This thread's for the Spider-Man comics and spin-offs, whether they're decades old or brand new.
- Apart from the main Marvel Universe titles, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man "What If?" stories, crossovers, guest appearances in other books, Alternate Universe tales and things like Marvel's manga adaptations are all on-topic here.
- Spider-Man 'family' books are on-topic (as are their own crossovers, guest appearances etc.) - e.g. Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Venom, Carnage, Black Cat, Red Goblin and Spider-Verse.
- Characters and comics that originated in Spider-Man but are no longer directly connected to the spider-franchise (e.g. Punisher, Silver Sable) are not on-topic, unless you're discussing historical connections and crossovers. If in doubt, check before you write a long post. If this isn't the right place, there's a more general Marvel Comics thread
which covers them.
Technically, Marvel's Infinity Comics (and their predecessors, Infinite Comics) are webcomics, not comic books, but it's fine to talk about their Spider-Man stories here.
Discussions that are only about Spider-Man adaptations in other media (films, video games etc.) are off-topic, but discussing the differences between the adaptations and the original comics is fine - as long as spoilers for the adaptations are tagged.
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- tag spoilers for the latest issues, for any previews or content leaks, and for off-topic comics. When including spoiler tags, try to write so that tropers can make an informed decision before viewing them (e.g. which series and issue will they spoil?).
Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
The Symbiotes, like Peter's clones, are an example of dimishing returns on a good idea. Just as I'd argue you don't need to go beyond Ben and Kaine as the only living clones of Spider-Man (that includes you Miles, and I don't mean Warren), you don't need to go beyond Venom and Carnage. And I'd even go as far as to say you don't even need Carnage.
Now there's a dark god of darkness that created the symbiotes.
And Venom is the king in black apparently.
Normally I don't care much for mixing magic with Spider-Man lore but Knull sounds like a cool bad guy.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
He’s MUCH less interesting than he sounds, believe me. Though Eddie as his replacement has been a fairly good story so far, if you don’t mind time travel bullshit (which I hate).
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Agreed, very much agreed. Venom and Carnage are the only symbiotes who have any reason to exist, even the good ones like Sleeper, Toxin, or Mania don’t really contribute anything that couldn’t be done with just Venom and Carnage. Now that I think about it, the same is true of the Goblins; everything past the various Green Goblins and Hobgoblins has been either a hard miss or just forgettable. And you mentioned the clones, which I’ve gone over, how Ben and Kaine are the only ones who have any real right or reason to keep existing.
Man, the series is really bad about this kinda thing thinking about it now, huh? Think the one exception where it worked was Kraven’s family, since each family member was radically different and it could’ve worked really well as a “family blood feud between the Parkers and Kravinoffs” kind of thing if they committed to it, but they didn’t.
Edited by immortaleditor on Oct 23rd 2023 at 8:09:28 AM
The last part would require Peter to ACTUALLY have a family, which Marvel is allergic to.
Frigging, Eddie Brock and Norman Osborn have more of a legacy than Peter does at this point.
Norman's grandson is Carnage apparently.
As for Knull, I think the shit about him being a dark god that is giving orders to Carnage sounds cool.
But I'll see for myself if I find him fun or not.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 23rd 2023 at 11:12:10 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Knull is just one more Omnicidal Maniac in a setting that has plenty. Although if Ewing revisits him or his lore, I'll be interested to see how that goes.
(He also fails the international character name check - "knull" apparently means "fuck" in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, which is a headache for anyone selling Marvel comics there).
Edited by Mrph1 on Oct 23rd 2023 at 4:27:37 PM
Hahahaha, now I remember that.
Though to be fair, in Spider-Man's corner of the world, Knull is a pretty unique existential threat.
Like if they are going to add in some crazy shit like a dark god of darkness might as well do something cool with him besides buying out Spider-Man marriage.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Yeah, it’s so fucked that Venom and Green Goblin have better adjusted life situations and families than Peter right now. Which especially is horrifying when you consider the hell Eddie is going through in his own book, which is STILL less awful than Peter’s life because Eddie at least isn’t being emasculated at every turn and it’s happening because it works for the story and not just to please the creepy middle aged dudes running the editorial.
But now that I mentioned, I really do love that idea I suggested of the Parkers/Spiders and Kravinoffs/Hunters being portrayed as a kind of Hatfields and McCoys-style pair of Feuding Families, with Kraven’s wife as the MJ figure, his sons as Ben and Kaine’s counterparts, Anastasia as Mayday’s challenger, and so on as the story progresses and more family members are added. It could’ve provided a ton of compelling stories, I think. I think part of why I liked Grim Hunt up until it brought Kraven back from the dead was because it seemed to be leaning into that idea.
I feel like if there's any feuding families in Spider-Man's corner, it would be the Parkers and the Osborns.
It was Normie Osborn taking on the mantle of the Green Goblin that caused the creation of Spider-Girl.
And kid Normie was Annie May's villain for a while before reforming just like his MC 2 self.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"![]()
So, where does the Chameleon figure into this?
Incidentally, Marvel did one of their short Who is...? character profile webcomics for Kraven last week. With J. M. DeMatteis writing and Kraven as the narrator.
Definitely better than most of those character profile one-shots. And interesting to get a bit of DeMatteis' spin on more recent Kraven plotlines such as his resurrection and clones.
Edited by Mrph1 on Oct 23rd 2023 at 4:35:53 PM
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I thought that was Mysterio.
x5 True, but I feel like the Osborns have never really had the numbers or longevity of commitment to hating the Parkers that I had in mind, as well as the “family” dynamic that would make them work as Evil Counterpart to the Spiderfamily. Norman was bad but spent most of Spidey’s history pushing up daisies and has rarely been portrayed as a patriarch figure because most of his tiny family rightfully hates him. After Norman, the only Osborns that have ever been real enemies to the Spiders are Harry and (just barely) Normie, the former of whom ALSO died after only a few stories as an enemy and has technically never been resurrected (since BND Harry was just a clone and a good guy besides) and the latter is a Minion with an F in Evil at worst and always becomes a good guy after a very brief stint as a villain.
x4 Chameleon could be any number of equivalents. Maybe for Ezekiel or Jonah or Robbie. Basically an older uncle figure.
Edited by immortaleditor on Oct 23rd 2023 at 8:39:38 AM
Remember when Spencer tried to pretend there was a Spider Family and then said Jessica Drew was a part of it but Ben Reilly wasn’t?
Wasn’t that weird
Forever liveblogging the Avengers![]()
Yeah, bringing Norman back was a massive mistake, I don’t care what anyone says. NONE of the stories he’s been involved in have been good enough to justify bringing him back and I’ve honestly never been sold on Norman as Peter’s archenemy; I find him extremely overhyped and a character who has very little to back up all the bark around him. He really should just be put out of everyone’s misery at this point so we don’t have to spend the rest of eternity watching him flip-flop between Norman and Goblin and “going all out” over and over, the only two stories ever really done with him.
I don’t agree with bringing Harry back — I think Harry had his run and should be allowed to stay dead after the perfect send off that was Best of Enemies — but I DO agree that he’s a way better character then Norman and if we absolutely have to have a Green Goblin, I’d prefer it to be Harry. He was always the better Goblin despite Norman sneering down his nose at him, hilariously enough. He had a better, more interesting dynamic with Spidey, his schemes were more varied and interesting than Norman’s repetitive ones, and Harry has a much better win record against Pete; he even scored wins from beyond the grave!
Yeah that was bizarre. To me, there is a Spider-Family and it’s Peter, MJ, Mayday and Benjy, Ben and Kaine, Aunt May, plus the other Spiders like Silk, Mattie, and Miles. Maybe a few of the Parker’s family friends too. A big family but Jess isn’t part of it and Ben definitely is.
Edited by immortaleditor on Oct 23rd 2023 at 8:54:31 AM

You cheater! YOU CHEATER!
For the record, Otto does have eight: his natural arms and legs, and his four robotic limbs. This lady clearly has six....energy limbs from my count, so she's got too many....
Unless there's a type of Octopus with ten limbs. Because if so,then I'm just an idiot.
Apparently, an evolutionary ancestor of the octopus was recently discovered that had 10 legs. They named it after Joe Biden.
Edited by lbssb on Oct 22nd 2023 at 9:35:45 AM
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