5 Spider-Man Upgrades the MCU Still Hasn’t Brought to Life (And One Could Have Ended Brand New Day)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day has given Peter Parker some major upgrades, but there are still a lot of powers and abilities that the MCU character is missing. Spider-Man is one of the most prolific comic book characters of all time, and throughout his various runs, he has changed a lot. The MCU has only scratched the surface of Peter Parker’s time as Spider-Man, and that goes for his powers as well.
Brand New Day saw Peter’s arachnid DNA begin to take over, causing him to become stronger and get heightened senses. With that, however, he began to lose emotional control, making him more dangerous. This storyline borrows elements from several different Peter Parker storylines from the comics, but even after this mutation, there is still a lot of ground to cover. So, here are five different powers, abilities, and upgrades that Peter Parker hasn’t gotten in the MCU yet, but that he should eventually.
5) Man-Spider
Ahead of the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, there were heavy rumors that Man-Spider would appear in the film, something that seemed even more likely after the trailers began to talk about Peter’s spider DNA taking over his body. In the comics, Man-Spider is a horriffying mutation of Peter Parker where he sprouts four more arms and a spider head. This feral version of Spider-Man is much stronger than before, with almost all of his abilities being upgraded. However, he is also less regulated, with his lack of emotional and physical control turning him into a real danger.
It is shocking that Man-Spider didn’t wind up appearing in Brand New Day, as the film’s story was the perfect setup for this Peter Parker transformation. Because of this, it’ll probably be a while until Man-Spider makes a proper MCU debut, if he ever does. However, this version of Peter is iconic and fun enough that he deserves to appear eventually.
4) Parker Particles
Now that Peter Parker is an adult in the MCU, it is likely that the franchise will focus more on his scientific findings and technological developments. Peter’s inhibitor chip from Brand New Day is a major step in this direction, and if it indeed becomes the mutant inhibitor collars that many speculate it will, Peter’s technology may do more bad than good. If the MCU wants to continue exploring this theme, then the perfect way to do it is by introducing Parker Particles. In the comics, Peter rediscovers Parker Particles after Reed Richards deems them too dangerous, as they are a near-limitless form of energy derived from the expansion of the universe. During a demonstration at Horizon Labs, an accident causes the Parker Particles to transform a highschool student into the superhero Alpha. Spidey attempts to train Alpha, but his immense powers continoully cause more harm than good.
Peter’s experience with Jean Grey may cause him to want to work with more superheroes, or even take younger heroes under his wing. Spider-Man 5 could see Peter discover Parker Particles, accidentally create Alpha, and then take him under his wing in an attempt to stop him from becoming another Jean. Even if things don’t work out, Peter can learn from his experience with Alpha and Parker Particles, setting him up to be a better mentor to the MCU’s Miles Morales.
3) Ben Reilly, aka Peter Parker’s Clone
Ben Reilly is often thought of as a separate version of Spider-Man, but in reality, he’s actually a genetic clone of Peter Parker. Marvel Comics’ various Clone Sagas have been controversial, and they’re pretty convoluted, which may play a part in why Ben has been left out of live-action Spider-Man movies so far. Basically, the Jackal created clones of Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker, but in doing so, discovered that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Although the Jackal forces the real Peter to fight his clone, they eventually team up and defeat the villain. The clone then leaves New York City, only reemerging years later with a new name: Ben Reilly. Peter steps down as Spider-Man for a bit, and Ben takes over the role of New York’s webslinger as the Scarlet Spider.
Ben Reilly is one of the most fun and popular Peter Parker upgrades, as he goes from a genetic experiment to an entirely different character. The Scarlet Spider is rarely seen outside of the comics, but this era of Spider-Man is iconic. There are tons of fun things that could be done with a version of the Clone Saga in the MCU, and adding another version of Peter Parker would allow for even more Spider-Man stories going forward.
2) The Superior Spider-Man
When Peter Parker dies, Otto Octavius puts his mind in Peter’s body, determined to become a better superhero than the original Spider-Man. Otto becomes the Superior Spider-Man and remains in the body of Spidey for around a year before willingly giving control back to Peter Parker’s consciousness. Otto is surprisingly successful in his time as a superhero, and the storyline was so popular that its been brought back since.
Putting a supervillain’s mind in a superhero’s body is a fantastic concept for a character study, and it would be a ton of fun to adapt it into the MCU. While the mainline MCU doesn’t have a Doc Ock, introducing one for the purpose of adapting this story would make sense, or one of the MCU’s many other villains could be the one to take over Peter’s body. Having Tom Holland act as if he is another character pretending to be Peter would be a ton of fun for a performance, and it would be a unique story that hasn’t been explored in any other live-action Spider-Man project yet.
1) The Black Suit
Obviously, the upgrade that the MCU’s Peter Parker needs to get more than anything else is the Black Suit. While on Battleworld, Peter’s suit was damaged, with him accidentally getting a new black suit that was secretly an alien symbiote. The suit had organic webbing and a psychic link to Peter, but unbeknownst to Peter, it would go out and fight crime at night while he was asleep. The symbiote was more violent than Peter, and eventually, Peter decided to force the symbiote off. This caused the symbiote to grow bitter, and it eventually bonded with Eddie Brock. While attempting to be a superhero in the form of Venom, the symbiote simoultaneously drove Eddie to have a rivalry with Spider-Man, eventually becoming one of the series’ most iconic villains.
Spider-Man’s black suit arc is probably the most iconic Marvel story that hasn’t yet been adapted by the MCU. While a version of it was told in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, it was mishandled, with many fans not satisfied by this adaptation. Now that Battleworld is likely going to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars, it is the perfect time to give Tom Holland’s Spider-Man the symbiote suit and begin this saga in the MCU.
