The Gathering

Peter Parker wakes up as his spider-sense is warning him his phone is about to ring. The person who is calling at this early hour of the morning is J. Jonah Jameson who wants Parker to head down to Armstrong Park as there is a super-villain tearing the place up. Changing into Spider-Man, Peter swings down to the park. He arrives to see Morlun tearing the place apart. He is shocked to discover that this foe knows who he really is. Morlun easily overpowers Spider-Man and tells him he has killed Parker on a thousand different Earth’s. This Peter Parker’s final words are that they aren’t actually on Earth. The fact that he is on a world where humanity has colonized the moon is of little concern to Morlun who snaps Spider-Man’s neck and begins draining his life energies.

On Loomworld, aka Earth-001, Verna and Daemos are before the Great Weaver. Eager to feed again, Daemos orders the Weaver to open a portal to a new world. Verna tells her brother to be patient as the Weaver is returning Morlun from his latest world. Now it is Verna’s turn to visit another world in the multiverse and has her servants bring her hounds: Sable, Kravinoff, and Fireheart. With their leashes in hand, Verna crosses through the next portal opened by the Weaver. As she leaves she makes a comment about being sent to a world where the spider is still young as they tend to taste sweeter. Morlun wonders what she meant, and Daemos suggests that she is talking about the world that Morlun fears returning to. Morlun insists he is not afraid of that world, only that he is saving it for last.[1] Daemos then teases his brother suggesting that he might go to Earth-616 himself, but Morlun warns him to stay away from that reality as it is his.

On Earth-616, Peter Parker wakes up and is surprised to find Silk hanging upside down over his bed. As he rushes to get some clothes on, she tells him that she has come to discuss the issue of their “little problem.” This is namely the fact that they are overwhelmed by lust whenever they are together for an extended period of time. She suggests that Peter moves to another city in order to put some much-needed distance between the two of them. Peter finds this ridiculous and once he has his costume on suggests they take their conversation to the roof so they can think more clearly. As they swing across the city, Spider-Man points out that he hadn’t seen Silk for days and suddenly she is now in his room. She explains that suddenly she had this uncontrollable urge to be with him, saying that the Great Web seems to be drawing them together.

Spotting a robbery in progress, Peter tells Cindy to focus on the real world. When they arrive on the scene they discover the Looter is in charge of this robbery, commanding an army of Spiderlings leftover from Otto Octavius’ run as Spider-Man.[2] As Spider-Man and Silk begin their attack the Looter goes down quickly, but the Spiderlings try to make a run for it. That’s when Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, and Spider-Man 2099 arrive on the scene to lend a hand.[3] One of the Spiderlings gets around the corner when he is confronted by three more Spider-Men from other dimensions: Spider-UK of Earth-833, Spider-Girl of Earth-982, and Spider-Ham of Earth-25. The Spider-Man of Earth-616 and his allies are shocked to see these other Spider-Men, particularly since one of them is a cartoon pig. Spider-UK explains that they all come from other realities and that he is gathering an army of Spider-Men from across the multiverse. At first Spider-Man-616 thinks this is some kind of trick and suspects Mysterio might be responsible. That when the Spider-Girl of Earth-928 unmasks revealing that she is Mayday Parker, someone that Peter has met before, convincing him that they are telling the truth.[4]

Spider-Man is quickly told about Morlun and his family, the Inheritors. When he asks if Morlun is coming back, the other Spider-Men says that this time they will be facing his brother, Daemos.[5] Spider-Man realizes that they are in deep trouble and suggests that his fellow spiders follow the others through the dimensional portal.

At that moment, Dameos has arrived on Earth-616 on Mount Wundagore. Here he ambushes the New Warriors in order to get at and consume the life force of the Scarlet Spider. He makes short work of the Warriors and has Kane at his mercy. Suddenly, Kane grows spines that impale Daemos. He realizes that this spider is the host for the Other and looks forward to consuming his life force.[5] However, this attempt is stopped by another squad of Spider-Men who have come to save Kaine. They include the Spider-Man of Earth-70105 (aka Bruce Banner), Old Man Spider of Earth-4, Spider-Woman (aka Gwen Stacy) of Earth-65. Recognizing Gwen’s voice, Kaine thinks that this is another one of the Jackal’s sick games when another Spider-Man — this one from Earth-94 — reveals that he is Ben Reilly convinces him to follow them, offering to provide answers later.[7] The spiders manage to escape, but not without sustaining casualties as Daemos snaps the spine of Spider-Man-70105.

All the spiders from Earth-616 are brought to Earth-13, where a gathering of 20 odd Spider-Men has been brought to Central Park as a refuge. The Peter Parker of Earth-616 can’t believe that there is a Spider-Woman who is Gwen Stacy, or that one of the Spider-Men is Ben Reilly.[8] That’s when the Spider-Man of Earth-13, who is endowed with the power of Captain Universe, arrives and promises to answer all of his Earth-616 counterpart’s questions. First, however, he returns young Ben Parker to his sister, the Spider-Girl of Earth-928, assuring her that he was safe the whole time she was gone. Captain Universe explains to Peter-616 that this is a safe haven because he can protect the Spider-Men from the Inheritors with the Enigma Force that gives him his power. Unfortunately, these powers are tied to Reality-13, and leaving it would reduce Captain Universe to just another Spider-Man. That’s when Captain Universe tells the Earth-616 Spider-Man that they have recruited him to be their leader because, according to them, he is the greatest of all the Spider-Men in the multiverse.

Meanwhile, on Earth-1610, Miles Morales visits his mother’s grave. He tells her how he thinks he is the worst Spider-Man ever since he was unable to save her. He is joined by Jessica Drew, a female clone of this reality’s Peter Parker. She hopes that she doesn’t have to give him another pep talk as she can’t keep replacing his Spider-Man costume every time he rips it up.[9] Their talk is interrupted by Verna, who unleashes her hounds and tells the two spiders to run.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Spider-Army (Silk, Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, Spider-Man 2099, Scarlet Spider, Spider-UK, Spider-Girl (Earth-928), Old Man Spider, Bullet Points Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man (Ben Reilly), Captain Universe, Captain Spider, Spider-Girl (Betty Brant), Prince of Arachne, Spider-Man 2211), Inheritors (Morlun, Daemos, Verna), Sable, Fireheart, Kravinoff, Looter, Master Weaver, New Warriors (Justice, Nova, Water Snake, Sun Girl), Benjy Parker, Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Ultimate Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)

Continuity Notes

Preface: Reality numbers are all confirmed either by Secret Wars: Official Guide to the Marvel Multiverse or the Spider-Geddon Handbook.

1. This would be Earth-616, where that Spider-Man has killed Morlun in battle twice. The first time was in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #30-25 and the second time during the Other: Evolve or Die story arc (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1-4, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19-22, and Amazing Spider-Man #525-528)

2. Otto Octavius took over Peter Parker’s life from Amazing Spider-Man #698 until Superior Spider-Man #31. In Superior Spider-Man #14, Otto hired a bunch of henchmen he called the Spiderlings to help him fight organized crime in the city.

3. It’s mentioned here that Spider-Man 2099 is trapped in this era. Miguel O’Hara hales from Earth-928. He was stranded in the modern age of Earth-616 when he was sent back in time to prevent the Doc Ock Spider-Man from killing his grandfather. He has now been spending his time in this era to prevent Alchemax from becoming the tyrannical mega-corp it is in his own era. See Superior Spider-Man #17-19.

4. This is a reference to Spider-Girl #10-11, which raises some questions. See below.

5. Silk points out that she warned Peter that something like this would happen. She made this warning in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #4.

6. The Scarlet Spider became the host for the Other when he was killed by the Kravinoff family and resurrected. See Amazing Spider-Man #634-637 and Scarlet Spider (vol. 2) #13-15.

7. Kaine can’t believe that he is seeing Ben Reilly. That’s because the Ben Reilly of Earth-616 has been dead for years after ending up on the business end of a Goblin Glider in Spider-Man #75.

8. There are some other notable spider-characters among the crowd here they include:

   • Captain Spider of Earth-78127 and Spider-Girl of Earth-78227 are Flash Thompson and Betty Brant respectively. They both appeared in What If? #7.

   • Prince of Arachne of Earth-71004 who first appeared in Spider-Man Fairy Tales #4.

   • Lastly, we got Max Borne, the Spider-Man of 2211 (or Earth-9500) if you prefer. He was first seen in Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man #1. His appearance here is interesting, see below.

9. Rio Morales was accidentally shot by police and bled out in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (vol. 2) #22. This was also the same issue that Miles ripped up his costume. He eventually was convinced by Jessica to become Spider-Man again see issues #23-28.

Errors

• The Ultimate Universe is incorrectly referenced as Earth-610 instead of Earth-1610. This is obviously a mistake.

The Feast

On Loomworld, located on Earth-001, this world’s Jessica Drew has come to pick up barrels of wine from Joe Robertson. It is for a banquet her masters, the Inheritors, are having and warns Robertson’s employees not to make eye contact with her masters if they value their lives.

In the banquet hall, most of the Inheritors have just finished feasting on three different Spider-Men.[1] Brix, Bora, and Daemos, impatiently want to feast on their kills. Jennix points out that Morlun and Verna should be back from their hunts soon. Their father, Solus, tells his children that they will wait for Morlun to return. That’s when the Master Weaver announces Morlun’s return from Earth-9105, a reality where the Pharaos still reign.[2] Before they can eat, Solus tells his children to hear about their tributes. This leads to Brix and Bola arguing over who the better hunter is, Brix complains that Bora has killed more spiders because one of their recent jaunts into the multiverse led to a clash with their exiled brother, Karn.[3]

Morlun is surprised that they ran into the outcast, while Daemos wonders if he is still wearing his ridiculous helmet. Jennix on the other hand is more concerned about the reports of spiders gathering together, as they have never done this before. Daemos doesn’t think this is a big deal, relating to his trip to Earth-616 where he encountered another group while going after a spider who was also the host for the other. Morlun is furious that Daemos went to Earth-616, because that is a reality he has claimed as his own.

The pair come to blows until Solus orders them to stand down. He tells his children that he knew the location of the Other and also knows where to find the Brid and the Scion because the Great Weaver has imparted this information to him. He reminds them all that they control the Web of Destiny and they feed upon the spiders at the direction of the Great Weaver and that they will inherit the multiverse. That’s when one of the Spider-Men on the table begins to talk, telling them that they are thieves and that the spiders will not overlook their trespasses. Morlun rips off this Spider-Man’s mask and tells him to shut up. Like so many Parkers before him, this Spider-Man’s final words are being surprised that they know his secret identity.

With that, Solus tells his children to feast and they consume the life energies of the four Spider-Men they have captured.

…. Spider-Verse continues in Spider-Verse #1.

Recurring Characters

Inheritors (Solus, Daemos, Jennix, Morlun, Brix, Bora), Master Weaver, Man-Spider, Bullet Points Spider-Man, SP//dr, Vi-Lock Spider-Man, Cowboy Spider-Man, Spider-Man ‘67, Spider-Man J, Captain Universe, Werewolf Spider-Man, Mangaverse Spider-Man, Supaidaman, Octo-Spider-Man, Pharah Spider-Man

Continuity Notes

1. The Spider-Men that are served up on this platter are the Bruce Banner/Bullet Points Spider-Man of Earth-70105 who was killed in the first part of this story. There is a vampiric Spider-Man from Earth-15901, who has not been seen prior to this point. Lastly, there is the Man-Spider of Earth-666 first seen in Secret Avengers #33.

2. There is a massive spread of the Web of Life that offers glimpses of various Spider-Men across the multiverse. Those who can be identified are:

   • SP//dr of Earth-14152, first appeared in Edge of Spider-Verse #5.

   • The Vi-Lock Spider-Man of Earth-8545 who first appeared in Exiles #20.

   • Patrick O’Hara, the cowboy Spider-Man of Earth-31913. This is his first appearance.

   • The Spider-Hulk of Earth-200257 from Wha…Huh? #1

   • Spider-Man ‘67 of Earth-67, who first appears here. This is a variant of Earth-6799, which is the reality of the Spider-Man cartoon from 1967. The Spider-Geddon Handbook confirms that this is a distinct reality.

   • Spider-Man J from Earth-7041 who first appeared in the November 9, 2004 issue of Comic BomBom in Japan and Spider-Man J #1 in the west.

   • A version of Peter Parker that is still part of the Future Foundation from Earth-66115. He first appeared in Spider-Verse #1.

   • The Captain Universe Spider-Man of Earth-13, who also first appeared in this issue.

   • Izumi the Spider of Earth-7930 from Spider-Man Fairy Tales #3.

   • The werewolf Spider-Man from Earth-7085 first seen in Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #5.

   • The Mangaverse Spider-Man from Earth-7122 who first appeared in Spider-Man Family Featuring Spider-Clan #1.

   • The Peter Parker of Earth-13017 who changed his name to Martin and his great-grandson Martin. They both appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #700.

   • Supaidāman of Earth-51778 who first appeared in the 1978 Spider-Man TV series that was produced by Toei Company.

   • A version of Spider-Man that uses mechanical arms ala Doctor Octopus of Earth-11983. This Spider-Man appeared in the 12th episode of season 5 of the 90’s Spider-Man animated series.

   • Then there is the dead Spider-Man that Morlun has returned with. He is from Earth-9105, who first appeared in New Warriors #11.

   • There are also a bunch of other random Spider-Men that have yet to be officially identified and given reality numbers. One is wearing a similar stealth suit that Earth-616 Peter Parker wore in Amazing Spider-Man #650, another one wearing a black-and-white costume ala Amazing Spider-Man #252. Another is wearing a white costume with red eyes and has a gun on his wrist. Another one is dressed in the original Scarlet Spider’s costume ala Web of Spider-Man #118. Another one is Spider-Man wearing cybernetic casts like he did in Spider-Man #21.

3. Brix and Bora battled Karn in Superior Spider-Man #33.

Did the MC2 Spider-Girl Previously Meet the Spider-Man of Earth-616?

Note: The following is speculation on my part and has no official standing.

This is a pretty complex question. Earth-928, the MC2 Universe, is a reality that diverges from the events of Amazing Spider-Man #418, when Mary Jane Watson gave birth. On Earth-616 that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, while on Earth-928 the baby survived and was named Mayday Parker. Events of the MC2 Universe take place roughly 15 years after that divergence (adding to the confusion, the MC2 universe operates on a Sliding Timescale like Earth-616 so even though it’s the “future” of the Marvel Universe it takes place in a contemporary setting, but I digress.)

Anyway, there are a lot of people who question the validity of the Spider-Man of Earth-616 knowing the identity of Mayday Parker. Some would argue no. The confusion comes from Spider-Girl #10-11, which features Spider-Girl being sent back in time and meeting her father when he was a teenager. This time travel story was set as taking place after the events of Amazing Spider-Man #25, which would have been the same on Earth-928 as it would have been on Earth-616. The immediate assumption was that Mayday Parker visited the past of Earth-928 and thus she didn’t interact with the Peter Parker of Earth-616 when he was a teenager, but the younger version of the Peter Parker of Earth-928.

So how do you reconcile this? I suppose one could assume that Mayday visited the past of Earth-616 and not the past of Earth-928. It would actually make sense if you take a look at Spider-Girl #10-11: Mayday goes back in time runs into the younger version of her father and fights him. Yet, the Peter Parker of Earth-928 never mentions this past encounter, you’d think he’d remember fighting a Spider-Girl in the past, particularly when Mayday starts wearing an identical costume when she starts her own crime-fighting career.

The only thing to reconcile then is how this affects the events of Amazing Spider-Man #25, see my notes on that issue.

Isn’t Spider-Man 2211 Already Dead?

Publication-wise, Spider-Man 2211 was last seen in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #9-10, where he was shot and killed by the Chameleon of 2211. One could make two assumptions, either Spider-Man 2211 survived which to me seems unlikely to me. The Spider-Geddon Handbook later goes on to confirm this, well as close to a confirmation as they get (“apparently killed” is about as close as they get, leaving things open for the character to somehow come back) That said, it doesn’t say he survived and served in the Spider-Army. On the other hand, this entry is part of a list of Spider-Men from across the multiverse that only has a short paragraph for each character and is by no means an exhaustive history of the characters listed.

My take is that Spider-Man 2211 was indeed killed in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #10 and the one that we see here was from earlier in his timeline. Remember, Spider-Man 2211 is a time traveler and as we’ve seen from Superior Spider-Man #32-33, these Spider-Men were not necessarily plucked from the “present-day” of their native realities otherwise we wouldn’t have had the Otto Octavius Spider-Man fighting alongside the Peter Parker Spider-Man in Spider-Verse, now would we?