Spider-Man Noir or just Spider-Man (Peter Parker) is a fictional superhero created by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. This alternate version of Spider-Man is a darker take on Spider-Man and the mythos is set in 1933 – during the Great Depression and is a part of the Marvel Noir universe. Unlike the mainstream version of Peter Parker, this character uses a gun and does stick to walls but prefers to use parkour. Since his inception, the character has appeared in numerous media including the video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions as one of the main playable characters.
Fictional character biography
While Peter Parker still becomes the titular Spider-Man in the comic book starring his name, the initial focus of the story is upon Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, an experienced and respected reporter who has a network of informants under the alias of the Spider. The Goblin is a crime lord named Osborn whose henchmen consist of the Enforcers (consisting of Ox, Fancy Dan, Montana), Kraven, the Chameleon (a master of disguise) and the Vulture (a sideshow freak who had developed a taste for human flesh). Urich does not use the information he has to expose the Goblin but rather to blackmail him, in order to get enough money to feed his secret drug habit.
Urich encounters Peter Parker during an oration by Peter’s Aunt May Parker in Central Park. The socialist slant of Aunt May’s words does not sit well with the Enforcers, and Urich is forced to intervene in order to prevent serious injury to either Peter or May. Urich subsequently takes Peter under his wing, and after Peter mistakenly receives a tip-off meant for the Spider, the young man ventures to a warehouse where the Goblin’s men are unloading a shipment of stolen antiques. A particular antique — a spider statue — breaks open and releases a horde of spiders. One of the spiders bites Peter, causing him to pass out and dream of a spider god. When he awakes, he is upside-down in a black web.
In order to censor the Daily Bugle, Osborn kidnaps the editor J. Jonah Jameson and has the Chameleon assume his place. The Chameleon-as-Jameson goes to Urich’s apartment and shoots him, unaware that Felicia Hardy — owner of the Black Cat club — witnessed the murder. Hardy goes to the Daily Bugle offices and kills the Chameleon, leaving his body to be discovered by Spider-Man shortly before the arrival of the police. Spider-Man escapes the attentions of the police and confronts Osborn, having dispatched all of his henchmen in turn. During their fight, it is revealed that Osborn is a former circus freak himself who hides his goblin-like visage behind one of the Chameleon’s masks. After Spider-Man refuses to kill Osborn, the spider-infested and barely still alive body of Kraven appears and attacks the Goblin, killing him.
Later, Spider-Man visits Felicia, who reveals that she had once had a relationship with The Goblin. Spider-Man reveals himself to be Peter in front of her, and she asks why he is there. Peter hands her a photo Urich had in his files earlier of him and Felicia. Spider-Man then jumps out the window, and swings away, leaving Felicia behind.
Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face
A sequel to Spider-Man Noir. In 1934, in New York City, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, has a new problem: The Crime Master is a masked criminal who has taken over as the city’s crime boss. As he investigates, his relationship with Felicia Hardy, owner of The Black Cat speakeasy, develops. He returns home to find Joe and Robbie Robertson talking with Aunt May. As a struggling black reporter, Robbie asks Peter to set up a meeting with Doctor Otto Octavius who is experimenting on Ellis Island. A few days later they meet with him and learn that he is experimenting on monkeys to understand more about the human mind. Octavius himself is wheelchair bound but employs controlled robotic arms, attached to the back of his chair, to help him. After they leave, Robbie suggests the story is deeper. That night a delivery of black slaves are delivered to Ellis Island.
Spider-Man takes the fight to The Crime Master and busts up an operation of drinking, girls and drugs. In a back room he discovers a soundproof torture chamber. He goes to visit Felicia, but she is with someone else. Returning home, he is told that Robbie has disappeared. On Ellis Island, Octavius inspects the new test subjects, and Robbie is among them. Octavius, working for The Friends of New Germany (TFONG), intends to use them to prove that inferior races can be controlled by removing their willpower surgically. Spider-Man revisits the chamber for more information, but he is ambushed by The Crime Master and his men. With them is The Sandman who slams Spider-Man to the ground with ease.
The police, led by Jean DeWolff, arrive too late to save Spider-Man from a massive beating but in time to kill Sandman. The Crime Master escapes, but Spider-Man has managed to link him with TFONG. A severely injured Spider-Man goes to Felicia to recover. The following day she forces him to leave before the arrival of her other man — the unmasked Crime Master. Felicia questions him too much, and he determines that she has been seeing Spider-Man. In fury, he attacks her with a shard of mirror. He gets a call from the leader of TFONG, telling him to shut Ellis Island down before they all get caught. Spider-Man goes to Ellis Island himself and finds Robbie, but was too late as Octavius had already drilled into his frontal lobe, leaving him motionless.
The Crime Master arrives and starts destroying Octavius’ work. Spider-Man drives most of Crime Master’s gang away as Octavius gets his robotic arms on The Crime Master. He slices him apart with scalpels, desperate to save his work. Spider-Man then sets on Octavius for what he has done, crushing his robotic arms. DeWolff arrives before Spider-Man kills him and tells him to thank his girlfriend for calling them in. Spider-Man sees Robbie safe and swings to see Felicia. Her guard tells him that she does not ever want to see him again after she was hurt because of him.
A month later, Robbie is receiving care by his parents at home, but seeing him like this makes Peter feel guilty and upset. Mary Jane Watson tries to comfort him outside, but he still feels he is losing everybody he cares. Octavius is deported to Germany, where the Nazis think that his disability renders him useless, and Felicia has recovered but wears a cat mask to cover all the scars on her face.
Later stories
During the Spider-Verse storyline which featured Spider-Men from various alternate realities, Spider-Man Noir starred in one-shot comic Edge of Spider-Verse #1, at the end of which he was recruited by The Superior Spider-Man into his army of Spiders. He was also featured prominently in Spider-Verse Team-Up #1 alongside a six-armed Spider-Man. In Spider-Woman Vol. 5 #1 Spider-Man Noir found himself defending the lives of Silk and Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and got wounded in the process, after which he was returned to his home reality to heal and recuperate.
In the second volume of Spider-Verse set during the Secret Wars event, Spider-Man Noir found himself in the domain of the Battleworld called Arachnia, where he found and observed Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man: India, Spider-UK, and Anya Corazon (neither of them remembering their previous encounter during the original Spider-Verse), though he chose not to reveal himself to them until they crashed into one of his opearations.[1]
Following the conclusion of Secret Wars the team of six Spiders that formed during the event will rename itself and feature in a new ongoing series called Web Warriors, a name that was coined by Peter Parker from the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series during the original Spider-Verse.[2]
Powers and abilities
After being bitten by a spider, Parker has gained the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, along with a spider-sense and the ability to spray organic webbing from his hands and stick to walls. Unlike the traditional Spider-Man, he uses his acrobatic agility to maneuver about the rooftops and uses his webbing as nets to both stun and capture his enemies. With his powers, Peter dons a black mask, gloves, and trench coat in order to take down Osborn in the disguise of the Spider-Man. He also brings a pistol.
Gallery
