Spider-Verse Field Guide: Know Your Spiders

For Spider-Man fans, Spider-Verse has an irresistible hook: every Spider-Man ever.

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And while that’s not entirely true for legal reasons, Marvel is doing its very best to cram every possible iteration of man, woman, child and pig with arachnid-based powers into this huge crossover that finds Morlun and his family of Inheritors looking to eliminate all of the spiders of the multiverse.

Naturally, the familiar friendly neighborhood wall-crawler, Peter Parker of Earth-616, is right at the center of all the action. Keeping track of everyone else? Well, that could get a little tricky.

While we’re not foolish enough to try identifying every Spider-Man who shows up in Spider-Verse, we can at least help with the ones the story identifies by name. Thus, we present our Spider-Verse Field Guide, which will tell you a little more about every spider in the order in which they’re introduced within the actual event itself. Keep it handy while reading so you can keep everyone straight.

Spider Moon-Man

Peter Parker, Earth-449

Hey, this guy is just like our Spider-Man! He’s got bills to pay and works for the Daily Bugle, getting an early morning call from J. Jonah Jameson to get some pics of a supervillain tearing up a local park.

There’s one big difference, though: he lives on the moon! Cool, huh? Don’t ask me when people colonized the moon of Earth-449, because that’s not explained in the story.

Alas, we hardly knew ye Spider Moon-Man. His battle with Morlun lasts just long enough for his Spider-Sense to go nuts and for Morlun to snap his neck and feed on his life force. Sorry man.

Spider-Man

Peter Parker, Earth-616

This gentleman really needs no introduction, but just for the same of completeness, this is the Spider-Man we all know and love. Bitten by a radioactive spider as a teenager, Peter quickly learned that with great power comes great responsibility, and he’s used the proportional strength and speed of a spider plus web-shooters of his own design to fight crime ever since.

Peter is told during the first chapter of Spider-Verse that he’s crucial to the battle against the Inheritors because he’s the greatest Spider-Man of them all. Of course we readers already know that, but getting him to believe it himself could be a key to the story.

Silk

Cindy Moon, Earth-616

Though Peter Parker is skeptical of her story, Cindy Moon was also bitten by the same spider that gave birth to Spider-Man. As a result, she developed powers similar to Peter’s, except that she trades less strength for more agility and a keener Spider-Sense. She can also generate her own webs instead of having to rely on technological web-shooters.

The reason no one knew about Silk is that Ezekiel Sims took her off the grid for years so she could remain hidden from Morlun and his family. In a specially shielded bunker, she was trained in the use of her powers while learning about the world by watching tapes. That gambit worked, but she’s gone public now in order to aid in the battle against the Inheritors.

Another side effect of Cindy’s transformation is that she and Peter have powerful urges to mate whenever they are in close proximity. That’s why she tries convincing him to leave New York when she first appears in Spider-Verse. Silk is set to get her title after the event.