The Man-Spider Theory And How It Connects to Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Peter Parker is mutating into something.

In the recently released trailer of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland's Peter Parker is facing a whole new problem apart from being absolutely broke and seeing no one remember him: his DNA it seems, is changing. For starters, he now has organic webbing (he doesn’t have to steal raw materials for his web fluid like in the first movie, yay). His eyes turn black. And his webs are stronger? That's at least assuming that his previous web fluid couldn't cut through a Ninja’s katana.

At first thought, it did strike me as some twisted venom takeover, the kind Sam Raimi did in Spider-Man 3. Reddit tells me I'm insane to think that. Because apparently, Spider-Man writers love to torture Peter so much that there are universes where a) Peter’s body disintegrates into a whole army of spiders connected by a hive-mind, b) he turns into a zombie and eats Aunt May and Mary Jane, and c) dies out of radiation poisoning when bitten by the spider instead of developing his powers.

Turns out, the Marvel movies want to take that direction too. The plot of the movie has been leaked on Twitter, and many points, like the appearance of the Punisher and Keith Reign’s voiceover, ring true to the trailer. 

Which means, we're going to meet a body horror equivalent of Spider-Man this year. Say hello to Man-Spider.

Who Is The Man-Spider?

In the comics, Man-Spider first appeared in the comics in 1982, in the issue Marvel Fanfare #2. In this issue, Peter is captured by a group of Mutants and is subject to experiments that turn him into a humanoid spider. He is later saved by a superhero named Ka-Zar and a villain named Sauron. But that's about it for comics.

Man Spider was explored more in animated shows, especially the 90’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series. In Season Peter is warned by Dr. Connors (the Lizard from the Andrew Garfield-led The Amazing Spider-Man movie, in case you didn't remember) that his evolution into Spider-Man hadn't stopped when he gained powers, and he will keep on mutating till he becomes more spider than human.

As Peter continues to seek help for his condition, he starts developing four extra arms, shoots acid from his mouth, and can make webs from every limb without the need of his web shooters. Ultimately, he turns into the Man-Spider: a towering, multi-limbed creature with fangs, enhanced strength, and little to no control over his own instincts. Peter remains barely conscious, and most of his memories are gone as he gets trapped inside his own body. As time passes, Man-Spider starts losing more and more of Peter's memories.

This episode introduced the Punisher (John Bernthal in the trailer), who hunts down the creature along with Kraven the Hunter (yet to be introduced in the MCU). Ultimately, Dr. Connors gives Peter a cure, but it has to be administered every twenty-four hours. Otherwise, Peter starts developing extra limbs.

What To Expect In Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Going by the trailer, Bruce Banner will take the place of Curt Connor as the doctor who develops the cure for Peter’s condition. The Punisher has already been introduced, and by the looks of it, Peter and Frank have at least a verbal disagreement, if not anything else. We will not spoil the rest of what Twitter has to say, lest it actually comes true and spoils your viewing experience when Spider-Man: Brand New Day actually comes to theatres.

This much is certain, though: Spider-man is getting an upgrade, and by the end, we might have a wiser, more powerful webslinger doing his bit to take down Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday.