Popverse's top stories

• Summer 2026 is getting started already - we have the Florida Supercon 2026 dates!
• Why have a family vacation from hell when you could read one instead with Jennifer Thorne's Diavola? [If It Bleeds, We Read]
• Marvel Studios veterans are teaming up to bring 2000 AD icon Judge Dredd to the big screen one more time

Giving a character a sword makes them at least 20% cooler, in my eyes at least. 

It's a sentiment that artist Ben Dunn tapped into when designing a version of Spider-Man for Marvel's Mangaverse line two decades ago. The artist posted Spidey's Kamen Rider-inspired look on Facebook. Never has Spider-Man looked buggier, the eyes of his suit resembling Peter Parker's glasses like never before. You can take a gander at it below. 

Dunn wrote that for Spider-Man, they "decided to do a super sentai spin I approached SPIDERMAN as a KAMEN RIDER... Kamen Rider was a live action tokusatsu show featuring a motorcycle riding hero that was insect based. So it seemed [sic] a natural to make SPIDERMAN a KAMEN RIDER. I was also a big fan of the series at the time and was watching KAMEN RIDER BLACK which was a huge inspiration in the look as well as his black costume." 

If there's one thing we can all agree on with Kamen Rider, it's that Kamen Rider has got style. Spidey may not be sporting a silk scarf here like Shin Kamen Rider, but he's got a sword. And you may be wondering, what's the suit made out of? Dunn explains, "The original story I was going to use was that THE OCTOPUS LEAGUE created monstrosities and PETER PARKER was an experiment having been injected with a spider serum and given a [sic] exosuit but Peter rebelled and fights against the League and its various villains." Take that, Iron Man. 

Brian Dunn contributed art to Marvel's Mangaverse line, which originally ran from 2000-2002, before being revived with the New Mangaverse in 2006. Dunn also came up with a Mangaverse design for the X-Men, that was unfortunately rejected. While Dunn's Kamen Rider-inspired Spider-Man never came to be in the pages of Marvel Mangaverse, it will forever live in our heads, rent-free. 

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.