Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, is well-known and loved as one of the most positive and witty superheroes in comics. However, despite his generally upbeat and light-hearted disposition, Marvel has written some of its most graphic and bloody stories with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man as the protagonist. It’s a long-running joke among fans that Marvel writers seem to actively hate Peter and want to make him suffer in the worst ways possible. From high body counts to disgusting body horror, Peter has experienced some of the worst things of any character in all of comic book history. Whether they occur within the main Earth-616 continuity or are scenarios that play out across the Multiverse, these are the stories that demonstrate not all Spider-Man stories are family-friendly.
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These are the Spider-Man storylines with the most egregious acts of violence ever published by Marvel Comics.
10) Gang War
“Gang War” pits Peter against one of New York’s most notorious crime lords: Tombstone. The story opens with Tombstone capturing Peter and brutally beating him, leaving him bloodied and broken, before ordering his men to finish him off. Peter manages to escape but is deeply traumatized by the humiliating defeat. Later, the crime lord Madame Masque tried to assassinate Tombstone. The two crime lords then started a violent gang war. Eventually, Tombstone won the war and tried to kill Peter as a show of strength. However, Tombstone is defeated and his daughter, Janice, testifies against him in court, which results in his going to prison. Enraged, Tombstone broke out of prison and tried to kill Janice, but Peter fought Tombstone to protect her. The battle is bloody and graphic, with both fighters suffering from large lacerations and broken bones. Eventually, both fell unconscious as the fight took its toll. Thankfully though, Peter saved Janice from her father’s wrath.
9) The Night Gwen Stacy Died
Peter’s greatest failure is the death of Gwen Stacy. In this iconic story, the Green Goblin kidnapped Gwen Stacy, holding her hostage over the Brooklyn Bridge. When Peter arrived, his archnemesis dropped her off the bridge. Peter shot his web, catching Gwen by the ankle, but the momentum snapped her neck, killing the love of his life. Soon afterwards, Peter faced the Green Goblin in a final showdown and beat the villain within an inch of his life. In a last-ditch effort, Green Goblin tried to impale Peter with his remote-controlled Bat Glider. However, Peter’s Spider-Sense kicked in, and he jumped out of the way. The Bat Glider instead plunged directly into the Goblin’s heart. This is one of the most famous and heartbreaking Spider-Man stories ever, and it has been adapted into several movies.
8) Maximum Carnage
Carnage is one of the most cruel and sadistic villains in Marvel Comics. When Carnage broke out of a mental asylum, killing almost everyone in it, he formed a team of the most evil and twisted supervillains in New York. His teammates included Shriek, Doppelgänger, Demogoblin, and Carrion. Together, they slaughtered dozens of innocent people with sadistic glee. Peter assembled a team of heroes to halt their massacre. Eventually, Carnage and his cronies were defeated and arrested, but the bloodshed they wrought in their wake left a permanent stain on New York.
7) Spider’s Shadow
One of Peter’s most well-known moments is when he overcame his addiction to the mind-altering black symbiote suit and cast it off. However, in this alternate universe storyline, Peter doesn’t abandon the corrupting black suit: he embraces it. Allowing the dark impulses of the symbiote to take complete control, Peter becomes the villain Venom. He then used the alien suit to slaughter his enemies with sadistic efficiency. Peter suffocated Scorpion and Electro, crushed the skull of Hobgoblin, and tore apart Mysterio. When the Fantastic Four tried to stop Peter’s rampage, the corrupted Wall-Crawler even killed Mr. Fantastic. The surviving members of the Fantastic Four managed to kill the symbiote, freeing Peter from its evil influence.
6) Superior Spider-Man
When the dying Doctor Octopus switches bodies with Peter, the mad scientist decides to become a much more violent version of Spider-Man. As New York’s new protector, Doc Ock had no qualms about maiming or killing supervillains if it stopped them from ever coming back. He shot and killed the villain Massacre and punched Scorpion’s jaw clean off. As a vigilante, Doc Ock’s lethal practices certainly made him efficient and effective in apprehending and eliminating bad guys. Yet, his level of violence and the body count he left in his wake demonstrated his innate lack of morals or self-control. Doc Ock may have possessed Peter’s body, but he retained his own cold and ruthless mind.
5) Kraven’s Last Hunt
Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes, and in this dark story, we see the lengths Kraven is willing to go to break the Wall-Crawler. Kraven captured and drugged Peter before burying him alive. He then dressed up as Spider-Man and proceeded to kill various supervillains to prove that he was a better vigilante than Peter ever was. When Peter awoke two weeks later and dug himself out of his own grave, Kraven let loose the cannibalistic villain Vermin. Kraven wanted to force Peter to kill Vermin, but the hero refused. Still, the Hunter was content with the knowledge that he could have killed Peter at any time when he was drugged, but instead chose to spare him. Peter is only alive because Kraven allowed it. Having achieved his goal, Kraven killed himself because he had nothing else to live for.
4) I Walked With a Spider
The Edge of the Spider-Verse comic series explores Spider-People from across the Multiverse in one-shot stories. This specific tale unfolds like something straight out of a horror movie. The story’s protagonist, Patton Parnel, is a disturbed kid who enjoys torturing animals and spying on girls. When a radioactive spider bites him, his body undergoes a volatile transformation. He grows a second set of arms, six eyes, and giant fangs. He then eats multiple animals and people. In his most disgusting act, he bites a woman, infecting her with his spider eggs, which hatched and crawled out of her face. Thankfully, the spider-eating vampire Morlun arrived, tore Patton apart, and ate him before he could hurt anyone else.
3) Grim Hunt
“Grim Hunt” follows Kraven the Hunter’s widow and children banding together to hunt down the Spider-Family. Peter’s clone, the anti-hero Kaine, was brutally tortured to death. At the story’s climax, the Kraven family carries out a human sacrifice, selecting the third Spider Woman, Mattie Franklin, as their victim. Kraven’s widow, Sasha Kravinoff, then stabbed Mattie in the chest, her blood to perform a ritual to resurrect her deceased husband. Enraged by the deaths of his friends, Peter uses his sticky hands to rip the skin off Sasha’s face in revenge. Things only get worse for Sasha as Kraven kills her for ruining his “honorable” death. Kraven then forces his children to hunt each other to the death.
2) The Other
“The Other” featured one of the most graphic battles in Marvel history. In this story, Peter fought the vampire villain Morlun. Peter learned that he had contracted a terminal illness, which left him vulnerable when Morlun arrived to feast on the Wall-Crawler. During their bloody confrontation, Morlun yanked Peter’s eye out before devouring it. Morlun then nearly beat Peter to death, spattering the hero’s blood across the pavement. However, before Morlun could kill Peter, the cops arrived, forcing the villain to flee. Nevertheless, with Peter in the hospital at death’s door, Morlun returned to finish Peter off. But, happily and fortuitously, Peter’s spider-like primal instincts kicked in, enabling to grow wrist spikes — which he used to impale Morlun. He then violently bit into Morlun’s neck, ripped out his throat, and killed the vampire.
1) Last Remains
In “Last Remains,” not even death could end Peter’s suffering. This story introduced the demonic villain Kindred, who sought to make Peter’s life a living Hell. The villain infected several members of the Spider-Family — including Spider-Woman and Silk– driving them to go on a murderous rampage. Thereafter, without a moment’s hesitation, Kindred abducted Peter, snapping his neck and killing him. Even this, however, wasn’t the end. Using his necromantic powers, Kindred brought Peter back to life – only to kill him again and again, making each of his deaths more gruesome than the one before. In a display of manic violence, Kindred slit Peter’s throat, drowned him, strangled him, shattered his spine, bashed his head with a rock, set him on fire, impaled him, and fed him to giant centipedes. Although Peter ultimately triumphed over the villain with the help of his allies, it is impossible to fathom the extent of the torment he endured.
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