WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #2 by Chip Zdarsky, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.

Peter Parker has dealt with his fair share of life-changing events over his long career as a hero, but few can compare to what he now faces in the alternate world depicted in Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow. With a new demeanor as menacing as his new look, Spider-Man has fully embraced his dark side at the nudging of the symbiote that threatens to become a permanent part of him, and may be on the way to literally becoming a monster.

Ever since embracing his bond with the symbiote, Peter has been spiraling into a darkness unlike any that has ever been seen before from the wall-crawler. As Mary Jane discovers when she visits his home, the symbiote's bond with Peter has become something of a default state rather than something to hide. While resting, Peter is completely enveloped by the symbiote, its tendrils reaching out and suspending him from the walls and ceiling in truly terrifying fashion, hinting that a more monstrous change may be on the way.

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Peter Parker is no stranger to shocking changes. In fact, they have been central to some of his most memorable storylines, such as the "Six Arms Saga" which began in 1971's Amazing Spider-Man #100 by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gil Kane. Over the course of three issues, Peter Parker's attempts to rid himself of his powers resulted in him growing four extra arms. Decades later in 2004's Spectacular Spider-Man #17, the long term effects of a mutagenic enzyme transformed Peter into a massive spider before he burst forth from this new form as though it were a cocoon. Both of these previous transformations, as astounding as they were, proved to be short-lived in the end, while the situation in Spider's Shadow appears to something far more permanent for the web-slinger.

The wicked new look that Spider-Man and the symbiote have taken on is not just far different from anything seen before, it might just be a horrifying bit of foreshadowing. Reed Richards has been growing more and more concerned that the bond between Peter and the symbiote is growing closer to becoming permanent. During the time the symbiote has been connected to Eddie Brock, it developed a hulking form, but it still never appeared as horrifying as it does here. The menacing look it took on after bonding to Mac Gargan in 2005's Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10 by Mark Millar and Terry Dodson, was still more human than it's current look. The symbiote has never become the insect-like horror that it is in Spider's Shadow, and it has never become literally inseparable from its host no matter how deep their bond runs.

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It is hard to imagine Peter Parker becoming more symbiote than man, but it was also hard to imagine that the web-slinger could ever devolve into the cold-blooded killer he is in this series.

If the latest issue of Spider's Shadow is any indication, Peter Parker may already be too far gone to emerge from this series as anything less than a monster. And if there isn't anyone who can shake Peter loose from the waking nightmare he has embraced, there might not be much hope for anyone around him.

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