Spider-Man does whatever a spider can, but in the Marvel comics universe he’s not always working alone. There have been several crossovers that have seen him team up with other versions of Spider-Man from across the multiverse. That might leave you wondering just how many versions of Spider-Man there are? Here’s what you need to know.
Here Are Some of the Multiverse’s Many Spider-People
There are a lot of different versions of Spider-Man, too many to count. Each crossover, Spider-Geddon, Spider-Verse, What If, and so on adds in a few more. Across the Spider-Verse’s many, many Spider-Men might seem like overkill, but the comics have touched on at least that many. Here are just a few of the alternative Spider-Men and Spider-People that have turned up in Marvel comics, some of whom have also figured into the Spider-Verse movies.
- Spider-Ham (a spider bitten by a radioactive cartoon pig)
- Spiders Man (a colony of spiders who ate Peter Parker but retain his memories)
- Spider-Girl (daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson)
- Zombie Spider-Man (a flesh-eating Peter Parker who’s smarter than the average zombie)
- Spider-Ma’am (Aunt May, not Peter, was bitten by a radioactive spider)
- Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar, granted spider powers by a yogi)
- Spider-Punk (Hobie Brown, a punk-rock Spider-Man)
- Spider-Man Noir (a 1930s Spider-Man)
- Japanese Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro, direct from the actual Japanese Spider-Man series).
- The Spider (Captain George Stacy, who uses his spider-powers off duty)
And so on and so on and so on… I could keep going, but I’d be here all day. Instead, it’s simpler if I just round up the Spider-Men and Spider-People who are or were active in the ‘main’ Earth-616 universe.
Here Are all the Main Marvel Universe’s Spider-Men
The regular Marvel universe is designated 616 and it has its own collection of Spider-People. They range from Peter Parker, all the way through to Otto Octavius (yes, Doctor Octopus). So, here’s who’s swinging around the regular Marvel comics universe. Not all of these characters are active at any given time but, knowing how the storytelling wheel spins, they’ll be back.
(Marvel / Inhyuk Lee)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Spider-Man (Miles Morales, originally from the Ultimate Universe, transplanted to the main Marvel Universe)
- Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew, though the Spider-Woman name has been used by other characters)
- Silk (Cindy Moon, bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker)
- Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker)
- Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy, also not from the Earth-616, but she studies and sometimes lives there).
- Spider-Woman (Mattie Franklin, niece of J. Jonah Jameson)
- Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker, another Peter Parker clone, also using the Scarlet Spider name)
- Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon, given spider-powers by a secret society)
- Superior Spider-Man (formerly Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius, who once stole Peter Parker’s body but later got his own semi-cloned body)
- Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara, a Spider-Man from the future).
- Spider-Boy (Bailey Briggs, though the nature of his existence is questionable)
There have been a couple more 616 Spider-Men but they’ve been permanently sidelined and/or rebranded. So, the answer to how many Spider-Man versions are there is ‘a lot’ if you’re talking about the multiverse and twelve if you mean the main Marvel comics universe.
