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Wondering if it’s one of those Mighty Marvel Coincidences that The Amazing Spider-Man comic book series currently features Peter Parker in space with a member of Warlock’s alien race, the Technarchy? Of course not — because, in Marvel Comics, there’s no such thing as coincidence… especially when it comes to creators’ own fandom.

“New Mutants was the first ever comic I bought for myself,” Amazing Spider-Man writer Joe Kelly revealed during the Spider-Man and his Venomous Friends panel at New York Comic Con 2025, talking about the series where Warlock (and the techno-organic Technarchy) was first introduced, back in 1984’s New Mutants #18.

Warlock — a mutant amongst his technological race for his compassion and absence of desire to kill in order to sustain his own life, and therefore deserving of membership in the junior X-Men team the series centered around — was a regular in the New Mutants series through 1990’s New Mutants #90, at which point he apparently died. (It’s comics; he got better years later.)

Of course, the fact that Peter Parker is now wearing a suit made of the Technarchy — a race that, as I said above, needs to kill in order to sustain its own existence — does suggest that problems might be awaiting Spider-Man sooner rather than later. No wonder that Kelly is teasing that a “wardrobe malfunction” is awaiting the hero in The Amazing Spider-Man #15, due out November 5.

The question might be, what are the odds that we’ll get some more New Mutants-related shout-outs, knowing Kelly’s own fandom? Where’s Lila Chaney these days, anyway?

New York Comic Con 2025 continues through Sunday, October 12.

Here's everything you need to enjoy New York Comic Con 2025:

• Everything we're excited about from NYCC 2025
• How to watch many of the big NYCC 2025 panels live, for free!
• Our most anticipated creators in Artist Alley at NYCC 2025
• The most anticipated NYCC 2025 panels
• The best cosplay of NYCC 2025 (so far!)
• The best places to eat near the Javits (and IN the Javits!)
• The whole bathroom situation at NYCC
• All the iconic comic book locations you can visit while in NYC