because they shared the same spider-bite,
so she can sense Peter and find him anywhere, even across dimensions.
Cindy is Korean-American and was held captive for many years, when it was discovered that
an evil being named Morlun was tracking and killing Spider-People, so her captivity was
for her own safety.
The one who kept her hidden was named Ezekial Sims, a mysterious figure who underwent a
spiritual ritual to gain spider powers.
He and the dangerous Morlun were mortal enemies, so Ezekial tried to protect Silk and he monitored
Peter Parker, to hopefully stop Morlun when the time came.
In alternate Earth-4, Sims dons his own spider-suit to become what’s affectionately known as
Old-Man Spider, before being killed in battle.
Now, if we’re going to talk about Spider-Man, we need to talk about clones, most of these
clones of the Earth 616 mainstream Spider-Man.
The first clone of Spider-Man was named Kaine, though suffered cellular degeneration, as
the cloning process wasn’t perfect.
He took on several looks and names throughout time.
He had a major rivalry with the second clone of Peter Parker, who now uses the name Ben Reilly.
Ben was a more successful version, leading Kaine to hate him out of jealousy.
Kaine used the name Scarlet Spider for a time, as did Ben Reilly, which can make things even
more confusing.
Ben looks identical to Peter Parker, so he initially dyed his hair blonde and now serves
as a hero in Las Vegas, far from New York City.
Now, let’s talk about some more cloning!
We need to introduce a character named Michael Van Patrick, a soldier who underwent a similar
process to what Captain America went through.
He was killed but his body was too important, so he was cloned, into three identical copies
that went under the names Michael, Van, and Patrick.
Together, they formed a group called the Scarlet Spiders.
Who isn’t using that name?
They all wore copies of the Iron Spider suit created by Tony Stark and were given the martial
arts prowess of Spider-Man, so they could replicate his fighting style.
As of now, only one of the three is still alive, at least in the 616 universe.
While those were all clones, sometimes new versions of Spider-Man are just created, like
the six-armed Spider-Doppelganger created by the villain Magus.
He is evil and instinctual, usually a villain to Spider-Man, featuring prominently in storylines
such as Maximum Carnage.
Not to be confused is the Six-Armed Peter Parker from Earth 92100, where he grew four
extra arms and was unable to cure them, now serving as Spider-Man with extra strength and agility.
Let’s come back to Earth 616 and discuss more of the Spider-Family.
Up next we’ve got Spider-Girl, or sometimes Arana, Anya Corazon.
She got her powers in a very different way, gifted to her from a sorcerer that was part
of a spider-worshipping group, who idolized what are called Spider Totems, which are important
spider characters across the multiverse.
This sorcerer thought that Anya was destined to become a Hunter, meaning a chosen warrior,
and gave her these abilities.
Turns out that she was not, though she was eventually given the same powers as Spider-Man,
though with the ability to create organic webbing.
Early on, she also used a blue exoskeleton when she went by the name Arana, but no longer.
She now appears in the black and white outfit and uses Spider-Girl.
Also firmly rooted in Earth 616 is Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew.
Now Jessica Drew is actually one of the most complicated characters here because she shares
very little in common with Spider-Man, other than the name.
She has her own unique powers, including bioelectricity that she can emit from her hands, the ability
to glide through the air, and using pheromones to affect those around her, including instilling
fear and attraction.
Her origin involved being a brainwashed member of Hydra, before turning and working primarily
with SHIELD instead.
Jessica went through a story arc where she was pregnant and had to defeat a wave of shapeshifting
Skrulls immediately after giving birth.
So she is a complete badass.
In the Ultimates universe, Earth 1610, Jessica Drew is actually a clone of Peter Parker,
struggling with having all of Peter’s memories but not physically being Peter.
She’s had a few codenames including Black Tarantula, Spider-Woman, and Black Widow.
Since she’s a clone, she has Peter’s powers, not the 616 Jessica Drew’s.
Now in the main 616 universe, we had a run called Superior Spider-Man, which featured
Otto Octavius, the villain known as Doctor Octopus.
Otto, through a long series of events, took over the body of Peter Parker and decided
to be a better hero than he ever could be, a truly superior Spider-Man.
Well, Parker eventually took over his body again, but Otto’s mind began to live in
another clone of Parker.
You thought we were done with clones, huh?
He rebranded the Superior Spider-Man suit and became known as the Superior Octopus,
utilizing both the suit and the mechanical arms that he’s known for.
Sometimes other dimensional heroes end up in Earth 616, as is the case of the Ultimate
Spider-Man Miles Morales.
In Miles’ original world, Earth 1610, Peter Parker dies and Miles takes on the role of Spider-Man.
Now his reality eventually is destroyed, but he’s wrapped into the 616 world, including
his family and friends, it’s as if he’s lived there his whole life.
This is a long and complicated story, but just go with it.
He now fights as part of a group of young heroes called the Champions.
Now, we have two characters that got their powers at the same time.
Both Madame Webb and Spider-Woman Mattie Franklin attended a secret ceremony in which they received powers.
Let’s start with Mattie Franklin, a young girl who received spider powers in this secret
ceremony and suited up to fight crime because Spider-Man was for some reason absent.
The other individual is Cassandra Webb, who goes by Madame Webb.
She was a gifted psychic and this secret ceremony gave her immortality.
She can project herself to people from far distances and can somewhat perceive the future.
She often shows up to warn characters of impending doom.
She had a daughter Charlotte Witter who, for awhile, donned the Spider-Woman name as well.
She was under the control of villain Dr. Octopus and manipulated her into finding and defeating
the others that had used the Spider-Woman moniker including Jessica Drew, Mattie Franklin,
and another woman named Julia Carpenter.
Julia was given her spider abilities through an experimental process and wore a black suit,
which she eventually passed down to Anya Corazon, who we talked about earlier.
She eventually took over the role of Madame Webb after the old woman Cassandra died, meaning
that she can now see things about to happen and serves as a warning emissary for dark times.
Okay, phew, all those were our mainstream Earth 616 so let’s look at some multiverse characters.
Let’s head over to Earth 982 and meet Spider-Girl, Mayday Parker.
In this reality, May is the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and grew up inheriting
the spider powers from her father.
Does it work that way? I guess so.
She wears a costume very similar to Spider-Man’s, equipped with tech-based web shooters.
In this reality, May has a clone, created by Norman Osborn and combined with symbiote DNA.
She goes by April Parker (get it, April and May?) and was allowed to join the Parker family,
playing the role of May’s sister.
Her symbiote sometimes appears as a blue spider-suit, while sometimes she appears chaotic.
April died sacrificing herself to avert a potential crisis.
In some realities, it wasn’t Peter Parker who becomes Spider-Man, so let’s discuss
what happens when Gwen Stacy gets bitten by the spider instead.
She is initially dubbed Spider-Woman but fans called her Spider-Gwen as a shorthand (since
we have other Spider-Women already).
She has the typical spider abilities but wore a white outfit instead.
Her best friend was Peter Parker in that reality, who wanted to become a crimefighter as well
and subjected himself to an experiment that turned him into a version of the villain The Lizard.
In a tragic fight that he wouldn’t give up, Peter died as a result and haunted Gwen.
She continues to fight crime and try to right the wrongs of the world, while also performing
in a band called the Mary Janes.
In some stints, she is referred to as Ghost Spider.
We have another Ghost Spider, though, from Earth 11638.
This Peter Parker found out about the multiverse and killed other versions of himself to feed
on their power.
Eventually he died but was offered a chance at redemption, imbuing him with a spirit of
vengeance and becoming a ghost rider.
We also have a version of Parker from Earth-13 that have powers related to what’s called
the Enigma Force, becoming the Cosmic Spider-Man.
In the 616 universe, Spider-Man gained these powers temporarily, but here, he still had them.
This made him one of the most powerful versions of the character, having flight, cosmic consciousness,
energy blasts, and the ability to alter matter and manipulate energy.
Let’s discuss more non-Peter Parker Spider-Men.
In the year 2099, we meet Miguel O’Hara who serves as that timeline’s Spider-Man,
usually designated as Earth-928.
I say usually because the 2099 stories fluctuate and change and so each one seeeeems to get
different designations.
Miguel is half-Mexican, half-Irish, and wanted to become like the Spider-Man of current day,
where he has some of the same abilities, but some unique ones including talons and fangs
that secrete a venom and organic webbing that comes from the sharp edges of his forearms.
He ages much slower than others and has been seen in the far far future as well.
Other non-Peter Parker characters include Flash Thompson as Captain Spider from Earth
78127, where Flash was bit instead of Peter, doing much of the same antics that Peter would’ve done.
In the old comics, he supposedly died when he was dropped by the Vulture because he didn’t
have the scientific know-how to invent webbing.
We did see Flash appear later, potentially another version and not the one that died.
We even had a reality where Aunt May became Spider-Ma’am when she was bitten by the
spider in Earth 3123.
She had the same powers and was gifted web shooters from fellow versions of Spider-Man.
If you own a Playstation 4, you’ve likely played the Spider-Man videogame, focusing
on Earth 1048.
This Peter Parker is very similar to other incarnations, aside from the distinctive suit
that features a white spider on the front.
Comics are being released to flesh out this universe, as well as sequels likely to come.
Sometimes other Earths feature Spider-Men that originate from other countries, like
the Indian Pavitr Prabhakar from Earth 50101.
This poor Indian boy gets his powers from a powerful yogi, to fight evil.
We also have a Spider-Man from the United Kingdom, from Earth 833.
Billy Braddock is a mix of Spider-Man and the hero Captain Britain, so Spider-Man UK
(as he’s known) has spider abilities but the responsibility to protect the multiverse
that Captain Britain has.
His original universe was destroyed so he traveled for awhile protecting other universes
that needed help, before eventually being defeated.
We have a Japanese Spider-Woman by the name of Peni Parker, with a robot named SP//dr.
This Earth, designated 14512, revolves around Peni being connected to this mech via a radioactive spider.
The mech allows her to do a lot, though she herself has no extraordinary abilities without it.
Also revolving around Japanese culture, we have what’s called the Mangaverse, or Earth
2301, where this Peter Parker is a member of a ninja clan, who trained to become Spider-Man
in an effort to revenge his fallen clan members.
His powers seem to be in line with the 616 Peter Parker, with the addition of organic webbing.
Sometimes these Spider-Man characters come from other times, not just the future, sometimes the past.
Here’s where we get characters like Spider-Man Noir, a version of Peter Parker raised during
the Great Depression.
He dresses in black clothing and acts like a detective, tracking down crime bosses that
are affecting the New York of the time.
This Spider-Man is fairly unique in his use of firearms and not being concerned with potentially killing.
In the future, in Earth 2818, we get Cyborg Spider-Man, augmented by weapons and attachments
that allow him to fight more effectively.
We also get a character nicknamed Spider-Punk, from a version of Earth designated 138.
This is not Peter Parker, but rather a man named Hobie Brown, a free spirit that uses
music and an army of amps to defeat his villains.
He has the actual powers of the 616 Peter Parker.
Another Parker out of time is Peter Parquagh from the Marvel 1602 line, Earth 311.
Taking place in the year 1602 in the United Kingdom, Peter served under Sir Nicholas Fury
and learned to fight.
He was eventually bitten by a spider and gifted with powers, though he died as a villain brought
down the Globe Theater around him.
Okay, surprisingly, these have all been fairly normal, let’s get weird.
In Earth 15, we have The Spider.
This Peter Parker was a red-haired mass murderer, connected to a red symbiote and acted like
a mix of the villain Carnage with the humor of Deadpool.
In the Earth 8311 universe, we have Peter Porker also known as Spider-Ham.
Now get this.
He was born a spider and bitten by a radioactive pig.
He has web-shooters that enable him to swing with artificial webbing.
We see another animal in Spider-Monkey, coming from an event called Marvel Apes in 2008.
Now, being one spider is cool, but how about a Spider-Man made entirely of spiders?
Let’s talk about Spiders-Man from Earth 11580 where Peter Parker fell into a nest
of spiders (is that what it’s called) that was being bombarded by radiation and his consciousness
was combined with the mass of spiders, so now they collectively believe they’re Peter Parker.
Now let’s cover some amalgamations, starting with the actual Amalgam line of comics where
Marvel and DC Comics combined the clone Ben Reilly with the clone Superboy, creating Spider-Boy,
Peter Ross.
His powers are actually gravity manipulation, allowing him to pull gravity so that he can
run sideways and cling to walls.
He also has a web pistol that allows him to shoot synthetic webbing.
A more recent example of combining characters is Arachknight, Peter Parker.
His uncle and aunt were killed in front of him, a bite from a radioactive spider saving his life.
This tragic event splintered his mind into four different personalities, similar to the
character Moon Knight.
He has the abilities of 616 Spider-Man but the splintered aspects similar to Moon Knight.
Okay, we’re going to wind down.
That’s over 40 examples of Spider-characters that we might see pop up in sequels to Into
the Spider-Verse.
Which characters do you want to see in future movies?
What characters did you learn about that sound interesting? What characters did I miss?
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