"Aw #$%&. We're doing another Spider-Verse again aren't we?"
End of the Spider-Verse is a 2022 comic book event from Marvel Comics, a Bat Family Crossover storyline within the Spider-Man comics. It's the third sequel to 2014's Spider-Verse following 2018's Spider-Geddon, and has been announced as the grand finale of the Spider-Verse saga (though it plays out more like a Series Fauxnale instead).—Spider-Man
Like its predecessors, it's set in the shared Marvel Universe, but is also an Alternate Universe story, with Spider-Man joining an Alliance of Alternates against a common threat.
The dark wasp-goddess Shathra, newly resurrected, seeks to supplant the Web of Life and Destiny created by her little sister, the Great Weaver Neith, with her own Great Nest. To do so, she needs to corrupt or kill as many of Neith's Spider-Totems as possible, and she has her eyes set on the Spider-Man of Earth-616.
Comics involved in End of the Spider-Verse
- Edge of the Spider-Verse (Vol. 2) #1-7
- Spider-Man (Vol. 4) #1-5
End of the Spider-Verse contains the following tropes:
- Ascended Meme: The end of the event prominently features the "Only a science major could do X" line from Spider-Man's origin story, likely a reference to Linkara's use of it as a running gag on Atop the Fourth Wall whenever Peter does something outlandish.
- Bittersweet Ending: Shanthra is defeated and the Spiders transformed or erased are restored, including Kaine Parker, who was erased before the story started, and a mysterious young hero called Spider-Boy, who runs off in frustration. However, Peter's restoration means that he loses his happier world and with Cindy the real Chosen One, Peter opts to just protect his world.
- Bond One-Liner: Peter's line as he takes out Shathra, "I'm Peter Parker, and this is my Great Web-Shooter. Thwip."
- The Bus Came Back: Part 6 and 7 reveals that every spider totem that Morlun had consumed, numbering in the millions have been revived and rewrote the Web of Life, freeing it from Shathra's influence.
- Bus Crash: Part 2 reveals that the other Inheritors were eaten by the transformed Spider-Ma’am, making Morlun the Last of His Kind.
- California University: It's noted that Anya Corazon — who got her powers when she was 15 — is now studying journalism at Empire State University, the same university that Ghost-Spider attends and that Spider-Man once attended and taught at.
- The Chosen One: Madame Web says that Peter is the one who will defeat Shathra in the end. Then he ends up being Ret-Gone. Then it is revealed that the real Chosen One was Cindy all along. And then Peter defeats Shathra after all - not as Spider-Man but as plain, non-powered Peter Parker.
- Cosmic Retcon:
- It's soon revealed that the cursed dagger doesn't erase Spider-Totems from existence, it simply rewrites their history so that they never became empowered. Everyone thinks Peter Parker got erased but really his history was rewritten to become Cindy Moon's tech support in her career as Silk.
- Used on Morlun, the cursed dagger unleashes all the Spider-Totem energy he ever consumed, restoring all his victims to life and completely reconstructing the Great Web, sweeping the Spiders around in the shockwave as Earth-616 seemingly becomes the new Loomworld.
- The Corruptor: Shathra seeks to overwrite her sister Neith's Great Web with her own Great Nest, and is using her venom to mutate Spider-Totem avatars into Wasp-Totem avatars in order to achieve this.
- Darkest Hour: By the start of Part 4, the Spiders have hit this with the deaths of Spiders-Man and Spider-Osborn and the Ret-Gone of Peter Parker.
- Didn't See That Coming: The heroes are taken off-guard when Kaine is brought back, not realizing he was erased. They’re further surprised with the arrival of Spider-Boy.
- Divine Delegation: Nieth designed her Great Web to be maintained by her Spider-Totems, being both compassionate for mortals to determine their own fate and too young to be interested in doing all that work herself.
- Enemy Mine: Morlun of the Inheritors has been a recurring enemy of Spider-Man since J Michael Straczynski's run, was The Dragon to Solus' campaign against the Spider-Totems, and the Big Bad of the Spider-Geddon. Here, he decides to ally with Spider-Man to stop Shathra... though Spider-Man assumes that Morlun is once again behind the new Spider-Verse threat and attacks him.
- Face–Monster Turn: Shathra's venom corrupts the avatars of Spider-Totems into Wasp-Totem avatars, with victims including Spiderling (Annie-May Parker) from Earth-18119, Ghost-Spider (Gwen Stacy) from Earth-65, Spider-Ham (Peter Porker) from Earth-8311, Spider-Man Noir (Peter Parker) from Earth-90214, and Spider-Woman (May Parker) from Earth-982.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Before Spider-Osborn is killed, he launches the last strand of the Great Web into the multiverse, landing it on Earth-616.
- For Want Of A Nail: Issue #5 reveals that, when Peter is severed from the Web of Life, his entire history is altered, along with Silk's. In this new timeline, Peter missed getting bit and Cindy is bitten only instead. When the Burglar arrives at their home, it's Peter who's shot and Uncle Ben takes the man down. Thankfully, Peter survives and his standing with Flash and others improves greatly because he tried to save his adopted parents. Cindy became Silk and took over adventures Peter would have and Peter would go on to try and help Cindy in her adventures.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: As it turns out, Morlun and the Inheritors were so dangerous was because they were leech totems and absorbing various Spider-Totems allowed them access to the Web of Life and Loomworld.
- Genre Refugee: In amidst all the various spider-folk in a battle against a multiversal threat, there's also Spinstress, a send-up of Disney's various princess characters. Her breaking out into a musical number mid-exposition confuses the other spider folk.
- Grand Finale: For the Spider-Verse Trilogy.
- Humiliation Conga: Morlun suffers a series of humiliation in Part 6 and 7 where not only does Shathra reveal that the inheritors were Leech Totems but Silk cuts him open with the Totem Dagger leaving him a shrivelled husk. Morlun survives, but runs away to hide after his defeat.
- The Immune: Numerous.
- In Part 3, Miles is only partially transformed as he's officially part of both 616 and 1610 Earths.
- In Part 4, Miles discovers different other Spiders including Spinneret, Earth-982 Peter Parker, Syllie Spider, Spider-Mobile and even the Atari 2600 Spider-Man, all unable to be changed because they were non-humans (specifically one is a Sentient Vehicle, an 8-Bit Videogame character, and Earth-982 Peter Parker is currently the host of The Other) or, in Spinneret's case, not an actual Spider-Totem.
- Join or Die: Shatra's Wasp-Totems issue the ultimatum of joining them or being wiped from existence to the Spider-Totems of Earth-616.
- "Just So" Story: Shathra's origins are a textbook case. She was picked by her elder gods to determine the fate of mortal lives and designed her Great Nest as the model. Her playful sister, Neith, designed the Great Web instead. The Great Nest got a cold reception, while the Great Web was celebrated and Neith was unexpectedly offered the job. While Neith only agreed with Shathra's blessing, the latter was so bitter over being usurped she sent her wasps after Neith's spiders in revenge, explaining their predation.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Spider-Boy, the Amalgam version of Spider-Man and Superboy, is Killed Offscreen in Morlun's backstory, with only his arm showing up proper.
- Let's You and Him Fight: When Spider-Man (Earth-616) runs into Morlun after learning he and the other Earth-616 Spiders are in for a new Spider-Verse event, he assumes the Inheritor is the Big Bad again. Once Shathra's minions attack, Morlun informs his long-time nemesis that he's actually here to help face an even greater threat.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Spider-Man of Earth-616 Beta is Peter Palmer, Spiderman. "Spiderman" is what he called himself all the way back in Amazing Fantasy #15, without the iconic hyphen, while "Peter Palmer" was one of those many mistakes Stan Lee made in writing. Palmer's personality is the same as Parker's back then too, with him being very full of himself.
- During Shathra's rant in Part 6, she says: "Enough with the madnesszz of these multiverzezz!".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Peter decides trying to restore Jessica should be a priority, thus he recruits Anya and Felicia to try and find an artifact that can save her. However, Morlun remembers that Noir has the special dagger and decides to return to Earth-616 to get it. Not only does this allow Shathra to realize where everyone is, the Spider-Princess is turned, the artifact is destroyed and Peter is erased as the dagger was in Ghost Spider’s possession.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: As it turns out, the dagger was meant to be used by The Chosen One, and when Cindy gets a hold of it and stabs Morlun, he ends up releasing every Spider-Totem he absorbed.
- Pretender Diss: Shathra denounces the Inheritors as base thieves for squatting on Loomworld, which was intended to be a residence for gods.
- Prophecy Twist: In the first act, Julia Carpenter states that Peter Parker is the chosen one of the Spider-Verse because he's the only one she can foresee defeating Shathra, then he seemingly gets erased. Turns out Cindy is the true chosen one, while the prediction for Peter is because his history is rewritten to be Cindy's tech support and he was the one who dealt the finishing blow with a device he made.
- Red Herring: Julia Carpenter spends the entire event harping on about how the Peter Parker of Earth-616 is The Chosen One and how she and the other Spider-Totems don't have a chance at defeating Shathra without him. In issue #6, Cindy Moon is revealed to have been the real chosen one all along.
- Reformed Bully: In the world where Peter was never bitten by the spider, he's badly injured saving Uncle Ben from the robber. Peter shows up at school, using crutches, only to be hassled by some students. To Peter's shock, none other than Flash Thompson comes to his aid, warning everyone to leave Peter alone. Flash apologizes to Peter for his own bullying, impressed by the guts Peter showed saving his aunt and uncle and the two become friends.
- Remember the New Guy?: Literally with Spider-Boy. He’s apparently from Earth-616 and allied with Peter and Miles, but was somehow severed from the Great Web for so long, no one remembered him.
- Ret-Gone: Shathra's forces possess a cursed dagger that cuts whoever it stabs from the Great Web. While the totems believe it erases them from existence, the reveal that Peter is still alive means it just rewrites them as never gaining spider-powers.
- Sequel Hook: Morlun disappears as he is completely weakened, setting up his return in the Summer of Symbiotes event.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Spider-Man (Earth-616) realizes they're in for a new Spider-Verse event, he's extremely dismayed. Both Anya and Morlun have this when they meet Peter Palmer of Earth-616 Beta, who they need to fill in for Peter Parker.
- Wham Shot: Part 4 ends with Peter Parker, thought Ret-Gone, alive and well at OsCorp.
- You Are Who You Eat: Shathra states that because the Inheritors consumed Spider Totems for so long, they essentially are Spider Totems themselves, making Morlun prey for her as well. She also says this was intentional on Solus' part to maintain their access and control of Loomworld.
