Marvel is Going Full Horror With New Spider-Man Series (And It’s Pure Nightmare Fuel)

While heroes are usually the hope and light in the comic book stories that bring them to life, they do sometimes take darker turns. Over the course of Marvel’s extensive history, there have been plenty of times the good guys have fallen to the dark side for an arc or two only to make their way back to the light. But this fall, Marvel is going darker than it ever has with their terrifying Midnight Universe and even Spider-Man will be taking a twisted turn into monstrosity.

Arriving on October 7th will be the three debut issues of Marvel’s upcoming Midnight line: Midnight X-Men #1, Midnight Fantastic Four #1, and Midnight Spider-Man #1. The three books will be the only new Marvel comics released that day, but Marvel also revealed the cover for Midnight Spider-Man #1 and, well, it’s pure nightmare fuel.

Midnight Spider-Man Gives Peter Parker a Horrifying New Origin (That is Slightly Familiar)

Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by ScieTronc, in Midnight Spider-Man #1 a young Peter Parker is transformed into a hideous spider hybrid by the ruthless Oscorp Corporation in their pursuit for eternal life. When Oscorp begins to use the secrets unlocked by his mutation to create more human-animal hybrids, Peter embraces his grotesque new form to stop them. Johnson likened this take on the hero as being “conceived by H.R. Giger, directed by David Cronenbirg, adapted for the comic page by Junji Ito.”

“Marvel’s putting a TON of trust in ScieTronc and me on this project, and we’re using that trust to make big asks and take big creative risks,” he said. “I want to see a Spider-Man that was conceived by H.R. Giger, directed by David Cronenberg, adapted for the comic page by Junji Ito. I want Peter’s origin to be so upsetting it haunts me, and to see the Lizard and Doctor Octopus through the lens of a John Carpenter movie or a Resident Evil game. I’m so stoked for readers to see what we’re making.”

Admittedly, the premise of the book sounds intriguing and the cover—which comes partially obscured until you open it to reveal the full horror of it all—is pretty sick. That said, one can’t help but get some serious Absolute Universe vibes. The idea of a universe where everything is reversed in terms of darkness being the dominant “force” if you will is a hallmark of DC’s wildly popular Absolute line. Even some of what is being described in terms of the Midnight Spider-Man also feels familiar. Absolute Batman saw the twisted black-site prison, Ark M, subject inmates to truly horrific experiments to turn them into living weapons, something that resulted in some truly horrifying transformations—I’m specifically referring to Waylon, aka Killer Croc.

Of course, if there is one thing that DC’s Absolute Universe has proven is that darker stories are worth exploring and while Midnight Spider-Man sounds terrifying, the other titles releasing in October also sound equally intriguing. Jonathan Hickman and Matteo Della Fonte’s Midnight X-Men will take a vampiric turn while Benjamin Percy and Kev Walker’s Midnight Fantastic Four will bring cosmic and Lovecraftian terror to Marvel’s First Family, right in time for spooky season.

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