Spidey has had some bad luck in recent years — Spider-Man 3 soured fans on the original trilogy and the Amazing reboots came and went without any fanfare. Spider-Man: Homecoming brought the web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it retold a story we had seen a couple of times before. Thankfully, critics and fans seem to unanimously adore Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Who knew that the only way to make Spider-Man cool again was to add more Spider-Men?
The new film introduces audiences to a character that comic fans have loved for quite some time: Miles Morales, the second Spider-Man. Miles takes over for Peter Parker in the beloved series Ultimate Spider-Man and he has been a staple of the comic world ever since. Originally, Miles was from a different dimension than the Peter Parker most audiences know. Now this concept is being taken to the big screen, bringing Spider-characters from all different universes together for one giant adventure. As you might imagine, there are an infinite number of Spider-People, and each one is weirder than the next.
For the list, we're taking a look at the weirdest versions of Spider-Man in existence to see just how odd they can get. Some of them are only slight diversions from the traditional friendly neighborhood vigilante, but others are so crazy that we wonder how anybody came up with them in the first place. We'll rank them from least to most bizarre, so stay until the end if you want to see the really weird spider-themed creations.
Time to swing through the Spider-Verse — here are the 30 Weirdest Alternate Versions Of Spider-Man, Ranked.
Spider-Family
Marvel fans rue the day that Peter Parker and his love Mary Jane Watson got divorced. However, a Marvel universe exists where that never happened. Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows is a series that takes place in an alternate universe where Peter and Mary Jane remain happily married.
Not only do the happy couple live on, but they start a family! Peter, MJ, and their daughter Annie Parker all suit up together as a spider-themed crime-fighting family. It's a shame that things didn't turn out so well for the official Peter Parker, but at least readers can indulge in this alternate version of Spider-Man's life.
Tragedy-free Spider-Man
What if Spider-Man had it all? House of M is a comic famous for its drastic reshaping of Marvel, but it also gave readers a universe where Peter Parker lives his dream life. Much like the original, Peter is a boy genius who gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Instead of tragedy shaping his early life though, things go pretty smoothly.
Uncle Ben never gets mugged. Peter goes on to marry Gwen Stacy and have children. He becomes a movie star, business magnate, and big-time celebrity. He does all of this while maintaining his career as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It's weird seeing him living his best life!
Scarred Spider-Man
What's weirder than Peter Parker having everything he ever wanted? Peter Parker having absolutely nothing. Warren Ellis' Ruins is a parody on the Marvel world that some fans may consider more "realistic" than the one we all know. Ruins takes the the scientific accidents in most origin stories and gives them the outcomes we would expect in the real world — scars, deformities, and not-so-fun superpowers.
Instead of extra agility and the ability to stick to walls, this spider-bite gives Peter Parker a horrific, infectious rash. With no powers and no cure, Peter's condition scars his entire body and he doesn't survive. Don't worry though, not every universe is this depressing.
Violent vigilante Spider-Man
This Spider-Man has no excuse for his horrible actions. Last Stand Spider-Man is a pretty traditional web-slinger, aside from the fact that he has no qualms about taking lives. After eliminating Kraven the Hunter, this Spidey becomes violent and merciless. He dons a new costume consisting of jeans and a leather jacket and decides the he'll no longer let his enemies live.
His spree of violence keeps the police on his tail, now lacking any sympathy for the once-beloved vigilante. He is shot by police, leaving him with a tragic end as a result of his tragically immoral decisions. Uncle Ben would be so ashamed.
Spider-Gwen
This fan-favorite Spidey isn't even Peter Parker. In this alternate universe, it's Peter's girlfriend that Gwen Stacy gets bitten by the radioactive spider, turning her into the punk rock-loving Spider-Woman.
Although Gwen cares for Peter very deeply, this universe's Peter Parker is especially insecure — he knows that Gwen is smart and strong, but now she even has superpowers. To gain powers (and be more like his true love) he performs a science experiment on himself. Like all Marvel science though, it goes awry and inadvertently turns him into the Lizard. Gwen ends up fighting Peter because of this, leading to run-ins with the law and a tragic end for the love of her life.
Silk
Technically, she's not just another version of Spider-Man — Cindy Moon is one of Peter Parker's high school classmates who just happens to have been bitten by the very same radioactive spider. She spent most of her teenage life locked away in a bunker, but once Peter broke her out, she became her own Spider-vigilante: Silk.
Silk has a photographic memory, and extremely heightened Spider-Sense (she prefers Silk-Sense) and can shoot webs from her fingertips. She also has a strange superhuman tracking ability, capable of sensing Peter Parker no matter where he is. She is even drawn to him, for both superhuman and romantic reasons.
Superior Spider-Man
Unfortunately for Peter, the Doctor is in-- literally. Superior Spider-Man has the web-head's consciousness swapped with that of Doctor Octopus, letting Doc Ock run free in Spider-Man's body. As vengeance against his greatest foe, Ock takes over Peter's life with the goal of being a better vigilante than the old Spider-Man ever was.
With a new costume, a ruthless attitude, and some new mechanical arms, Doc Ock settles some of his own personal scores while taking Peter's life in a new direction. He actually improves it quite a bit, especially with his work at Parker Industries. Peter eventually gets his body back, but not until after Doc Ock drastically alters Spidey's friendly reputation.
Victorian Spider-Man
Marvel 1602 places Spider-Man into Victorian England. This version of the character is Peter Parquagh, a spy from Scotland in the service of Sir Nicholas Fury, with an alter ego known as the Spider. He falls in love with real-life historical figure Virginia Dare, the first child from England born in the New World. She acts as 1602's Gwen Stacy, even going losing her life at the hands of Norman Osborne.
The Spider of 1602 seems to have all the powers of traditional Spider-Man, with the exception of spinnerets on his arms that produce organic webbing. He also wears a frilly, era-appropriate costume.
The Spider
Miles Morales might have started out as the Spider-Man in the Ultimate series, but he was one of many. Among the dozens of other Spider-Men in the Ultimate Comics, there is one known simply as the Spider.
The Spider isn't just some Peter Parker knockoff. He is a villainous super soldier on a mission to destabilize North Korea under the orders of Gregory Stark, Iron Man's twin brother. Very little information was ever revealed about the Spider. Hawkeye crushes him under a mass of concrete, though, and the Ultimate books were eventually canceled, so it seems like nobody will ever see him again.
Spider-Man 2099
If there are Spider-Men from the past, obviously there are some from the future. Spider-Man 2099 isn't Peter Parker at all — Miguel O'Hara is an engineer at Alchemax, a tyrannical corporation that runs much of society in the future. After Miguel decides to turn against his employers, his associates at Alchemax have him scarred and altered during a dangerous DNA experiment.
He acquires Spider-Man's powers and even a few unique ones of his own to become the Spider-Man of the future. Not only does he have natural webs, talons, fangs, and even telepathy, but he has a high-tech suit that allows for gliding instead of swinging.
Spider-Punk
In a dystopian world where an evil Osborn rules the United States, Hobart Brown leads the resistance against him. He sets out as Spider-Punk to liberate the country from Osborn's tyrannical Thunderbolt Department, an evil police force armed with "Variable Engagement Neuro-sensitive Organic Mesh"-- or V.E.N.O.M., for short.
With Spider-Man's abilities and the power of punk rock, Spider-Punk eventually defeats Osborn's regime — though only after beating him up with his electric guitar and shattering the V.E.N.O.M. suits with music. It's a unique take on Spider-Man, to say the least.
Spider-UK
This alternate universe Spider-Man is actually Billy Braddock, known in the regular Marvel universe as Captain Britain. He was created for the original Spider-Verse series-- initially as Spider-Punk until the designs were separated-- and as such, he doesn’t have a lengthy comic book history.
This amalgam of the two characters isn’t exactly the super strong Captain Britain fans might know — he only possesses the powers of Spider-Man, despite the primarily Captain Britain-inspired outfit. He even lacks a spider-sense! This is especially apparent in Spider-Geddon, where he gets taken down by Verna, one of the Inheritors.
Lady Spider
Plenty of Spider-Men use technology in their fight against crime, but none are quite as steampunk as Lady Spider. Living in a steampunk version of New York City, inventor May Reilly creates a mechanical spider suit to fight crime.
Lady Spider has no superpowers of her own — once she was bitten by her father's pet spider, but received a moral lesson instead of abilities: don't let anybody cage you. Taking this to heart, she spends her time using her intellect and resolve to defeat Victorian versions of Spidey's infamous rogues. She debuts her suit when the Mayor is taken hostage by none other than Electro — how appropriate.
Manga Spider-Man
Marvel's Mangaverse comics tried to emulate the aesthetic of manga, a style that drastically changed the Spidey mythos. This version of Spider-Man isn't a kid from Queens — he's a ninja pupil of the Spider-Clan.
After Venom defeats Sensei Ben Parker, Peter became determined to hone his ninja talents in the hopes of avenging him. The Mangaverse Spider-Man design is surprisingly close to the original — he wears the classic red and blue suit with the addition of short sleeves, gloves, sneakers, and a backpack. There are much weirder Spider-Men across the Marvel dimensions, but this one is certainly unique.
Spider-Man Noir
What would Spider-Man be like if he came from the crime-noir pulp comics of old? Apparently, he'd be a gun-toting vigilante with a really cool suit.
Spider-Man Noir is a retelling of the Spidey mythos in 1933. His origins are mostly intact, but instead of being a student-turned-vigilante, he's a rugged investigative reporter during the Great Depression. Noir Spidey is set on taking down New York's criminal underbelly headed by — you probably guessed it — Mayor Norman Osborn. This dark and gritty take on the web-head features in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, bringing this slightly obscure iteration of the character to audiences everywhere.
Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker)
Spawned from the infamous Clone Saga, Kaine is the first (albeit botched) clone of Spider-Man. Created by the villain known as the Jackal, Kaine is the precursor to Ben Reilly, the most famous clone of Peter Parker and the original Scarlet Spider.
For a clone, Kaine has quite a few qualities unique to himself-- aside from being extremely cold-blooded and violent. While his powers are similar to Peter's, his "Mark of Kaine" ability allows him to burn opponents who come into physical contact with his hands. He also shoots organic webs from his wrists, and even has a psychic link to arthropods that gives him the ability to communicate with spiders.
Arachknight
The ongoing comic book event known as Infinity Warps has altered the Marvel universe with weird fusions of its many heroes. Among mashups like Captain America and Doctor Strange, Iron Man and Thor, and Ghost Rider and Black Panther is Arachknight — an amalgam of Moon Knight and Spider-Man.
Much like Moon Knight himself, this version of Peter Parker has four distinct personalities that fight for dominance. "Science Peter" is a gifted scientist, but also his most insecure self. "CEO Peter" is the confident head of Parker Industries, the "Knight" is his gritty inner vigilante, and the "friendly neighborhood arachnid" is the Spidey we all know and love.
Spirit Spider
This version of Spider-Man goes from a rich vigilante to Marvel's Spirit of Vengeance. After an experiment goes awry (what else is new), Peter Parker's soul gets trapped in Hell, only to be saved by this universe's Sorcerer Supreme, Bruce Banner.
In an effort to save Peter's life, Banner imbued him with the power of Hell's trapped souls to make him the Spirit Spider — or Ghost Spider, as he was initially named. As a cross between Ghost Rider and Spider-Man, Spirit Spider retains the powers of both and gets an intense new look, sporting blue flames instead of red.
Peni Parker And Sp//dr
Dipping into anime influences, this version of Spider-Man isn't exactly a spandex-clad superhero. Peni Parker is the pilot of a high-tech mechanized armor known as Sp//dr. While Peni has no powers of her own-- though she does use web-shooters-- she uses Sp//dr to fight mecha-inspired Marvel villains.
Mecha (sometimes called the "super robot" genre) is a subcategory of science fiction known for giant battling robots. Imagine Spider-Man, but in the world of Mobile Suit Gundam or Neon Genesis Evangelion. While this version doesn't have much history in print, she does appear in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with a more anime-inspired look than her comic book counterpart.
Spider-Boy
Casual fans yearn for Marvel and DC characters to cross over, but older fans may remember that such a thing already exists: the Amalgam universe, a world populated with fusions of Marvel and DC characters. Spider-Boy, a cross between Spider-Man and Superboy, is a clone of a super soldier later adopted by Marvel's General Thunderbolt Ross.
His strength and speed are heightened like the powers of Superboy, but his spider powers are a little unorthodox. Instead of sticking to walls and swinging from webs, Spider-Boy actually has the power to alter the gravity around his body, essentially throwing himself in directions that normal gravity wouldn't allow for.