Marvel Delivers Multi-Format Big Spidey Event
After recently seeing Sony Picture’s Venom in theaters a few weeks ago, I caught the trailer for the upcoming animated feature film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. While the movie looks to be rather promising, I didn’t think much more of it at the time than a new format of introducing Spider-Man to the big screen. A day later I saw news of the soon-to-be released Spider-Geddon comic book mini-series, which the cover seems to portray as a massive love letter to every rendition of Spider-Man that has been created in recent memory. It seems there is much more going on than a Spidey slug fest and a new movie cartoon.
So if you haven’t been following the events of everyone’s favorite web slinger in the past few years, let me give you the Cliff Notes version. In a multi-verse conglomeration of spider folk everywhere, Captain Britain became Spider-Man in one universe, Gwen Stacey became Spider-Gwen in another, and then there are a few Peter Parker’s out there donning different crime-fighting personalities depending on the spider-verse you delve into. Let’s not forget Spider-Punk, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man 2099, Octavia Otto and everyone’s favorite non-Parker Spidey, Miles Morales. Four years ago, this epic team-up of arachnid heroes tackled a group of villains known as the Inheritors in the Spider-Verse saga. Eventually the Inheritors were imprisoned on a radioactive version of earth where they could not trouble any of the infinite versions of the planet they were previously terrorizing.
Well, you can’t keep a good villain down too long. Now the Inheritors, led by their vampiric figurehead Morlun, are back and ready to take on any version of Spider-Man you throw at them. This month Marvel introduced its latest mini-series titled Spider-Geddon, an all out wrestle-mania of sorts where team Spidey takes on the Inheritors one more time, but wait! There’s more! Also in the not too distant past, Otto Octavius, better known as none other than Dr. Octopus, transferred the consciousness of his dying body into that of Peter Parker’s. After eventually separating from the possession of Peter’s body, Doc Oc found another more youthful humanoid shell to inhabit.
Amidst this hop-scotch transfer of human hosts, Octavius ended up taking some of that Peter Parker do-good persona with him. This deeper look into the mind of one of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies comes in the one-shot The Superior Spider. Once a Hydra member and now super hero (sort of), Doc Oc dons a very Spider-Man influenced suit with his signature robotic arms and a Hydra-octopus emblazoned on the costume’s torso. It’s a streamlined and brilliant melding of everything Dr. Octopus in one crime-fighting garment, but is Octavius truly a figurehead of heroics right now? Hmm, check out the issue and find out for yourself. Remember what mom used to say about something being too good to be true.
I can’t wrap up this article and not talk about the recently released Spider-Man game exclusively for the PS4. The game itself is absolutely epic and easily one of the greatest titles I have ever played. Needless to say, Marvel timed all of this quite superbly. The game arrived in September along with The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, then the Spider-Geddon five-issue series (six if you count issue #0) in October paired with The Superior Octopus. It’s all wrapped up with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse this December. It’s certainly a marketing blitz like no other. Spider-Man is always a hot commodity, right up there with the likes of Batman and Superman when it comes to superhero popularity. What does the future hold for Spidey and crew? Who knows? I’ll leave that up to the brass at Marvel. For now, I’ll just ride this wave of eight-legged entertainment for the next few months.
