Peter Parker’s not the only friendly arachnid in the neighborhood… Welcome to Ten Things: Ten Alternate Spiders!
Whooshman-Bicarbonate Films, in conjunction with An Amateur Comics Historian and J. Jonah Jameson’s autobiography, ‘Threat Or Menace: Can’t It Be Both?’, Presents:
TEN THINGS: TEN ALTERNATE SPIDERS!
10) SPIDER-WOMAN
A clone of Peter Parker (created by Dr. Octopus and Ben Reilly on Earth-1610/the Ultimate Universe), the being who would name herself Jessica Drew was specifically created to work for the CIA in black ops. When she and the other Parker clones broke free, she tried to protect Spider-Man, ending up a free agent hero on her own, even joining the Ultimates, taking a turn as their Black Widow.
Sadly, she may have perished with her world when it was destroyed during ‘Secret Wars.’
9) SPIDER-MAN
Growing up in Mumbai, raised by his Uncle Bhim and Aunt Maya, Pavitr Prabhakar is bulled and mistreated by the other kids, with his only friend being a girl named Meera Jain. Gifted with the power of a spider by a mysterious yogi, Pavitr refuses to help a woman, only to find that Uncle Bhim was killed stepping in to save her. Having learned that his power comes with equivalent responsibility, Spider-Man battles Doctor Octopus to save all of Mumbai. When last seen in the pages of ‘Spider-Verse’, he had to overcome an inferiority complex when faced with all his dimensional counterparts.
8) LADY SPIDER
Inspired by a spider that her father kept in a cage, May Reilly created her own mechanical arms and web-shooters allowing her to climb over the rooftops, living her motto: “Let no one cage you.” Unlike many Spider-Men and Spider-Women of the multiverse, she is not a representation of the archetypical Spider Totem, but she still chose to join the army of Spiders in fighting of The Inheritors.
She’s not the only Aunt May on this particular list, either.
7) ARÁCNIDO, JR.
Though his name is unknown (in keeping with lucha libre tradition), this young warrior saw his father injured in the ring, with the elder Arácnido’s partner, Escorpión, refusing to help. When he discovered that Escorpión was paid to facilitate his father’s beating, he took on a mask of of his own and became the protector of Mexico City.
His tights are nigh-impossible to draw.
6) COMRADE ARACHNID
Though his alternate Earth designation is unknown, Piotr Parkerov protects an unknown city in a Soviet Union that didn’t collapse in 1991. His boss, Georgi, pays 20 extra rubles for proof that his own alter-ego is a capitalist stooge.
Admit it, you laughed.
5) SPIDER-MA’AM
When her beloved nephew forgot his lunch on a field trip, May Parker of Earth-3123 rushed to the museum only to be bitten by a radioactive spider. When her super-powers emerged, she created a costume in the hopes of making some money to get her family out of Forest Hills once and for all, using her special bread dough as a weapon, only to discover that her frail nephew Peter needed protecting more than the city did.
She beat the heck out of Leap-Frog, though.
4) WEB-MAN
An evil duplicate of Spider-Man created by Doctor Doom, Webby (as his friends call him) is enthusiastically evil, but not the brightest bulb in the barrel. Spidey outsmarts not only him, but ANOTHER Web-Man and Doctor Doom easily, destroying their power source and webbing up the King of Latveria.
And he did it all without using a single word above a sixth-grade reading level!
3) SPIDER-BOY
Created as an experimental clone of Super-Solder (the Amalgam combined version of Superman and Captain America), Pete Ross’ genesis culminated in an explosion that killed lab tech Peter Parker. The resulting clone had the ability to manipulate gravity to increase his own strength or make superhuman leaps across the rooftops of New York. As an analogue of both Superboy and Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man, he is something of a glory seeker and loves television coverage.
2) SPIDER-GIRL
On Earth-78227, Betty Brant went with her employer, J. Jonah Jameson to cover a demonstration on radiation, during which she was bitten by a particular arachnid, rather than Peter Parker. She allied with Peter in order to make a little extra money off her costumed alter-ego, only to find that his uncle was killed while they were looking to make a buck. When she discovered that her own actions led to that death, Betty gave up her costume in shame, unwilling to accept that level of responsibility.
She later returned to action in time to fight The Inheritors with nearly every other Spider-person in the multiverse.
1) PETER PARKEDCAR, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MOBILE
You’re welcome.
This week’s Ten Thing topic is all me, but feel free to follow along @MightyKingCobra to suggest your own!Y can get even more Ten Things madness on Twitter or check out the full Twitter archive here! A with any set of like items, these aren’t meant to be hard and fast or absolutely complete, if only because Spider-Verse proved there are thousands of alternate versions of the Web-Head. Either way, the comments section is Below for just such an emergency, but, as always: Please, no wagering!