Warning: Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #33As he recovers his classic black suit, Spider-Man finally explains why he continues to keep it after all this time. In order to chase his next big hunt, Kraven the Hunter collaborates with Queen Goblin to put Spider-Man on his trail. Using a spear she gifts him, Kraven infects Spidey with the sins of the Green Goblin, turning him into his own worst enemy.

Now, Spidey's on the hunt with his signature black suit in The Amazing Spider-Man #33 by Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Marcio Menyz, and VC's Joe Caramagna. In the opening pages of the issue, a visibly changed Peter Parker shares why he's kept his black suit after all these years. The bottom line is that it's because when he does decide to wear it, he doesn't have to "pretend anymore," in reference to being so friendly on days when he's feeling unfriendly, to put it mildly.

"I Don't Have to Pretend Anymore"

Spider-Man first debuted his black suit in the midst of the original Secret Wars back in 1984. An alien symbiote had attached to his body, staining both his costume and his mind with a corruptive black goo. Once Peter understood the true influence of the symbiote, he discarded it soon after. However, Black Cat would make him a fabric version of his black suit shortly after that. Peter found himself donning black for nearly four years straight until The Amazing Spider-Man #300, when his black outfit was too much for Mary Jane to bear after she was traumatized by the debut of Venom. Over the years, Peter would dust off the black suit on special occasions, like the 2010 Grim Hunt story arc.

Peter's Grim Reason

It's often been inferred and insinuated in arcs like Grim Hunt that Peter wears the black suit whenever he wants to mentally bring himself back to a dark, aggressive place. These opening pages are the first time he's truly addressed it in a monologue, confirming prior implications. When he wears his black suit, he doesn't feel like he needs to resist his darkest urges anymore. When he truly finds himself enraged or uncharacteristically unlike a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, he doesn't have to quip through the pain or act like he doesn't truly want to hurt his opponent. Instead, Spider-Man lets all his worries go when he puts that costume on. It's Spider-Man's excuse to unleash Hell.

The reasoning certainly adds new context to such past arcs as Grim Hunt, where Peter is goaded to wear the black suit again by the Kravinoff family after they kill his "brother" Kaine, leaving the suit in his coffin with a note reading, "Hunt Me." Peter is reasonably angry, but thanks to this new context, we know he isn't just wearing the suit for revenge. He puts on the suit so that he can go for the kill, as well as to do so without feeling bad about it. It certainly forces readers to look at horrifying moments like Spider-Man's "Mark of Kaine" maneuver through a new lens.

Those four years when he wore the black suit - both the symbiote and the fabric version - offered some of Peter's most violent, aggressive moments to date. Now that Spider-Man's back in black, no one is safe.

The Amazing Spider-Man #33 is available now from Marvel Comics.