Draft:Spider-Boy (Marvel Comics)

Spider-Boy
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Spider-Man Vol. 4 #7 (April 2023)
Created by	Dan Slott (writer) Humberto Ramos (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Bailey Briggs
Species	Human mutate
Team affiliations	Spider-Army
Partnerships	Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Notable aliases	Spider-Boy Spider-B
Abilities	Superhuman strength, agility, stamina, and reflexes Precognitive spider-sense Wall-crawling Venom bite Spider-speaking

Bailey Briggs 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 (April 2023). Bailey Briggs is known under the codename of Spider-Boy. 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.

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 [could] 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 [laughs]. 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 initially created to be an entertaining Spider-Man supporting character, but became popular enough to get his own comic series.

Publication history

Bailey Briggs debuted in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7 (April 2023), 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 issue was released on November 1, 2023. The second issue was released on December 20, 2023. The third issue was released on January 31, 2024. He appeared in the 2023 Superior Spider-Man series, and in the 2023 Marvel Unlimited exclusive Infinity Comic series. The fourth issue of Spider-Boy was released on February 21, 2024.

Fictional character biography

From what Bailey Briggs remembered after he was crossed with a spider by Madame Monstrosity, he met a fellow prisoner named Eli Hartman. Upon Eli learning that Bailey was crossed with a spider, he comments that one of the previous subjects was crossed with a cow and a duck to make "Milk and Quackers" which they find amusing. When Bailey asks what Eli would call it if an elephant was crossed with a rhinoceros, Eli asks what he would get. Bailey quotes "Helifino" which Eli found amusing. Madame Monstrosity overhears it and decides to splice Eli with elephant and rhinoceros DNA as Bailey quotes that they were joking.

At the end of the "End of the Spider-Verse" storyline following the defeat of Shathra and Morlun, the other fallen Spider-Totems were restored. Among the restored was Bailey Briggs, a boy who was an earlier sidekick of Spider-Man who was one day erased from history. He claims that he went on different adventures with Peter Parker and Miles Morales and had special wall-sticking shoes that were made for him by Mister Fantastic.

Spider-Boy arrives at the F.E.A.S.T. building where he ends up saving a young girl named Christina Wu from the Inner Demons. Upon learning of Spider-Boy's identity and that his parents are nowhere to be found, she takes him in.

As Spider-Boy has been unsuccessful in finding any proof that he exists, he starts to lose control of his spider-senses after Spider-Man loses control of his spider-senses following a fight with Electro.

Spider-Boy witnesses Norman Osborn in his Gold Goblin armor stun Spider-Man and make off with him. He later confronts Gold Goblin who advises him to fix Spider-Man's spider-senses.

As Spider-Man fights Electro, Spider-Boy shows up and fights Electro. After Spider-Man tackles Electro while telling a firefighter to hit them with water, Spider-Boy climbed onto Electro and brought out his fangs which he used to bite Electro and stun him with the paralyzing venom within his fangs. Then Spider-Boy advised Spider-Man to web up Electro and leave a "Courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" message on him. Gold Goblin then shows up and uses a device to fix Spider-Man's spider-senses. After that was done, Spider-Man caught up with Spider-Boy stating that he doesn't want a sidekick.

Spider-Man webs up Spider-Boy learns about what Spider-Boy remembers about their collaboration ever since he was spliced with a spider at Madame Monstrosity's lab and he was saved by Spider-Man. First when Bailey's powers manifested, he sported no hair, 10 eyes, and fangs. In order to help Bailey out, Spider-Man took him to Fogwell's Gym where he was trained by Daredevil. During this training, Daredevil works on Bailey's training by blindfolding some of his 10 eyes in order to improve his senses. Then worked at getting control over the transformation while meditating with Daredevil. Then Bailey recaps to Spider-Man on how his special wall-climbing shoes were made by Mister Fantastic. In another memory, the villain Killionaire put out a hit on Spider-Boy where he is taken to Arcade's Murderworld. Spider-Man managed to save him as they escape Murderworld. After breaking free with one of his web-designer fluids, Spider-Boy then knocks Spider-Man down where it is revealed that Spider-Boy keeps web-dissolving fluids in his pack and that Spider-Man's spider-senses don't go off if Spider-Boy comes near him. Then Bailey recalls another memory where they went up against Big Wheel in his Big Wheel 2.0. Spider-Boy saved Aunt May from being run over by Big Wheel at the cost of the F.E.A.S.T. building getting wrecked. Spider-Man has theorized that someone had tampered with Spider-Boy's part of the Great Web of Life and wants to have Bailey cured, Spider-Boy touches the shirt on the clothesline and gets a reading that it belongs to an old man who is about to be targeted by villain named Gutterball. Spider-Boy and Spider-Man head out where Spider-Man learns that a bowling bandit named Gutterball is one of Spider-Boy's enemies as Spider-Boy states that Spider-Man "has much to relearn".

Madame Monstrosity sees a newspaper talking about Spider-Boy while being tended to by her Humanimal servants consisting of the cricket-like Mr. Cricket, the tabby cat-like Tabby, the parrot-like Polly, and the pig-like Hogsworth. In a call with her daughter Shannon Stillwell while recapping about what happened with Shannon's brothers Farley Stillwell and Harlan Stillwell, Madame Monstrosity states to Shannon that she will be going after Spider-Boy.

Spider-Man and Spider-Boy face off against Gutterball at Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley who claims that he doesn't know Spider-Boy. Spider-Man tries to punch is bowling ball mask only to hurt his hand as it is indestructible. Spider-Boy then throws Gutterball down the bowling alley where his head goes through a wall as the police arrive. After Gutterball surrenders when he doesn't want to deal with another bowling pun, Spider-Boy sees the newspaper article about his victory over Electro and that it calls him a freak. Spider-Man speaks to Robbie Robertson about the article on Spider-Boy. While Robbie states that he can't grant him a key to the city as he is not the mayor, Ms. Lane (the proprietor of Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley who was being interviewed by Robbie at the time) offers to let Spider-Boy bowl at her bowling alley for free. Peter Parker later visits Bailey Briggs and the Wu family at the F.E.A.S.T. building. He tells Bailey of a special ceremony at the Daily Bugle to honor Spider-Boy's heroics. Meanwhile at the Farm, Madame Monstrosity hears of the event and plans to send a specific Humanimal to "attend" the event. When the event occurs at Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley, Spider-Boy is given a bowling ball by Ms. Lane. Just then, the event is attacked by the Humanimal in question. After flashing back to when he met Eli, Spider-Boy tells Christina that the elephant/rhinoceros hybrid with four ears, four eyes, and an elephant trunk coming out of his rhinoceros snout is Hellifino. After Spider-Boy was knocked into the wall, Christina tries to keep Hellifino from attacking him until Spider-Boy breaks free and uses his super-strength to fight Helifino. As Hellifino wraps up Spider-Boy in his trunk, Madame Monstrosity speaks through the necklace on Helifino ordering him to unmask Spider-Boy. Hellifino starts to unmask him until Hellifino and Madame Monstrosity find the same mark that Madame Monstrosity placed on the back of Bailey's neck. This causes Spider-Boy to tell Helifino that his real name is Eli as the crowd starts acting up. Spider-Boy breaks the necklace around Helifino as he advises him not to be a monster like everyone sees him as. Hellifino heads back to the Farm covering up to Madame Monstrosity that Spider-Boy turned into a bunch of spiders and got away. Spider-Boy states to Christine that he will save Hellifino someday. During a Thanksgiving parade, Spider-Boy takes Christina up a building where they meet Squirrel Girl. They then collaborate to stop the balloon-based plots of Balloon Man as he manipulates the gas in the balloons to attack them. He even controls the parade balloons to attack Spider-Boy and Squirrel Girl.

At the F.E.A.S.T. building, Bailey and Christina Wu help set up for Christmas. As a guy steals Bailey's phone causing him and Christina, Bailey gets a spider-sense revolving around Taskmaster. Bailey has no choice but to abandon the chase on the guy and runs out where he transforms into Spider-Boy. He swings to a futuristic helicopter where he encounters Captain America and the soldiers with him. Captain America tells the soldiers to stand down as he had been told about Spider-Boy by Spider-Man. Spider-Boy tells him that he is in danger from Taskmaster. Captain America then attacks a soldier who is actually Taskmaster using an image inducer. As Officer Delmar is asked to watch over Spider-Boy, Captain America fights Taskmaster who infiltrated the helicopter to get to the Super-Adaptoid. Spider-Boy then receives Captain America's shield as he assists in fighting Taskmaster. Spider-Boy and Captain America then open up the helicopter and knock out Taskmaster unaware that he managed to swipe Super-Adaptoid's left hand so that he can give it to Killionaire. Later that day, Captain America apologizes to Spider-Boy for what happened to his phone while mentioning about how the world changed when he was unfrozen. He does offer to help Spider-Boy if he needs him. Back on the day of the Thanksgiving parade, Spider-Boy and Squirrel Girl deal with the parade balloons that are being controlled by Balloon Man. The Santa Claus in the parade turns out to be the real Santa Claus as he uses his sack to take down the larger balloons. Then they proceed to give Balloon Man his "season's beatings". As Spider-Boy gives Balloon Man some helium to survive after his balloon-type helmet is broken, Christina and Squirrel Girl hear about Spider-Boy's team up with Santa Claus. On Christmas Day, Christina gives Bailey a Christmas present from Santa Claus which is a picture of him and his Mom that was on his stolen phone.

After pulling Spider-Boy away from a man he rescued from a collapsing fire escape, Christina Wu informs him that superheroes don't charge money to anyone. Spider-Boy then mentions how he lost everything when he was briefly erased and what happened to his stolen phone. After Christina advises Bailey that he could ask her mom for money, Bailey plans to get a job. His first stop is the Jarvis Lounge where he asks Edwin Jarvis how much one has to pay to join the Avengers. Jarvis shuts the door on him. When Killionaire takes Toy Soldier (who was reverse-engineered from Super-Adaptoid's hand to copy the abilities of the Avengers) on a rampage, Spider-Boy saves a dog from being thrown towards the Sun. Then he confronts Killionaire and his bodyguards Boyd and Floyd who couldn't remember him. As Spider-Boy states that he'll remember getting his butt kicked, Killionaire unleashes Toy Soldier on him as it uses the abilities of She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, Tigra, and Thor. Then Toy Soldier starts to take Spider-Boy's special wall-crawling shoes on Killionaire's orders. After picking up the toy Mjolnir and being told by Spider-Boy about how Mjolnir belongs to Thor, Toy Soldier turns on Killionaire as Spider-Boy advises him to be his own hero. After Toy Soldier left, Spider-Boy takes his leave now that everyone saw Killionaire's crimes online. Killionaire shows that he'll make Spider-Boy pay. Sometime later, Baily and Christine see a superhero fight in the distance. They finds Thor fighting an Asgardian spider. After being persuaded by Christina to use his secret power in his monstrous form, Bailey becomes Spider-Boy and uses his monstrous form as Thor is surprised that he can speak the spider language. Translating for the Asgardian spider, Spider-Boy states that it's name is Klopp and arrived on Earth after falling through a magic portal while missing his owner who turns out to be Ulik. Thor ends up summoning Ulik who reunites with Klopp. As some people recognize Spider-Boy from the battle with Electro with some of them doing criticism, Thor tells him "Trust me, it matters not what the rabble thinks of you....Only what you think of yourself". At the Farm, Madame Monstrosity and her Humanimal servants are shown to have watched what happened as it shows Spider-Boy asking Thor "What if this is the only way they think of me now? What if they never stop? What if it gets even worse"? Madame Monstrosity then quotes "An interesting question my child. And what if I were to help move that along. Eh"?

During the "Gang War" storyline, Spider-Boy saves a police officer from an Inner Demons member by using his paralyzing venom on him. Then he works to defend the F.E.A.S.T. building from Vermin and his clones. Spider-Boy is among the heroes who assisted Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, and Elektra's Daredevil appearance in fighting Madame Masque's group where he also interacted with Mary Jane Watson's Jackpot appearance.

It's movie night at the F.E.A.S.T. Center. Aunt May states that her movie choice is "Fast Car Family Five" which is a favorite of Peter Parker. Spider-Boy and Christina Wu head to Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley to go bowling. Then he later goes on patrol where he finds Spider-Man and Miles Morales fighting the Vulturions who they claim are like "Vulture times four" and how it takes four of them to make one Vulturions as one of them states that the comment hurts. Spider-Man and Miles Morales don't want Spider-Boy's help in fighting the Vulturions as Spider-Man declares him benched until further notice. After Spider-Man and Miles have defeated and webbed up the Vulturions, Spider-Boy mentions to Miles that he's Spider-Man's sidekick and Miles is Spider-Man's partner while mentioning that he is not jealous of this. Spider-Man brings up the spider talk that he learned about from Thor. Spider-Man states to Spider-Boy that they will discuss this tomorrow. Christina later comes in on Bailey who was having a nightmare and accidentally frightens Christina when he wakes up as his reaction to her fright was negative. Meanwhile at Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley, a spider-like figure is preying off the nachos and then watching "Fast Car Family X" in movie theaters. As Miles is wrapping up his patrol, he is attacked by what appears to be a more monstrous Spider-Boy. Spider-Man visits the F.E.A.S.T. Center and learned what happened between Christina and Bailey as the latter overhears the discussion. As Spider-Man suspects Bailey of being responsible for the spider-like figure causing havoc, Bailey's spider-senses go off showing Miles being attacked by the same figure. As Miles draws out his Venom Sword, Bailey shows up as he tries to get the spider-like figure to stand down. As Bailey talks with the spider-like figure, Spider-Man and Christina arrive as Bailey holds Miles back stating that it's not his fault. Displeased with the strain he has with Spider-Man, Miles, and Christina, Bailey leaves stating that he's done with them. Unbeknownst to them, the spider-like figure was created by Madame Monstrosity from the spider DNA not used and the DNA taken from Bailey to create a hybrid clone that she christened Boy-Spider as it gains a special outfit from Madame Monstrosity's dog-like Humanimal servant Mr. Muttman. Following Boy-Spider's encounter with Spider-Boy, it returns to Madame Monstrosity where it is spooked from the outcome. As Madame Monstrosity drives the van away, Tabby calms the hybrid down down as Madame Monstrosity figures out who Spider-Boy is since Tabby is a mutated version of Bailey's mother Tabitha Briggs.

While out of webs, Spider-Boy ran into Spider-Woman while dodging some drones. While Spider-Woman doesn't remember the day when she helped Spider-Boy defeat Red Herring, she was surprised that Spider-Boy remembered Gerry. Both of them discover that the drones were being controlled by Screwball. who combines them into one giant robot. Spider-Woman defeats the giant robot and uses one of the drones to track down Screwball. When Screwball tries to flee, Spider-Woman and Spider-Boy subdue Screwball and leave her tied up for the police to find.

As Bailey tries to have lunch at PS 41 Greenwich Village, he gets surprised by a teacher and knocks him down causing Bailey to flee while apologizing. While going over the previous PS locations, his spider-senses on the pen he's holding reveals to him that Christina will be targeted by Madame Monstrosity and Hellifino. Bailey becomes Spider-Boy and heads out. As Hellifino charges towards Christina, Spider-Boy shows up and lures Hellifino away from Christina and towards the future site of Killionaire's New Esports Arena called the Kill Zone. Hellifino's rampage through the construction site brings the building down on Hellifino. Though this only knocks out Hellifino for a brief moment as he gets back up upon the debris being removed from him. Hellifino goes on the attack again and punches Bailey who slips into unconsciousness. As Christina tries to drag Spider-Boy's body away, Madame Monstrosity orders Hellifino to bring Spider-Boy and Christina to her as she's got some experiments to run as Christina tries to wake Bailey up. Moments later at the Farm, Madame Monstrosity tells a caged Christina that Spider-Boy is "Number Five" and is hers to experiment with even though she doesn't recall creating him. After recalling her past that involved a visit with the High Evolutionary, Madame Monstrosity has Mr. Cricket throw her into her special chambers so that she can fuse her with an animal.

Spider-Boy regains consciousness and tries to rescue Christina only to be restrained by the unnamed gorilla Humanimal as Christina is fused with a common pigeon. Later on, Spider-Boy is shown fighting Hogsworth, Mr. Cricket, Squeakerton (who was made from a mouse), and the unnamed gorilla Humanimal. Madame Monstrosity tries to break up the fight claiming to Spider-Boy that Hellifino overpowers him and Boy-Spider is his equal. Spider-Boy states that Madame Monstrosity doesn't remember a lot about him and called himself a "snot-nosed little kid". As Hellifino goes on the attack, Spider-Boy claims that Madame Monstrosity fused Christina and not undo the procedure unless he told his secret. Then Madame Monstrosity unleashes Boy-Spider on him claiming that she was never going to change Christina back. When Tabby strikes Spider-Boy to get him off of Boy-Spider, he learns that Tabby is the leverage that she holds over Spider-Boy and that her real name is Tabitha Briggs. As Spider-Boy learns the truth, Tabby doesn't remember him as she is also surprised. As Madame Monstrosity comments that there's not a person who can help everyone remember Spider-Boy, he ends up surrendering. Spider-Boy is locked up by Madame Monstrosity who will continue her experiments with him tomorrow.

Powers and abilities

Bailey Briggs possesses superpowers similar to those of Spider-Man. His Spider-Sense allows him to receive psychic visions of endangered people. He is also able to inject a paralyzing venom with his fangs. This is revealed when he assumes a monstrous 10-eyed state. Spider-Boy is also revealed to speak to spiders when in his monstrous state.

Supporting characters

Enemies

Spider-Boy has his own rogues gallery:

Name / alter ego	Creator(s)	First appearance	Description
Madame Monstrosity	Dan Slott – Paco Medina	Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6 #31 (August 2022)	Madame Monstrosity expriments 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		Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #1 (November 2023)	A bowling-themed supervillain with a bowling ball for a head.
Balloon Man			Emilio Helio is a possesses gaseous powers after an accident that changed his respiratory system. This enables him to control gases including the helium in balloons.
Killionaire		Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #3	A rich social media influencer.

Reception

Critical response

Casey Donahue of Screen Rant named Bailey Briggs one of the best new heroes of 2023. D. R. Bickham of Comic Book Resources called Bailey Briggs one of the most interesting incarnations of Spider-Man, writing, "While his youth, quirkiness, and awkward similarities to his mentor make him immediately endearing to fans, another contributing factor to Spider-Boy's newfound popularity and staying power lies in his unique rogues gallery." George Marston of Newsarama referred to Bailey Briggs as a one of Marvel's newest breakout characters.

Impact

In 2023, the introduction of Bailey Briggs as Spider-Boy in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7 was credited as one of the main reasons the comic book sold out. Matt Devoe of ComicBook.com ranked the comic book 1st in their "Top 10 Comic Books Rising in Value in the Last Week Include Midnight Sons and Tons of Spider-Verse" list. His appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse #3 was also credited as one of the key reasons the comic book sold out.

Literary reception

Volumes

Spider-Boy (2023)

According to Diamond Comic Distributors, Spider-Boy #1 was the 3rd top advance-reordered comic book by retailers between November 20 to November 6, 2023.

Sayantan Gayen of Comic Book Resources called Spider-Boy #1 a "positive debut issue," asserting, "Spider-Boy #1 is the freshest take on an old formula to come out of the House of Ideas in recent history. Bailey's future looks bright from here on out, only if the creators can shower all the necessary love to make this character grow." Matthew Aguilar of ComicBook.com gave Spider-Boy #1 a grade of four 4 of 5, writing, "Seeing how Bailey got his powers and the heartbreaking reunion that plays out effectively tugs at the heartstrings, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The villains all have a flair for the absurd, but that's also part of the charm, and artist Paco Medina and colorist Erick Arciniega lean into that fun absurdity in the artwork and character designs. The same goes for the entertaining second story "Balloonacy" by Ty Templeton and Dee Cunniffe, which gets extra points for bringing Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe into the mix. When Spider-Boy is the centra [sic] figure, this series captures something that's hard to identify but feels quite special, and I'm incredibly intrigued to see where things go next."

References

Category:Characters created by Dan Slott Category:2023 comics debuts Category:Marvel Comics characters with superhuman senses Category:Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Category:Marvel Comics male superheroes Category:Marvel Comics mutates Category:Marvel Comics teenage superheroes Category:Spider-Man characters Category:Spiders in popular culture Category:Superheroes with alter egos Category:Teenage characters in comics