WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Verse #5 by Christos Gage and Juan Ferreyra, on sale now
There are nearly countless Spider-Heroes across the multiverse, each hailing from different versions of the world. One of the most notable is Spider-Man Noir, the crimebuster from a noir version of the Marvel Universe.
Unfortunately, the character was killed during the events of Spider-Geddon, which makes it all that more surprising that he just appeared in Spider-Verse. Miles Morales just found out that Spider-Man Noir is alive again after the events of Spider-Geddon. But how did his ally come back from the grave?
HARD KNOCK LIFE
Spider-Man Noir hails from Earth-90214, otherwise known as Earth Noir. On this world, all of the core Marvel characters come from a version of New York City that's firmly set in the gangster era of the 1920s and 1930s. The Peter Parker of this world ended up being bitten by a spider that snuck out of an ancient and mysterious statue. This connected Peter Parker to the Spider God, and granted him powers. He became the vigilante known as Spider-Man, and went up against gangster versions of Kraven the Hunter, the Chameleon, the Vulture and his two greatest enemies -- the crime lord known as The Goblin and a German scientist named Otto Octavius.
Thanks to his willingness to kill if the situation called for it, Spider-Man Noir was recruited by the Superior Spider-Man during the events of Spider-Verse. Spider-Man Noir then became one of the Web Warriors, a group of Spider-Heroes from across the multiverse who worked together to protect the Web of Destiny. But during the events of Spider-Geddon, Peter was attacked by Morlun and drained of his life energy. He attempted to kill both of them with a grenade, but the explosion failed to kill Morlun. That appeared to be the end of the character, with Gwen Stacy eventually making her way to the Noir world to bring closure to his friends and family. But fans now know that wasn't the case.
HOW IS SPIDER-MAN NOIR BACK?
When Miles Morales is sent to the Noir world, he's surprised to find that Spider-Man Noir is actually alive. Miles was among the assembled Spider-Heroes who saw him die in Spider-Geddon. It's revealed that when this Peter died, he saw deep darkness -- but then heard a voice. It turns out the Spider-God of his world was not finished with him. Peter was awoken on his own world, wrapped in a web-cocoon and was alive again. He quickly resettled into his old life, returning to his old role as a vigilante and detective.
However, this doesn't mean that this version of Peter Parker has infinite resurrections. Miles ends up needing the spider statue to help repair Loomworld. He's reluctant to take the statue though, because this could remove Peter's chance of coming back from death. Spider-Man Noir doesn't seem perturbed by this development though. He doesn't believe that he needs any special perk that the rest of the world doesn't get, and is content to just be living again.
It makes sense why Marvel would bring back the character. Spider-Man Noir was one of the notable characters to appear in the animated Spider-Verse film, as played by Nicolas Cage. What's interesting is that it puts the Spider-God front and center as a multiversal presence, proving that it's capable of bringing people back to life from across universes. This could mean the Spider-God is more powerful than ever anticipated, and clearly has some designs for Spider-Man Noir going forward. But whether they are for the betterment or ruin of the world remains unknown.