Who Is Marvel’s Spider-Boy? Origin, Powers & Abilities Explained

The duality of superheroes was always interesting, and Peter Parker was one of the more interesting examples. His humor and playfulness when saving the citizens of New York were always cool, and despite working well with his fellow superheroes, Spider-Man was always “solo.” Frankly, fans never felt that Spider-Man needed a sidekick, but the recent introduction of Spider-Boy changed that notion. Dan Slott and Mark Bagley decided to create an ending to the Spider-Verse event, and they dropped a bombshell onto the fans – Spider-Boy was always Peter Parker’s sidekick. But who exactly is he?

Spider-Boy is presumably Peter Parker’s sidekick and a friend of Miles Morales. In the most recent issue of the Spider-Man comic book from 2022, the seventh issue introduces us to Spider-Boy, who appears out of nowhere. It is revealed that Spider-Boy is indeed from Earth-616 and sacrificed himself to save everyone. However, an unknown corrupted version of Spider-Man slayed Spider-Boy with Totem Dagger, which erased him from existence. We still don’t know that much about Spider-Boy, but his abilities and powers are most likely similar to Peter Parker’s Spider-Man.

We will discuss this new character by mentioning his brief origin story, the context of his appearance, what this means for Peter Parker, and explain Spider-Boy’s powers. If you are interested in this new character, stay with us until the end.

Spider-Boy’s origins

First, we don’t have many details about Spider-Boy’s origins. The character was introduced recently, specifically in Spider-Man (2022), which focuses on the ending of the Spider-Verse. The story starts with Morlun returning to threaten Spider-Men all over the Multiverse for the last time.

Some fans welcomed this comic book since it will probably be the last one in Spider-Verse, which frankly became overbearing. Nevertheless, Slott and Bagley brought back some fan-favorite versions of Spider-Man, like Kaine Parker (a clone of Peter Parker) and Ben Reilly/Chasm (another clone by Jackal). Still, they decided to introduce us to the new character – Spider-Boy.

Spider-Verse introduced us to many versions of Spider-Man over the years, and this version of the character came out of nowhere – literally. We briefly mentioned in our answer paragraph that an unknown version of Spider-Man slayed many Spider-Men across the Multiverse and erased them from existence. The comic book reveals that Shathra is responsible and one of the story’s main villains. She corrupted an unknown version of Spider-Man, who traveled across the Multiverse and slayed each version with Totem Dagger, a weapon that erased people from existence.

Of course, besides the cruel and brutal powers, Totem Dagger also made sure to make the victim’s closest people forget about them. So when Shathra’s younger sister, Neith, restored Spider-Boy to the Web of Life (revived him), the young superhero was shocked, to say the least. His supposed friends, Peter Parker and Miles Morales didn’t remember him.

After telling them his name is Bailey and their friend, upset Spider-Boy leaves the premises unknown. The next issue of the Spider-Man comic book will reveal more. Moreover, it is confirmed that Bailey, or Spider-Boy is truly from Earth-616 but was erased and forgotten by his fellow Spider-Men.

Nevertheless, we got a new character in Spider-Boy, whom we will meet in future comic book issues, so let’s discuss his powers and abilities.

Spider-Boy’s powers and abilities

Of course, besides meeting Bailey, and his superhero persona, we didn’t get to see his true powers. Spider-Boy does storm off after realizing no one remembers him, and we see that he has similar movement as most of the Spider-Men. He is agile, has slick movement, and can climb the walls.

Bailey also knows Peter Parker and Miles Moreles, but if I have to speculate, his powers will resemble more of the original Spider-Man. This might be far-fetched, but until we truly see him in action, we won’t know Spider-Boy’s powers and abilities. Peter Parker’s powers are most common in the Multiverse. Despite having countless versions of the superhero, most of them have base powers and abilities of the original Spider-Man, in this case, Earth-616’s.

Nevertheless, Bailey certainly has Spidey powers, but besides the agility, we don’t know any other abilities of the character, and for that, we will have to wait and see future issues to see Spider-Boy in action. Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first Spider-Boy in Marvel Comics – the alternate version of Miles Morales marries Gwen Stacy in the possible future of Earth-65 have two children. Maximilian Morales-Stacy is the couple’s son and works under the superhero alias, you guessed it, Spider-Boy.

However, Bailey is a Spider-Boy of Earth-616, and it will be interesting to see his power and abilities and Dan Slott’s work in action.

What does Spider-Boy’s appearance mean for Peter Parker?

Once again, this addition to the Marvel Universe could be impactful or simply forgettable. Spider-Man was always working alone, despite having Miles Morales working with him, but more as an ally. Spider-Boy seems like he is Spider-Man’s sidekick, who looks up to the man, at least from what we saw in the brief interactions between the characters.

If Spider-Boy stays relevant and the writers attach him to the interesting storyline, mysterious Bailey has the potential to fulfill Spider-Man’s role as his sidekick. Does Peter need a sidekick? No, but it could be an interesting plot one can pursue in establishing the character.

The fact that Kaine Parker, Jessica Drew, and others weren’t forgotten by their peers after being killed by Totem Dagger is very telling of Bailey’s future in the Spider-Man comic run – Spider-Boy will definitely become a bigger factor in the story.

We saw many supporting characters put aside after the poor reception from the fans, and seeing some comments from the readers, it seems that Dan Slott has work to do to propel Bailey’s character as the Spider-Boy of Earth-616. We will have to wait for Spider-Man (2022) #8, which is confirmed to be released on the 3rd of May.