10 Times Spider-Man Died, Ranked By Impact

Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular hero and an argument can be made that he is their greatest. Sure, he’s not the world’s most amazing leader like Captain America – his only real competition for the title – but in some ways that makes him even better. Peter Parker is a kid from Queens who got lucky getting powers, then had a terrible night, and decided to do his best to make sure no one else ever had a night like him. He’s throws himself in the way of certain death to save people he’s never met before every chance he gets and he’s able to keep them and himself out of the cold grasp of the reaper every time. Well, almost every time, that is.

Over the years, fans have watched their friendly neighborhood hero make the ultimate sacrifice to save the day. Sure, there’s usually some shenanigans that ensue to make sure that he comes back to life but at that moment, he’s still given his all to save someone else’s life. Death in comics has become a pretty common occurrence, even for the Wall-Crawler, and the main difference between his various demises has been their impact. Some of his deaths have mattered and some have been incidental, with these ten deaths of Spider-Man running the gamut of import.

10) His Death in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #11

Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars was Marvel’s first massive crossover after Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions created the modern event comic. It pit the heroes against the villain in a contest arranged by the One From Beyond. Spider-Man had some great moments in this story, taking down the X-Men by himself and getting his black costume but it wouldn’t be all sunshine and roses. Eventually, Doctor Doom was able to steal the power of their host, becoming a godlike being, and issue #11 ended with the heroes being killed in a massive explosion. And then, of course, they were back in the next issue because this was all of Marvel’s A-list characters put together. There was no way their deaths were going to be permanent, and Spidey and the rest were back in the next issue. It was the first of many Spidey in events death that wouldn’t count, but far from the last.

9) Killed by Terraxia in Infinity Gauntlet #4

Infinity Gauntlet is one of Marvel’s great epics, a story that even 35 years later is still one of the most beloved event comics ever. It’s so beloved, it was used as the basis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man was a part of the series, but it was a very small part. In fact, he doesn’t even get a showcase death. Issue #4 saw the heroes of Earth attack Thanos (who was living in the Marvel version of the Anti-Monitor’s castle from Crisis on Infinite Earths #7), who decided to just use the Power Gem against them. Spidey gets a swinging kick in on the Mad Titan, but is tackled by Terraxia. She was created by Thanos to make Mistress Death jealous (she didn’t care at all, by the way; the shade was so real) and fought alongside against the heroes. She beat Peter Parker to death in the background of several panels, finally using a piece of debris to end him. The death was off panel, so it was as gruesome as you wanted it to be, making it one of the cooler deaths even if it was in the background. He was resurrected at the end of issue #5, just like everyone else was.

8) Dying in Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #17

I remember buying this book back in the day, expecting to get some kind of awesome Infinity Gauntlet action and was surprised by one of the best comics I had read up to that point. Issue #4 had come out two months before this book, explaining the cover, but this book was only tangentially related to it. Spider-Man saves two window washers but is killed in a wave of Freon, his spirit leaving his body. He ends up having a battle of philosophy with Thanos in the realm of Death – who talks about the meaningless of everything that Peter does, despite saving lives, and how his only legacy will be worse villains popping up – and Death ends up agreeing with Spidey and releasing him. So, I just want to on record say that this is one of the best Spider-Man stories you could ever read (brought to you by the amazing team of Ann Nocenti, Rick Leonardi, and Al Williamson, three legends of Marvel) and if you ever get a chance, grab it. It’s a cool death comic, but it didn’t really matter at all to anything, other than to an eleven year-old boy at the spinner rack in a gas station 35 years ago.

7) Marvel Zombies Returns Death by Sandman

Marvel Zombies showcased Marvel’s greatest heroes in zombified worlds, with some of the most gruesome deaths you can imagine. We’ve gotten numerous zombie Earths, with 2009’s Marvel Zombies Return taking readers to a new one. Now, at the time, no one thought that Sandman exploding Spider-Man on some alternate Earth would have any kind of impact whatsoever. However, it became a major meme in the last year, being used as a reaction image and modified in all kinds of ways. If you were on Reddit at all in 2025 and 2026, you’ll remember how ubiquitous the memes were. It’s one of those weird moments that is only possible because of the Internet; this was a from a basically forgotten book that barely even had any impact on the various Marvel Zombies storylines and the only reason anyone has even heard about it is because somewhere, someone was reading this book and thought they could make a joke out of this.

6) “Web of Death” Poisoning

The Clone Saga was much better than most remember, with its opening stages still giving readers compelling stories. “Web of Death” ran through Amazing Spider-Man #397-398 and Spectacular Spider-Man #220-221 and brought Doctor Octopus back into the fold, with his new girlfriend Stunner. Spidey got poisoned by the Vulture and Doc Ock ended up being his only hope. He was able to create an antidote and when the Wall-Crawler drank it, he had a heart attack and died. Ock performed CPR on his longtime enemy and he came back, the poison neutralized in his system. We were in the opening stages of the saga, so there was no way this death was going to matter too much. It was a pretty great story – it’s Spider-Man by J.M. DeMatteis and Tom DeFalco, with the best Spidey artists ever in my opinion in Mark Bagley and Sal Buscema inked by Bill Sienkiewicz – but it had little impact.

5) His Deaths at the Hand of Kindred

Nick Spencer’s run on The Amazing Spider-Man was the first after the endless Dan Slott run and fans enjoyed it a lot for a while, especially when it seemed like Spencer was being pushed to retcon “One More Day”. This didn’t happen, but we did get “Sins Past” retcons (one of the most maligned Spider-Man stories of all time, especially for anyone that worships Gwen Stacy, which is most of Marvel editorial at this point) and the run’s big bad was Kindred, the former Gabriel Stacy (a lab-created child of Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy) in a fiendish demonic form. At one point, he was able to get the drop on Spidey and beat him to death. Then he resurrected him and killed him again. And again. And again. It was easily one of the most painful deaths that Spidey ever experienced and it played a big role in its overall story.

4) Morlun Killing Spider-Man in “The Other”

Morlun is one of Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies and he proved it within a few years of showing up. The Inheritor was out to kill Peter Parker and drain the spider totem energy from him and the two squared off several times, with “The Other” being their most brutal battle. It was a major Spider-event story, running through Amazing Spider-Man #525-528, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1-4, and Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19-22, pitting the two against each other in a climactic battle. The energy vampire outclassed the hero in terms of strength and durability eventually overcoming the vaunted Parker willpower. Fasn were used to watching Spidey get beat up, but this fight took it to the next level. He beat the webslinger to death, which would lead to him coming back to life with more spider powers, like organic webs and retractable spikes. So, this death did have some impact, although most of the more bizarre powers introduced by this story were soon forgotten.

3) The Death of Ben Reilly

The Clone Saga took over two years to end. Readers were told that Ben Reilly was actually the real thing and eventually he took over as Spider-Man for a short time. Norman Osborn’s return would lead to the end of the saga, with one final battle between Osborn and the two Peter Parkers. Reilly took a pretty savage beating, but came back into the fight to save Peter, who Osborn was trying to skewer with his goblin glider, trying to kill him in the way the villain had died years before. Reilly took the impact for him, saving the man who was basically his brother from a terrible death. This didn’t kill Ben immediately, with he and Peter having some final words before he fell apart, revealing that he was actually the clone. This death was the end of one of the most maligned tales in Spider-history, so it’s impact is pretty big.

2) Doctor Octopus Killing Spider-Man

Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man’s oldest foes. While some like to think of Green Goblin as the webslinger’s greatest foe, there’s an argument to be had that Doc Ock is. Exhibit A is Amazing Spider-Man #700, when Ock is able to switch bodies with his foe, consigning the hero to death in his blasted body. However, Peter shows Ock all of his memories, which changes the way the villain looked at the Wall-Crawler. With this new perspective, Otto Octavious set out to prove that he would be a superior Peter Parker, leading into the fantastic Superior Spider-Man. This death was huge; this was the early ’10s, when Spidey was still a member of the Avengers and was a common sight in every major Marvel story, leading to some big changes to several books. It was so popular that Marvel has tried to replicate its success, trying to make Ock a spider-powered anti-hero many times since it ended.

1) The Death of First Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man (Vol. 1) is one of those series that was legendary right from the beginning. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley were able to take the basics of Spider-Man and bring them into the 21st century, insuring the success of the original Ultimate line. It was one of the bestselling books in the industry and even when the rest of the Ultimate Universe was on its way down the tubes, it was awesome. That’s why his death was such a big deal when it was announced. Peter had his final battle with Norman Osborn in this story and was able to save the day at the cost of his own life. This death had some huge repercussions; it ended the most popular character in the Ultimate Universe and it would lead to the introduction of Miles Morales, who has proven to be the most popular new Marvel character of the 2010s.

Which do you think is the most impactful Spider-Man death? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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