Every single Spider-Man you've ever known, together in one comic 

Question: How many Spider-Men does it take to defeat an immortal, reality-hopping vampire bent on spreading unprecedented chaos across  the multiverse?

Answer: All of them.

In a special press conference, Marvel Comics officially unveiled this year's big Spider-Man comics event. Entitled “Spider-Verse,” the mega-crossover, written by Dan Slott and illustrated by Olivier Coipel?, will officially begin in November's Amazing Spider-Man #9. However, its seeds will be planted in May, via a 5-page prelude in this year's Guardians of the Galaxy-themed Free Comic Book Day giveaway.

"This is every Spider-Man ever teaming up and some in-fighting, as some don't get along," promised Dan Slott, the current writer of the main Spider-Man title, Superior Spider-Man (soon
 to revert to Amazing Spider-Man in April). "It's epic in its scope." 

What a tangled web we weave

Marvel's first and only teaser for the story was released  last  week, but it was a doozy. A large five-cover spread by comics artist Gabriele del'Otto was  featured on various comic book news sites,  depicting the main Spider-Man – Peter Benjamin Parker, who first appeared in
 August 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15 – poised to strike, apparently leading a team of 37 other acrobatic heroes whose images were blackened out and replaced with webbing. Accompanying it was a mysterious line - “Every Single One.”

After less than a week, however, the comics company unveiled the unedited cover, and revealed the identities of the hidden heroes.



Partially based on Newsarama's “educated guesses,” the banner features, from left to right: Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara), Wolf, Spider-Man: Noir, Earth X Spider-Man, Ghost Spider, Kwaku Anansi, Prince Arachne (Sir Peter Parker), Captain Universe, Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly), Big Time (or Spider-Armor Mk II),  Spider-Man 2211, Negative Zone Spider-Man (or Spider-Armor Mk I), Spider-Girl (Betty Brant), Captain Spider (Flash Thompson), “Ends of the Earth” Anti-Sinister 6 Spider-Armor, Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales), the Amazing Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Secret War stealth ops suit, Mangaverse, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man J, Iron Spider, Amazing Bag-Head, “Bullet Points” Spider-Man (Bruce Banner), Spider-Monkey, The Spider (a Carnage-possessed Peter Parker), Izumi, Black Suit/Symbiote, Future Foundation Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Woman (Parker's clone, Ultimate Jessica Drew), Spider-Girl (Parker's daughter May from MC2), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Scarlet Spider (Kaine), Man-Spider, Parker's Last Stand (Amazing Spider-Man #499-500), Doppleganger, and Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon).

Interestingly, a good number of these suits were actually worn by Parker himself, which raises the question of how it would be possible for them to end up fighting alongside Parker in his classic red and blue duds. It is possible that, since Noir, 2099, and 2211 are from different time periods, time travel may be a factor in this story as well. In addition, a sixth cover is set to be revealed, adding even more Spider-Man incarnations to an already packed roster of arachnids.
According to Slott, the story stems from a prophecy from recent issues of Amazing Spider-Man and Superior Spider-Man by Julia Carpenter, a clairvoyant called Madame Web, about all the spiders dying.

Web of death

The main (or at least, initial) antagonist of the piece has been confirmed to be the vampire Morlun, a character who first appeared in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #30 (2001). Morlun and Parker had managed to kill each other years ago during the 2005 crossover storyline “The Other,” but Parker ended up being reborn with an improved power set. 

Now, however, Morlun is back, seemingly intent on finishing the job – and this time, in every reality with a Spider-Man.

“There are characters, because this is multiple universes, you might find character who is dead in our universe might be hale and hearty in other universe,” said Slott. 

“But once “Spider-Verse” starts we can’t vouch for their safety at all.” 

The inspiration for “Spider-Verse” comes from the video game “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions,”  which he wrote. The game features the Spider-Men from the Amazing, 2099, Ultimate, and Noir universes teaming up to defeat Mysterio. 

“We didn’t want to sell anything short; if there is a Spider-Man out there, we wanted him in this. You don’t want to hold back on any single guy, be it Spider-Man Fairy Tales, the Manga-Verse, whatever.” 

If this seems like a little too much to handle for Parker – who is just returning from the dead after more than a year of his body being forcibly taken over by Otto
 Octavius/Doc Ock in Superior Spider-Man – well, that's because it was meant to be that way.

"The big question of Spider-Man isn't what happens at end of year, but is what the heck can we do to top this in 2015 because we're doing so much in 2014," teased Slott. — TJD, GMA News