Marvel Variant Covers Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Spider-Man’s Black Costume

Spider-Man’s symbiote suit turns 40 this spring.

April 1, 2024, 12:46pm

“Amid the chaos, there comes a costume–!” Those words adorn one of the most iconic comic book covers of all time: 1984’s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8. Part of a 12-issue limited series that saw Marvel’s mightiest superheroes and supervillains — including Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Doctor Doom — do battle on a strange planet named Battleworld, where the wall-crawler encountered an even stranger machine meant to repair his tattered costume. Instead, Spider-Man discovered what would eventually be revealed to be an alien symbiote after returning to Earth with his dramatic new black costume in 1984’s Amazing Spider-Man #252.

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As Spider-Man’s black costume turns 40, Marvel is marking the occasion with the Black Costume Variant Covers series. 24 covers — nine of which are revealed below — imagine other Marvel heroes and villains with their own black suits, with designs by such acclaimed artists as Leinil Francis Yu (Wolverine), Peach Momoko (Ultimate X-Men), Phil Noto (Star Wars: The High Republic), and more.

The covers will begin rolling out on May 1.

Marvel Black Costume Variant Covers

On Sale 5/1
IMMORTAL THOR #10 Black Costume Variant Cover by Paulo Siqueira
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #18 Black Costume Variant Cover by Pete Woods
INCREDIBLE HULK #12 Black Costume Variant by David Nakayama
SPIDER-WOMAN #7 Black Costume Variant Cover by Peach Momoko
X-MEN #34 Black Costume Variant Cover by Phil Noto

On Sale 5/8
AVENGERS #14 Black Costume Variant Cover by InHyuk Lee
CAPTAIN AMERICA #9 Black Costume Variant Cover by Leinil Francis Yu
CAPTAIN MARVEL #8 Black Costume Variant Cover by Sergio Davila
DAREDEVIL #9 Black Costume Variant Cover by Jonboy Meyers
DEADPOOL #2 Black Costume Variant Cover by Javier Garrón
DOCTOR STRANGE #15 Black Costume Variant Cover by Ken Lashley
FANTASTIC FOUR #20 Black Costume Variant Cover by David Marquez
SPIDER-MAN: SHADOW OF THE GREEN GOBLIN #2 Black Costume Variant Cover by Dan Panosian
WOLVERINE #49 Black Costume Variant Cover by David Nakayama
X-MEN: FOREVER #3 Black Costume Variant Cover by InHyuk Lee

On Sale 5/15
MS. MARVEL: MUTANT MENACE #3 Black Costume Variant Cover by Mahmud Asrar

On Sale 5/22
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50 Black Costume Variant Cover by Iban Coello
BLACK WIDOW & HAWKEYE #3 Black Costume Variant Cover by Philip Tan
SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK #8 Black Costume Variant Cover by Terry Dodson

On Sale 5/29
JACKPOT AND BLACK CAT #3 Black Costume Variant Cover by Paco Medina
SCARLET WITCH & QUICKSILVER #4 Black Costume Variant Cover by Chad Hardin
SPIDER-BOY #7 Black Costume Variant Cover by David Baldeón

On Sale 6/26
SPIDER-GWEN: THE GHOST-SPIDER #2 Black Costume Variant Cover by TBA