Spider-Man Noir
Spider-Man is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Peter Parker was a male human who lived in 1930's New York City on Earth-90214 in the Multiverse.
Peter tragically discovered the mutilated body of his uncle Ben, killed in retaliation by one of New York City's businessmen for organizing a strike on sweatshops. The murder of his uncle by the Goblin drove Peter's resolve to continue to seek justice. While helping May at a rally in a Hooverville, they encountered a violent response from the Enforcers. Fortunately, the two came to be saved by the reporter Ben Urich. (Spider-Man Noir v1 #1) Subsequently, Peter became Urich's protégé for the Daily Bugle and explored the dire situation of New York City's denizens, especially those under the threat of the Goblin. After Peter mistakenly received a tip-off meant for Urich, he ventured to a warehouse where the Goblin’s men were unloading a shipment of stolen antiques. (Spider-Man Noir v1 #2)
A particular antique that was a Spider Idol broke open and released a horde of spiders. One of the spiders bit Peter, causing him to pass out and dream of a Spider-God. After waking up, Peter discovered he possessed arachnid superpowers. Donning a mask, Peter confronted Norman Osborn in his home in order to get him to give up his hold over the city. However, Peter was shocked to discover Urich, who was revealed to have been blackmailing Osborn with his information on the mob boss in exchange for fueling his drug habit. Angered, Peter decided to leave Urich after seeing the truth about him. Upon returning home, Peter created a costume based on his uncle's World War I-era airman uniform and became the vigilante, Spider-Man. (Spider-Man Noir v1 #2)
Peter later returned to Urich's apartment to force him to help him to bring down the Goblin, only to find the reporter dead. Strengthened with resolve from his aunt and Urich's lover Felicia Hardy, Peter thwarted the Goblin's criminal operations. As the Bugle labeled him negatively in the papers, Spider-Man arrived at the Bugle building to meet Jonah Jameson over this matter, only to find Jameson shot to death. Later on, Peter learned that Jameson was replaced by the Chameleon and the real Jameson was imprisoned by Osborn. This lead Peter to Jameson's location, where he killed the Vulture, who was responsible for killing Ben Parker, to stop him from murdering May Parker. (Spider-Man Noir v1 #3)
Despite saving his aunt, May criticized him for killing the Vulture, as he could have stopped him with his powers. She told Peter that killing people would make him less of what makes him human. Spider-Man later tracked down the Goblin's 'torture house' and found the mob boss and his Enforcers holding Felicia and Jameson captive. He discovered that the Goblin had planned on murdering Urich, finding the reporter's information on the Goblin, which was kept by Felicia, and then eliminating every witness. He also discovered that Felicia was responsible for killing the Chameleon after she saw him, disguised as Jameson, murdering Urich. Spider-Man intervened, subdued the Enforcers and rescued Jameson. Spider-Man chased the Goblin, who held Felicia hostage, and cornered him. Peter had the chance to kill Osborn, but decided not to. The mob boss was then killed by spider-infested Sergei Kravinoff. (Spider-Man Noir v1 #4)
Eyes Without a Face
Parker continued to operate as a seasoned vigilante in New York City during September 1933, approximately eight months after his initial activities began. In his civilian identity as Peter Parker, he worked as a photographer and provided assistance at his Aunt May's soup kitchen alongside Mary Jane Watson. He actively investigated the rise of a masked criminal known as the Crime Master, who had violently filled the power vacuum left after the death of the Goblin. During this period, he frequently visited the Black Cat nightclub and pursued a relationship with its owner, Felicia Hardy, despite her initial dismissals. After his friend Robbie Robertson expressed concern about a laboratory on Ellis Island, he accompanied Robbie to the facility and observed Dr. Otto Octavius performing experiments on primates. As Spider-Man, he tracked the Crime Master's criminal operations and engaged in a direct physical confrontation with the villain's henchman, Flint 'Sandman' Marko. During this fight, he was severely beaten by the Sandman, sustaining significant injuries before the arrival of the police. Following this encounter, he sought refuge at Felicia Hardy's apartment, where she tended to his wounds and allowed him to recover. (Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without A Face v1 #2)
Edge of Spider-Verse
On August 1939, six years after he first began his career as a vigilante, Peter Parker in his civilian identity attended a magic show at the New York World's Fair with his Aunt May and Mary Jane Watson, noting a growing emotional distance between himself and Mary Jane following her return from fighting in the Spanish Civil War. During the performance, he was targeted by the Magnificent Mysterio, a corrupt magician and aspiring mob boss who kidnapped Felicia Hardy and threatened her life to lure Spider-Man into a trap. After changing into his uniform, he was captured and placed into a specialized water-filled escape chamber, where one of Mysterio's assistants extracted a sample of his blood. Using his organic webbing, he improvised an oxygen mask to survive the drowning attempt, eventually regaining enough strength to shatter the glass chamber and free Felicia. As he engaged in a direct physical confrontation with Mysterio, the battle was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Karn, a 'totemic predator' from another dimension who attacked him with a mystical trident. He attempted to fight off the interdimensional threat but was nearly overwhelmed until he was rescued by the Superior Spider-Man, who emerged from a portal to retrieve him. He then accompanied the Superior Spider-Man through the portal, leaving his reality behind to join a gathering of spider-powered beings in the year 2099 to prepare for a multiversal war. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #1)
Spider-Verse
In 1944, Noir remained in New York where he continued his role as a private investigator and masked vigilante. He investigated a series of strange occurrences involving swarms of insects that led him to a confrontation with Madame Swarm, a Nazi commander named Monica Rappaccini who had been transformed into a being composed of sentient bees. During the battle, he utilized his agility and environment to evade her swarming attacks while attempting to close the distance for a physical strike. He was eventually overpowered by the sheer volume of the swarm and was momentarily restrained by the insects, which threatened to consume him. In a desperate maneuver, he used his organic webbing to create a protective barrier around himself and then transitioned into an offensive strategy by utilizing nearby explosive materials to disrupt the swarm's cohesion. Despite the overwhelming nature of his opponent, he persisted in his assault until he was assisted by a multiversal team of Spider-heroes, including Spider-Gwen and Anya Corazon, who arrived via a dimensional portal. He coordinated with these allies to combine their unique powers, ultimately helping to drive back Madame Swarm and neutralise the immediate threat to his timeline. Following the skirmish, he agreed to join the Spider-Army once again, stepping through a portal to travel to the Loomworld to prevent the collapse of the Web of Life and Destiny. (Spider-Verse v3 #5)
The Cicada Stone
Noir later successfully returned to his home reality following his resurrection by the spider-god. In his civilian identity as Peter Parker, he worked as a private investigator out of a rundown office in Manhattan, where he struggled financially and faced constant pressure from his landlady for overdue rent. He maintained a close but complicated relationship with Mary Jane Watson, though the two were depicted as being on a break during this period. While monitoring the local criminal underworld, he intervened in a high-stakes bank robbery, utilizing his enhanced agility and combat skills to neutralize the gunmen. Shortly after returning to his office, he was visited by a museum curator named Huma Bergmann, who sought his assistance in investigating the murder of her sister, Holly Babson, a waitress at the Black Cat club. During the investigation, he examined the crime scene and discovered that Holly had been clutching a mysterious cicada-shaped gemstone at the time of her death. His inquiries led him to cross paths with the local police and ultimately forced him to confront the reality that the case had international implications involving Nazi agents. Persuaded by the counsel of Aunt May and Mary Jane, he eventually agreed to accompany Huma Bergmann on a flight to Europe, marking the beginning of a globetrotting mission to uncover the source of the mystical artifact. (Spider-Man Noir v2 #1)
End of the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man Noir operated as a member of the multiversal Spider-Army during a catastrophic conflict involving the return of the Inheritor Shathra. He initially appeared alongside his allies on Earth-616, where he stood ready to defend the Web of Life and Destiny from an encroaching swarm of corrupted, wasp-like Spider-entities. During the chaotic skirmish in Central Park, he utilized his agility and marksmanship to engage the transformed versions of his fellow Spider-heroes, including a mutated Jessica Drew. He coordinated his movements with Spider-Man namely the Peter Parker of Earth-616 and Hunter-Spider to provide cover fire and tactical support as the group was systematically hunted. Despite his combat experience, he was caught off guard when the corrupted Silk and Jessica Drew launched a coordinated strike against the uninfected heroes. In a pivotal moment of the confrontation, he was struck by a mystical dagger wielded by the transformed Jessica Drew, which effectively 'erased' him from the Great Web rather than simply killing him. This action resulted in his immediate physical dissolution, leaving behind only his iconic fedora as he was removed from existence across all timelines. (Spider-Man v4 #1)
The Gwen Stacy Affair
Spider-Man maintained a private investigation office and struggled with delinquent rent payments. He engaged in a violent rooftop confrontation with the Scorpion and his gang of armed henchmen, utilizing a pair of customized revolvers to disable his opponents while mocking their lack of competence. Following the skirmish, he returned to his office in his civilian identity as Peter Parker, where he received a visit from Gwen Stacy, the daughter of the recently deceased Police Captain George Stacy. He accepted her request to investigate her father's death despite the official ruling of a heart attack, prompted by her discovery of a mysterious, high-tech key. During his subsequent investigation of the Stacy residence, he utilized his wall-crawling abilities to gain entry and discovered a hidden, reinforced safe concealed behind a bookshelf in the Captain's study. He then transitioned to the city morgue as Spider-Man to inspect George Stacy’s remains, where he noted unusual puncture wounds on the body before being forced to flee from arriving police officers who opened fire on him. Later, he tracked a lead to a waterfront warehouse where he encountered a group of Nazi saboteurs attempting to smuggle experimental weaponry. He engaged these operatives in hand-to-hand combat, utilizing his organic webbing to disarm them and his superior strength to overpower the group. During the struggle, he was confronted by a transformed, monstrous 'man-bat" creature that was Fliegende Fledermaus who intercepted the stolen goods, leading to a brief aerial pursuit across the docks. By the conclusion of these events, he discovered evidence linking the late Captain Stacy to a clandestine criminal organization, casting doubt on the man’s reputation and leaving him to evade a city-wide manhunt as the primary suspect in the Captain's murder. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Spider-Man Noir was a male who possessed the physical build of an athletic young adult. He was a fair-skinned individual with dark, often unkempt black hair and black eyes. In his civilian identity, he typically wore a simple white collared shirt, a dark necktie, a patterned grey sweater vest, and dark trousers. His attire also frequently included a dark fedora and a long trench coat. Upon adopting his vigilante persona, he donned a makeshift uniform constructed from his uncle's World War I airman gear. This costume consisted of a dark, hand-stitched mask that covered his entire head and was secured with a pair of aviator goggles featuring prominent circular lenses. His torso was protected by a dark Kevlar-lined vest worn over his sweater and shirt, and he wore dark gloves along with heavy boots. This uniform was often accompanied by his dark trench coat and a leather belt equipped with holsters for his firearms. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1) In one instance, he came to be referred to as the Black Spider. (Spider-Man Noir v2 #4)
Parker morally inflexible and quick-to-anger youth who was deeply cynical about the corruption of his city. Driven by a fierce desire for social justice, he often expressed open contempt for those who compromised their ethics, yet he remained fundamentally noble in his commitment to the welfare of the needy. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
He often expressing deep-seated anger toward those he perceived as 'fat cats' or exploiters of the working class during the Great Depression. This trait was rooted in a personal vendetta following the brutal murder of his Uncle Ben, which left him with a cold, vengeful streak that distinguished him from other iterations of the character. Even in his civilian life as Peter Parker, he was prone to outbursts of temper and a refusal to remain silent in the face of tyranny, a quality that led him to work alongside investigative reporter Ben Urich to expose the city's criminal underworld. After gaining his powers, this sense of justice evolved into a dark, vigilante mission where he operated with a 'no quarter' mentality, showing little mercy to criminals and demonstrating a willingness to use lethal force. His internal drive was not fueled by a cheerful sense of responsibility, but rather by a grim determination to tear down a system he believed was fundamentally broken beyond repair. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Peter Parker was raised by his Uncle Ben and his Aunt May. Ben Parker was a former airplane pilot of World War One, in which he earned an outstanding service for his participation. After the war, however, he believed that the war he fought was not entirely honorable and did not see himself as a hero. Ben later became a social activist along with his wife May Parker during the peak of the Great Depression. His actions brought the wrath of crime boss The Goblin and his Enforcers, in which they beat Ben and finally had the Vulture devour him, killing him. Meeanwhile, May Parker served as a local community center organizer. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Parker served as the idealistic protégé and assistant to Ben Urich, a veteran investigative reporter for the Daily Bugle. In that time, he showed a deep respect for Urich’s experience, accompanying him to various crime scenes and breadlines to document the suffering of the city's poor through news photography. However, this admiration was tempered by a growing tension as he began to suspect Urich of compromising his ethics to survive in a corrupt system. He confronted Urich after discovering his secret drug addiction and his clandestine meetings with the Goblin's enforcers, leading to a bitter ideological clash between his own militant sense of justice and Urich’s weary pragmatism. Despite this friction, he continued to rely on Urich for information and guidance during the early stages of his investigation into the illegal shipment of ancient artifacts. Their bond was fundamentally defined by a shared desire to dismantle the city’s criminal hierarchy, though he ultimately found himself disillusioned by the discovery that his mentor had been suppressed and manipulated by the very forces they sought to destroy. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
Peter Parker was an ordinary human male who possessed the basic skills and traits of a dedicated activist and budding journalist. Before his physical transformation, he demonstrated high intelligence and academic aptitude, having been established as a top student in his class. He worked as a protégé and assistant to investigative reporter Ben Urich at the Daily Bugle, a role that utilized his burgeoning skills in news photography and investigative research. His early actions were defined by a daredevil nature and a strong moral conviction, often volunteering his time at a homeless shelter run by his Aunt May while engaging in social activism against the city's corrupt power structures. His physical capabilities during this pre-transformation period were those of a standard young adult, with no inherent superhuman abilities. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
By adulthood, he came to accidentally damage a crate containing a mystical African artifact named the Spider Idol which when shattered released a swarm of venomous, exotic spiders. One of these spiders bit him on the hand, causing Peter to fall into a state of unconsciousness and experience a vivid, mystical vision. In this dreamlike state, he encountered a massive, god-like 'spider-god' entity that informed him that the bite brought death to those with evil intent but would bestow a 'curse of power' upon him instead. Upon waking from this vision, he found himself encased within a thick, black cocoon of organic webbing. He tore his way out of the cocoon to discover that his physiology had been completely transformed as he now gained superhuman powers. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Following a bite from a mystical spider released from an ancient artifact, he gained a suite of superhuman traits, including proportionate strength, speed, and agility. He possessed the ability to adhere to solid surfaces to crawl up walls and was alerted to immediate danger by a precognitive 'spider-sense'. His physical capabilities were further defined by a high degree of stamina and durability, allowing him to endure significant physical trauma. In terms of specialized skills, he was a talented news photographer and a budding investigative reporter who used his position to track criminal activity. In combat, he was a proficient hand-to-hand fighter and a skilled marksman who frequently utilized a revolver or a Tommy gun to injure or eliminate his targets. Unlike other versions of the character, he possessed the unique ability to project organic webbing from his wrists, which typically manifested as thick nets rather than thin lines. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Another consequence of the bite was that Parker claimed that he did not feel pain anymore. (Spider-Man Noir v1 #3)
Among his new abilities included a precognitive 'spider-sense' that functioned as a specialized form of extra-sensory perception. This trait manifested as a sudden, sharp tingling sensation at the base of his skull, alerting him to immediate physical threats or concealed dangers within his environment. He relied on this biological warning system to react to incoming attacks, such as gunfire or sneak assaults from the Goblin’s enforcers, before they could connect. The sense provided him with a directional awareness of the threat, allowing him to instinctively dodge or parry strikes with superhuman efficiency. During his initial emergence from his webbing cocoon, he utilized this trait to navigate the dark, cluttered environment of the warehouse while avoiding detection by armed guards. Unlike a conscious thought process, this power operated as an involuntary reflex that complemented his heightened speed and agility during high-stakes combat. It was established as a mystical 'curse of power' granted by the Spider-God, functioning as a primal survival instinct that connected him to the movements of his enemies. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
He gained the biological capacity to generate and expel organic webbing directly from his forearms. Unlike other versions of the character who utilised mechanical devices, this webbing was a natural by-product of his physiological transformation following the mystical spider bite. The substance typically manifested as thick, black, adhesive nets rather than thin, singular strands, allowing him to quickly entangle and immobilize multiple opponents at once. He demonstrated the ability to fire these webs with significant force, using them to disarm the Goblin's enforcers by yanking weapons from their hands or pinning them to walls and ceilings. The webbing was shown to be remarkably durable and possessed high tensile strength, capable of supporting his own weight and restraining physically powerful individuals. This trait first appeared immediately after he emerged from his organic cocoon, serving as his primary method for capturing criminals without necessarily resorting to lethal force. While he could use the webbing for utility, such as creating barriers or retrieving objects, its primary application in his initial outing was as a tactical tool for subduing enemies through total entanglement. (Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1)
Notes
- Spider-Man Noir was created by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico where he made his first appearance in Spider-Man: Noir v1 #1 (February, 2009).
- The character was based on Spider-Man who was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
In other media
Television
- In Avengers Assemble, elements of Spider-Man Noir were incorporated into an alternate timeline incarnation of Spider-Man called the Slinger who appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "Planet Doom" who was voiced by actor Drake Bell.
Films
Video games
- In Spider-Man Unlimited, Spider-Man Noir appeared as an unlockable costume for Spider-Man in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Spider-Man: Noir v1: (2009)
- Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face v1:
External Links
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