Edge of the Spider-Verse Part 4 *

On Earth-9818, the Spider-Man of this reality is being hunted by an entity calling himself Karn. When Karn impales this Spider-Man with his two-pronged spear, this Spider-Man reveals he is actually a cyborg by blasting him with a sonic cannon built into his back.

That’s when Otto Octavius, the Spider-Man of Earth-616, arrives to rescue this Spider-Man with an army of Spider-Men from other dimensions. They include Spider-Man: India from Earth-50101, the Six-Armed Spider-Man of Earth-2100, the Spider-Girl of Earth-807128, Spider-Monkey of Earth-8101, Spider-Man Noir of Earth-90214, and the Assassin Spider-Man of Earth-8351. Using technology gathered in the year 2099, Octavius incapacitates Karn. When Spider-Girl suggests they kill him this leads to protests from some of the less violent Spider-Men. However, the Assassin Spider-Man points out that Karn is responsible for killing countless Spider-Men across the multiverse. However, Otto doesn’t want to eliminate Karn without getting some answers.

All Karn will say is that he is doing what his kind always does, kill spiders. He also hopes that they never meet the rest of his family, as they are much more powerful than Karn. Unfortunately, before they can get more answers, Karn manages to short out the devices incapacitating him and renews his attack. Their opening salvo is easily shrugged off by Karn, prompting the Assassin Spider-Man to whip their foe into a fuel tanker. Although this causes a massive explosion, it does little to harm Karn. Before Karn can attack further his twin siblings Brix and Bora who incapacitate both the Six-Armed and Cyborg Spider-Men. Karn is furious over their interference. As the trio bicker, the Spider-Men rescue their captured allies and escape through Otto’s portal, leaving the three to fight among themselves.

Back at the ruins of Empire State University in the year 2099,[1] Otto uses the future technology there to make repairs on the Spider-Cyborg. He gets the cyborg up to speed but quickly becomes impatient with the other Spider-Men. Otto decides to get out for some fresh air, telling the others not to bother him unless their pursuers find their hideout. Once outside, he confides with his artificial assistant — based off Anna Maria Marconi — that these Spider-Men are trying his patience as they are all versions of Peter Parker, while he is the only one who is uniquely Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man’s body. He finds himself conflicted between expanding his Spider-Army, as it may make them easier to track, but he cannot abandon his newfound allies in case Karn and the others find him. He makes peace with the fact that he will not be able to see the real Anna Maria until this battle is over. However, before returning to the others he asks the AI to call him Otto when nobody else is around, as he wishes he could hear the real Anna call him by his real name.[2]

When he returns home, he decides to put the other Spider-Men to work gathering intel on their foes. He assigns the cyborg to interface with databases in this reality to see if there are any records on Karn, Brix, or Bora. He assigns Prabhakar and Spider-Man Noir to the dimensional scanners, while Spider-Monkey and the Six-Armed Spider-Man scan the timestream in order to figure out where their foes come from. With the others busy, Otto has private council with the Assassin Spider-Man and Spider-Girl. The three of them know what true evil is and agree that they will kill however many of their foes in order to preserve the lives of the Spider-Men of the multiverse.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man (Octavius), Spider-Man (Pabrhakar), Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Girl (Barton), Six-Armed Spider-Man, Assassin Spider-Man, Spider-Monkey, Spider-Cyborg, Karn, Brix, Bora

Continuity Notes

1. Although not stated here, this 2099 universe is identified as Earth-928 per the Spider-Geddon Handbook #1.

2. Otto Octavius took over Spider-Man’s body in Amazing Spider-Man #698. This Otto has been pulled out of time during the events of Superior Spider-Man #19. He will be returned to that era following the events of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #15.

The Inheritors *

On Earth-1771, Karn has located this reality’s spider-totem Ai Apaec. Ai Apaec, the spider-god of this dimension knows that Karn is one of the Inheritors as he can read the strands of the Great Web. Although Karn fights back Ai Apaec manages to overpower him. However, Karn warns the spider-god that his family have faced gods in the past and they have slain them all.

This causes Karn to think back to when he still had a family. At that time they had reached Reality-000 where they faced the Great Weaver, the entity that guards the Great Web. The Inheritors attempt to attack the Weaver, but he snaps specific strands of the web that nullify their attacks. One strand causes the ground to open up under the feet of Karn’s mother, causing her to fall to her death.

Furious, Karn then attempted to attack the Great Weaver himself. However, the Weaver has nothing to fear from Karn, calling him the chosen one and can sense that the youth takes no pleasure in the murders that his family carry out across the multiverse.[1] These words cause Karn to pause and when one of his siblings leaps in to attack, the Weaver snaps another web causing this family member to unravel into nothingness. This display haunted Karn to his very core.

Soon, his father arrived and with the rest of the family took control of the Master Weaver. Considering Karn a failure they trapped him in the diving helmet he has worn ever since and exiled him to wander the multiverse where he has been hunting spider-totems ever since.

His mind snapping back to the present, Karn stops toying with his prey and absorbs Ai Apec’s life force causing the god to crumble with dust. Karn muses that while Ai Apec’s journey is over, his continues ever onward and travels forward to the next dimension.

Recurring Characters

Karn, Inheritors (Daemos, Verna, Morlun, Brix, Bora, Jennix), Master Weaver

Continuity Notes

1. This is because Karn is destined to become the Master Weaver as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #15.

* In lieu of actual titles, I have given these stories titles that best fit what they are about. I have done so for page organization purposes.