We all have known Spider-man as a web-slinger and wall-crawler superhero for a long. But do you know about the existence of spider-men and women, who occasionally team up on different occasions to save the universe? Spider-Verse is a loose term given to define those Spider-Men and Spider-women existing in multiple universes, and have appeared in the spider-verse story arc of The Amazing Spider-Man. Some have fought in the battle though some have died fighting.
Spider-verse is a 2014-2015 storyline of Marvel comics, where all the possible versions of Spideys have appeared fighting against Morlun and his Inheritors’. Also, a recent computer-generated animation movie in 2018, ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse’, showed 3 different superhero versions – the original Spider-man, Peter Parker, Miles Morales (his successor), and a Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy. But despite having so many forms of one superhero along with the presence of villains and side roles, all are not required to exist. Their existence was either not worthy or was negligible at all. And therefore, they find a place in our list of the top ten worst characters in the spider-verse. So let’s begin!
Silk
Cindy Moon, also known as Silk, is a rare spider woman who appeared in the mainstream Marvel universe of comics. She is a Korean- American who was bitten a few moments later by the same radioactive spider that had bit Peter Parker and made him Spider-Man. Cindy Moon debuted as Silk in the Amazing Spider-Man. Moreover, she served as a member of the Spider Army against Morlun in the spider-verse.
She is as good as Peter Parker’s version of Spider-man except for having a weaker strength than him. But she has a more sensitive Spider-sense that helps her sense any mishap happening around, along with with an eidetic memory. She can weave a web with her fingers rather than using mechanical shooters.
Lady Spider
Lady spider is none other than Aunt May of Peter Parker from Earth 803, but in the younger age from an alternate universe. Her name is May Reilly. She is the daughter of a renowned scientist who is an animal researcher. Hence, they pet all sorts of animals on their farm itself. One fine day, a spider from one of the cages bit her when May was trying to grab it. She, however, gets a lesson to ‘never let anyone cage you.
She, unfortunately, doesn’t get any superpowers like the other spider-men. But she gets an inspiration to become like one. She builts a spider suit from the rugs for herself. This suit has mechanical hands and web-shooters. She later accidentally confronts Electro at a prom event and escapes by shooting the web around him. However, how far can one go in the superhero world with mechanically created powers?
Golden Spongecake Spider-Man
Golden Spongecake is an alternate Spider-Man from Earth-51914. He is a hilarious version of the superhero who has the powers of Spider-Man but throws spongecakes, particularly of Hostess snacks brand, on Morlun during the fights. Why so? This is because every superhero does the same on his own planet Earth. He throws every existing sweet product like twinkies, sponge cakes, and fruitcakes at his enemies.
But yet again, will these be affecting a villain who is a sweet tooth? This is one of the reasons why he was eventually killed by Morlun in the earlier episodes of Spiderverse. In the spider-verse’s first issue, Hostess Cake was renamed Golden Spongecake to avoid trademark issues.
Spider-Ham
Spider-man was reimagined as a pig superhero which was named Spider-Ham. It was part of the one-shot comic book of Marvel titled Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham from 1983, and later as a superhero in the ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse’ in 2018. This is a hilarious yet bizarre creation of Larry Hama, Tom DeFalco, and Mark Armstrong. Spider-Ham belongs to Earth-8311, where all the other famous characters exist as animals, for example, Croctor Strange (Dr. Strange as a crocodile).
Being a Spider-Man, Spider-Ham aslo has superstrength, wall clinging, and web-slinging abilities. But his small height and body form restricts his functioning in the fights with any normal-sized villains from different universes.
Spider-Monkey
Like Peter Porker, we also have a Peter Parker who is a monkey in the alternative verse. Spider-Monkey is a Spider-Man from another planet where all the human forms exist as apes. He is an alternative to Peter Parker, who was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained superpowers that helped him fight some of the great villains.
He will be restricted by his underdeveloped intelligence and physique of a monkey when he is in a face-off with his human counterparts even when he has the powers of a typical Spider-Man.
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Spider-Woman
May Parker, also known as Spider-Woman, is the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane in some other universe. Peter’s Aunt May is the inspiration behind her name. She inherited the superpowers of his father but in a weaker form. The reason is that she received the genetic materials from both of her parents, in which Mary Jane was a normal human being, and only Peter had the genes of a superhero.
Therefore from a younger age, she adopted the persona of Spider-girl and later changed it to Spider-Woman after becoming an adult. Despite her weaker powers, she proved herself a fighter worth considering in the Spider-verse.
Spider Ma’am aka Maybelle Parker
Aunt May or Maybelle Parker, Aunt of Peter Parker, is another character who once appeared in the Spider-verse. She is from an alternate universe where the radioactive spider bites her instead of Peter Parker. One day when Peter forgets his lunch at home while leaving for a field trip, Aunt May herself goes to deliver the lunch. But, in place of Peter, the spider bites her, and she attains the superpowers of the spider-man.
Soon after realizing her powers, Aunt May makes a persona of a Spider-Woman to make her neighborhood a better place. However, her old age and fragile body cannot help her much in the task. Therefore she finds it difficult to execute those exceptional powers she attained despite having the same amount of strength as other spider-men.
Peni Parker
Peni Parker is a Japanese version of Peter Parker from an alternate universe belonging to Earth-14512. She is the niece of Uncle Ben and Aunt May (the same uncle and aunt of original Peter Parker on different Earth). Her backstory is very much different from the usual story. She was nine when her father died in an accident. She is told about her responsibilities by her uncle and aunt to carry further the pilot project of his father, a suit named SP//dr controlled by a radioactive spider.
She doesn’t have any powers but with this suit, she becomes one of the powerful members of the spider army. One interesting thing to note is that she interacts telepathically with the spider operating the other half of the SP//dr. But in the end, she is not a superhero herself because she lacks the true powers of Spider-man.
Spider-Girl aka Penelope Parker
Penelope is from an alternate Earth-11, where she is an eleven-year-old girl. She is the youngest alteration of Spider-man from the Spider-verse. Her journey starts when one day while going on a school field trip and when a radioactive spider bites her.
Even though she has powers and strength as good as Peter Parker, she is still a kid anyway. Moreover, she lacks the general mentality of an evolved and grown-up superwoman to face the baddies around her. But she sure can become a better version of herself when she becomes an adult, both physically and mentally.
Spider-Man Noir
Spider-Man Noir is the black and white version of Peter Parker from Earth-90214 of the 1930s era. In an alternate universe, Noir (Peter) lives as a Spider-man for six years while Mary Jane in her own struggle for the last three years. Later, Superior spider-man invites Peter to become a part of spider-army and fight against Inheritors.
Unlike regular Spider-man, Noir believes in punishing the culprits rather than fighting crime to give them enough lessons. He wears a black uniform and has limited powers compared to a typical web-slinger. But he uses his detective-like intelligence to bring the criminals out and punish them in his own ways. But, his lack of original strengths like a superhero makes his appearance seem less significant in the spider-verse.
So this was the list of the top ten worst characters that have been part of Spider-verse who were of least importance. They are present in Spider-verse, but their potential is not displayed as it needs to be.
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