Spider-Island: A Complete Guide to Spider-Man's New York Takeover

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #52.LR by Nick Spencer, Matthew Rosenberg, Federico Vicentini, Marcio Menyz, Erick Arciniega and VC's Ariana Maher, on sale now.

Long before the current Last Remains storyline, Spider-Island was one of the most ambitious and exciting events ever to be published in Amazing Spider-Man. The story bestowed spider-powers upon all of New York's citizens, giving them all of Peter Parker's power and none of his responsibility.

The 2011 event, by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, had a massive impact on all of Spider-Man's world at the time. By the end of "Spider-Island," New Yorkers had wall-crawled a mile in Spider-Man's shoes. Now, we're taking a look back at Spider-Island, the build-up to the event and its consequences for Spider-Man's world later on.

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE SPIDER-ISLAND

The build-up to Spider-Island began way back in 2004's Spectacular Spider-Man #15-20, by Paul Jenkins, Michael Ryan and Humberto Ramos. These issues introduced the Queen, one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes. Adriana Soria was a soldier in World War II who was part of a program to replicate the Super-Soldier Serum. Without her consent, however, Adriana was flooded with a large amount of radiation to activate any latent mutant abilities. Though she survived, Adriana went insane and disappeared for the next several years.

Re-emerging as the Queen, Adriana demonstrated the ability to command insects and any humans with the "insect gene." The Queen tried to make Spider-Man her mate, controlling his mind and mutating the web-head into a giant spider. Fortunately, Spider-Man overcame The Queen's control and defeated her. Additionally, in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, the Jackal had returned. Miles Warren was slowly infecting New Yorkers with genetically altered bed-bugs, gradually giving individuals spider-powers. The Jackal also resurrected Peter's clone, Kaine, as a giant spider called "Tarantula."

WHAT HAPPENED IN SPIDER-ISLAND

After infecting enough people, the Jackal recruited a group of spider-powered criminals. Dressing them all up like Spider-Man, the mad geneticist sent these criminals to wreak havoc around New York. While heroes like the Avengers arrived to combat this threat, Spider-Man himself felt powerless to stop the chaos. Indeed, with so many Spider-Men around, the original web-slinger thought he would only get in the way. Yet, reminded by Mary Jane that being Peter Parker is what makes him special, the wall-crawler inspired ordinary New Yorkers with spider-powers to take back their city. Afterward, New York was put under quarantine, since the spider-virus had become airborne. Meanwhile, Horizon Labs and Reed Richards worked on a cure for this epidemic. For a time, everyone enjoyed their spider-powers, and Peter relished the chance to web-sling out in the open. Eventually, however, all those infected by the virus mutated into giant spiders.

This horrific turn of events revealed that The Queen was behind Spider-Island, creating an army of spiders which she could control in order to make her more powerful. Indeed, the Queen had even mutated Captain America into her very own "Spider-King." Only Spider-Man and other superheroes with powers remained unaffected. Mary Jane was still human as well since it took her longer than others to develop spider-powers. These heroes worked to defend a series of jammers around Manhattan, which kept the spiders from leaving the city. In the meantime, Horizon Labs developed a cure for the virus from Eddie Brock's Anti-Venom suit. When Kaine was sent to destroy the cure, Peter fought and cured his clone, who told the web-head about The Queen's plan. Teaming up, Peter, Kaine and the other heroes confronted the Queen, who turned into a giant spider. While everyone else fought the Queen, MJ helped Peter while he mentally controlled Doc Ock's octobots, using them to deliver the cure to millions of people at once. Curing everyone weakened The Queen just enough for Kaine to kill the villainess once and for all.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER SPIDER-ISLAND

After defeating the Queen, Kaine left town with one of Peter's high-tech suits. Moving to Houston, Kaine became the new Scarlet Spider, in honor of Peter's other clone, Ben Reilly. Additionally, synthesizing the spider-virus cure depleted Eddie Brock's Anti-Venom suit of its powers. This left room for Eddie's reunion with the Venom symbiote years later. Unfortunately for Spider-Man, using Doc Ock's octobot helmet left an imprint of his own brainwaves. Taking advantage, Octavius used this device to switch bodies with Spider-Man, leaving Peter to die in his frail and damaged body. For a while, Octavius then became the "Superior Spider-Man." Most recently, the "Spider-Island" virus came back in the "Last Remains" story arc. The Sin-Eater used the Queen's virus to infect his own men, wishing to attract Morlun. In this way, Stan Carter can "cleanse" the vampire of his sins and absorb Morlun's powers to kill Spider-Man. To this day, "Spider-Island" has far-reaching consequences on Spider-Man and his friendly neighborhood of New York.

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