Spider-Boy

Spider-Boy is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Dan Slott and artist Humberto Ramos, the character first appeared in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7. He is a child superhero with spider-like abilities. He was erased from existence and forgotten by everyone who knew him before being brought back. The character is also an ally of the superhero Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Gwen / Kidpool and the main character of the comic book series Spider-Boy and Kidpool & Spider-Boy.

Development

Concept and creation

Spider-Boy creator Dan Slott stated "So, the idea came from when we were writing. I said to my editor, "Wouldn't it be funny if there was one more guy? And now, no one remembers him." And we started talking about who that be, what kind of character they would be. I was pitching really hard for it to be Spider-Boy. Why? This all-new character would be the youngest spider character we'd ever done because both Miles and Peter, when they got bit, were teenagers. I thought it would be really fun to see the adventures of a preteen Spider-Man character, someone Spider-Man won't want running around. It's child endangerment . If you're Spider-Man, you're all about responsibility, and what kind of responsible hero would you be if you let this nine or ten-year-old kid run around and fight crime? So that's kind of where that came from." Slott later said Spider-Boy was created to be an entertaining Spider-Man supporting character, but became popular enough to get his own comic series.

Publication history

Spider-Boy debuted in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7, created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos. He later appeared in the 2023 Edge of Spider-Verse series, and in the 2023 Spider-Boy series, his first solo comic book series. The first monthly issue was released in November 2023. He also appeared in the 2023 Superior Spider-Man series, and in the 2023 Marvel Unlimited exclusive Infinity Comic series.
Slott left Marvel in 2025 to work for DC Comics, in the comic Superman Unlimited, part of the Summer of Superman relaunch of Superman. As a result, he ended the Spider-Boy comic he was writing after 20 issues.

Fictional character biography

Bailey Briggs was originally a normal boy before being kidnapped by Madame Monstrosity. He and fellow prisoner Eli Hartman are respectively spliced with the DNA of a spider and an elephant and rhinoceros, with Eli being dubbed Hellifino. Eventually, Bailey managed to escape and, after training with Daredevil to gain control of his powers, became Spider-Boy, Spider-Man's sidekick.
In "End of the Spider-Verse", following the defeat of Shathra and Morlun, Bailey is among their victims who are resurrected. After realizing that nobody remembers his existence, he leaves and ends up living at a F.E.A.S.T. building after saving a young girl named Christina Xu from Mister Negative's Inner Demons.
Spider-Boy had encounters with Squirrel Girl when it came to fighting Balloon Man and received aid from Santa Claus, helped Captain America fight Taskmaster when he targeted Super-Adaptoid, persuaded Toy Soldier into not working for Killionaire, and helped Thor reunite Ulik with his pet giant spider.
Spider-Boy later battles Hellifino and Madame Monstrosity's creation Boy-Spider to capture him. He also reunites with his mother Tabitha Briggs, who has no memory of him and was transformed into a tabby cat Humanimal by Madame Monstrosity. Madame Monstrosity captures Spider-Boy and transforms herself into a chimera to battle him when he attempts to escape with help from Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Squirrel Girl, Captain America, Thor, and Toy Soldier. The rest of the Humanimals learned the truth about Madame Monstrosity unable to restore them to normal completely. However, she is saved by the High Evolutionary who plans to experiment on her.
After Madame Monstrosity is defeated, the people she transformed into Humanimals are returned to normal after her husband Jeremy, who she transformed into an owl, works with her former henchmen Squeakerton and Mr. Cricket, Spider-Man, and the android Toy Soldier to modify her transformation chamber. Boy-Spider, Jeremy, and Hellifino are unable to be returned to a human form, so they choose to live on Madame Monstrosity's farm with Tabitha.
Bailey returns to school and begins learning everything that happened while he was missing. Tabitha also joins the F.E.A.S.T. staff, regains her memories, and learns Bailey's secret identity, but allows him to continue being a superhero.
Spider-Boy and Daredevil later travel to Madripoor to take part in the Challenge of the Jade Dragon tournament after gaining the entry item from Hulkette and her master Enormo. There, they take on different opponents, including Bullseye and Spider-Girl. After the tournament, Spider-Boy finds that Boy-Spider is living with Tabitha after gaining the ability to assume a humanoid form. They have a brief fight until Tabitha breaks it up.
Spider-Boy meets a female variant of Kidpool whose the same age as him and falls in love at first sight with him. The two of them then fight Archon and Stegron.
Spider-Boy saves Christina Xu from the Inner Demons where one member was revealed to have been fused with an earthworm by Madame Monstrosity. Due to a key that Christina has, Spider-Boy plans to raid a bank that is owned by Mister Negative. Spider-Man confronts them in the bank and learns of why they are "robbing it". Just then, Negative enters with brainwashed police officers. Once in the vault, Spider-Boy and Christina find the files on the Humanimals that Madame Monstrosity made for Negative. Spider-Boy as Bailey Briggs pretends to get brainwashed in order to help defeat Negative and freeing everyone from the brainwashing. After Negative is arrested, Spider-Man tells Spider-Boy that their partnership is done because Spider-Boy broke Spider-Man's rule against battling "A-list villains", causing Spider-Man to confiscate Spider-Boy's gear.
After an argument with Spider-Man over some lives being endangered, Bailey summons the Gaping Maw and leaves telling Spider-Man to give his Spider-Boy outfit to another kid. After coming across a shoe, Bailey traces the guy who is being attacked by a villain called Card Shark as he summons the Gaping Maw to deal with him. Spider-Boy and the Gaping Maw bring Mr. Krupke and several other people to Stillwell Farms. As Krupke is restored to normal, Spider-Boy persuades Hellifino to become a superhero and takes the name of Captain Pachyderm. They alongside Boy-Spider, Hulkette, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Girl work to fight Balloon Man and his minions as Spider-Man and Daredevil show up and help to defeat Balloon Man. After some persuasion from Daredevil and the arrival of Toy Soldier, Spider-Boy releases the Gaping Maw from his control. Toy Soldier states that he possesses the powers of the Avengers including Spider-Man and states that he is proud of him. Spider-Man allows Bailey to be Spider-Boy again as they go on patrol.
While Norman Osborn is operating as Spider-Man, Spider-Boy accompanies Miles Morales, Silk, and Araña in confronting him. Osborn defends himself against them until Ghost-Spider shows up to help them, causing Osborn to stop attacking her. Osborn states that Peter trusted him with his Spider-Man identity and tells them what happened to Spider-Man that involved him being teleported to another planet by Hellgate.

Powers and abilities

Spider-Boy possesses superpowers similar to those of Spider-Man. He can transform into a spider hybrid at will, gaining paralyzing venom, enhanced vision, and the ability to communicate with spiders. Additionally, he has a variety of the Spider-Sense that manifests as psychometry.

Supporting characters

Enemies

Spider-Boy has his own rogues gallery:

Name / alter ego	Creator	First appearance	Description
Madame Monstrosity	Dan Slott Paco Medina	Amazing Spider-Man #31	Melodia Stillwell experiments on human beings to turn them into human/animal hybrids called Humanimals. She is the mother of Farley Stillwell, Harlan Stillwell, and Shannon Stillwell.
Gutterball	Dan Slott Paco Medina	Spider-Boy #1	A bowling-themed supervillain with a bowling ball for a head.
Balloon Man	Dan Slott Paco Medina	Spider-Boy #1	Emilio Helio possesses gaseous powers after an accident that changed his respiratory system. This enables him to control gases including the helium in balloons.
Killionaire	Dan Slott Paco Medina	Spider-Boy #3	A rich social media influencer.
Red Heron	Steve Foxe Carola Borelli	Spider-Woman #5	A heron-masked villain who Spider-Woman helped Spider-Boy defeat.
Puzzle Man	Dan Slott Jason Loo	Spider-Boy #8	Krys Crossman is a Daily Bugle worker who specializes in puzzles and breaks the fourth wall to challenge readers.
Funhouse / Spider-Girl	Dan Slott Michael Cho	Spider-Boy #11	Maka Akana is the apprentice of the assassin Bullseye who is able to copy the powers of anyone who makes eye contact with her. After making eye contact with Spider-Boy causes her to acquire all his memories and manifesting his powers as a default ability, she makes it her mission to kill him, briefly taking the name "Spider-Girl" to compete against him at the Challenge of the Jade Dragon. Maka later reforms after cutting her ties with Bullseye.
Bada Bros	Dan Slott	Spider-Boy #17	Two supervillains who can manifest energy bombs and were hired by Killionaire.
Card Shark	Dan Slott	Spider-Boy #20	A villain in a card-themed shark suit.