Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse just
released its first trailer and with it we got a glimpse of the very
tangentially related original Spider-Armor which also happens to have a
little connection to the MC2.
Let us take in some context, shall we? In Web of
Spider-Man #100, Peter Parker finds himself outnumbered fighting the
rank and file of the New Enforcers. Later at the Empire State
University Science Department, Peter decides to kill two birds with one
stone: making a new batch of web-fluid and in the process give himself an edge
against the New Enforcers. This edge comes in the form of the ‘bigger,
better, badder—and bulkier—Spider of Steel,’ in reality an experimental new
‘hard-web agent’ that forms a ‘pseudo-metallic composition’ which
Peter wears as suit of armor over his regular costume.
Sadly, the Spider-Armor does not last long (only
about 8 pages, in fact) against the ranks of the New Enforcers in
addition to the Blood
Rose, an imposter ‘Richard
Fisk’ and Gauntlet After being weakened, ripped apart, eaten
away, electrocuted, blasted by a grenade, melted into slag then flash-frozen,
the Spider-Armor was shattered to pieces as Spider-Man came out
swinging. Gone but not forgotten.
As an aside, the new web-polymer’s resilience also gives Peter’s
web-fluid ‘far more bounce’ making his web-balls ricochet. I am
not sure but this may be the first instance of Spider-Man using this
particular web-spinning technique. Someone please let me know!
While the Spider-Armor has yet to make a return in
the mainstream comics, it would go on to become one of the most well-known
variant costumes for Spider-Man in other media. The first instance of this
was the 1994/1995 Spider-Man video game (sometimes colloquially known
as the Spider-Man: The Animated Series game).
Speaking of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the
Spider-Armor makes its animation debut in the series final arc with Spider
Wars “Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones” which was first broadcast in
1998. That John Semper Jr really was ahead of the times, wasn’t
he?
Finally, let us see how all this has any bearing on
the MC2? Well, we know for sure these events transpired in the past
of the MC2’s Peter Parker thanks to an unlikely source; Spider-Man
Family Vol. 1 #1. Therein we have a story (seemingly) set during the mostly
unexplored point in time after Baby May is rescued and
returned to Peter and Mary Jane Parker by Kaine but
before Peter loses his leg in his final
battle with Norman
Osborn aka the Green Goblin. Lured into a trap by the
villain Jack O’
Lantern aka Maguire Beck, Spider-Man meets
and teams-up with Araña and her *sidekick* Miguel as
they battle a museum room full of Spider-Man robot’s designed to
resemble various costumes and points in Peter’s career. Among
these we see a robot that appears to be clad in the original Spider-Armor
which should reaffirm for anyone who may doubt the Main Marvel Universe and
the MC2 share a common history (up to a point).
Much like with the case of Six-Arm
Spider-Man, there is the lingering question of how Jack O’ Lantern
came to know of the Spider-Armor given its single brief appearance. Perhaps
the network of super villains shared accounts of the battle?
The Spider-Armor has become quite an iconic mainstay
in other mediums even if it never quite took hold in the comics. Still, there
seems to be continued interest for this metallic monstrosity all the same. Big thanks to arias-98105 for research help on this post.
Until I am forced to whip up a new Spider-Man design
for a centenary issue, I remain
frogoat