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It wasn’t that long ago that comic book fans were first introduced to the concept of the Spider-Verse, but if the past decade in pop culture has proven anything, it’s that the Spider-Verse has revitalized the Spider-Man brand for good. In fact, Magic: The Gathering certainly wouldn’t be able to create an entire Universes Beyond set around Spider-Man if it weren’t for the doors opened by the original Spider-Verse comic book storyline by Dan Scott, Olivier Coipel, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Cam Smith. 

Speaking at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Aaron Forsythe, vice president of design at Magic: The Gathering, had this to say about the Spider-Verse’s impact on the crossover set. “The whole reason we could make a whole card set around the concept of Spider-Man, you may think, ‘Well it’s one character, how can you make a card set around one character?’ Forsythe began. “I think [it] goes back to 2014, the original Spider-Verse written by Dan Slott, which introduced this entire array of Spider-people from different universes and brought them all together, and spawned these really cool movies that have come out since. That is the real driving force behind us being able to make a whole card set around Spider-Man.” 

So there you have it folks. While Spider-Man certainly has one of the most recognizable rogues galleries within Marvel Comics, you can’t have a deck that’s only based around this one guy and his group of colorful foes. It’s characters like Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy’s Ghost-Spider, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Ham, and more, that pad out the rest of the Spider-Man MTG set. Sorry Peter Parker fans, but Spider-Man is a lot more fun when there’s other spider-themed heroes for him to bounce off of. We couldn’t just be stuck with Ben Reilly forever!

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer:

• All upcoming games in 2025 and beyond
• Gamify My Life, our weekly gaming column designed
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• How to play every GTA game in order
• Why the GTA 6 budget isn't as crazy as you think
• The Magic: The Gathering x Spider-Man crossover set wouldn't exist without the Spider-Verse

And be sure to check Popverse regularly for the latest gaming news.