Marvel Comics has been teasing the third and final chapter in the Spider-Verse trilogy, and now we know exactly what that series is. Marvel will launch a new monthly series in October simply titled Spider-Man, and it features two of the most prolific Spider-Man creators in the company’s long history.
Spider-Man features the return of Dan Slott, who wrote several hundred issues of The Amazing Spider-Man between 2008 and 2018 and penned the original Spider-Verse crossover in 2014. Joining Slott is artist Mark Bagley, whose past work includes multiple volumes of The Amazing Spider-Man and an impressive 111 consecutive issues of Ultimate Spider-Man.
The new series will open with a storyline called “The End of the Spider-Verse,” which builds on the upcoming Edge of Spider-Verse miniseries and the introduction of several new, multiversal Spider-Men like Spider-Laird and Night Spider. “The End of the Spider-Verse” features the return of Morlun, the villain infamous for killing Peter Parker in 2005’s Spider-Man: The Other, and a member of the vampiric family that fueled the events of both 2014’s Spider-Verse and 2018’s Spider-Geddon. This time around, Morlun has assembled a team of powerful allies to destroy Peter Parker and his fellow Spiders once and for all.
Spider-Man will also intertwine with the events of Zeb Wells and John Romita, Jr’s Amazing Spider-Man series, taking advantage of Peter Parker’s controversial new status quo as a disgraced hero working with a supposedly reformed Norman Osborn.
“How does it feel to be writing Spider-Man again? Like I’m home. Like there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” said Slott in Marvel’s press release. “How does it feel to be working on it with Mark Bagley, one of the greatest Spidey icons of all time?! Honored, excited, and unstoppable! Mark and I are two guys who live to tell Spider-Man stories. Cut us and we bleed Spider-Man. And now Marvel has entrusted the two of us to bring back their monthly– adjectiveless– SPIDER-MAN title!”
Slott added, “We are not going to let you down. We’re going to take BIG swings in each and every issue! And the first thing we’re doing, right out of the gate, is the Spider-Verse comic to END all Spider-Verse comics!”
It’s not surprising to see Marvel launch another high-profile, monthly Spider-Man comic in 2022, given that this is the character’s 60th anniversary. Even the title choice seems intentional, as 1990’s Spider-Man #1 remains one of the highest-selling single issues of all time.
Spider-Man #1 will hit stores on October 5, 2022.
The new series not only takes advantage of Spidey’s 60th anniversary, it also debuts in the lead-up to 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Find out more about Issa Rae’s Spider-Woman character and learn how the movie’s new villain was inspired by the Portal games.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.