Welcome to the Wellington Comic Lover’s (WCL) Guide, where we take you through the Wellington City Libraries’ collection of a comic book character. This post is about all the heroes that can do whatever a spider can from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse!

(via GIPHY)

And stay tuned for another blog in a few weeks where we explore the comic origins of the characters from the upcoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

What is Spider-Verse?

Spider-Verse was a 2015 Marvel Comics crossover storyline of all the Spider-Man titles. The story followed Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and other Spider-People from across the Multiverse uniting as a ‘Spider-Army’ to stop a group of aristocratic, interdimensional vampires called the Inheritors from exterminating every Spider-Man in existence.

The original Spider-Verse storyline can be read across these collections:

The amazing Spider-Man [1] : edge of Spider-Verse (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man [2] : Spider-Verse prelude / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man [3] : Spider-Verse / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

Spider-Woman [1] : Spider-Verse / Hopeless, Dennis

Spider-Verse publishing line

Since the release of the film Into the Spider-Verse, Marvel has put out a Spider-Verse line of collections to give readers a primer on the heroes and villains featured in the movie.

Spider-Man, Spider-verse : amazing Spider-Man / Eliopoulos, Chris

Spider-Man. Spider-Verse: Spider-Women

Spider-Man : Spider-Verse : Spider-Men / Bendis, Brian Michael

Spider-Man : Spider-Verse : Spider-Gwen / Latour, Jason (also on Libby)

Spider-Man : Spider-Verse : Miles Morales / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Spider-Man Spider-Verse : fearsome foes / Lee, Stan

Who’s Who in the Spider-Verse?

Miles Morales (Earth-1610, later Earth-616)

Teenager Miles Morales was bitten by a genetically engineered spider and gained spider powers, including the new abilities of camouflage and producing an electric ‘venom shock’. Initially keeping his abilities a secret, after the death of his universe’s Peter Parker, Miles is inspired to take up the mantle of Spider-Man.

Ultimate Universe Miles Morales

Miles was originally from the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610), a world for modern updates of classic Marvel characters that had its own publishing line, Ultimate Comics, that ran from 2000 to 2015.

Ultimate Spider-Man reading order

Ultimate comics Spider-Man : death of Spider-Man fallout / Bendis, Brian Michael (Miles’ first appearance)

Miles Morales : Spider-Man / Bendis, Brian Michael

Spider-Men / Bendis, Brian Michael (crossover with The Amazing Spider-Man) (ONLY on Libby)

Miles Morales : with great power / Bendis, Brian Michael

Miles Morales : great responsibility / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Miles Morales : ultimate end / Bendis, Brian Michael

Miles Morales : ultimate end is also collected as Miles Morales: the ultimate Spider-Man [1] : revival / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby) and Miles Morales : the ultimate Spider-Man [2] : revelations / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Secret wars / Hickman, Jonathan

Ultimate end. Battleworld / Bendis, Brian Michael

Miles also became a member of the All-New Ultimates, a team of young heroes inspired by their universe’s version of the Avengers.

All-new Ultimates [1] : power for power / Fiffe, Michel

All-new Ultimates. Vol. 2, No gods, no masters / Fiffe, Michel

Marvel Universe Miles Morales

After the destruction of the Ultimate Universe during Secret Wars, Miles was folded into the mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616) and now fights crime alongside Peter Parker as a protégé. 

Miles Morales Reading Order

Spider-Man : Miles Morales [1] / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Spider-Man : Miles Morales [2] / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen : sitting in a tree / Bendis, Brian Michael (also collected as Miles Morales : the avenging Avenger) (crossover with Spider-Gwen, also on Libby)

Spider-Man : Miles Morales [3] / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Spider-Man : Miles Morales [4] / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Spider-Men II / Bendis, Brian Michael

Miles Morales [1] : straight out of Brooklyn / Ahmed, Saladin (also on Libby)

Miles Morales. 2, Bring on the bad guys
(also on Libby)

Absolute Carnage : Miles Morales / Ahmed, Saladin

Miles Morales. Vol. 3, Family business / Ahmed, Saladin

Miles Morales [4] : ultimatum / Ahmed, Saladin
(also on Libby)

Miles Morales. Vol. 5, The clone saga / Ahmed, Saladin
(also on Libby)

Miles Morales [6] : all eyes on me / Ahmed, Saladin (also on Libby)

Miles Morales. Vol. 7, Beyond / Ahmed, Saladin (also on Libby)

Miles Morales [8] : empire of the spider / Ahmed, Saladin (also on Libby)

Miles Morales : Spider-Man : trial by spider / Ziglar, Cody

Spider-Gwen (Earth-65)

On Earth-65, a ‘low-super’ universe with fewer superhumans, Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider, gained spider-powers, and became Spider-Woman. Gwen struggles to balance school, her rock band, her super-heroics, all while continuing her multiversal misadventures with her fellow Spiders.

Spider-Gwen reading order

The amazing Spider-Man [1] : edge of Spider-Verse (Spider-Gwen’s first appearance) (also on Libby)

Spider-Gwen [0] : most wanted / Latour, Jason (also on Libby)

Spider-Women / Hopeless, Dennis (crossover with Spider-Woman and Silk) 

Spider-Gwen. Vol. 1, Greater power / Latour, Jason (also on Libby)

Spider-Gwen Volume 0, 1, and Spider-Gwen’s first appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse are also collected as Spider-Gwen : Gwen Stacy / Latour, Jason

Spider-Gwen. Vol. 2, Weapon of choice / Latour, Jason

Spider-Gwen [3] : long-distance / Latour, Jason

Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen : sitting in a tree / Bendis, Brian Michael (also collected as Miles Morales : the avenging Avenger / Bendis, Brian Michael) (crossover with Spider-Gwen, also on Libby) 

Spider-Gwen. Vol. 4, Predators / Latour, Jason

Spider-Gwen. Vol. 5, Gwenom / Latour, Jason

Spider-Gwen [6] : the life of Gwen Stacy / Latour, Jason

Spider-Geddon (ONLY on Libby)

Later, Gwen takes up the name Ghost-Spider and moves to Earth-616.

Spider-Gwen : Ghost-Spider. Vol. 1, Spider-geddon / McGuire, Seanan (also on Libby)

Spider-Gwen : Ghost-Spider. Vol. 2, Impossible year / McGuire, Seanan

Ghost-Spider [1] : dog days are over / McGuire, Seanan

Ghost-Spider. Vol. 2, Party people / McGuire, Seanan

Spider-Gwen : Gwenverse / Seeley, Tim

Edge of Spider-Verse / Slott, Dan

Spider Gwen : shadow clones / Kim, Emily

Peter Parker (Earth-616)

By the time Spider-Verse happened, Peter Parker had just recovered from having his personality overwritten by Doctor Octopus and was running his own company, Parker Industries. Once the Inheritors arrive on Earth-616, Peter is recruited into the Spider-Army because he is believed to be ‘the greatest Spider-Man’.

Spider-Verse era Amazing Spider-Man reading order

The amazing Spider-Man [1] : the Parker luck / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man [2] : Spider-Verse prelude / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man [3] : Spider-Verse / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man [4] : graveyard shift / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man [5] : spiral / Conway, Gerry

If you want to catch up to Peter Parker’s current adventures, here are the volumes of the most recent Spider-Man run.

Current Amazing Spider-Man run

The Amazing Spider-Man. Volume 1, World without love / Wells, Zeb

The Amazing Spider-Man. Volume 2, The new sinister / Wells, Zeb (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man. Volume 3, Hobgoblin / Wells, Zeb (also on Libby)

The amazing Spider-Man. Vol. 4, Dark web / Wells, Zeb

Spider-Man Noir (Earth-90214)

Spider-Man Noir hails from the Marvel Noir universe of Earth-90214, where the Marvel heroes first begin appearing in the 1920s and 1930s. Here, Peter Parker gains his powers after being bitten by a mystical spider and becomes a web-slinging, hard-boiled detective.

Spider-Man noir : the complete collection / Hine, David

Spider-Man noir : eyes without a face / Hine, David (also collected in the above complete collection)

Spider-Man noir : twilight in Babylon / Stohl, Margaret (also on Libby)

Edge of Spider-Verse / Slott, Dan

Other titles in the Marvel Noir universe include:

Daredevil noir / Irvine, Alexander

Luke Cage noir / Benson, Mike

Wolverine noir / Moore, Stuart

Spider-Ham (Earth-8311)

Peter Porker was a spider bitten by a radioactive pig (yes, you read that right). He’s from the ‘Larval Universe’, a world populated by anthropomorphic animal versions of Marvel’s superheroes. Outside of Spider-Verse crossovers, Spider-Ham mostly appears in Marvel Comics’ humour publications.

Spider-Ham appearances

Howard the Duck : the complete collection. Vol. 4 / Mantlo, Bill

The Marvel Universe according to Hembeck / Hembeck, Fred

Spider-Verse / Costa, Mike

Secret wars, too

Spider-Man : Spider-Verse : Spider-Men / Bendis, Brian Michael

Web Warriors, protectors of the Spider-verse. Volume 1, Electroverse / Costa, Mike

Web Warriors, protectors of the Spider-verse. Volume 2, Spiders vs / Costa, Mike

Spider-Ham : great power, no responsibility : an original graphic novel / Foxe, Steve (also on Children’s eLibrary)

Edge of Spider-Verse / Slott, Dan

Peni Parker – SP//dr (Earth-14512)

Co-created by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, Peni Parker hails from a world inspired by classic manga and anime like Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Selected by a sentient radioactive spider to replace her father as the co-pilot of a giant robot suit, Peni protects New York as the wall-crawling mecha SP//dr.

SP//dr and Peni Parker appearances

Spider-Man : Spider-Verse : Spider-Men / Bendis, Brian Michael

Spider-geddon : edge of Spider-geddon

Spider-Verse : Spider-Zero / MacKay, Jed

Cindy Moon – Silk (Earth-616)

Did you know that Peter Parker wasn’t the only person bitten by the radioactive spider in his universe? His classmate Cindy Moon also got spider-powers, including the ability to create limitless webs, but she was abducted by the mysterious Spider Society before she could use her new powers. After escaping during the first Spider-Verse event, Cindy dons a costume and becomes the heroine Silk.

Silk has yet to appear in the Spider-Verse films, but is set to star in a planned spin-off movie based on the Spider-Women crossover comic.

Silk reading order

Silk. Vol. 0, The life and times of Cindy Moon / Thompson, Robbie

Silk. Vol. 1, Sinister / Thompson, Robbie

Silk Vol. 0 and 1 are collected together as Silk. Vol. 1, Out of the Spider-Verse (also on Libby)

Spider-Women / Hopeless, Dennis (crossover with Spider-Woman and Spider-Gwen)

Silk. Vol. 2, The negative / Thompson, Robbie

Silk Vol. 2 and the Spider-Women crossover are collected together as Silk : out of the Spider-Verse. Vol. 2 (also on Libby)

Silk [1] : Threats and Menaces / Goo, Maurene

Silk [2] : age of the witch / Kim, Emily

Silk [3] : nightmare boulevard / Kim, Emily

Villains of the Spider-Verse

For the lowdown on all the villains who appear in Into the Spider-Verse, check out Spider-Man Spider-Verse : fearsome foes. Here, we’re only covering the main two villains from the first film, the Kingpin and the Prowler.

The Kingpin

Wilson Fisk is the Kingpin of Crime, a powerful and ruthless mob boss who has fought Spider-Man and Daredevil. In the recent Devil’s Reign crossover, Fisk became the mayor of New York City and employed an army of supervillains to eliminate every hero in the city.

Civil war II : Kingpin / Rosenberg, Matthew

Kingpin : born against / Rosenberg, Matthew

Devil’s reign / Zdarsky, Chip (also on Libby)

Devil’s reign : villains for hire / Chapman, Clay McLeod (also on Libby)

The Prowler

There are two Prowlers currently active in the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man’s sometime-ally Hobie Brown, and Miles Morales’ uncle Aaron Davis. Both Prowlers are inventors who use a variety of gadgets, including a gliding cape, gauntlets that shoot gas pellets, and claws that allow them to climb walls.

Hobie Brown Prowler appearances

The amazing Spider-Man : worldwide [1] / Slott, Dan (also on Libby)

The Prowler : the clone conspiracy / Ryan, Sean

Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man [2] : hostile takeovers / Taylor, Tom

The amazing Spider-Man : beyond [3]

Aaron Davis Prowler appearances

Miles Morales : Spider-Man / Bendis, Brian Michael

Miles Morales : with great power / Bendis, Brian Michael

Spider-Man : Miles Morales [4] / Bendis, Brian Michael (also on Libby)

Miles Morales. Vol. 3, Family business / Ahmed, Saladin

Miles Morales [4] : ultimatum / Ahmed, Saladin (also on Libby)

Miles Morales [8] : empire of the spider / Ahmed, Saladin (also on Libby)