List of incarnations of Spider-Man

"Spider-Man" is the name of several fictional characters in the Marvel Universe. The first and main character is Peter Parker, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Other characters have adopted the alias over the years in the Earth 616 universe such as Ben Reilly and Doctor Octavius. There also consists of alternate universe versions of the web-slinger such as Miles Morales and Miguel O'Hara.

Characters named Spider-Man

Peter Parker

Peter Parker aka the Amazing Spider-Man, this is the mainstream Earth-616 incarnation of the character and appears in almost every piece of Spider-Man related media.

Ben Reilly

Ben Reilly is a clone of Peter Parker, who also fought crime as the Scarlet Spider. He also took over as Spider-Man (with a new costume) when Peter retired to settle down with his new family.^[1] This lasted until the original Green Goblin returned and murdered Reilly.^[2]

Mac Gargan

While possessing the Venom symbiote he posed as Spider-Man as a member of the Dark Avengers^[3][4] until his capture at the end of the "Siege" storyline.^[5]

Spider-X

Spider-X (Brian Kornfield) is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Universe. He first appeared in Midnight Sons Unlimited #3 (October 1993).

As Spider-X was seen by many wearing Spider-Man's costume, he is initially believed to be Spider-Man himself, mutated by the Darkhold, until Mrs. Kornfield learned the truth and explained it to them.

Brian Kornfield grew up off Broadway in New York City, raised by his mother, his father having been killed at an unknown time period. He had a very active imagination and idolized all superheroes, even writing letters to as many of them as he could. His mother was brutally assaulted and mugged on the streets of New York. Brian became obsessed with becoming a super-hero, so he could find and take down her muggers.

Brian was met by the Dwarf, an agent of the demon Chthon, who offered him the power to be like his idol Spider-Man via a page of the Darkhold. Brian accepted the offer and was transformed into Spider-X. His obsessive desire for vengeance was twisted even further by the black magic of the Darkhold and Brian saw himself as the ultimate arbitrator of justice willing to mete out punishment that no one else would.

Spider-X first brutally slew the mugger who had attacked his mother. He then captured and planned to slay some other criminals, which brought him into conflict with the Ghost Rider and John Blaze when they crashed into a web Spider-X had spun across the entire street. Their conflict ended inconclusively when Spider-X fled from the Ghost Rider's penance stare. His eight eyes may have somehow diluted the stare's force, allowing him to break its hold. Another group of occult investigators/warriors, the Nightstalkers, came to New York and investigated a previous letter from Kornfield, which claimed there was an occult basis to the rise in crime in New York City. Spider-X attacked the three when they questioned his mother. His struggles escalated bringing in some of the Darkhold Redeemers summoned by the energy released by the use of a Darkhold page as well as Morbius, the Living Vampire and even Spider-Man himself.

Still seeking to punish criminals, Spider-X continued to fight off the occult warriors, and traveled to the 14th Street power station where the mutant criminal Paralyzer was using the electrical energy to recreate the electrical monster Zzzax. Spider-X attacked Zzzax and the group of heroes fighting him poured their own powers into the conflict which caused an energy overload, apparently both killing Spider-X and dissipating Zzzax.

When Brian first obtained his powers, he can tap into mystical power to achieve virtually limitless variations/amplifications of Spider-Man's powers. He also possesses a high degree of resistance to injury, including mystical assaults. He can recover from most attacks in seconds. He could climb walls and adhere to virtually any surface. He could form durable, adhesive webs which exuded a powerful acid. He possesses 4 extra spider-like limbs, 2 of which grew from his upper back and two from his waist. He had razor sharp fangs and could project bursts of destructive energy from his mouth. Brian Kornfield became a demonic Spider-Man after making a deal with the demon Chthon.^[7]

Mattie Franklin

The niece of J. Jonah Jameson. After being granted spider powers by "The Gathering of Five",^[8] she filled in for Peter Parker during one of his temporary retirements^[9] and later became Spider-Woman when he retook the role.^[10][11] She was killed by the Kravinoff family during "The Gauntlet" and "Grim Hunt" storylines.

Ai Apaec

Ai Apaec is the Marvel Comics version of the chief deity of Mochica culture, and a supervillain in the Marvel Universe.

Ai Apaec first appeared in the first issue of the 2011 Osborn limited series, and was created by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Jamie McKelvie.

Ai Apaec began appearing as a regular character in the Dark Avengers series, beginning with Dark Avengers #175.

Ai Apaec is a chimeric being that has the head, torso, and arms of a human, the lower half being a spider's body, snakes for hair, and long sharp fangs. He was worshipped by the Moche people of South America (Peru). He was eventually captured by government officials and held in a secret government base somewhere underwater.^[12] Ai Apaec ends up meeting Norman Osborn when he ends up transferred to the secret base from the Raft. He joins Osborn, Dr. June Covington, Kingmaker III, and Carny Rives into staging a break-out.^[13] The inmates secure an escape pod to get to the surface. Afterwards, Ai Apaec returns to the jungle.^[14]

During the Spider-Island storyline, Shang-Chi and Iron Fist discover that Ai Apaec was controlling Bride of Nine Spiders of the Immortal Weapons to capture the other members.^[15] As Iron Fist fights Ai Apaec, Shang-Chi manages to free the other members where Shang-Chi mutates into a humanoid spider. Upon Iron Fist using his Chi Force to cure Shang-Chi, Iron Fist gets the other Immortal Weapons members to safety while Shang-Chi collapses the hideout on top of Ai Apaec. Afterwards, the Avengers arrested Ai Apaec.^[16]

When Norman Osborn reclaimed ownership of H.A.M.M.E.R., he manages to locate Ai Apaec and recruit him to his latest incarnation of the Dark Avengers alongside Barney Barton, Gorgon, June Covington, Skaar, and Superia. To make Ai Apaec his latest Spider-Man, Norman Osborn gives Ai Apaec a genetic-modifying drug that alters his appearance to resemble a six-armed version of the black suit Spider-Man.^[17] Ai Apaec and the other members of the Dark Avengers are defeated by both Avengers teams when it turns out that his teammate Skaar was the Avengers' double-agent. Ai Apaec's drug wore off and Captain America knocked him unconscious.^[18]

When the Thunderbolts were missing in time, Ai Apaec was present when the Dark Avengers were recruited by Luke Cage to be a replacement team. Ai Apaec and the other Dark Avengers members were implanted with nanites in order to prevent them from going rogue, and placed under the leadership of Luke Cage.^[19]

Ai Apaec and the rest of the Dark Avengers team are thrown into an alternate world with John Walker.^[20] Ai Apaec was shown to have been shrunken down when he is a prisoner in Iron Man's lab.^[21] When Hank Pym mentions having regrown U.S. Agent's limbs and shrunk Ai Apaec, Iron Man lashes out at him and realizes that Henry Pym's control implant had been reworked. The Dark Avengers make their way through Hell's Kitchen to get to Strangetown. They come across a building covered with webs as Ai Apaec claims that this world's Spider-Man had gone under a profound change to have created a long-lasting web. During the fight between the Dark Avengers and Spider-Man's gang, Ai Apaec tells Barney to load him onto an arrow and fire it at Spider-Man. Spider-Man's Spider-Senses go off and he catches the arrow as Ai Apaec and Spider-Man speak in a different language while the other Dark Avengers have been subdued.^[22] With help from Ai Apaec, June Covington tells them that they had poisoned Hawkeye on his left side and that the venom must be sucked out. Later on, the Dark Avengers and Spider-Man's gang arrive in Strangetown where they are attacked by the All-Seeing Eye and the Soulsnake. Ai Apaec tells Spider-Man to cast some webbing and give Barney Barton a sword which he uses to destroy the Soulsnake while Spider-Man lands a hard kick to the All-Seeing Eye.^[23] Ai Apaec is climbing on Doctor Strange's leg, telepathically calling the Dark Avengers to summon an object contained by Spider-Man's webs which would grant him the perfect distraction. Enraged at the death of Clea, Doctor Strange readies an even more powerful spell. Before he can do the spell, Ai Apaec hits him with all the poison he had killing Doctor Strange and ending his slave spell on Moonstone and Skaar.^[24] Ai Apaec and the Dark Avengers later return to their reality. When Ai Apaec reminds the Dark Avengers that he must be restored to his proper size, June Covington steps on him.^[25]

Ai Apaec has superhuman strength where it was stated that he was strong enough to rip off a man's head. His long sharp teeth contains a powerful poison and he has enhanced senses. His spider legs can enable him to cling to solid walls and surfaces. Like the diving bell spider, Ai Apaec can wrap himself in a bell-shaped web held by the hair on his legs and abdomen and collect oxygen from the water to exchange the carbon dioxide with the oxygen.

During the Spider-Verse storyline, the Earth-1771 version of Ai Apaec is attacked by Karn. After a short battle, Karn drains away Apaec's essence reducing him to dust.^[26]

Otto Octavius

• Doctor Octopus swapped bodies with Peter Parker during the "Dying Wish" storyline, with Peter dying in Octopus's body. Possessing Parker's body and memories, Doc Ock determined to both prove himself a better Spider-Man than Peter and a better man than Otto Octavius as The Superior Spider-Man, but was eventually forced to sacrifice himself to restore Peter Parker when his focus on the larger picture and his own ego resulted in the Green Goblin taking control of the city in a massive attack at the head of his 'Goblin army'.

Other versions of Spider-Man

• Scarlet Spider is an alias of four characters that are similar in powers and abilities to Spider-Man.
• Other clones of Peter Parker such as Kaine,^[27] the degenerated first clone, and Spidercide, the shape-shifting third clone.^[28]
• Blood Spider is an evil version of Spider-Man hired by the Red Skull and trained by the Taskmaster. His costume is a combination of the original and black costumes, and he has tanks for his web fluid on his back with hoses leading to the webshooters on his wrists. His partners Jagged Bow (an evil version of Hawkeye) and Death-Shield (an evil version of Captain America) were also trained by the Taskmaster.^[29] The trio was next seen trying to kill Venom as hired by Lord Ogre.^[30]
• The Spider Doppelganger is an evil version of Spider-Man created by the Magus during the Infinity War.^[31]
• Ezekiel Sims has powers similar to those of Spider-Man, but mystical in origin. He is a member of the Spider Society and its front organization, WebCorps.^[32]
• Tarantula: Several characters have used this identity. See the main article for details.
• Steel Spider is Ollie Osnick,^[33] originally a young teenager who idolized Doctor Octopus and designed his own mechanical tentacles.^[34] Later he was so impressed by Spider-Man that he modified his tentacles into spider-legs.^[35]
• Web-Man, a clone of Spider-Man made by Doctor Doom in an Electric Company comic. He wears the inverse of Spider-Man's colors (red where blue should be, and vice versa), and has criminal tendencies. He, along with his other clones, are destroyed when Spider-Man destroys the cloning machine Doctor Doom used.^[36]
• Several characters have used the Spider-Woman identity: Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter (also called Arachne), Mattie Franklin, and Charlotte Witter. There is a version of Spider-Woman in the Ultimate Universe, a female clone of Peter Parker.^[37]
• Madame Web, a precognitive ally of Spider-Man and the Spider-Women.^[38]
• Anya Corazon, a young heroine with spider powers, formerly an employee of WebCorps.^[39]
• Silk, An Asian American girl who got bit by the same spider as Peter Parker.

Other examples

• A Spider-Man robot called the Timespinner is created by Kang the Conqueror to defeat the Avengers.^[40] It is deactivated, but later returns with the ability to drain temporal energy from people. It is destroyed by Ben Reilly and the Avengers.^[41]
• Spider-Man villains such as Chameleon,^[42] Mysterio,^[43] and Kraven the Hunter^[44] have all masqueraded as Spider-Man.
• Deadpool briefly masqueraded as Spider-Man.^[45]

Alternative versions

Outside of the Earth 616 universe there exists many versions of Spider-Man.

References