Contains a preview for Edge of Spider-Verse #2
Marvel Comics is finally going to explain the origins of Spider-Man and all the other Spider-heroes by showing the primordial goddess who created the Spider-Man's origins have been retconned several times, connecting the hero to several totemic deities and the multiversal construct called the Web of Life and Destiny, which gives the Spider-Totems their powers. A preview for Edge of Spider-Verse #2 shows that there are still more mysteries waiting to be revealed behind Peter Parker's origin story.
Every Marvel fan knows that Peter Parker received his amazing powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider, which rewrote his DNA and turned him into the hero Spider-Man. However, in the 2000s, during J. Michael Straczynski's tenure as writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, this iconic origin story was revisited to introduce the concept of Spider-Totems, multiversal supernatural entities linked to a mystical force called the Web of Life and Destiny. These god-like creatures can select individuals within any universe to serve as their avatar, also called Spider-Totems, and this is the true source of Peter Parker and all the other Spider-heroes' powers. However, the actual origins of the Web of Life and Destiny and the divine Spider-Totems had never been explained clearly, until now.
In a preview for Edge of Spider-Verse #2 - by Mallory Rosenthal, Ig Guara, Rico Renzi, Ramzee, Ruarì Coleman, Brian Reber, Dan Slott, Paco Medina, and Chris Giarrusso - Anna-May Parker, aka Spiderling (Peter and MJ's daughter from another reality), is keeping up her duties as the new Patternmaker, the Spider-Totem tasked with maintaining and repairing the Web of Life and Destiny, a task she took up at the end of Spidergeddon. While repairing the Web from the damage suffered at the hands of the villainous Inheritors, Spiderling encounters the Primal Strand, "The first web ever spun," which gives her a vision of the very start of the Spider-Verse. Anna sees a group of Marvel gods, Seth, Bast, and Khonshu, along with one unidentified girl who wears a spider-sigil. Enjoy this preview of Edge of Spider-Verse #2, courtesy of Marvel Comics.
Considering the company she keeps, the girl could indeed be the primeval spider-goddess, who spun the Web of Life and Destiny. Until now, the only reference to the creator of the Web comes from Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #48, where the Spider-Totem Ezekiel Sims identifies him with the African god Kwaku Anansi, who, seeking enlightenment, transcended into a form called the Great Weaver and spun the Web of Life. However, this story was never expanded upon and could very well be a legend. Spiderling's vision takes place on Loomworld, aka Earth-001, the world where the Web of Life and Destiny physically exists, ad thus the center of the Spider-Verse. It would make sense, then, for the mysterious girl to be the actual Great Weaver, and the goddess who is the source of power for Spider-Man and all other Spider-heroes.
Spider-Man's "totemic" lore can be sometimes a little confusing for readers, especially after it was further expanded with the concept of the Spider-Verse. Considering that Edge of Spider-Verse is supposed to be "the beginning of the end" for Spider-Man's multiverse, it is possible that, before that, Marvel wants to finally clarify and nail down the lore surrounding the Spider-Verse and the Wall-Crawler's origin.
Spider-Man's Edge of Spider-Verse #2 will be available August 17 from Marvel Comics.
