| Alternate versions of Spider-Man | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| See also | Spider-Man in other media Spider-Man video games Spider-Man television series |
In addition to his mainstream incarnation and series, Spider-Man has had been depicted in other fictional universes.
Other related characters exist in alternate versions of the Marvel Universe. These include:
Ultimate Spider-Man is a modernized reboot of the Spider-Man story, starting from the very beginning, with a plot that is inspired by, but very different from, the original continuity. The main purpose of the series is to be accessible to new and young readers, as it is free from the decades of history of the original, but it has been embraced by many longtime fans as well.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter is a high-school student who is bitten by a spider during a school field trip—but instead of a radioactive spider (which reflected the Atomic Age in which Spider-Man's origin was written), it is a lab subject that has been genetically modified by Osborn Industries. This idea of using genetic engineering instead of radioactivity was used for the Spider-Man film. The themes, characterization, and setting are updated to reflect modern life. It is set in the Ultimate Marvel universe.
In the on-going series Ultimate Comics: Avengers, a second Spider-Man was shown to be one of its members, and is simply referred to as the Spider. The Spider is sarcastically referred to by Gregory Stark as a clone of Spider-Man and Charles Xavier "back from the future with a warning for humanity". He subsequently calls Carol Danvers "stupid" for believing him.
After Peter Parker's death in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160 a new character by the name of Miles Morales takes up the mantle of Spider-Man.
The Peter Parker of the daily Spider-Man newspaper strip continues his career as a struggling photographer constantly facing down the abuse of his less-than-satisfied boss J. Jonah Jameson, whilst battling crime in his guise as Spider-Man. In addition to opposing classic enemies, much of the strip sees Peter battle new enemies. He has also teamed up with various heroes through the strip's run, such as Daredevil and Wolverine. He is married to Mary Jane in this continuity, and has often been aided by her in his battles with his enemies.
An alternative version of Peter Parker also exists in the MC2 universe, appearing as a supporting character in Spider-Girl.
The title follows almost the entire original timeline of the character up until the first attempt at a "relaunch" by the company, 1999, where it deviates and provides an alternate ending to the Final Chapter storyline. Peter's wayward daughter May is revealed to be alive and well, and is returned to both Parkers by Peter's first clone, the redeemed Kaine. Despite now being a father, Peter continues to fight crime as Spider-Man, and begins to cope with the new responsibilities brought by his baby daughter.
Two years later, during his final battle against the Green Goblin, rather than survive unscathed, Peter loses a leg to his arch-enemy and Osborn is killed.
Peter finally realizes the price he has paid for being Spider-Man, and ends his career to raise a family with Mary Jane and May. Over the years, he overcomes his physical handicap and ultimately joins the NYPD in a scientific capacity. However, after saving him from an insane Normie Osborn, his daughter May "Mayday" Parker begins a career as Spider-Girl behind his back, a decision Peter begrudgingly is forced to accept and deal with, made difficult by his love for May.
Regardless of his handicap, Peter returned to the role of Spider-Man several times. Once was to aid his daughter and Darkdevil, the son of Ben Reilly, against Kaine, another to convince the latest Spider-Man (the son of Jessica Drew), to cease risking his life, and in the 100th issue of the Spider-Girl title to save May from the Hobgoblin. Peter and MJ ultimately have a second child, Benjamin "Benjy" Parker Jr, who is temporarily rendered deaf after possession by the Carnage symbiote and being blasted with high-frequency sonics. Benjy has now developed powers of his own at an infant age.
In the "House of M", a Marvel crossover, the Scarlet Witch alters reality to make mutants the ruling class over humans. This world is ruled by mutants and their leader, Magneto. In the mini-series Spider-Man: House of M, Peter Parker is believed to be a mutant, and Spider-Man's identity is widely known. He is rich, famous and married to Gwen Stacy, and they have a young son named Ritchie. Aunt May and Uncle Ben are alive and in good health, and J. Jonah Jameson is Peter's often-abused publicist. Unfortunately, his life unravels when Jameson reveals to the world that Spider-Man is not a born mutant. After the world is restored to normal, Peter suffers terribly with the memory of the life he left behind, expressing a desire to kill Magneto, who he mistakenly believes was behind the events of House of M, and the Scarlet Witch, whose powers were responsible for the altered reality.
This Spider-Man first appeared in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53-#61 and is currently appearing in the new Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures comic book series. A modern-day high school student, this Spider-Man's origin is similar to his mainstream counterpart, but his supporting cast is significantly different. Although Gwen Stacy exists in this universe, she and Peter are not dating—instead Peter is dating a brand-new character named Sophia "Chat" Sanduval, who is also a mutant with the ability to talk to animals. Peter's relationship with Gwen's father Captain George Stacy also differs from the original version—here, Captain Stacy discovers Peter's secret identity early on, yet rather than hide this information from Peter (as his mainstream counterpart did), he confides in Peter and becomes Spider-Man's unofficial police contact.
While this Spider-Man battles super villains, he is generally more concerned with combating street-level crime and focuses heavily on taking down the Torino Family, a powerful New York City mob.
The U.K based publication Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine featured a Peter Parker dealing with the day-to-day headaches of maintaining a social life with his super-heroics. He has a close circle of friends such as Liz Allen, Harry Osborn, and Flash Thompson, and he is involved in a relationship with Mary Jane. However, in this continuity, Mary Jane does not possess an existing knowledge of his duel identity, and thus Peter finds juggling his life with her and his crime-fighting career difficult. Despite this, Mary Jane loyally supports Peter, believing it is his dangerous job as a photographer that keeps him away from dates and other activities. A look into the future reveals Peter and MJ ultimately get married in this continuity, and have a daughter, May, who is active as Spider-Girl. At some point in this future, Peter loses his leg, which forces him to retire as Spider-Man.
A geneticist named Miguel O'Hara gained his spider-like powers from a gene-splicing incident. When the company he worked for injected him with a dangerous drug called Rapture. He tried to rid himself of the drug by using the Gene Slicer he helped to invent. But unknown to him a jealous co-worker had set it repeat the former experiment creating a company owned version of Spider-Man. The last time they had tried this experiment it killed the test subject (This was the main reason Miguel O'Hara quit) but this time it worked. Instead of becoming a company owned version of Spider-Man he became the opposite. A Spider-Man to take down Alchemax. He now fights crime as the Spider-Man of 2099. He is a playable character in the video game Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions.
He is also a playable character in the video game Spider-Man: Edge of Time.
Peter Parquagh is a counterpart to Peter in the miniseries Marvel 1602, albeit without powers. In the series he acts as an apprentice to the royal spymaster Sir Nicholas Fury. A running gag involves Peter repeatedly almost getting bitten by unusual spiders, something that finally occurs at the very end. In the sequel, 1602: New World, he takes the identity of the Spider. Later, Peter's dual identity is revealed, and with the death of his beloved Virginia Dare at the hands of Norman Osborne, he returns to Europe. Spider-Man 1602 appears in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions as an alternate costume for Spider-Man Noir, and in Edge of Time as a costume for Miguel O'Hara.
In the intercompany crossovers called "Elseworlds", Spider-Man has worked alongside Superman twice, once to defeat Dr. Octopus and Lex Luthor and the other to stop Doctor Doom from providing the Parasite with long-term access to the power of the Hulk and Wonder Woman. He also worked alongside Batman to defeat Carnage and the Joker, the two later collaborating to defeat the Kingpin and Ra's al Ghul, with Fisk eventually aiding the heroes in the end. The Ben Reilly Spider-Man participated in Marvel vs. DC, where he faced Superboy and won.
In the Amalgam Comics continuity, Spider-man was combined with DC's Superboy to create Spider-Boy. He was featured in Spider-Boy #1 (April 1996) and Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 (June 1997).
In the series Exiles, which involves inter-dimensional travel, several alternative versions appear:
In the series Earth X and its sequels, Peter Parker is no longer a superhero and during the course of the series becomes a police officer. Three other related characters appear:
In the "Age of Apocalypse", Peter Parker is executed by Apocalypse's regime simply because he is a potential ally for rebel Gwen Stacy. Its unknown if he ever gained his spider's powers.
In a "What if?" Age of Apocalypse reality, in which both Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr were killed, Apocalypse is served by clones of a symbiote Spider-Man, although the clones seem to be more symbiote than man.
The miniseries Spider-Man: Chapter One, was John Byrne's attempt to reimagine Spider-Man's early years, (similar to the revamp given to Superman), giving him a new but similar origin. The series is no longer considered canon.
Deadpool encounters a version of Spider-Man in a universe which he refers to as "an Age of Apocalypse" (not the Age of Apocalypse). That Spider-Man is Pestilence, Horseman of Apocalypse. This version has six arms, poisonous fangs and engages in cannibalism.
In the Mutant X universe, the Man-Spider still has six arms. He was replaced by a clone for many years, but the clone was killed by Hank "Brute" McCoy within the series, at which time the original Man-Spider returned. He was later killed, alongside much of the team.
Marvel published a limited series called Powerless in 2004, which tells how the Marvel Universe would be without super-powers. In this series, Peter Parker appears as a young man nicknamed Spider-Man on the internet. This version had also been bitten by a radioactive spider, but instead of getting super-powers his hand became atrophic. In this continuity Peter is in love with Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane is not featured.
Spider-Man: Reign depicts an older Spider-Man in the future who, having given up on crime-fighting, is driven back into action by the return of some of his old enemies, exposing a conspiracy by Venom to take control of the city with a mass of symbiotes.
Marvel Zombies features a Spider-Man who has been turned, along with all other heroes in the Marvel Universe, into a flesh-eating zombie. He is infected by Captain America in the first issue of Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness.[3] Although Spider-Man is just as ravenous and disgusting as the other zombies when hungry, when he has eaten, Spider-Man is constantly racked with guilt at what he has done, agonizing over having eaten Mary Jane and Aunt May, but unable to change his nature.[4] At the conclusion of the storyline, Spider-Man is one of the few heroes who become The Galactus, having consumed the original Galactus and subsequently acquiring his cosmic powers.[5] Later, the Marvel Zombies attack a Skrull planet, only to encounter the Fantastic Four of the core "616" reality — then consisting of Black Panther, Storm, the Thing and the Human Torch- leaving the Zombies eager to capture the FF and transport back to their reality, although the FF manage to escape.[6]
In Marvel Zombies 2, he is seen with a new cyborg lower leg as well as having his mask repaired as he is seen with it covering his face once again.[7] He has noticed that his hunger is starting to fade, and, as a result, is the first of the Galactus to turn against his fellow zombies, Luke Cage joining him as the two confront Wolverine, Iron Man, and the other infected.[8] Eventually with the aid of Forge, Malcom, and the Acolytes, the zombies retaining their hunger are defeated, and many of them are violently killed by an infected Hulk, in the process. Spider-Man is one of the zombies that remain after having killed the Hulk with his cosmic powers, and continue to rebuild New Wakanda, and bury the dead.
Having mastered his hunger, Spider-Man is teleported to a new world, where he consumes the Sinister Six; however, as his cosmic abilities did not come with him, and his webshooters have dried up, the zombified superhero is forced to make do with his own veins and arteries, a process which he finds to be quite painful, though it is commonly known that these Zombies do not feel pain at all. Following the death of the Spider-Man of this universe- killed by Sandman in revenge for the deaths of the Sinister Six after zombie Spider-Man reverted to type and tore the rest of the Six apart after they killed his other self's family-[9] the zombie Spider-Man works on developing a cure for the plague with the aid of the Kitty Pryde of this universe- on the grounds that her powers mean that she would be at no risk from him if he loses control- using nanites and the blood of this world's Wolverine.[10] With the zombie Giant-Man having followed Spider-Man to this new reality — having already infected the Inhumans, the Hulk and the Sentry, Spider-Man resolves to stop Giant-Man.[11]
Spider-Man managed to get the Earth-Z infected Wolverine, the Hulk, & the half cybernectic Rhody- the last now Iron Man with cybernetic limbs, having cut off his infected body parts to escape being turned into a zombie- and dubbed themselves as the New Avengers as they confront Giant-Man with the infected Quicksilver, Thundra, Sentry, Moon Knight, Super Skrull, Quasar and others. Determined to end the zombie plague, Spider-Man ordered the team to destroy the canister he was carrying, which released the Sandman, now infused with nanobites, and wiped out every zombie hero and villain. The Zombie Spider-Man thanked Sandman and commented that his Aunt May and Mary Jane were avenged before he died.[12]
This version of Spider-Man appears in Marvel Zombies Return. As mentioned above, Earth-Z Sandman meets zombified Spider-Man and is horrified by the abnormal and terrifying behavior of the latter. Sandman runs away in terror and soon bumps into the Earth-Z Spider-Man. Mistakenly taking him for the zombified Spider-Man, Sandman turns from fear to rage and attacks the bewildered Spider-Man, filling him with his sandy body through his mouth and then bursting out, ripping Spider-Man apart. It is possible that this Spider-Man has the same history as the Earth-616 Spider-Man, the only difference is that he is still in university while the Earth-Z version of the World War Hulk storyline is in motion.
In the Bullet Points mini-series, Uncle Ben dies before he can raise Peter. Without a father figure, Peter grows up to become a rebellious teenager who skips school. Peter finds himself on the test site for a Gamma bomb and absorbs a big dose of gamma radiation, becoming the Hulk. In an attempt to find a cure for Peter, Dr. Bruce Banner examines specimens taken from the test site and is bitten by a radioactive spider, becoming Spider-Man. Peter later dies while fighting Galactus, but his death inspires the Silver Surfer to attack Galactus.
Spider-Man: India is a comic book originally published in India by Gotham Entertainment Group in 2004, retelling the story of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man in an Indian setting.
This version of Spider-Man exists in the "Great Depression"-Era of New York in the 1930s. Aunt May is a speaker of equality and spends time standing on a soap box shouting her beliefs. Uncle Ben was killed by a crime syndicate run by Norman Osborn, aka The Goblin. Shortly afterward, Peter is bitten by a strange spider and endowed with mystical spider-powers by a Spider God. He then dons a black mask, gloves, and a trenchcoat and sets out to stop Norman and his gang. In the beginning of the first issue, he is framed for the murder of J. Jonah Jameson. This version of Spider-Man appears in the game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
In this alternate timeline, Spider-Man was killed (possibly by Venom) during or sometime after the big battle between heroes and villains, where the villains won. In this timeline, he married an unknown African American woman and had a daughter, who eventually married Hawkeye and had a child of their own. Hawkeye won in a poker game and customized the Spider Mobile after his death.
In a six-part series of the Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfect, set in Earth-50701, Spider-Man was abducted by an alien scientist name Doctor Niles Van Roekel, along with The Thing, Wolverine, and Elektra, as he and the others are injected with an unknown drug in an attempt to corrupt them all. Spider-Man is now infected as his costume turns into a brown-and-bronze colour with a blue spider mark in his chest. He proceeds in attacking The Thing, but was interrupted by an already infected Human Torch and Storm. Spider-Man however manage to pin down the infected Human Torch and prepares to kill him with a piece of debris, but was knocked back by him and landed on a small debris piece, were he was stabbed and bleed out the unknown drug, reverting him back to normal (though not killing him), and was transported back after the other revert back to normal. He regroup with the others and Daredevil and met with Tony Stark to discuss about the virus and discover the alien's whereabouts in South America, where the group had confronted The Imperfects. After the fight and the Imperfects reverting back to normal, the two sides work together, along with an Amazon woman, Maya, , against Doctor Niles's robot, while they have failed to protect the village nearby. The group later met Doctor Niles and prepared to attack until he teleported himself away with the Imperfects and Maya, leaving the group uncertain.
After Doctor Niles and the Imperfects invasion, Spider-Man sees Maya, now called Paragon, escaping from a facility but looses sight of her and gets a call from the Human Torch saying he thinks Paragon has gone to the power plant. Spider-Man goes there and destroys many alien machines, and later finds a helicopters waiting for civilians to get onboard. Spider-Man protects the helicopters during this time. Then he goes to the Daily Bugle and finds an infected Venom, who intents to defeat him. The battle ends with Spider-Man defeating Venom and goes to the bridge and finds Hazmat who he also defeats. Johnny Ohm later finds Spider-Man and defeats him in battle and was taken to the Imperfects secret headquarters, were Spider-Man was once again infected. He goes to the power plant and was seen by the Human Torch and defeated him. In the Aftermatch of the invasion, Paragon and the Imperfects join together to share the Earth with the heroes, although he is not seen.
This version of Spider-Man, after being blamed by J. Jonah Jameson for his son's disappearance exploring another planet, Counter-Earth, fakes his own death in a building collapse and designs a new costume with sonic weaponry and stealth capabilities using nanotechnology borrowed from Reed Richards. Travelling to Counter-Earth himself, he joins a group of human revolutionaries led by John Jameson himself in resisting the High Evolutionary and his tyrannical rule, in which humans are brutally oppressed and the half-human, half-animal Beastials form the social elite. He also battles Venom and Carnage, who travelled with Jameson to Counter-Earth and are plotting to infect the entire planet with symbiotes. As seen in the cartoon.
In the X-Men Forever universe, after the X-Men have faked their deaths, Spider-Man runs into Rogue during a patrol, Rogue having recently unintentionally absorbed Nightcrawler's powers and appearance. Testing her new powers, Rogue spends the night fighting crime alongside Spider-Man, later suggesting that the two kiss to see how her recent transformation has affected her original abilities. After Spider-Man assists the X-Men in destroying a group of Sentinels,[13] the X-Men return to the manor, Cyclops concluding that Spider-Man can be trusted to keep the secret of their continued survival.[14]
In Adam Warlock #2 (1972), Peter Parker's counterpart on Counter-Earth is mentioned as having "died from radioactive over-exposure".
These versions are intended for younger audiences and are not part of the regular continuity, but bear a resemblance to mainstream Spider-Man:
The Spider-Girl comic book series, originally published under the MC2 imprint, features May "Mayday" Parker, Peter's daughter in an alternate continuity. This timeline diverged from regular continuity when Peter and Mary Jane's daughter is returned to them by Kaine. In Spider-Girl, Peter has been retired from crime fighting since his final battle with the Green Goblin, which cost him a leg. Peter has settled down to family life and works for the New York City Police Department as a forensic scientist. His teen daughter May follows in his footsteps against his wishes, but Peter eventually helps her train for her calling. Peter appears in costume several times in Spider-Girl, either to restrain and protect May, or to assist her. Peter is among the superheroes kidnapped by Loki in the spin-off Last Hero Standing.
In the recent Spider-Girl storyline "Brand New May", Peter has uncovered a lab, within it is a stasis tank containing an exact physical duplicate of Mayday Parker, with notes left behind by Norman Osborn suggesting she is the real Mayday, and not a clone. When protecting his nephew Normie from an exploding test tube, Peter is affected by the serum within much like Osborn was...and begins to develop erractic behaviour.
In the same continuity as Spider-Girl, in MC2, Gerald "Gerry" Drew, the son of Jessica Drew, inherits spider-powers and poses as Spider-Man.
In the comics, others use the Spider-Man identity. Some of these actually exist in the Marvel Universe (Earth-616):
Other characters have used similar themes:
Spider-Man has also inspired a number of derivatives:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||