Marvel Teases Spider-Man: Reign 2 Coming as "Most Notorious Spider-Man Story Ever Told

Marvel has released a new promotional image teasing a return to the world of Spider-Man: Reign, teasing it as "the most notorious Spider-Man story ever told." The original four-issue, prestige-format miniseries was published in 2006 and 2007, and centered on a future version of Spider-Man from a dystopian future, in which superheroes were mostly retired and New York City was a police state. In the story, Spider-Man comes out of retirement, guided by hallucinations of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Peter's late wife, who seemingly died due to radiation poisoning related to Peter's irradiated semen (yes, really).

The series was written and drawn by Kaare Andrews, and while it certainly didn't rise to the level of acclaim it was shooting for (the story explicitly references The Dark Knight Returns), it evoked strong reactions, with some critics calling it one of the best Spider-Man stories of all time and others calling it one of the worst.

You can see the teaser image below.

There's no real information yet about what fans can expect from Reign 2, or whatever it's going to be called. Certainly, Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns universe and other stories where the retired hero comes back, like Kingdom Come, have spurrred spinofffs over the years, sometimes set in their own dystopian worlds and sometimes bringing the aging heroes out of their own dark worlds and into the main universe.

Given the post-9/11 themes of the original Reign, it doesn't seem implausible that any contemporary follow-up will tackle themes related to the rise of fascism in the west, the COVID-19 pandemic, or other political topics that have profound impacts on people's day-to-day lives.

Marvel is likely to come out with more details in the near future. Given the timing of the teaser image, don't be surprised if we're getting this in November or December, with more details and solicitation text to come soon.