Marvel Comics’ new Midnight Universe will reinvent Peter Parker in "Midnight Spider-Man." Series writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson believes Spider-Man has been rooted in horror comics from the very beginning, and this new take will push those body-horror elements to the forefront, blending influences from David Cronenberg, John Carpenter and Japanese horror manga master Junji Ito.
The biggest change, however, lies in Peter’s guiding philosophy. The iconic Spider-Man creed, "With great power comes great responsibility," has been replaced in the Midnight Universe by a far darker warning: "Power makes monsters." The words come from Peter’s late father, Richard Parker, and shape how he views both power and the world around him.
That belief is closely tied to a childhood trauma. As a young boy, Peter had a kitten named Bamf, but one careless mistake changed everything: He failed to make sure the cat was somewhere safe, allowing Bamf to escape the house and die. Even more horrifying, Peter remembers seeing a spider crawl from his pet’s corpse—an image that has haunted him ever since.
As an adult, Peter continues to see reality reinforce the warning that "power makes monsters." Johnson stressed that this incarnation is not the familiar Man-Spider. Instead, Peter becomes a uniquely grotesque figure of body horror after the Oscorp Corporation transforms him into a human-spider hybrid, with the spider itself embedded directly in his chest. Oscorp then uses research from his mutation to create even more human-animal hybrids.
Meanwhile, Felicia Hardy—the Black Cat of this universe—is now an Oscorp employee. Johnson also revealed that the series will plant long-term story threads as early as the first issue, with some payoffs not arriving until the third or fourth year.
"MIDNIGHT SPIDER-MAN" #1
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: SCIETRONC
Release Date: October 7, 2026
"MIDNIGHT SPIDER-MAN" #2
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: SCIETRONC
Release Date: November 18, 2026
"MIDNIGHT SPIDER-MAN" #3
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: SCIETRONC
Release Date: December 16, 2026
via： Bleeding Cool