How Old Is Peni Parker in Spider-Verse? & Will She Return?

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse animated movie was extremely successful when it came out in 2018. The Spide-Verse comic book quickly became extremely popular and kickstarted various spin-offs in numerous fictional media. Among various versions of Spider-Man, there was one girl named Peni Parker, a version of Spider-Man whose origins are from Earth-14512. She charmed the audience in Into the Spider-Verse movie, and a little girl among grown-ups fighting against Kingpin is always an interesting sight to see. This article will discuss Peni Parker’s age in Spider-Verse and whether she has a cameo in the new movie, Across the Spider-Verse.

In Marvel Comics, Peni Parker is eight years old when she becomes Spider-Man; in her case, she pilots the special SP//dr suit, which she could only do when she let the special radioactive spider bite her. Later, we see Peni Parker being fourteen years old in the battle against Mysterio. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Peni Parker is a young girl, and there is a huge possibility that she is also fourteen years old in the movie. There is a small chance we will see more of Peni Parker in the Across the Spider-Verse movie.

Peni Parker was a great addition to Into the Spider-Verse movie, and when the audience saw her first appearance in the featured movie, they were charmed. We will discuss her origins, age, and if there is a possibility of her making a cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. If you’re interested, stay with us until the end.

Peni Parker’s origin story is brief but really interesting

Interestingly enough, the concept of Spider-Verse first came into prominence in a video game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, which came out almost four years before the Spider-Verse comic book story.

Dan Slott expanded on the story, or better, he wrote the core of the story for The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 comic book, and when the fans liked the concept, Slotts expanded the story in the form of a comic book run called The Edge of the Spider-Verse. Among many versions of Spider-Men, there was one that fans loved instantly, and her name is Peni Parker.

Peni Parker is a young girl of Japanese descent residing on Earth-14512, the possible future set in the 31st century. Her origin story is extremely interesting since she isn’t your usual Spider-Man. When she was only eight, her father died piloting an SP//dr suit. Her Uncle Ben and Aunt May told her the news and that she was the only person who could control the suit since she was genetically compatible.

Of course, this leads to Peni Parker accepting her fate as the new pilot of SP//dr suit, but before that, she needs to let the radioactive spider bite her. SP//dr suit only responds to the pilot with the correct DNA, and the radioactive spider shares the suit with the pilot – the bite connects Peni and the spider with a psychic link which is important for controlling the suit.

The Edge of the Spider-Verse issue #5 continues five years later when Peni Parker is 14. The new threat threatens the world in the form of Mysterio. He is poisoning the citizens, and SP//dr needs to intervene. Mysterio is Peni’s first big villain in the comics, and how important she is to her city is the fact that Daredevil recruits her to help him.

Peni Parker’s story continues with more foes threatening the peace, with Earth-14512 having its own version of Venom created by Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Of course, it all goes bad, but SP//dr eventually defeats the foe. Right after her fight with Venom, Old Spider-Man and Spider-Ham arrive again to recruit Peni for the battle, essentially the end of her origin story.

How old is Peni Parker in Into the Spider-Verse?

In the comics, Peni Parker gets SP//dr when she is eight. In the Edge of the Spider-Verse issue #5, we see a five-year time-skip, making Peni Parker 14 years old. Of course, this information closely correlates with the looks and lore of Peni Parker in Into the Spider-Verse.

In the movie, we meet Peni as a young girl with a giant robot at her side, but she looks almost the same as in the comics. According to her wiki, Peni isn’t taller than five feet, making her animated version even closer to her comic book origins.

Of course, as a character that has been featured in another fictional media for the first time, Into the Spider-Verse developers didn’t change her origins at all, and that’s why this makes Peni Parker 14 years old in the animated movie.

Will Peni Parker appear in Across the Spider-Verse?

In the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailers, we saw a lot of new characters introduced in the movie. We saw Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman, Spider-Punk, Spider-Man India, Miguel O’Hara as Spider-Man 2099, and more. Moreover, some of the characters are returning in the sequel, like Spider-Ham, and Peter B. Parker, but it seems that Peni Parker will be excluded from the Across the Spider-Verse movie.

Of course, nothing is confirmed, and directors probably keep some of the characters under wraps, but in the long-term, this decision makes sense to make space for other versions of Spider-Men to shine. Peni Parker is an extremely cool character who gained a huge following since her first release. 

Peni Parker represents the Japanese culture, and the movie only proved that those characters always bode well in these projects – also, she is animated as an anime character in Into the Spider-Verse; how cool is that?

Hopefully, we see Peni Parker somehow in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, and we cannot wait for June 2nd to come.