Marvel Puts Spider-Man in a Rap Battle With Eminem (Yes, Really)

Spider-Man will be going up a different kind of foe, in a very different kind of battle. Marvel has revealed that Spider-Man vs. Eminem is about to be an actual thing, as the Wall-Crawler will face Slim Shady in a rap battle! Not to worry, though: Spider-Man rapping against Eminem isn't about to be some weird twist in Marvel Universe canon: Instead, an image of Spidey and Eminem facing-off over the mic has been revealed as the variant cover design for Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Legacy #895), which will be launching a new era of Spider-Man stories, and is now on sale! 

The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2022) variant cover featuring Eminem was illustrated by artists Salvador Larroca and Edgar Delgado. As you can see below, the image is a direct homage to 8 Mile, Eminem's semi-biopic that was released in 2002 and went on to big box office success as well as critical acclaim and awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Song (Eminem's "Lose Yourself"). Funny enough, the scene between Eminem and Spidey being depicted here is its own kind of double-meta Easter egg: Eminem's character "Rabbit" goes into 8 Mile's final rap battle against rivial "Papa Doc," who was played by then-future Marvel star, Anthony Mackie! Speaking of Easter eggs, a survey of the crowd in the picture reveals some fun cameos, from the obvious Mile Morales/Spider-Man to Luke Cage, Black Panther, Ghost-Spider, and Daredevil all spotted as well. 

As for availability: this Eminem-themed variant cover for Amazing Spider-Man #1 will get a total of 5,000 print copies which are sold on The Haul, with an additional 1,000 limited prints of the "spotlight version of the variant comic cover" which are on sale as of Tuesday, November 29th. 

Eminem Responds to Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Variant Cover

In a Twitter post, Eminem (or his reps), had the following response to Marvel's new Amazing Spider-Man cover: 

"Like Spider-Man crawlin' upside of a wall" HONORED to be on the official variant of The Amazing Spider-Man (2022)... drops tomorrow on shop.eminem.com @Marvel"

This isn't Eminem's first time joining the Marvel Comics Universe: Marshall Mathers was one of several celebrities who were featured in Marvel's first "Hellfire Gala" in 2021. That event saw the X-Men's new mutant nation of Krakoa invite human celebrities, influencers and figures of power to a massive gala event. Eminem made it on the Hellfire Gala invite list, and was one of the many celebrity Easter eggs that incentivized fans to read each chapter of the Rashomon-style story, and spot each famous face tucked into the party crowd. 

The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (plus Eminem variant cover) is now on sale.