Warning! SPOILERS for Young Justice season 4, episode 6
A recent episode of Young Justice season 4 prominently featured an obscure Batman villain called Black Spider, who had been adapted into DC's version of an evil Spider-Man. This was not the first appearance of Black Spider, who had previously been seen alongside other supervillain assassins in earlier episodes of Young Justice. However, his appearance in the Young Justice season 4 episode "Artemis Through the Looking Glass" was his most substantial to date.
There have been three DC Comics villains who used the alias Black Spider and operated out of Gotham City. The first Black Spider was an ex-con and recovering heroin addict named Eric Needham, who became a violent vigilante that targeted drug dealers, blaming them for his turning to crime to support his habit. The second Black Spider was a hitman named Johnny LaMonica, whose face was covered with a number of scars resembling a spider's web. The third Black Spider was a wannabe villain named Derrick Coe, who bought the costume and "villain franchise rights" to Johnny Lamonica's estate from the supervillain power broker Calculator. None of these villains had spider powers, spider-themed weaponry, or anything else one might associate with spiders or Spider-Man.
The Young Justice version of Black Spider is another animal entirely. A member of the League of Shadows (Young Justice's version of the League of Assassins), Black Spider was part of the team that assaulted one Justice League base trying to get to Cassandra Savage and Onyx Adams, who were trying to defect from the League of Shadows. Armed with wrist-mounted weapons that shot out balls made of a sticky red substance, amazing agility and the power to stick to walls and ceilings, it was clear that this Black Spider was meant to be an evil take on Spider-Man, even before he began mouthing off at the heroes with wisecracks that would do Peter Parker proud.
Black Spider also proved his wall-crawling bona fides by showing spectacular intelligence along with his amazing acrobatics. Despite being outnumbered, Black Spider was able to simultaneously hold his own against the likes of Cheshire, Artemis and Orphan, who is Young Justice's take on the Cassandra Cain Batgirl from the comics. Black Spider wisely avoided one-0n-one combat with any of these dangerous fighters, keeping his distance and focusing on taking their weapons away with his webs, quipping to Cheshire that he remembered "when the only thing more disarming than my webs was your disarming smile."
There is a deeper level to Young Justice using Black Spider to parody Spider-Man than the simple rivalry between Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Black Spider is voiced by Josh Keaton, who is still fondly remembered for voicing Peter Parker in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed Spectacular Spider-Man animated series in 2008. One of the showrunners of Spectacular Spider-Man was acclaimed writer Greg Weisman, who became the showrunner of Young Justice shortly after Spectacular Spider-Man was cancelled.