Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a new slew of characters, references, Easter eggs, and cameos. Read up on Spider-Man 2099, Jess Drew, and Spider-Punk.
You’ve walked out of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse suitably awed and impressed, but you can’t help seeing visions of Spider-Mans dancing across your eyes. The newest animated Miles Morales movie includes no shortage of star turns, cameos, and split-second appearances of alternate-reality and previously existing versions of Spider-Man — from comic book creations to movie iterations to the deepest of deep-cut references.
But who are all these Spider-People, and where do they come from? Polygon has you covered with this handy pocket reference to every Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and where their origin can be found — at least, all the ones that we were able to identify.
If you identified a Spider-Man that isn’t listed here, put it in a comment! Because with great knowledge of Spider-Man comes great responsibility to share that knowledge of Spider-Man.
[Ed. note: This post contains mondo spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.]Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099
First appearance: Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 1) #1
What’s his deal?: Miguel O’Hara lived in the far-flung Marvel future of 2099, a world dominated by corporations run rampant and dangerous innovations in genetic engineering and virtual reality. A researcher working for the nefarious and powerful Alchemex corporation, he ultimately found himself a victim of his own experimental, spider-themed research, giving him creepily spider-derived powers and eventually a costumed identity as a hero. An inverse of the classic Spider-Man, Miguel is taciturn and surly in his superhero alter ego and something of a wisecracking lothario in real life.
Power-responsibility score: 4 Uncle Bens out of 10.Jess Drew/Spider-Woman
First appearance: Marvel Spotlight #32 (sort of)
What’s her deal?: Across the Spider-Verse’s Jess Drew is an original creation, but she owes her name (and overall look) to comic book predecessor Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman. Created in 1976 in a rush to stop an animation studio from grabbing the trademark to the Spider-Woman name, comic book Jessica actually has no real relation to either Peter Parker or Miles Morales, having instead acquired her powers in a bewilderingly arcane origin involving HYDRA, her geneticist father, and possibly a talking cow. Spider-Verse’s Jess is thus a wholesale reinvention of the concept — though comics Jess did famously have a book in which she did superhero stuff while pregnant — that owes a certain debt to her elder counterpart.
Power-responsibility score: No Uncle Bens here. Only Bova the talking cow. Spider-Punk
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #10
What’s his deal?: Every so often, a terrible idea turns out to be unexpectedly brilliant. Such was the case for Earth-138’s version of Hobie Brown (better known in our more familiar Earth-616 as Spider-Man’s longtime ally — yes, ally! — the Prowler). Hobie was transformed via spider bite into the punk-rocking, trash-talking Spider-Punk. Fascinatingly, this Spider-Man was the subject of a minor dispute between his creators, with artist Olivier Coipel intending him to be a British punk of the Sex Pistols variety, but writer Dan Slott overriding the decision to establish him as an all-CBGB New Yorker. In any case, this Hobie won the affection of fans by siding with the people against their corporate oppressors, leading the downtrodden masses against the establishment, and breaking his guitar over the head of the U.S. president.
Power-responsibility score: 10 Uncle Bens out of 10. The greatest responsibility is to rock.Pavitr Prabhakar
First appearance: Spider-Man India #1
What’s his deal?: The 2004 Spider-Man: India series was an unusual partnership between Marvel Comics and its Indian licensor Gotham Entertainment that enlisted Indian creators to reimagine Spider-Man in their own cultural context. Thus was created Pavitr Prabhakar, an Indian small-town boy transplanted to cosmopolitan Mumbai who is granted spider powers by an ancient yogi. After he allows his selfishness to take the life of his Uncle Bhim, he devotes himself to the cause of justice, eventually encountering the main Marvel Comics Spider-Man during the 2015 Spider-Verse crossover.
Power-responsibility score: 9 Uncle Bhims out of 10.Bombastic Bag-Man
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #258
What’s his deal?: You’re laughing? Spider-Man is wearing a spare Fantastic Four uniform and a paper bag on his head and you’re laughing? Believe it or not, this version of Spider-Man has a perfectly valid Marvel Comics pedigree. At the conclusion of the famed Alien Costume Saga in 1984, Peter Parker learned to his horror that the black costume he had been wearing was actually a symbiote alien from another planet. That left him briefly without any costume to wear around town, but longtime frenemy Johnny “Human Torch” Storm lent a hand, giving Parker one of his own extra suits, a paper lunch bag to put over his face, and a “Kick me” sign surreptitiously taped to his back for good measure. Though understandably making only a single appearance in the comics, this version of Spider-Man did receive his own action figure last year, which is more than you can say for most of us.
Power-responsibility score: 7 Uncle Bens out of 10. Would be higher if he put on some shoes.Insomniac’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man
First appearance: Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018 video game)
What’s his deal?: This is merely Spider-Man dressed in the funky skins of the PlayStation video game series launched in 2018. Gamerized versions of both Peter Parker and Miles Morales here make their film debut, in what is no doubt a purely coincidental Sony motion picture production.
Power-responsibility score: 1-10 Uncle Bens out of 10, depending on player.The Amazing Spider-Monkey
First appearance: Spider-Man Family #1
What’s his deal?: Earth-8101 is an Earth populated by anthropomorphic apes — not to be confused with the Earth that was home to Marvel’s 1970s licensed adaptation of the Planet of the Apes motion picture. Much like his human equivalent in powers, Spider-Monkey had a wildly different (and convincingly obnoxious) personality, and was frequently willing to kill in battle against his animal enemies.
