Spider-Verse

A few decades before becoming the star of his own movie franchise, Venom first appeared as Spider-Man’s new black costume. Introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), the black suit was later revealed to be Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988), created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane: a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form that bonds with a host.

Venom became one of Spider-Man’s most prominent villains after bonding with Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who had wrongly accused an innocent man of being the serial killer known as Sin-Eater before Spider-Man exposed the truth. Driven to despair, Brock eventually came into contact with the symbiote. Sharing resentment toward Spider-Man, the two bonded and became Venom.

Originally introduced as a villain, Venom later evolved into an antihero before occasionally returning to his more antagonistic roots. Although Eddie Brock remains the character’s most iconic host, the symbiote has also bonded with figures such as Mac Gargan (Scorpion), Flash Thompson, and others. Over time, Venom’s mythology expanded through the introduction of offspring symbiotes, including Carnage, Scream, Lasher, and Phage. More recently, the mythology surrounding the alien symbiotes has grown into a major part of the Marvel Universe, culminating in the introduction of Knull, the King in Black, and threats on a cosmic scale. This long and evolving history is explored throughout our complete Venom Reading Order.

Read More »Venom Reading Order

Created in 1979 by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Keith Pollard in The Amazing Spider-Man #194, Black Cat is an antiheroine, sometimes girlfriend, ally or enemy of Spider-Man. She is certainly not just Marvel’s Catwoman.

Felicia Hardy is Black Cat, the daughter of Walter Hardy who was a world-renowned cat burglar. The first time we meet her, she wants to break her father out of prison, but her meeting with Spider-Man complicates everything. Past trauma encouraged her to learn to be a fighter but she needed an edge to survive and prove herself in the world of Spidey. A deal with the Kingpin led her to gain her own super-power: she has the (subconscious) ability to affect probability fields, producing “bad luck” for those who want to hurt her.

Her romantic relationship with Spider-Man was tumultuous – and she didn’t want to hear about Peter Parker. They eventually broke up, but Felicia’s life was now entangled between the heroes and criminals of New York. She had to create her own space, becoming for a time some sort of Robin Hood. She still helps Spider-Man, but occasionally double-crosses him.

As years passed, her relationship with Spider-Man eventually found stable ground… until she met the Superior Spider-Man who led her to become a master criminal. For a time, then she got back on the good side and finally got her own ongoing series! The story continues.

Read More »Black Cat Reading Order, Marvel’s Lucky Cat Burglar

The original Madame Web made her first appearance in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #210 in 1980. Created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web was not like other heroes, she wasn’t swinging through the streets or battling villains. Instead, Madame Web possesses psychic sensory powers, including telepathy, clairvoyance, prescience, and the ability to sense psionic powers in others. The first time Peter Parker heard about her and her clairvoyance abilities, he thought she looked like a fraud. But soon enough, Spider-Man would learn that she was anything but.

First introduced as the elderly, blind woman Cassandra Webb, she helped Spider-Man by delivering bad news or asking for his help. She also had the ability to transfer her powers to another individual. When the time came, she passed on her powers to Julia Carpenter (who had once been Spider-Woman), making her the new resident Madame Web.

Known as the ‘Creepy Clairvoyant,’ Madame Web is undeniably a mysterious character and certainly not your typical member of the Spider-Man Family. Her appearances are generally limited to just a few panels or issues within larger storylines. For a fuller understanding of her role, it’s recommended to read the complete story arcs in which she appears.

Forget everything you may have learned from watching Madame Web and explore the often cryptic role of Madame Web in the Spider-Verse with this comic book reading guide, tracing her appearances in Marvel Comics!

Read More »Madame Web Reading Order (Cassandra Webb and Julia Carpenter)

Michael Morbius is a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and a living vampire in the Marvel Universe. Introduced as an enemy of Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971), Morbius became a tragic antihero.

After years of experimentation to eliminate his rare blood disease, he thought he had found a cure, but the side effects changed him dramatically. Now, he has enhanced senses, an aversion to light, and an insatiable thirst for blood. He is not dead. He is a kind of Dhampir, not really a vampire or a mortal human.

Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Morbius is more of a scientific creature than a supernatural one—like the lizard. After a few encounters with Spider-Man, he became the star of his own feature in Marvel’s bimonthly for a while, then he went on to make guest appearances here and there for a long time. He made a comeback during the 1990s. During the next two decades, Morbius joined teams, appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, and sometimes in his own miniseries.

Read More »Morbius Reading Order, Marvel’s Living Vampire

Like Spider-Girl, the code name Spider-Woman has been used by multiple characters in the Marvel Universe. However, the original and most popular incarnation is Jessica Drew. Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist Marie Severin, Jessica Drew made her first appearance in Marvel Spotlight #32 in February 1977. In that debut, she was portrayed as a mysterious agent of Hydra, suffering from amnesia and unsure of her true origins.

At the time, the creation of Spider-Woman was a strategic move by Marvel Comics to secure the trademark for the name before any rival publisher could claim it (like with She-Hulk). Despite the character being born of legal necessity, Jessica Drew quickly gained popularity with readers. This led to Marvel launching her own ongoing series in 1978, with the early issues written by Marv Wolfman. Wolfman revamped the character significantly, giving her the civilian identity of Jessica Drew and establishing her backstory.

Jessica’s origin is famously convoluted. The original version told in her solo series involved her being the daughter of scientist Jonathan Drew and Merriam Drew.? Her father and High Evolutionary built a lab in the fictional Balkan nation of Transia, where, after being exposed to uranium radiation, young Jessica was injected with an experimental serum made from irradiated spider blood and placed in a genetic accelerator to save her life. Over time, her backstory has been retconned multiple times, most notably by Brian Michael Bendis in the early 2000s, who reimagined her past and tied her more directly to Hydra and the espionage world, while changing the explanation for her powers.

Throughout her history, Jessica Drew has had a foot in both the superhero and spy worlds. Known for her enhanced strength, agility, venom blasts, and immunity to toxins, Jessica has worked as an agent for Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., and S.W.O.R.D., and has operated as a private investigator. On the superhero front, she’s been a member of the Avengers, the Secret Avengers, the Web-Warriors, the West Coast Avengers, and more. 

Read More »Jessica Drew Reading Order, the first Spider-Woman

In December 2006, Fabrice Sapolsky, the French writer and creator of Comix Box Magazine, pitched the idea of a 1930s pulp version of Spider-Man to David Hine. This resulted in Marvel Noir, an alternative Marvel Comics continuity that combines elements of film noir and pulp fiction with the Marvel Universe. The Marvel Noir line was launched in February 2009 with Spider-Man: Noir #1 and X-Men: Noir #1. Carmine Di Giandomenico drew the first Spidey stories, and Marko Djurdjevic designed his cool costume.

Earth-90214, also known as Earth-Noir, is a hard-boiled world. Spider-Man’s story begins in the 1930s during the Great Depression, when New York is dealing with economic issues and unemployment is rife. Norman Osborn rules the city with an iron fist, aided by Vulture, Kraven and the Enforcers. Peter Parker was raised by his aunt and uncle, the activists May and Ben Parker, and gained arachnid powers after being bitten by a supernatural spider. If you’re a fan of Batman, this Spider-Man is the closest version of the character in the Spider-Verse. His alias is The Spider-Man for good reason.

Spider-Man Noir quickly became a popular character, earning a sequel and appearing as a playable character in the 2010 video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions — just one year after his first comic appearance.  After around 20 years of existence, Spider-Man has already featured in several crossover stories, as well as video games, TV programmes and films, such as Sony’s animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, voiced by Nicolas Cage. Cage will also portray the character in the upcoming Spider-Man Noir television series (this version being Ben Reilly).

But let’s not just stop at the adaptation of the character! Let’s check out all his adventures in the Spider-Verse with our full guide to the Spider-Man Noir comics from Marvel!

Read More »Spider-Man Noir Reading Order (member of the Spider-Verse)

Created by writer Fiona Avery and artist Mark Brooks, Anya Sofia Corazon is a member of the Spider-Verse since 2004 and is more known right now as being Spider-Girl. But she was Araña when she made her first appearance in Amazing Fantasy vol.2 #1.

She didn’t acquire her abilities following a bite by a spider, but after having her life saved by the mage Miguel Legar from the Spider Society. He performed a ritual on her by giving her a spider-shaped tattoo that endows her with spider-like powers and recruits her to be a Hunter for the Spider Society (a secret society worshipping Spider-Totems, created by J. Michael Straczynski during his run on Spider-Man).

The Latina daughter of a Puerto Rican father and a Mexican mother, she had been the star of her own (short) series and been affiliated with the Spider Society, the Young Allies (during the Heroic Age), the Avengers Academy, and the Web Warriors. Simply put, like all respected members of the Spider-Verse, Anya Corazon has her fair share of adventures, and to discover them, we made this reading order

Read More »Anya Corazon Reading Order (Araña, Spider-Girl)