Edge of the Spider-Verse was a comic book that marked the first appearance of one of the most popular characters introduced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in the form of Peni Parker. As opposed to Miles Morales and Peter, Peni didn’t have the same powers when it came to being enhanced by a radioactive spider. Rather, her abilities allowed her to have a psychic connection with an enhanced spider that helped her to pilot her mech suit, SP//dr. This issue didn’t just introduce a major player for the Sony film, it dropped references to a certain series recently brought back to life thanks to Netflix.
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One of the creators of the Marvel comic in question, Jake Wyatt, confirmed on his Twitter Account that he included characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu as classmates of Peni:
i’m v glad i got away with this and also amused that gerard will be blamed for it until the end of time https://t.co/YplexKGHQn
— Jake is Offline (@jakewyattriot) June 28, 2019
Clearly, this doesn’t confirm that Peni Parker is living in the same universe as the emotionally challenged characters from Eva, mostly because there wasn’t ever a scenario that saw them all in a classroom at the same time. Still, there’s a lot in common between the worlds of Peni and her mech suit and that of NERV to be found, so including this foursome into Parker’s futuristic world makes for a nice touch.
Ironically enough, both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are streaming on Netflix right now, so if you’d like to watch them back to back to find any hidden references that we may have missed, feel free!
What do you think of this clever Marvel nod to the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion? Which mech would come out on top if SP//dr fought against EVA Unit 01? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime!
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological drama by way of giant monster versus mech anime. The franchise debuted as a television series in 1995-1996 with two films following in 1997. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is an one-part drastically abridged retelling of the first 24 episodes of the television series, and one part new animation. The End of Evangelion, the second film, would incorporate some of Death & Rebirth’s original animation and offer an alternate take on the original series’ controversial final two episodes.
The series follows Shinji Ikari, who is recruited by his father to pilot the giant mech Evangelion in the fight against giant monsters known as Angels in the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. But Shinji is unwilling to bear this huge responsibility and is often conflicted about taking part in a war he was dragged into. This conflict of emotions leads to many introspective episodes that cover the range of religious, philosophical, and existential concepts.
