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The relationship between comic books and comic book media is always one of give-and-take. Harley Quinn, for example, came from Batman: The Animated Series, but is now one of the best-selling comic book leads on shelves. The same pattern of comics-influencing-movies-influencing-comics can be said of the Sony Spider-Verse films, and since it's Popverse Spotlight: Spider-Man week, we thought we'd highlight the ways they've shifted the wall-crawler's adventures in the comics that gave him life.

How the Spider-Verse movies changed Spider-Man comics #1: Miguel O'Hara, Time-Patrol

As a longtime fan of Spider-Man 2099, I was excited (if a little unsurprised) to see him show up in the post-credits scene of Into the Spider-Verse. However, the Miguel O'Hara of Sony's animated Spider-verse films is distinct from his comic book inspiration in a lot of ways - particularly, the films shift his role from hero of the future to an "ends-justify-the-means" guardian of a fragile multiverse.

But here's the thing - not long after that post-credits appearance by Miguel, which established him as a multiverse vanguard, a very similar change happened to his comic book counterpart. 2019's The Amazing Spider-Man #32 features a time-traveling Miguel whose future world of 2099 is under a terrible threat, and it's Miguel who must go back to work with Peter Parker and save the day. 

Sorry, Miguel - we imagine it was a lot easier defending Neuva York than it is an entire multiverse of timelines. But that's what you get when you're good at your job.

How the Spider-Verse movies changed Spider-Man comics #2: An All-New Spider-Woman

One of the coolest bits of Across the Spider-Verse was the introduction of Spider-Woman to a film-going audience... er, sorta. The Spider-Woman that moviegoers met in 2023 was distinct in so many ways from the Jessica Drew of Marvel Comics - the cinematic 'Jess' Drew was Black, rode a motorcycle, and definitely didn't seem to have the same ex-HYDRA backstory as the Marvel Comics version.

But unlike Miguel's situation above, the Spider-Verse movies didn't change the canon of this existing Marvel character - they added a completely new one in their likeness. That's right, starting with Edge of Spider-Verse #4 (2024), the Jess Drew of Sony fame is now officially a comic book character in her own right. Hell, she even went ahead and brought along some friends into the picture...

How the Spider-Verse movies changed Spider-Man comics #3: We've got our own Spider-Society

Having touched on both Miguel O'Hara and Jess Drew, you might be thinking we'd just as well bringing in the whole Spider-Society to the equation... and guess what? That's what we're doing. Starting in 2024, just one year after their onscreen introduction in Across the Spider-Verse, the multiversal team-up called the Spider-Society is officially canon to Marvel Comics.

Granted, it looks a little bit different than the one in Sony's animated films, with newcomers like Sun-Spider, Web-Slinger, and Spider-Ramen (literally a sentient bowl of hot food called Peter Potnoodles) rounding out the multiversal task force. However, members like Spider-Punk and Ghost-Spider are also there to pose for the group-shot covers, and we're pretty sure that wouldn't have been a thing without the Spider-Society we met in the movie theater.

The next Spider-Verse movie, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is slated for June 18, 2027. Expect to see your Spider-Man comics shift even further, True Believers.

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...

• Best Spider-Man comic books 
• Spider-Man movie watch order
• Spider-Man's actors, ranked
• and the Spider-verse explained!

Just watch out for that radioactive blood.