Spider-Man usually presents himself as a friendly neighborhood hero, but it's not lost on most people that the general idea of ​​Spider-Man is quite scary. Spiders are scary in general, and someone who can crawl on walls and web people up has the potential for some legitimate horror. I never really found the basic version of Spider-Man scary, but one story took Spider-Man's web and turned it into my own personal nightmare fuel.
I first saw this nightmarish version of Spider-Man in Darkhold: Spider-Man #1 by Alex Paknadel and Dio Neves. In this story, New York and the world suffered an event called the Unraveling. Every physical thing in the world is falling apart and completely collapsing, including buildings and people.
It's a horrible situation and Spider-Man does everything he can to literally keep these people together. Using his webs, Spider-Man passes through New York City every morning, using his webs to hold the buildings and people together throughout the day.
Spider-Man is the only thing holding New York City together
The Darkhold: Spider-Man by Alex Paknadel, Dio Neves, Jim Charalampidis and Clayton Cowles
Unfortunately, Spider-Man's web dissolves after a certain period of time. Even with a better formula that lasted 24 hours, Peter still had to go around the city and make sure no one collapsed. It's an incredibly disturbing situation. Body horror is a pretty common horror trope in the stories I've read and seen, but people literally falling apart and having to be held together every day is something entirely newand it's absolutely terrifying. Spider-Man has had many horror twists in the character's story, but this one gives the perfect twist to his sense of responsibility that turns this story into a true nightmare.
The idea of ​​being arrested by Spider-Man was always quite scary…
Spider-Man has many powers, but natural web isn't one of them. Instead, Spider-Man had to create a fluid that he keeps in containers around his wrists, allowing him to spray webs at anyone or anything he needs. Their webs are also quite strong, with the strength and durability of steel. The idea of ​​being arrested by Spider-Man was always quite scarybut this nightmare world took the notion to the next level. The part that really disturbs me is that Spider-Man's web has that pesky dissolving glitch, which means Peter is forced to find a more lasting solution to keep his world together.
All Spider-Man needs is something to hold the world together; It doesn't necessarily have to be your webs. Because of the constant pressure to keep the city together, Peter ends up going crazy. Wanting to find a permanent, or at least a better, solution, Peter eventually attacks and captures Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. He then turns Reed into his own personal living web. Since Reed is able to extend himself very far and never dissolves, Spider-Man appears to have found the most horrific solution possible to his problem, managing to hold the city together with a new, living web.
Spider-Man can't keep the city together forever
Despite how far he is willing to go to save others
There are so many terrifying versions of Spider-Man. There is Spider-Man, a variant of Spider-Man made up of a thousand spiders. There's Patton Parnel, a cannibal version of Peter Parker's serial killer, and there's, of course, Spider-Man's black suit. I think it's really undeniable that Spider-Man lends himself to horror. He is a terrifying character in the right hands, and Marvel has no shortage of terrifying versions of the iconic web-slinger, from zombies to deranged serial killers. But this interpretation of Spider-Man in Darkhold is the scariest, I think, for one simple reason.
All of the other versions of Spider-Man I've mentioned are intentional horrible twists on the Spider-Man character. Patton Parnel is a serial killer explicitly designed to be the exact opposite of everything Peter Parker is. While this character change can certainly be scary, it's not exactly as scary as a Spider-Man who is still everything Peter Parker represents, but twisted in a demented direction. Spider-Man is all about responsibility; He often feels like he has to hold the world together alone. In this twisted world where the Unraveling took place, this was brought to a horrible literal conclusion for him.
Reed Richards is transformed into Spider-Man's living web
Mister Fantastic makes a great Spider-Man accessory
Typically, Spider-Man is one of the most hopeful and optimistic characters in the Marvel Universe. No matter what happens to him, he always tries to respond with a joke and is always available to help anyone he can, no matter what. But this intense sense of responsibility is one of the scariest things about Spider-Man. No matter what happens, he feels like it's his fault, and in a world where he's one of the last heroes capable of holding people together, he'll do everything he can to save them – including going to absolutely horrific extremes about which I will. certainly be having Spider-Man themed nightmares in the coming months.
Darkhold: Spider-Man #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.