Though it might not seem that way while reading the comics or watching the films thanks to him being taken as a joke by hero and villain alike, Spider-Man is one of the most enduring and popular superhero characters of all time. His unique costume, wisecracking attitude and earnest attempt to do the right thing even though it seems like the entire world is working against him has made him the ultimate superheroic underdog that fans can’t help rooting for. He's the kid that grew into a hero, then a man who became the working-class Avenger that we all came to know and love. No other superhero, whether it be in Marvel or DC, represents us common folk more than young Peter Parker.
And when you’re that enduring and popular, it’s impossible not to wind up with a number of… well, not clones, but reinterpretations of the core concept. In the close to 60 years since the character’s creation, we’ve seen Spider-Man go through dozens of reinterpretations -- sometimes what makes him heroic and honorable is kept intact… and sometimes it isn’t. In honor of the upcoming Spider-Geddon, where Spider-Men from across the multiverse will be teaming up once again to topple an impossible threat, we decided to look at some of most unique of alternate universe versions of Spider-Man in a new light. While there are quite a few that fail to match up to the original Wall-Crawler, there are quite a few that actually match up and manage to surpass Spider-Man himself.
20 WORSE: CAPTAIN SPIDER
In What If? Vol. 1 #7, it was Flash Thompson who got Spider powers. Like Peter, Flash wound up challenging a wrestler for a cash prize, but without realizing his own strength he wound up killing the guy instead. Guilt ridden, Flash decided to become Captain Spider to make up for what he had done. Over time, he would wind up became a superhero, but would get himself killed.
Aside from this version of Spider-Man dying because he wasn’t smart enough to invent web shooters, in general Flash simply didn’t deserve to be a hero. He spent half his time failing his way through classes, the other half bullying Peter Parker. Though Marvel Prime’s Flash eventually becomes Agent Venom and even Anti-Venom.
19 BETTER: SPIDER-UK
Coming from Earth-833, Spider-UK was basically a fusion of Spider-Man and Captain Britain, right down to being Billy Braddock under the mask. He has all of Spider-Man’s powers, and the responsibilities of a Captain Britain, meaning he’s a part of the multiverse spanning Captain Britain Corps.
As one of the youngest recruit of the Corps, he becomes one of the first Spider-Men to notice what’s being done to them at the hands of the Inheritors. He witnesses the deaths of numerous Spider-Men and tries to seek aid from the overseers of the Captain Britain Corps, Saturnye and Lady Roma. They supplied him with means to gather other Spider-Men to fight back against the Inheritors. He eventually formed the Web Warriors to keep the Great Web intact.
18 WORSE: SPIDER-MAN NOIR
The Marvel Noir Universe was meant to be a shake up to the usual high octane adventure of the Marvel Universe , downplaying the superpowers and playing up noir-ish characterization. Set during the Great Depression, this Peter was mentored by reporter Ben Urich, eventually coming in contact with a Spider-statue that breaks and after being bit, he has a dream of a spider-god and is bestowed with special abilities including organic webbing.
He immediately sets out to use his powers to bring down The Goblin. There’s really nothing wrong with this version, save that he’s weaker than the original. He carries a pistol around to make up for it, but it feels less like because it feels like he can’t get the job done without weapons.
17 BETTER: SPIDER-MAN: INDIA
Spider-Man of India proves that a good superhero story can reach any culture. Set on Earth-50101, Spider-Man: India is about Pavitr Prabhakar, a boy in India who moved to Mumbai to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents passed away. Unlike Peter, he didn’t get his gifts from a radioactive spider. Instead, after a crime lord known as Nalin Oberoi attempted to open an evil gate, and Pavitr was instead granted the “proportionate strength and speed of a spider” by a yogi in stop him.
Though Pavitr made the same mistake of not using his powers to save his Uncle Bhim, he managed to get his act together much quicker, and shouldered the responsibility of saving the world from a far larger threat than the “friendly neighborhood” Spider-Man usually does.
16 WORSE: UNCLE BEN
On Earth-3145, Ben Parker accompanied his nephew to the science exhibit and wound up being bitten by the radioactive spider instead. After Peter created a costume for him, he became a version of Spider-Man for his Earth, and fought crime as best he could…until the Emerald Elf discovered his secret identity, and retaliated by killing May and Peter.
Broken by what he’d caused, Ben eventually accepts Ezekiel Sims’ offer to stay inside a bunker to protect himself from Morlun and the Inheritors. Unfortunately, after giving up on being Spidey, an accident with nuclear weapons wound up destroying the world. Much as Peter ponders giving up, he never does. But Ben did that, and because Spider-Man wasn’t around the entire planet gets wiped out.
15 BETTER: SPIDER-BOY
Following DC vs Marvel, the Amalgam Universe was born. One of the creations was Spider-Boy, a combination of Spider-Man and Superboy. He's a clone of a researcher at Project Cadmus named Peter Parker. At the same time Parker is killed, his clone emerges from an explosion, displaying the ability to control gravity, giving him abilities like walking on walls and super strength.
For a while Spider-Boy is taken under the wing of General Thunderbolt Ross, the head of the project, until he gets killed by a mugger. Eventually returning to Project Cadmus, he adopts their special web pistol and fights super-crime for them while doubling as a photographer for a tabloid known as the Daily Bugle.
14 WORSE: SPIDER-MAN 1602
This version of Spider-Man exists on an Earth where the Marvel Universe started 400 years before it was meant to. In this world, Peter is named Peter Parquagh, and is taken in by Nicholas Fury to become his assistant. For most 1602, Peter plays the loyal role of Fury’s assistant, until Fury finally betrays King James. In the aftermath of dealing with the rift that created this timeline, Peter finds himself bitten by a spider, becoming the Spider-Man of his Earth.
Much like Peter Parker on other Earths, he gains the usual Spider-powers, but they happen to be far weaker than what Spider-Man’s generally known for. He eventually becomes “The Spider” and protects Roanoke with his abilities. Unfortunately he’s easily defeated and his life force drained by Morlun.
13 BETTER: SPIDER-GIRL
In an issue of What If? entitled “Legacy…in Black and White”, the creators explored what would have happened if Mary Jane had a baby girl who developed spider-powers. After Norman’s grandson, Normie, decides to become the new Green Goblin, May shows up wearing Ben Reilly’s old costume.
Mayday Parker’s popularity would wind up creating an entire universe. It’s hard to argue Mayday isn’t superior to her father and she’s got the voice of her dad in her head, showing her the ropes. Most recently, she became the only spider-person on her planet after her father was killed at the hands of Daemos, leaving her to raise her baby brother and fight crime.
12 WORSE: EARTH-X SPIDER-MAN
On Marvel's dystopian Earth-X, we were given an opportunity to witness a world in which all of humanity gained superpowers thanks to Black Bolt exposing the world to the Terrigen Mists.
On this Earth, Peter eventually had his identity exposed, and he would eventually go on to become a member of the NYPD at the behest of Luke Cage, scouted for his experience in dealing with superpowers. Though there’s nothing wrong with being a cop, Peter also retired from being Spider-Man for years afterwards until being forced to because his daughter was under control of the Skull. C’mon Pete, quitters never win.
11 BETTER: SPIDER-ASSASSIN
Ever wondered what Peter would be like if he finally cut loose from his overly moral shackles? Well, we got a glimpse in “The Spider Who Went Into the Cold”, courtesy of the What If? Series.
In that story, Peter tracked Wolverine down in an attempt to stop him from killing his friend, who was working for the KGB. This forced him over the edge and he became an assassin working alongside Wolverine. This version of Spider-Man is stronger, faster, more durable, and his Spider-Sense is honed to the point that it’s closer to precognition. He’s also very much not afraid of using a gun to achieve his goal of taking out the bad guys, but that couldn't save him from Daemos during "Spider-Verse".
10 WORSE: THE SPIDER
First appearing in Exiles Vol. 1 #12 in 2002, this version of Peter Parker starts out as a noted sociopath who likes inflicting harm to people, who not only gains Spider-powers, but the Carnage symbiote as well.
Still, even this Spider-Man managed to do some good when he was recruited by the Timebreakers. As a member of this team, he was assigned to help correct issues across the multiverse, but he just couldn’t seem to settle into a “heroic” role, and he would eventually turn on the team. His zeal to go back to his old ways eventually lead to him being killed by another Earth’s Firestar in one giant blast of energy, and eventually he was buried back on his home Earth.
9 BETTER: LADY SPIDER
May Reilly was a young woman living in New York City in the 1800s who was bit by a spider, but nothing happened. After her father died, May used her substantial intellect to invent mechanical arms that allowed her to climb walls and web-shooters which helped her travel through the city.
As the Lady Spider, May Reilly would go on to fight steampunk-inspired versions of Electro, and the Sinister Six. And although May doesn’t register as a proper Spider-totem due to her lack of powers, she goes on to help the other Spiders in the war against the Inheritors. And that’s what makes May so awesome -- she doesn’t need to be spurred on by tragedy she just does it because it's the right thing.
8 WORSE: HOUSE OF M SPIDER-MAN
In general, every version of Peter who winds up saving Uncle Ben ends up being a worse person for it. Take the House of M version of the character. Peter winds up stopping the criminal who would later take Uncle Ben’s life. As thanks, the wrestling promoter he saves promises Peter a job in his promotion, and the superhuman Peter becomes a star.
As he starts to become successful, the Mutant-Human War begins, and when the mutants eventually win, he reveals his identity and becomes one of the most popular “mutants”. Instead of going on to become a hero, this version looked for movie roles and eventually marries Gwen Stacy. But success isn’t everything; everything he does is predicated on a lie -- at least other versions want to save lives.
7 BETTER: MANGAVERSE SPIDER-MAN
In the early '00s Marvel gave in to the popularity of anime and manga and created the Marvel Mangaverse, a new universe where all their characters would have a distinctly more manga-esque art style and background.
In Spider-Man’s case, Peter Parker was the last member of a secret group of ninjas known as the Spider-Clan. He’s trained by his Uncle Ben in martial arts until Ben is murdered by Venom on the orders of that world’s Kingpin. Though it was all a little exploitative of the trend at the time, this could come back -- all of Spider-Man’s villains could make perfect “last members” of their own animal based clans and maybe we could finally get a universe where Spider-Man could summon a giant robot again.
6 WORSE: SPIDER-CARNAGE
Spider-Carnage wound up being the big boss the '90s Spider-Man: The Animated Series. This version of Peter Parker was basically the same as the normal universe’s, but at some point he lost Aunt May, leaving him deeply depressed.
Unfortunately in this universe Peter found himself cloned by Miles Warren. The clone eventually escaped, and would go on to change his name to Ben Reilly, dying his hair to stand out from Peter and donning a new costume to become the Scarlet Spider. After finding out he might be a clone, Peter attempted to kill Ben once while he was in a battle with the Kingpin, and found himself possessed by the Carnage symbiote from another dimension. His insanity makes him one of the worst versions of Spidey ever.
5 BETTER: SPIDER-HAM
When an animal scientist known as May Porker began experimenting with “the world’s first atomic powered hairdryer”, an accident while using it caused her to become irradiated. While suffering from the effects of the radiation, she bit Peter, a spider staying in her basement lab, and caused him to transform into an anthropomorphic pig . Changing his name to Peter Porker after May’s name, he decides to use his abilities to fight crime, donning a costume and becoming the Spectacular Spider-Ham.
Largely a parody character, Spider-Ham still helped in the "Spider-Verse" event. Having all of the powers of every other Spider-Man, Spider-Ham has the benefit of being a cartoon -- the laws of physics themselves are simply “different” for him than they are for others.
4 WORSE: REIGN SPIDER-MAN
Spider-Man: Reign is meant to be the Wall-Crawler’s version of The Dark Knight Returns. In this futuristic timeline, Peter Parker is a 70-year old man who’s long given up his vigilante ways.
But while trying to live his life in peace, he’s neglected the city and its plagued by the rule of an army of cops known as The Reign. Eventually, Peter decides to make a comeback in order to shut down The Reign, only to wind up doing battle against the Sinner Six while trying to win the city back. Old, grizzled Spider-Man kind of works against everything we’re known to see Spidey as-youthful, vibrant, and bouncy even.
3 BETTER: MILES MORALES
Okay so maybe Miles Morales is currently on the Marvel Prime Earth, but he definitely didn’t start out that way. When Miles’ uncle Aaron Davis stole the formula that created Spider-Man, what he didn’t know was that one of the spiders affected by the formula had crawled into his bag. While visiting, Miles was bitten by one of those spiders and winds up developing superpowers but doesn't do anything with them. Realizing he could have helped when Peter died, he decides to become the new Spidey.
He’s not exactly got the same powers as the original -- he boasts the ability to camouflage himself and essentially turn invisible, but also has a special “venom bite” that can knock out foes well above his weight class.
2 WORSE: ZOMBIE SPIDER-MAN
On this world, Spider-Man becomes one of the first people infected by the Virus, and he very quickly lets it make a mess of him, as some of his earliest victims become his own wife and Aunt May.
Though Peter Parker winds up being one of the first of the zombies to gradually decide he doesn’t want to be a flesh-eating monster anymore, he still never quite puts it together again. He winds up on another Earth, where he ends most of the Sinister Six. Unfortunately, Sandman is left alive and gets so freaked out by the experience he murders the Spider-Man of his Earth when he mistakes him for the zombie.
1 BETTER: SPIDER-MAN 2099
Spider-Man 2099 is Miguel O’Hara, a genius genetics scientist working for the corporation Alchemax. After getting in an accident in an attempt to rewrite his genetic code, Miguel finds himself gifted with powers similar to the original Spider-Man of the past. Gifted with incredible strength, reflexes, organic webbing and highly enhanced senses that replace Peter’s usual Spider-Sense, Miguel eventually takes on a costume and starts fighting against Alchemax.
Just the character’s presence serves as a beacon of hope, as people start to believe in this hero that’s fighting for him. What’s most surprising though is that he actually wins. He becomes the CEO of Alchemax and starts changing the company, making it less oppressive.