Marvel’s New Spider-Man Villain Will Make Peter Parker’s Life Hell

Peter Parker has been through hell. Joe Kelly’s ongoing run of The Amazing Spider-Man began with Doctor Doom — the new Sorcerer Supreme — delegating his responsibilities as Earth’s champion against the eight Scions of Cyttorak the Destroyer. Doom endowed Spider-Man with arcane armor and eight life-restoring Reeds of Raggadorr, granting him eight extra lives which he would need to use to spare the world from destruction. In Eight Deaths of Spider-Man, the wall-crawler has so far died battling Scions Cyntros, Cyperion, Cyrios, and Callix, leaving just four Reeds until all of Spider-Man’s lives are spent.

But it was Cyra’s challenge that caused Spider-Man to call it quits after she made Peter witness and experience the inevitable deaths of his family, friends, and countless others in Amazing Spider-Man #65. As Phil Coulson, the new embodiment of Death, shepherded those lives to his realm, Cyra showed Peter a bleak vision of the fates of Miles Morales, Bailey Briggs/Spider-Boy, and Gwen Stacy/Ghost-Spider, doomed to die at the hand of a towering villain seen only in shadow.

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“The next generation of Spiders… extinguished along with the lives of countless others,” Cyra said. “Their deaths will be meaningless in the resolution of the Cataclysm. They do not die as martyrs. They do not die as heroes. They just… die.” And now that villain has a name: Hellgate, who is hell bent on Spider-Man’s destruction.

Hellgate will make his first full appearance in April’s Amazing Spider-Man #1, the relaunch from Kelly and artists Pepe Larraz (X-Men) and series artist John Romita Jr., whose design has been revealed below with a sneak peek at the interior art.

“Representing Spider-Man’s greatest challenge in the new era, Hellgate will force Spider-Man to endure some of his most brutal battles ever and will significantly impact the course of Peter Parker’s life — both in and out of the suit,” according to Marvel. Readers “can expect reveals behind Hellgate’s origin, identity, and mission throughout the upcoming run’s first year.”

Marvel has been teasing that a major Spider-Villain is weaponizing Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery in the relaunch, including a foe who hasn’t been seen in over seven years. Might Hellgate be behind the supervillain onslaught making Spider-Man’s villains “meaner, more aggressive and increasingly dangerous to everyone around them,” including a rampaging Rhino?

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“Even though this is a new #1, I don’t think of it as a ‘restart’ per se,” Kelly told Polygon about the relaunch. “I’m writing the next chapter of the story of one the world’s greatest characters, lucky enough to follow in the footsteps of the folks before me. After that sinks in, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I love about Spider-Man and his cast, what stories resonated with me at different times of my life, and how I can synthesize all of that into something that works with what came before but breaks new ground.”

Kelly continued, “I’m fascinated by the internal lives of these characters and exploring new territory there — Peter’s youth is interesting, for example, the days before he was ‘puny Parker’ in high school. At the same time, I feel a drive to take bold, unexpected swings in order to see how Spider-Man deals with Marvel-sized curve balls. Pressure makes diamonds.”

Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6 concludes with the Kelly-penned Amazing Spider-Man #70 on March 26, followed by the new No. 1 by Kelly, Larraz, and Romita Jr. on April 9.