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When the Marvel Zombies invaded one corner of the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man was uniquely tortured, even after he became the monster.
The much-anticipated arrival of What If…? on Disney+ just opened up a new corner of the Marvel Multiverse. The reality-spanning nature of the series also paves the way to bring the world of Marvel Zombies alive. While plenty of fan-favorites have gotten the horror movie treatment throughout the course of Marvel Zombies, franchise, few have suffered as much as Peter Parker.
Before it became a phenomenon, the most gruesome reality had relatively humble beginnings in the pages of 2005’s Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 by Mark Millar and Greg Land. After the Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Reed Richards made contact with his counterpart from another reality, he made the trek to visit his seemingly benevolent other on their Earth. But instead of a like-minded new friend, Reed discovered that this world had been overrun by a zombie virus that swept up nearly everyone in its path, including Spider-Man. Upon the arrival of a zombified Sentry, this Earth’s Avengers fought as valiantly as they could to stave off the threat, only to become flesh-eating monsters themselves. This included Peter Parker, and although his powers did buy him some time before succumbing to the virus entirely, which happened in the worst place possible.
As revealed in 2007’s Marvel Zombies: Dead Days #1, by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips, Peter devoured both Mary Jane and Aunt May in his own home. Unlike his fellow zombies, who relished in their gruesome conquest, Spider-Man was so constantly repentant of his cannibalistic actions, to the point that it became something of a running joke for the character.
After some time, he finally got the chance to at least partially make up for his crimes by turning against his fellow zombies to keep their infection from spreading. Unfortunately, doing so cost this Peter Parker his life, but this wasn’t the only version of the iconic hero to make a stand against this same kind of threat.
In 2020, Marvel Zombies: Resurrection by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Leonard Kirk managed to make the threat of undying hordes of heroes more terrifying than ever before, with Spider-Man caught right in the middle. When Peter Parker promised to keep watch of Franklin and Valeria Richards while their parents and the rest of the Fantastic Four investigated the corpse of Galactus that had recently appeared, he became their de facto permanent guardian when the Phalanx-esque zombies of that corpse emerged and took over Earth’s heroes. Before long, a new breed of intelligent super zombies were raining down on Earth — and after losing Mary Jane to the monstrous hordes — Peter’s only concern became protecting the children. Alongside Franklin and Valeria, this Peter Parker traveled across the country and to Limbo itself to bring the so-called Respawned to an end.
As of now, it seems like Spider-Man will be more focused on slaying zombies in an upcoming episode of What If…? than being one, but there’s no guarantee that the wall-crawler will be able to web-swing his way out of this fight.
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