As Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse reveals, the Peter Parker that fans know and love isn’t the only Spider-Man out there. While most on-screen iterations of the character feature him as the only web-slinging superhero in existence, Marvel Comics have featured countless alternate universes over the years, many of which had their own unique iterations of Spider-Man.
A majority of these alternate universes have their own different versions of Peter Parker, even though that Peter may be completely different from the one that most people know. One of the more popular examples of this is Spider-Man Noir, whose only real similarity with Peter Parker is his name. Outside of that, he feels like a completely different character, with his motivations and mannerisms being rather different.
Many of the other alternate Spider-Men aren’t even named Peter Parker. While some have similar names, like Peni Parker, others have completely different names and have seemingly no direct relation to Peter himself. However, they are still included in the Spider-Verse simply due to their Spider abilities, as many of their origin stories are identical, even if their names and traits are not.
Even outside of the Spider-Verse, a number of alternate versions of Spider-Man have made their way through the comics over the years, such as Ben Reilly and Miles Morales. All of these alternate Spider-Men beg the question: which Spider-Man is the strongest? Looking at the different Spider-Men who have appeared throughout Marvel Comics over the years, there may be an answer.
Updated October 19th, 2021 by George Chrysostomou: Spider-Man is heading back to the big screen once more and this time the Multiverse is at stake! With countless variations of the web-head across space and time, it’s difficult to know which are the most powerful. It, therefore, seems appropriate to revisit this ranking of every Spider-Man ahead of Spider-Man: No Way Home which is sure to include some of these strange Peter Parker Variants.
“Golden Spongecake” Spider-Man
This alternate Spider-Man seems just like the regular Spider-Man, except for one important detail: he uses Hostess snacks to take down his foes. He comes from an alternate reality where every superhero only uses Hostess Snack Cakes to fight crime.
This Spider-Man was initially created as a crossover advertisement for Hostess in a Marvel comic book, but he eventually became an official part of the Spider-Verse. While his abilities are absolutely hilarious, there are limitations to using only Snack Cakes to fighting crime. These limitations led this alternate Spider-Man to lose his life early on in the Spider-Verse comic book event.
Spider-Girl (Penelope Parker)
One of the more cartoon-ish Spider-Men from the Spider-Verse is Spider-Girl, who is the youngest iteration of Spider-Man yet. Penelope Parker developed her Spider powers at the young age of 11 while on a class field trip and, much like every other alternate Spider-Man, eventually took to the streets to fight crime.
While she does appear to have regular Spider-Man powers, much like Peter Parker, she lacks the brute strength of the other grown heroes. While Penelope Parker will surely be stronger when she reaches an older age, at the age she’s at now, she is one of the Spider-Verse’s lower-tier heroes.
Spider-Monkey
From the alternate universe known as Marvel Apes, where pretty much every human is now some sort of ape, comes Spider-Monkey, the alternate Peter Parker who, as you can imagine, was a monkey that was bitten by a radioactive spider.
While Spider-Monkey does possess essentially the same power as the Peter Parker that most people know, his monkey physique does, unfortunately, have its limitations, at least when he is against a human foe in the Spider-Verse. Additionally, his intelligence was scaled down a bit, considering that he’s a monkey, so he’s not as great at strategizing in a fight as his human counterparts.
Lady Spider
May Reilly, an alternate, younger Aunt May, was the daughter of a well-known scientist in the universe she came from. One day, May snuck into her father’s lab and was bitten by one of the spiders he had there. Unfortunately, unlike the other alternate Spider-Men, the spider did not give her any abilities, but it did teach her another lesson: don’t let anyone cage you.
The spider didn’t grant her powers, but it did give her inspiration. May went on to build her own mechanically-enhanced Spider suit, with arms on the back of her body resembling the Iron Spider suit and took to the streets as Lady Spider. Unfortunately, even with her mech suit, she still lacks the brute strength of the other Spider-Men.
Spider-Man Noir
Spider-Man Noir is a 1930s era Peter Parker who doesn’t have any particular Spider-like abilities, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a formidable foe. This version of Spider-Man operates much like the Punisher, with a healthy dose of Sherlock Holmes in there as well.
Spider-Man Noir has a rich history of training as a fighter and takes to the streets to investigate crimes. Once he has solved the crimes, he takes it upon himself to take out the criminals. He has no powers, but his web-slingers still give him an advantage over the people he tracks.
Spider-Ma’am
In an alternate universe, on the day Peter Parker was supposed to be bitten by the radioactive spider, he happened to forget his lunch. Desperate to make sure that her nephew would be fed, Aunt May rushed to the location of his field trip where she was bitten by the spider, rather than Peter.
It wasn’t long before Aunt May took on the persona of Spider-Ma’am, taking to the streets to make her neighborhood a better place. While she has about the same amount of strength as the classic Peter Parker, it’s no secret that her older age and fragile body did keep her on the lower power level in the Spider-Verse.
Old Man Spider
In another alternate universe, after Peter Parker passed away, Ezekiel Sims took on the persona of Spider-Man, which was an identity he held onto for several years before the events of the Spider-Verse came into his life. By this point, he was an old man, serving as the Spider-Man version of Old Man Logan.
Old Man Spider basically has the same abilities as Peter Parker, but much like Spider-Ma’am, he’s also a little worn down due to his old age. However, this doesn’t stop him from being one of the most battle-ready heroes in the entire Spider-Verse.
Spider-Ham
Peter Porker is the version of Peter Parker in the alternate universe where literally every superhero and person from the universe most fans know and love is actually some kind of animal, including Croctor Strange, the crocodile counterpart of Doctor Strange, and Whoopie Goldfish, who is just Whoopie Goldberg as a goldfish.
Much like many of the other alternate Spider-Men, Spider-Ham has relatively similar abilities to the Spider-Man that most fans know, including super strength, web-slinging, and the ability to stick to walls. His only downside is the fact that he is the size of a pig, which proves problematic when he’s up against a normal-sized enemy from a different universe.
Dr. Aaron Aikman
Unlike most other Spider-Men, Dr. Aaron Aikman actually chose to undergo the spider experiment rather than being bit by a spider by happenstance. He went through an experiment that combined his DNA with that of a spider, but it didn’t quite work the way that it went for the other Spider-Men. Instead, in order to fully utilize his powers, Aikman had to build himself a mechanical suit.
While Aikman is truly a strong superhero in a fight, he’s not quite up to the same power level as Peter Parker and most of the other Spider-heroes. While the suit certainly makes him strong, without it, his powers are practically futile.
Hobgoblin
In one alternate universe, following the loss of Gwen Stacy at the hands of the Green Goblin, Peter Parker turned to his darker instincts and took the life of the Green Goblin in revenge. He then retired his Spider-Man identity and became the “Goblin” himself, becoming a much more fearsome enforcer of his universe.
The only reason why this Peter Parker isn’t higher up on this list, despite being just as strong as the Peter Parker most fans know, is the fact that his mental state is certainly not the same as it once was. When he was recruited to join the Spider-Verse Spider Army, he initially declined out of distrust. When he learned that the person recruiting him was Gwen, he ended up sacrificing his life for her.
Supaidāman (Takuya Yamashiro)
Supaidāman made his debut in the initial Japanese iteration of Spider-Man, with the TV show being adapted to audiences in the territory. There were a number of changes to the character, including a slightly depowered set of abilities thanks to the budget and the introduction of Takuya Yamashiro instead of Peter Parker.
The character has since made his debut on Earth-616 in the comics and is well known for the mech he enters into battle with known as Leopardon. His power is of course boosted by the giant robot, but Supaidāman is less skilled than other iterations of the vigilante.
Spider-Woman (May Parker)
In one alternate universe, Peter Parker (who was still Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson ended up getting that “happily ever after” that they always dreamed of. They eventually had a daughter, who they named May Parker after Peter’s Aunt.
May inherited some of her father’s Spider-like abilities and took on the persona of “Spider-Girl,” eventually changing her title to “Spider-Woman” once she reached adulthood. May’s Spider abilities were unfortunately slightly weaker than her father’s, as the DNA she inherited was a mix between his and Mary Jane’s rather than strictly Peter’s DNA. Regardless, Spider-Woman proved herself to be a fantastic fighter in her universe.
Spider-Girl (Betty Brant)
In yet another alternate universe, Daily Bugle employee Betty Brant was bitten by a radioactive spider during Peter’s field trip rather than Peter himself, causing her to create the alternate identity of Spider-Girl. Spider-Girl’s abilities were completely identical to those of the Peter Parker that most fans know, and she was even able to have similar equipment to our Spider-Man because Spider-Girl actually befriended the Peter from her universe who helped her to make her web-shooters and learn her abilities.
What made Spider-Girl interesting in her comics was the fact that she had a much closer relationship to Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson than Peter Parker did, creating a lot more ironic conflict between herself and Jameson.
Spider Moon-Man
This Peter Parker came from the alternate universe where humanity actually found a way to colonize the Moon. He lived in New Lunar York, which was essentially just a more futuristic New York City. Outside of that, he was quite similar to the original Spider-Man – he was bitten by a radioactive spider, he worked for the Daily Bugle, he was in love with Mary Jane, etc.
Unfortunately, Spider Moon-Man was one of the first Spider-Men to lose his life during the Spider-Verse event, being taken out by the villain Morlun before he even had the chance to learn about the rest of the Spider-Verse; he never got to prove if he could be the strongest Spider-Man.
Spider-UK
Billy Braddock was a version of Spider-Man located in Britain in one particular alternate universe. However, this doesn’t mean he was the only Spider-Man of this universe. Billy was actually training under Captain Britain in his universe before he found that he had acquired abilities similar to those of the Spider-Man located in New York. He soon created a similar persona, but with a UK twist.
Spider-UK joined the Spider-Verse after the other Spider-Man of his universe was defeated. Fortunately, Spider-UK served as a great replacement, with his power level being identical to that of Peter Parker.
Pavitr Prabhakar
Pavitr Prabhakar has essentially the same story as Peter Parker. The only difference is that Pavitr’s story took place in India. Pavitr lived with his Aunt Maya and Uncle Bhim and was in love with Meera Jain. Rather than being bitten by a radioactive spider, however, Pavitr gained his spider abilities from an ancient yogi who gave him the gift to fight the evil in his world.
Pavitr’s adventures were all quite clever, featuring villains incredibly similar to the Spider-Man villains that most fans know, but with twists that connected to India’s culture. The most prominent of his foes was Nalin Oberoi, the alternate version of Norman Osborn who used an amulet to summon a demon, which possessed Nalin to become a Goblin-like villain.
Arácnido Jr.
Many of the Spider-Verse heroes are essentially alternate versions of Peter Parker from various different countries. Arácnido Jr. is no exception, essentially being the Spider-Man from Mexico. While his actual name and the origin of his powers are still unknown, with his actual name only ever being referred to as “Junior,” the rest of his story is still quite familiar.
Arácnido Jr.’s primary antagonist is Escorpión, an alternate universe version of Scorpion who was responsible for taking the life of Arácnido Jr.’s father. “Junior” then became the crime-fighting superhero protector of Mexico City before he became part of the Spider-Verse. He has the potential to be one of the strongest Spider-Men in the future.
Scarlet Spider
While most of these alternate Spider-Men seem like cut-and-paste versions of Peter Parker with only slight differences, Ben Reilly / Scarlet Spider is quite literally a clone of Peter Parker. In the mainstream Marvel universe, one of Spider-Man’s foes, the Jackal, used Peter Parker’s DNA to create an exact clone of him.
However, as the clone mimicked Peter’s appearance and abilities, it also mimicked his personality, turning against the Jackal in order to pursue his own superhero career. He went on to be one of the most interesting Spider-Man characters in the comics, undergoing a rather interesting arc as he adapted to life as a clone.
Peter Parker
Peter is essentially the base average for comparing power levels when it comes to the Spider-Verse heroes, with a number of the alternate Spider-Men being stronger than him, and a number of others being weaker.
At the end of the day, the basic Peter Parker is the Spider-Man with who most fans are all familiar. This is the hero that all six live-action Spider-Man movies were based upon, which helps to make the alternate Spider-Men more interesting, as they all appear to be variations of this single hero, who has now become something of an archetype.
Spider-Gwen
Spider-Gwen has certainly become one of the more well-known alternate Spider-heroes in recent years, coming from the universe where Gwen Stacy was bitten by a spider and Peter Parker ended up losing his life instead. She went on to fight crime and protect New York City even after the loss of her friend, much like all of the other Spider-Verse heroes.
What puts Gwen at a notch higher than Peter Parker is her access to police equipment. Her father, Police Captain George Stacy, is still very much alive in her universe, which means that she has direct access to police equipment and information that she is able to utilize in her day-to-day crime-fighting.
