The most critically-acclaimed Spider-Man film isn't any of the Marvel superhero's live-action iterations but rather last year's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. The animated movie saw spider-themed, web-slinging superheroes from across the multiverse team up with teenager Miles Morales after he gains his own superpowers just in time to face his universe's greatest supervillains.
With Into the Spider-Verse now available to stream on Netflix, CBR is breaking down some of the best stories that helped inspire it and are completely accessible to new readers.
Spider-Verse: Spider-Gwen
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One of the biggest breakout characters from Into the Spider-Verse is Spider-Gwen, an alternate incarnation of Gwen Stacy from Earth-65 who gained her powers from a radioactive spider bite to become the Spider-Woman of New York City.
Spider-Verse: Spider-Gwen collects the superhero's earliest adventures and debut appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 by creators Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez and Rico Renzi. The story shows Gwen on the run from the authorities after the death of Peter Parker and his brief rampage as Earth-65's Lizard while a new reptilian menace stalks New York. This volume also features an appearance from Spider-Man: Far From Home villain Mysterio.
Spider-Man Noir
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One of the more offbeat alternate universe lines Marvel has launched in recent years is Marvel Noir, a reimagining of many of the Marvel Universe's superheroes in a 1930s time period blending pulp fiction and film noir sensibilities. The flagship character of this more monochrome line is Spider-Man Noir.
Spider-Man Noir by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico collects the entire inaugural miniseries that launched the line in 2009, with the Peter Parker of 1933 fighting a fearsome mob boss known as the Goblin, ruling the throwback setting with an iron fist.
Amazing Spider-Man: Back to Basics
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After years of Spider-Man running with the Avengers, working for a cutting edge scientific think tank and launching his own multi-billion worldwide tech company, the new creative team of Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley brought the wall-crawler back to his New York working class roots at the start of their run.
The aptly titled Amazing Spider-Man: Back to Basics had Peter move in with a new, secretly villainous roommate, take on new challenges dating in Manhattan and confront an evil imposter. Spencer and Ottley's relaunch of Spider-Man is a welcome look at what has made the character so timelessly appealing for decades and makes a perfect jumping-on point for Peter Parker's ongoing adventures.
Spider-Verse: Miles Morales
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Miles Morales is one of Marvel's biggest new characters in the 21st century. Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. teenager Miles Morales gained spider powers of his own to become the new Spider-Man, taking on both old and new villains after the apparent death of Peter Parker in the Ultimate Universe.
Spider-Man: Spider-Verse - Miles Morales collects the new web-slinger's earliest adventures, both in his own reality in the Ultimate Universe and his integration into the main Marvel Universe following the events of crossover event Secret Wars. The collection shows how exactly Miles got his slick, new costume and how he stepped up to defeat the evil Blackheart and how Miles Morales became the fan-favorite Spider-Man for a new generation.
Spider-Men
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For years, the Ultimate Universe and main Marvel Universe were kept separate to let both realities grow and tell their own stories without any potential interference. In 2012, Miles Morales creators Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli teamed up for Spider-Men, a miniseries that had the main universe's Peter Parker accidentally transported to the Ultimate Universe where he would he meet Miles for the first time.
Pursuing Ultimate Mysterio, Peter finds himself trapped in the Ultimate Universe, a world resembling his own with several major differences including his double's final fate. As Peter takes on a mentor role for Miles, the two web-slinging superheroes are in for the adventure of their lifetimes and form a bond that would quickly become central to them both.
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