title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: This mysteriousness attached with the supernatural not only captures the audience and Antony, but also, draws all other characters' focus. As a center of conversation when not present in the scene, Cleopatra is continually a central point, therefore demanding the control of the stage. As an object of sexual desire, she is attached to the Roman need to conquer. Her mix of sexual prowess with the political power is a threat to Roman politics. She retains her heavy involvement in the military aspect of her rule, especially when she asserts herself as "the president of [her] kingdom will/ Appear there for a man." Where the dominating power lies is up for interpretation, yet there are several mentions of the power exchange in their relationship in the text. Antony remarks on Cleopatra's power over him multiple times throughout the play, the most obvious being attached to sexual innuendo: "You did know / How much you were my conqueror, and that / My sword, made weak by my affection, would / Obey it on all cause."


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Manipulation and the quest for power are very prominent themes not only in the play but specifically in the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra. Both utilise language to undermine the power of the other and to heighten their own sense of power.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Cleopatra uses language to undermine Antony's assumed authority over her. Cleopatra's "'Roman' language of command works to undermine Antony's authority." By using a Romanesque rhetoric, Cleopatra commands Antony and others in Antony's own style. In their first exchange in Act I, scene 1, Cleopatra says to Antony, "I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved." In this case Cleopatra speaks in an authoritative and affirming sense to her lover, which to Shakespeare's audience would be uncharacteristic for a female lover.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Antony's language suggests his struggle for power against Cleopatra's dominion. Antony's "obsessive language concerned with structure, organization, and maintenance for the self and empire in repeated references to 'measure,' 'property,' and 'rule' express unconscious anxieties about boundary integrity and violation." (Hooks 38) Furthermore, Antony struggles with his infatuation with Cleopatra and this paired with Cleopatra's desire for power over him causes his eventual downfall. He states in Act I, scene 2, "These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,/Or lose myself in dotage." Antony feels restrained by "Egyptian fetters" indicating that he recognises Cleopatra's control over him. He also mentions losing himself in dotage—"himself" referring to Antony as Roman ruler and authority over people including Cleopatra.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Cleopatra also succeeds in causing Antony to speak in a more theatrical sense and therefore undermine his own true authority. In Act I, scene 1, Antony not only speaks again of his empire but constructs a theatrical image: "Let Rome and Tiber melt, and the wide arch/Of the ranged empire fall... The nobleness of life/Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair/And such a twain can do't—in which I bind/On pain of punishment the world to weet/We stand up peerless." Cleopatra immediately says, "Excellent falsehood!" in an aside, indicating to the audience that she intends for Antony to adopt this rhetoric.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Yachnin's article focuses on Cleopatra's usurping of Antony's authority through her own and his language, while Hooks' article gives weight to Antony's attempts to assert his authority through rhetoric. Both articles indicate the lovers' awareness of each other's quests for power. Despite awareness and the political power struggle existent in the play, Antony and Cleopatra both fail to achieve their goals by the play's conclusion.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: "Antony and Cleopatra" is essentially a male-dominated play in which the character of Cleopatra takes significance as one of few female figures and definitely the only strong female character. As Oriana Palusci says in her article "When Boys or Women Tell Their Dreams: Cleopatra and the Boy Actor", "Cleopatra constantly occupies the centre, if not of the stage, certainly of the discourse, often charged with sexual innuendos and disparaging tirades, of the male Roman world". We see the significance of this figure by the constant mention of her, even when she is not on stage.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: What is said about Cleopatra is not always what one would normally say about a ruler; the image that is created makes the audience expect "to see on stage not a noble Sovereign, but a dark, dangerous, evil, sensual and lewd creature who has harnessed the 'captain's heart". This dangerously beautiful woman is difficult for Shakespeare to create because all characters, male or female, were played by men. Phyllis Rackin points out that one of the most descriptive scenes of Cleopatra is spoken by Enobarbus: "in his famous set speech, Enobarbus evokes Cleopatra's arrival on the Cynus". It is an elaborate description that could never possibly be portrayed by a young boy actor. It is in this way that "before the boy [playing Cleopatra] can evoke Cleopatra's greatness, he must remind us that he cannot truly represent it". The images of Cleopatra must be described rather than seen on stage. Rackin points out that "it is a commonplace of the older criticism that Shakespeare had to rely upon his poetry and his audience's imagination to evoke Cleopatra's greatness because he knew the boy actor could not depict it convincingly".


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: The constant comments of the Romans about Cleopatra often undermine her, representing the Roman thought on the foreign and particularly of Egyptians. From the perspective of the reason-driven Romans, Shakespeare's "Egyptian queen repeatedly violates the rules of decorum". It is because of this distaste that Cleopatra "embodies political power, a power which is continuously underscored, denied, nullified by the Roman counterpart". To many of Antony's crew, his actions appeared extravagant and over the top: "Antony's devotion is inordinate and therefore irrational". It is no wonder, then, that she is such a subordinated queen.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: And yet she is also shown as having real power in the play. When threatened to be made a fool and fully overpowered by Octavius, she takes her own life: "She is not to be silenced by the new master, she is the one who will silence herself: 'My resolution and my hands I'll trust/ None about Caesar' (IV. 15.51–52)". From this, connections can be made between power and the performance of the female role as portrayed by Cleopatra.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Scholars have speculated that Shakespeare's original intention was to have Antony appear in Cleopatra's clothes and vice versa in the beginning of the play. This possible interpretation seems to perpetuate the connections being made between gender and power. Gordon P. Jones elaborates on the importance of this detail:


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Such a saturnalian exchange of costumes in the opening scene would have opened up a number of important perspectives for the play's original audience. It would immediately have established the sportiveness of the lovers. It would have provided a specific theatrical context for Cleopatra's later reminiscence about another occasion on which she "put my tires and mantles on him, whilst / I wore his sword Philippan" (II.v.22–23). It would have prepared the ground for Cleopatra's subsequent insistence on appearing "for a man" (III.vii.18) to bear a charge in the war; in doing so, it would also have prepared the audience for Antony's demeaning acquiescence in her usurpation of the male role.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: The evidence that such a costume change was intended includes Enobarbus' false identification of Cleopatra as Antony:


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Enobarbus could have made this error because he was used to seeing Antony in the queen's garments. It can also be speculated that Philo was referring to Antony cross-dressing in Act 1, scene 1:


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: If Shakespeare had indeed intended for Antony to crossdress, it would have drawn even more similarities between Antony and Hercules, a comparison that many scholars have noted many times before. Hercules (who is said to be an ancestor of Antony) was forced to wear Queen Omphale's clothing while he was her indentured servant. The Omphale myth is an exploration of gender roles in Greek society. Shakespeare might have paid homage to this myth as a way of exploring gender roles in his own.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: However, it has been noted that, while women dressing as men (i.e., a boy actor acting a female character who dresses as a man) are common in Shakespeare, the reverse (i.e., a male adult actor dressing as a woman) is all but non-existent, leaving aside Antony's debated case.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: "Antony and Cleopatra" also contains self-references to the crossdressing as it would have been performed historically on the London stage. For instance, in Act Five, Scene Two, Cleopatra exclaims, "Antony/ Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see/ Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness/ I'th' posture of a whore" (ll. 214–217). Many scholars interpret these lines as a metatheatrical reference to Shakespeare's own production, and by doing so comments on his own stage. Shakespeare critics such as Tracey Sedinger interpret this as Shakespeare's critique of the London stage, which, by the perpetuation of boy actors playing the part of the woman, serves to establish the superiority of the male spectator's sexuality. The male-male relationship, some critics have offered, between the male audience and the boy actor performing the female sexuality of the play would have been less threatening than had the part been played by a woman. It is in this manner that the London stage cultivated in its audience a chaste and obedient female subject, while positioning male sexuality as dominant. Shakespeare critics argue that the metatheatrical references in "Antony and Cleopatra" seem to critique this trend and the presentation of Cleopatra as a sexually empowered individual supports their argument that Shakespeare seems to be questioning the oppression of female sexuality in London society. The crossdresser, then, is not a visible object but rather a structure "enacting the failure of a dominant epistemology in which knowledge is equated with visibility". What is being argued here is that the cross-dressing on the London stage challenges the dominant epistemology of Elizabethan society that associated sight with knowledge. The boy actors portraying female sexuality on the London stage contradicted such a simple ontology.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Critics such as Rackin interpret Shakespeare's metatheatrical references to the crossdressing on stage with less concern for societal elements and more of a focus on the dramatic ramifications. Rackin argues in her article on "Shakespeare's Boy Cleopatra" that Shakespeare manipulates the crossdressing to highlight a motif of the play—recklessness—which is discussed in the article as the recurring elements of acting without properly considering the consequences. Rackin cites the same quote, "Antony/ Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see/ Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness/ I'th' posture of a whore" to make the argument that here the audience is reminded of the very same treatment Cleopatra is receiving on Shakespeare's stage (since she is being portrayed by a boy actor) (V.ii.214–217). Shakespeare, utilizing the metatheatrical reference to his own stage, perpetuates his motif of recklessness by purposefully shattering "the audience's acceptance of the dramatic illusion".


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Other critics argue that the crossdressing as it occurs in the play is less of a mere convention, and more of an embodiment of dominant power structures. Critics such as Charles Forker argue that the boy actors were a result of what "we may call androgyny". His article argues that "women were barred from the stage for their own sexual protection" and because "patriarchally acculturated audiences presumably found it intolerable to see English women—those who would represent mothers, wives, and daughters—in sexually compromising situations". Essentially, the crossdressing occurs as a result of the patriarchally structured society.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: The textual motif of empire within "Antony and Cleopatra" has strong gendered and erotic undercurrents. Antony, the Roman soldier characterised by a certain effeminacy, is the main article of conquest, falling first to Cleopatra and then to Caesar (Octavius). Cleopatra's triumph over her lover is attested to by Caesar himself, who gibes that Antony "is not more manlike/ Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy/ More womanly than he" (1.4.5–7). That Cleopatra takes on the role of male aggressor in her relationship with Antony should not be surprising; after all, "a culture attempting to dominate another culture will [often] endow itself with masculine qualities and the culture it seeks to dominate with feminine ones"—appropriately, the queen's romantic assault is frequently imparted in a political, even militaristic fashion. Antony's subsequent loss of manhood seemingly "signifies his lost Romanness, and Act 3, Scene 10, is a virtual litany of his lost and feminised self, his "wounder chance". Throughout the play, Antony is gradually bereaved of that Roman quality so coveted in his nostalgic interludes—by the centremost scenes, his sword (a plainly phallic image), he tells Cleopatra, has been "made weak by his affection" (3.11.67). In Act 4, Scene 14, "an un-Romaned Antony" laments, "O, thy vile lady!/ She has robb'd me of my sword", (22–23)—critic Arthur L. Little Jr. writes that here "he seems to echo closely the victim of raptus, of bride theft, who has lost the sword she wishes to turn against herself. By the time Antony tries to use his sword to kill himself, it amounts to little more than a stage prop". Antony is reduced to a political object, "the pawn in a power game between Caesar and Cleopatra".


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Having failed to perform Roman masculinity and virtue, Antony's only means with which he might "write himself into Rome's imperial narrative and position himself at the birth of empire" is to cast himself in the feminine archetype of the sacrificial virgin; "once [he] understands his failed virtus, his failure to be Aeneas, he then tries to emulate Dido". "Antony and Cleopatra" can be read as a rewrite of Virgil's epic, with the sexual roles reversed and sometimes inverted. James J Greene writes on the subject: "If one of the seminally powerful myths in the cultural memory of our past is Aeneas' rejection of his African queen in order to go on and found the Roman Empire, than it is surely significant that Shakespeare's ... depicts precisely and quite deliberately the opposite course of action from that celebrated by Virgil. For Antony... turned his back for the sake of his African queen on that same Roman state established by Aeneas". Antony even attempts to commit suicide for his love, falling short in the end. He is incapable of "occupying the... politically empowering place" of the female sacrificial victim. The abundant imagery concerning his person—"of penetration, wounds, blood, marriage, orgasm, and shame"—informs the view of some critics that the Roman "figures Antony's body as queer, that is, as an open male body... [he] not only 'bends' in devotion' but... bends over". In reciprocal contrast, "in both Caesar and Cleopatra we see very active wills and energetic pursuit of goals". While Caesar's empirical objective can be considered strictly political, however, Cleopatra's is explicitly erotic; she conquers carnally—indeed, "she made great Caesar lay his sword to bed;/ He plough'd her, and she cropp'd" (2.2.232–233). Her mastery is unparalleled when it comes to the seduction of certain powerful individuals, but popular criticism supports the notion that "as far as Cleopatra is concerned, the main thrust of the play's action might be described as a machine especially devised to bend her to the Roman will... and no doubt Roman order is sovereign at the end of the play. But instead of driving her down to ignominy, the Roman power forces her upward to nobility". Caesar says of her final deed, "Bravest at the last,/ She levelled at our purposes, and, being royal,/ Took her own way" (5.2.325–327).


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Arthur L. Little, in agitative fashion, suggests that the desire to overcome the queen has a corporeal connotation: "If a black—read foreign—man raping a white woman encapsulates an iconographic truth... of the dominant society's sexual, racial, national, and imperial fears, a white man raping a black woman becomes the evidentiary playing out of its self-assured and cool stranglehold over these representative foreign bodies". Furthermore, he writes, "Rome shapes its Egyptian imperial struggle most visually around the contours of Cleopatra's sexualised and racialised black body—most explicitly her "tawny front", her "gipsy's lust", and her licentious climactic genealogy, "with Phoebus' amorous pinches black". In a similar vein, essayist David Quint contends that "with Cleopatra the opposition between East and West is characterised in terms of gender: the otherness of the Easterner becomes the otherness of the opposite sex". Quint argues that Cleopatra (not Antony) fulfils Virgil's Dido archetype; "woman is subordinated as is generally the case in "The Aeneid", excluded from power and the process of Empire-building: this exclusion is evident in the poem's fiction where Creusa disappears and Dido is abandoned... woman's place or displacement is therefore in the East, and epic features a series of oriental heroines whose seductions are potentially more perilous than Eastern arms", i.e., Cleopatra.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: "Antony and Cleopatra" deals ambiguously with the politics of imperialism and colonization. Critics have long been invested in untangling the web of political implications that characterise the play. Interpretations of the work often rely on an understanding of Egypt and Rome as they respectively signify Elizabethan ideals of East and West, contributing to a long-standing conversation about the play's representation of the relationship between imperializing western countries and colonised eastern cultures. Despite Octavius Caesar's concluding victory and the absorption of Egypt into Rome, "Antony and Cleopatra" resists clear-cut alignment with Western values. Indeed, Cleopatra's suicide has been interpreted as suggesting an indomitable quality in Egypt, and reaffirming Eastern culture as a timeless contender to the West. However, particularly in earlier criticism, the narrative trajectory of Rome's triumph and Cleopatra's perceived weakness as a ruler have allowed readings that privilege Shakespeare's representation of a Roman worldview. Octavius Caesar is seen as Shakespeare's portrayal of an ideal governor, though perhaps an unfavourable friend or lover, and Rome is emblematic of reason and political excellence. According to this reading, Egypt is viewed as destructive and vulgar; the critic Paul Lawrence Rose writes: "Shakespeare clearly envisages Egypt as a political hell for the subject, where natural rights count for nothing." Through the lens of such a reading, the ascendancy of Rome over Egypt does not speak to the practice of empire-building as much as it suggests the inevitable advantage of reason over sensuality.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: More contemporary scholarship on the play, however, has typically recognised the allure of Egypt for "Antony and Cleopatra"s audiences. Egypt's magnetism and seeming cultural primacy over Rome have been explained by efforts to contextualise the political implications of the play within its period of production. The various protagonists' ruling styles have been identified with rulers contemporary to Shakespeare. For example, there appears to be continuity between the character of Cleopatra and the historical figure of Queen Elizabeth I, and the unfavourable light cast on Caesar has been explained as deriving from the claims of various 16th-century historians.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: The more recent influence of New Historicism and post-colonial studies have yielded readings of Shakespeare that typify the play as subversive, or challenging the status quo of Western imperialism. The critic Abigail Scherer's claim that "Shakespeare's Egypt is a holiday world" recalls the criticisms of Egypt put forth by earlier scholarship and disputes them. Scherer and critics who recognise the wide appeal of Egypt have connected the spectacle and glory of Cleopatra's greatness with the spectacle and glory of the theatre itself. Plays, as breeding grounds of idleness, were subject to attack by all levels of authority in the 1600s; the play's celebration of pleasure and idleness in a subjugated Egypt makes it plausible to draw parallels between Egypt and the heavily censored theatre culture in England. In the context of England's political atmosphere, Shakespeare's representation of Egypt, as the greater source of poetry and imagination, resists support for 16th century colonial practices. Importantly, King James' sanction of the founding of Jamestown occurred within months of "Antony and Cleopatra"s debut on stage. England during the Renaissance found itself in an analogous position to the early Roman Republic. Shakespeare's audience may have made the connection between England's westward expansion and "Antony and Cleopatra"s convoluted picture of Roman imperialism. In support of the reading of Shakespeare's play as subversive, it has also been argued that 16th century audiences would have interpreted "Antony and Cleopatra"s depiction of different models of government as exposing inherent weaknesses in an absolutist, imperial, and by extension monarchical, political state.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: One of the ways to read the imperialist themes of the play is through a historical, political context with an eye for intertextuality. Many scholars suggest that Shakespeare possessed an extensive knowledge of the story of Antony and Cleopatra through the historian Plutarch, and used Plutarch's account as a blueprint for his own play. A closer look at this intertextual link reveals that Shakespeare used, for instance, Plutarch's assertion that Antony claimed a genealogy that led back to Hercules, and constructed a parallel to Cleopatra by often associating her with Dionysus in his play. The implication of this historical mutability is that Shakespeare is transposing non-Romans upon his Roman characters, and thus his play assumes a political agenda rather than merely committing itself to a historical recreation. Shakespeare deviates from a strictly obedient observation of Plutarch, though, by complicating a simple dominant/dominated dichotomy with formal choices. For instance, the quick exchange of dialogue might suggest a more dynamic political conflict. Furthermore, certain characteristics of the characters, like Antony whose "legs bestrid the ocean" (5.2.82) point to constant change and mutability. Plutarch, on the other hand, was given to "tendencies to stereotype, to polarise, and to exaggerate that are inherent in the propaganda surrounding his subjects."


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Furthermore, because of the unlikelihood that Shakespeare would have had direct access to the Greek text of Plutarch's "Parallel Lives" and probably read it through a French translation from a Latin translation, his play constructs Romans with an anachronistic Christian sensibility that might have been influenced by St. Augustine's "Confessions" among others. As Miles writes, the ancient world would not have been aware of interiority and the contingence of salvation upon conscience until Augustine. For the Christian world, salvation relied on and belonged to the individual, while the Roman world viewed salvation as political. So, Shakespeare's characters in "Antony and Cleopatra", particularly Cleopatra in her belief that her own suicide is an exercise of agency, exhibit a Christian understanding of salvation.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: Another example of deviance from the source material is how Shakespeare characterises the rule of Antony and Cleopatra. While Plutarch singles out the "order of exclusive society" that the lovers surrounded themselves with—a society with a specifically defined and clear understanding of the hierarchies of power as determined by birth and status—Shakespeare's play seems more preoccupied with the power dynamics of pleasure as a main theme throughout the play. Once pleasure has become a dynamic of power, then it permeates society and politics. Pleasure serves as a differentiating factor between Cleopatra and Antony, between Egypt and Rome, and can be read as the fatal flaw of the heroes if "Antony and Cleopatra" is a tragedy. For Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra", the exclusivity and superiority supplied by pleasure created the disconnect between the ruler and the subjects. Critics suggest that Shakespeare did similar work with these sources in "Othello", "Julius Caesar", and "Coriolanus".


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: The concept of luck, or Fortune, is frequently referenced throughout "Antony and Cleopatra", portrayed as an elaborate "game" that the characters participate in. An element of Fate lies within the play's concept of Chance, as the subject of Fortune/Chance's favour at any particular moment becomes the most successful character. Shakespeare represents Fortune through elemental and astronomical imagery that recalls the characters' awareness of the "unreliability of the natural world". This calls into question the extent to which the characters' actions influence the resulting consequences, and whether the characters are subject to the preferences of Fortune or Chance. Antony eventually realises that he, like other characters, is merely "Fortune's knave", a mere card in the game of Chance rather than a player. This realization suggests that Antony realises that he is powerless in relation to the forces of Chance, or Fortune. The manner in which the characters deal with their luck is of great importance, therefore, as they may destroy their chances of luck by taking advantage of their fortune to excessive lengths without censoring their actions, as Antony did. Scholar Marilyn Williamson notes that the characters may spoil their Fortune by, "riding too high" on it, as Antony did by ignoring his duties in Rome and spending time in Egypt with Cleopatra. While Fortune does play a large role in the characters' lives, they do have ability to exercise free will, however; as Fortune is not as restrictive as Fate. Antony's actions suggest this, as he is able to use his free will to take advantage of his luck by choosing his own actions. Like the natural imagery used to describe Fortune, scholar Michael Lloyd characterises it as an element itself, which causes natural occasional upheaval. This implies that fortune is a force of nature that is greater than mankind, and cannot be manipulated. The 'game of chance' that Fortune puts into play can be related to that of politics, expressing the fact that the characters must play their luck in both fortune and politics to identify a victor. The play culminates, however, in Antony's realization that he is merely a card, not a player in this game.


title: Antony and Cleopatra

text: The motif of "card playing" has a political undertone, as it relates to the nature of political dealings. Caesar and Antony take action against each other as if playing a card game; playing by the rules of Chance, which sways in its preference from time to time. Although Caesar and Antony may play political cards with each other, their successes rely somewhat on Chance, which hints at a certain limit to the control they have over political affairs. Furthermore, the constant references to astronomical bodies and "sublunar" imagery connote a Fate-like quality to the character of Fortune, implying a lack of control on behalf of the characters. Although the characters do exercise free will to a certain extent, their success in regard to their actions ultimately depends on the luck that Fortune bestows upon them. The movement of the "moon" and the "tides" is frequently mentioned throughout the play, such as when Cleopatra states that, upon Antony's death, there is nothing of importance left "beneath the moon." The elemental and astronomical "sublunar" imagery frequently referred to throughout the play is thus intertwined with the political manipulation that each character incites, yet the resulting winner of the political "game" relies in part on Chance, which has a supreme quality that the characters cannot maintain control over, and therefore must submit to.


title: Deathcore

text: Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with metalcore/hardcore elements seen in the 1990s, deathcore itself emerged in the early 2000s and gained prominence beginning in the mid-2000s within the southwestern United States, especially Arizona and inland southern California (mostly the Coachella Valley), which are home to many notable bands and various festivals.


title: Deathcore

text: Some of the genre's earliest examples include Antagony, Despised Icon, and the Red Chord. Deathcore's expansion in the mid-2000s saw bands like All Shall Perish, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Bring Me the Horizon, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, Job for a Cowboy, Chelsea Grin and Whitechapel taking off. In the 2010s, deathcore bands began experimenting with an eclectic selection of other genres.


title: Deathcore

text: The genre is noted for its criticism from longtime fans of heavy metal music, usually for its frequent use of breakdowns. Some musicians classified as deathcore have rejected the label.


title: Deathcore

text: Deathcore combines death metal characteristics such as blast beats, down-tuned guitars, tremolo picking, and growled vocals with metalcore characteristics such as breakdowns. The genre is usually defined by breakdowns and death metal riffs or metalcore riffs played in the usual death metal tuning. Like in other extreme metal fusion genres, deathcore guitarists down-tune their guitars to give their music a heavier sound. Deathcore bands may also employ guitar solos as well.


title: Deathcore

text: Low growls and shrieked screams are common types of vocals in deathcore. Some other techniques that deathcore vocalists have used include what is known as "pig squeals". Sung vocals in the genre are rare and most bands seldom if ever use them, but the idea has been experimented with by a few bands such as All Shall Perish (in the song "Awaken the Dreamers") and Oceano (in the song "Incisions").


title: Deathcore

text: The term "deathcore" has had convoluted uses on-and-off in various metal/hardcore scenes far before it was considered an established or recognized genre. The earliest known use of "deathcore" as a word was by New York band N.Y.C. Mayhem, a self-description for their merger of hardcore punk and thrash metal. Outside of the US however, there also existed some early exampled uses; a German deathgrind band named Deathcore existed in the mid 1980s, and another German deathgrind band Blood, used the word as the title for a demo put out in 1986. However it wasn't until 1996 that "deathcore" eventually began gaining traction to describe a musical style; Nick Terry of "Terrorizer" magazine that year publicized: "We're probably going to settle on the term "deathcore" to describe the likes of Earth Crisis (as well as the more NYHC-ish but still as deathly Merauder)." "Embrace the Eternal" (1998) by Embodyment, "Yesterday Is Time Killed" (1999) by Eighteen Visions, and "Rain in Endless Fall" (1999) by Prayer for Cleansing are early examples of albums that feature a metalcore sound combined with death metal influences, in 2019 music site The New Fury has even gone on record to credit Embodyment as "[pioneers] of the deathcore genre" due to their performance on "Embrace the Eternal". "Decibel" magazine wrote that death metal band Suffocation were one of the main inspirations for the genre's emergence by writing: "One of Suffocation's trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: deathcore."


title: Deathcore

text: The Belgian H8000 music scene was also influential to the development of the sound, with bands like Deformity, and Liar helping to pioneer a prototype for the genre in the late–1990s and early–2000s. When writing about deathcore pioneers Despised Icon, Dom Lawson of "Metal Hammer" wrote: "blending death metal with hardcore was by no means a new thing when Despised Icon emerged." Suffocation bassist Derek Boyer says Suffocation "were influenced by many early metal and hardcore bands". Death metal bands like Dying Fetus, Suffocation, and Internal Bleeding were influential on deathcore due to their use of "crushing, mid-paced grooves and breakdowns", according to Lawson.


title: Deathcore

text: Despite a few earlier metalcore/death metal hybridizations, Antagony and Despised Icon are considered to be the true pioneers of deathcore, however both bands have rejected the label. Antagony founder and frontman Nick Vasallo is credited as being the "father of deathcore" due to his work in the band. The Red Chord is referenced as an early influential source for the genre due to their hybridization of metalcore and death metal sounds (among other genres). New Hampshire band Deadwater Drowning and Californian group All Shall Perish are also seen as notable early entries of the genre. Deadwater Drowning's 2003 EP was remarked as "basically the blueprint for every current deathcore band out today," while All Shall Perish's debut album "Hate, Malice, Revenge" (2003) is credited as one of the first purist deathcore albums as it "never got tied down to [simply] death metal "or" metalcore."


title: Deathcore

text: In the mid 2000s, deathcore spiked in popularity shortly after Job for a Cowboy released their EP "Doom" in 2005, which is heavily credited as one of deathcore's most significant and influential releases for the genre. The genre saw an increase in popularity even further when English band Bring Me the Horizon released their deathcore debut full-length "Count Your Blessings" in 2006. The band were presented the 2006 Kerrang! Award for "Best British Newcomer" shortly after the album's release, however the band abandoned the deathcore genre soon thereafter.


title: Deathcore

text: Deathcore began to gain further popularity in the mid to late 2000s and early 2010s. Suicide Silence's "No Time to Bleed" (2009) peaked at number 32 on the "Billboard" 200, number 12 on the Rock Albums Chart and number 6 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart, while their album "The Black Crown" peaked at number 28 on the "Billboard" 200, number 7 on the Rock Albums Chart and number 3 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart. Whitechapel's album "This Is Exile" sold 5,900 in copies, which made it enter the "Billboard" 200 chart at position 118. Their self-titled album peaked at number 65 on the Canadian Albums Chart and also at number 47 on the "Billboard" 200. Their third album "A New Era of Corruption" sold about 10,600 copies in the United States in its first week of being released and peaked at position number 43 on the "Billboard" 200 chart.


title: Deathcore

text: San Diego natives Carnifex witnessed success with their first album "Dead in My Arms" (2007), selling 5,000 copies with little publicity. On top of their non-stop touring, the band's methodical songwriting resulted in Carnifex quickly getting signed to label Victory Records. Australian deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder debuted at number 35 on the ARIA Charts with their album "Hate" (2012), making them the first extreme metal band to ever reach the Top 40 of this chart. Russian deathcore group Slaughter to Prevail reportedly reached over 3.5 million streams on music services for their song "Hell" (2015); the band also performed a line of sold-out shows in China, which made the group the only foreign metal band to perform a sold-out concert in the country in all of 2020.


title: Deathcore

text: A variety of deathcore bands experimented with other genres into their music as influence and time progressed. Emmure has been credited to be heavily influenced by nu metal and was described as "the new Limp Bizkit". Suicide Silence's 2011 album "The Black Crown" is a deathcore album with some nu metal influences. Other examples of nu metal-inspired deathcore bands include Here Comes the Kraken's later material. The early 2010s saw bands fusing the genre with influences from djent and progressive metal, which began to achieve underground popularity. Examples of the aforementioned include Veil of Maya, Born of Osiris, and After the Burial. Some bands, such as Make Them Suffer and Winds of Plague, mix deathcore with symphonic/classical elements. French band Betraying the Martyrs has been described as "[the] punishing brutality of deathcore with melodic flourishes pulled from symphonic and progressive metal, giving it a theatricality that feels distinctly European."


title: Deathcore

text: Deathcore has been criticized, especially by longtime fans of other heavy metal subgenres, often because of its fusion of death metal with metalcore and use of breakdowns.


title: Deathcore

text: In addition to this, members of certain deathcore bands do not take a liking to being labeled "deathcore". In an interview with vocalist Vincent Bennett of The Acacia Strain about the deathcore label, he said "Deathcore is the new nu-metal. [...] It sucks. And if anyone calls us 'deathcore' then I might do something very bad to them." While in an interview with Justin Longshore from Through the Eyes of the Dead about the deathcore label, he said, "You know, I really hate that term. I know we've been labeled as that but I think there's so much more to our music than just a mixture of death metal and hardcore ("") even though we incorporate those elements in our music. To me it seems that is just the new and fresh thing that kids are following."


title: Deathcore

text: In November 2013, "Terrorizer" wrote, "The term 'deathcore' is usually seen as a dirty word in metal circles" while interviewing vocalist Bryce Lucien of the Texas-based metal band Seeker. Lucien then stated:


title: Deathcore

text: In contrast, some bands appear to be more lighthearted and less concerned over being described as deathcore. Scott Lewis of the San Diego-based deathcore band Carnifex stated, "We're not one of those bands trying to escape the banner of deathcore. I know a lot of bands try and act like they have a big problem with that, but if you listen to their music, they are very 'deathcore.' I know that there is a lot of resentment towards deathcore and kind of younger bands." Also, in a 2012 interview, former Chelsea Grin guitarist Jake Harmond said, "Everyone likes to flap their jaw and voice their own opinion how 'embarrassing' it is to be in a band that can be labeled 'deathcore,' but honestly we have never given a fuck".


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Players control Mario and his friends attempting to rescue fairy-like creatures called Sprixies from Bowser, who invades the realm known as the Sprixie Kingdom. The gameplay is similar to previous "Mario" games, with players progressing through levels to reach Bowser. It features a character selector as well as introducing a power-up called the Super Bell, which turns the player into a cat, enabling them to climb walls and use a scratch attack. "Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury", an enhanced port bundled with the game "Bowser's Fury", was released for the Nintendo Switch on February 12, 2021.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: "Super Mario 3D World" was acclaimed for its level design, presentation, replay value, and soundtrack, though some reviewers criticized its unreliable camera in the multiplayer mode. The game was a financial success, with the Wii U version selling 5.88 million units worldwide as of September 2020 and becoming the second best-selling game for the console. As of March 2022, the Switch version had sold 9.43 million units worldwide. Between both versions, a total of 15.31 million units have been sold worldwide.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: The game levels play similarly to those of "Super Mario 3D Land", which combine the free-roaming gameplay of the "Super Mario" franchise's 3D games with the mechanics of its 2D side-scrollers, including a timer and a level-ending flagpole. Up to four concurrent players may control player characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and the unlockable Rosalina. Similar to their appearances in "Super Mario Bros. 2", each of the characters possesses unique abilities and controls differently: Mario has balanced running speed and jump height; Luigi jumps higher and falls slower, but has slightly lower traction; Peach can jump and briefly float through the air, but runs slowly; Toad runs the fastest, but cannot jump as high and falls faster; Rosalina can use the spin attack move as seen in the "Super Mario Galaxy" games, but has the slowest running speed. The player can select any of the five characters to use before beginning a level, and up to four players may explore the same level simultaneously, sharing from a pool of lives. Players are also able to pick up, carry, and throw each other.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Levels are accessed through a world map, in which players can find hidden areas to earn more items or coins. Each level contains three collectable Green Stars, which are required to access certain levels, and each main level contains a hidden Stamp which was used in handwritten posts to the now defunct Miiverse online community. Players can also view messages left by other players, both on the world map and after clearing a level, and can download 'Mii Ghosts', which are live records of other players completing levels. Ghosts can be raced against, and may hold gift prizes such as coins or extra lives. Additional Green Stars can be earned in Captain Toad, Mystery House, and Challenge levels.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Along with items returning from previous games, such as the Fire Flower, Super Leaf, Mega Mushroom, Propeller Box, and Boomerang Flower, several items are introduced. The Super Bell gives players a Cat Suit, allowing them to run faster, perform unique attacks and climb up walls to reach new areas. A variation of the Super Bell, the Lucky Bell, allows the player to temporarily transform their character into a lucky cat statue that awards coins under certain conditions. Double Cherries make a clone of the player, allowing for more effective attacks and a higher chance of survival; the more Double Cherries a player uses, the more clones appear. Players can wear Cannon Boxes which fire shots at enemies, Light Blocks which can defeat ghosts, and Goomba masks which let them blend in with enemy Goombas. Players are able to pick up various objects, such as bombs, baseballs, and Piranha Plants (which can be used to defeat enemies or solve puzzles), and can ride in a Skating Shoe or on an aquatic dinosaur named Plessie.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: The Wii U GamePad allows players to rub the touchscreen, blow into the microphone to reveal hidden blocks or items, hinder enemies, activate mechanisms, and use Off-TV Play. The game is compatible with the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and Wii U Pro Controller. An unlockable Luigi-themed version of "Mario Bros.", "Luigi Bros.", is accessed by clearing the game or by having save data from "New Super Luigi U".


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad are watching a fireworks show until they find a tilted glass pipe. After Mario and Luigi fix it, a green fairy-like Sprixie princess appears and tells them that Bowser has kidnapped and trapped the rest of the Sprixie princesses in jars. He arrives and captures her before escaping through the pipe, while the heroes enter it and pursue him. They find themselves in a realm known as "The Sprixie Kingdom" and set off to find the Sprixies. After the heroes save the final one, Bowser recaptures all seven and heads to his amusement park fortress. Thereafter, Bowser uses the Super Bell to transform into a cat form called Meowser. The group proceeds to climb the tallest tower and defeat Meowser. The heroes say goodbye to the Sprixies and travel home through the pipe back to the Mushroom Kingdom.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Development on "Super Mario 3D World" began shortly after the release of "Super Mario 3D Land" with Nintendo EAD Tokyo heading the project; 1-Up Studio provided developmental assistance. A staff of 100 personnel, including producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, wrote ideas for game mechanics on sticky notes, which were collected upon the studio walls. Ideas approved by the team would be implemented it in-game for testing. Co-director Kenta Motokura stated, "We discussed and discarded a huge number of ideas during development – sometimes you just can't tell if an idea is good or bad by looking at it on the drawing board; when this happens, we try it out in-game. If we don't find the idea fun, it won't make it into the final product. There was a lot of back and forth on the course designs due to this." Co-director Koichi Hayashida stated that "Super Mario 3D World" was intended to be a Wii U game for the fanbase of "New Super Mario Bros.", as well as a de facto continuation of "Super Mario 3D Land". Implementing the game's multiplayer feature was proven to be complicated, as the team's goal was to perfect the camera for all four players simultaneously without them "feel[ing..] left out". Motokura expressed that the game was designed to be both "highly intuitive and readily accessible". "We designed this game so that the players could really sink into it and clear all the courses without having to read lots of text or deal with difficult controls, whether playing by themselves or with others," Motokura added. Koizumi said that the team "went all out inserting elements [that allow] players to further enjoy the sprawling environments."


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Ideas for the game's feline costumery came early in development, to implement an attack mechanic, introduce the ability to climb walls, and help novice players to clear obstacles. "When we started out, we were thinking about different kinds of actions that Mario could do," said Motokura in an interview with IGN. "Thinking about those different actions[...] it turned out that a cat was a perfect animal that everybody knows."


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Regarding power-ups, Motokura said the process of including power-ups being included involve balancing a novice player's experience between difficulty and "what was fun about the game". He added that the team wanted to introduce "new" ways to use classic power-ups, such as using the Fire Flower on clear pipes.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Inspiration for the Double Cherry, which clones a player character, came late in development when a level designer erroneously inserted an extra copy of Mario's character model into a level. The team was relieved to see that the game did not crash with two identical characters present, and were amused that both could be controlled simultaneously. Developers "scrambled" to include this feature in the final game. Motokura stated that it is also designed for single players to "[...help] replicate some situations" with multiplayer elements.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: The decision to include a free-roaming world map was "a very important element", and gave the team more "freedom" to locate higher-difficulty levels. "In just one world, the world map, you can have all kinds of different experiences. [...we] want to emphasize some of the other elements that are free-form within the world maps," Motokura said.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: According to Hayashida, Peach wasn't originally intended to be a playable character until producer Yoshiaki Koizumi suggested for her inclusion. Speaking with Polygon, Koizumi reasoned that it's to emphasize female representation. "I feel like Mario games, as you know, have done lots of representation of male characters over the years.," he said. "Perhaps much more so than female — so it's actually really nice to be able to have a female playable character in the game." Miyamoto also commented on his own reasoning by saying "I'll add that cat women have a sexy side to them and I wanted to see what a feline Peach would look like ( "laughs" )". Koizumi added, "I think she adds a lot to the sense of competition when you get in multiplayer. You can have different people choosing different characters based on their personality or whoever they like." Similarly, Rosalina was later added as a playable character. Motokura said, "I was thinking about what would be pleasing after the ending and wanted to bring in another female character in addition to Princess Peach. Rosalina has a following among the "Super Mario Galaxy" fanbase, and she appeared in "Mario Kart" recently, so I think she's well known." Yoshi was also planned at one point, but was dropped due to much of his moves being too similar to other functions of characters and items, such as Peach's floating, the Piranha Plant's chomping, and Plessie's riding abilities (who can allow three additional characters).


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: According to Koizumi, the game was also planned to have a stereoscopic 3D feature similar to "Super Mario 3D Land", but was dropped due to multiplayer concerns over the use of 3D glasses. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of "Mario", said that "the team had a strong desire from the very start to call it "3D World"".


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: The game's soundtrack was composed by Mahito Yokota (also the sound director), Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo, and Yasuaki Iwata, and performed by the Mario 3D World Big Band, which they formed after being inspired by jazz music. "There are naturally a lot of tracks performed live," stated Yokota. "We're arranging the music with a big-band feel, taking advantage of a full horn section with trumpets and saxophones." In addition to the game's new compositions, it features new arrangements from games such as "Super Mario Bros. 2" as well.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: In developing the music, Yokota mentioned that he worked on "fun, energetic" tracks to match the game's cat theme, with a few even using electric guitar and trombone tunes imitating a cat's "meowing" sounds. After working on the "Super Mario Galaxy" games, one of Yokota's goals for the soundtrack is to shift musical direction from the games since the majority of "3D World" takes place on the ground. "The game chiefly takes place on terra firma, so there isn't the majestic or floaty feel of the "Mario Galaxy" series; instead, the music has a more rhythmic atmosphere, something you'll want to dance to," he said. When asking about live orchestrated soundtracks for the game, previously done in the "Super Mario Galaxy" games, a Destructoid reporter was asked to "[w]ait for more information about that soon."


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: A soundtrack was released for Club Nintendo members in Japan, Australia, and Europe, featuring 77 tracks across two CDs.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: In a January 2013 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo teased that a new 3D "Mario" game was being produced by the development team behind "Super Mario Galaxy". The game was announced during the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct on June 11, 2013, along with a tentative release date of November 2013. It was released in Japan on November 21, 2013, North America on November 22, 2013, Europe on November 29, 2013, and in Australia on November 30, 2013.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: An enhanced port for the Nintendo Switch, was announced on September 3, 2020 as part of the "Super Mario Bros." 35th Anniversary Nintendo Direct and released worldwide on February 12, 2021 alongside Cat Mario and Cat Peach Amiibo figures. The port adds an online multiplayer option, Amiibo functionality to spawn power-ups, a Snapshot feature for taking in-game screenshots, and four-player co-op to the Captain Toad levels. Other differences include the base speed of characters being increased and the stamps unlocked throughout the game, originally intended for the now-discontinued Miiverse service, can now be used to decorate the environment in Snapshot mode.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: The new "Bowser's Fury" campaign follows Mario as he winds up in a place known as Lake Lapcat and teams up with Bowser Jr. in order to stop Bowser, who has been transformed by an inky substance into Fury Bowser. Unlike the main campaign, "Bowser's Fury" takes place in a large free-roaming area similar to the open world "Super Mario" games. Mario must explore the islands in order to retrieve Cat Shines. Bowser Jr., who can be controlled by a second player, can assist Mario by using his paintbrush to attack enemies and reveal secrets. Occasionally, Fury Bowser awakens and begins to attack, transforming the island in certain places. By collecting the Cat Shines, Mario gains access to the Giga Bell, a large version of the Super Bell, which transforms Mario into Giga Cat Mario so that he can take on Fury Bowser.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: "Super Mario 3D World" received "universal acclaim" on the Wii U version, and "generally favorable reviews" for the Switch port, according to review aggregator Metacritic. It won awards from many media outlets, including Game of the Year from "Eurogamer", Digital Spy, and MSN UK.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: "Famitsu" gave the game a score of 38/40. "IGN"s Jose Otero gave "3D World" a 9.6/10, praising the visual design's "youthful energy," the "interesting risks" taken with the level designs, the "maddening challenge" offered by later worlds, and the "genuinely funny and memorable co-op". He said, "I reveled in the sheer brilliance of how much energy and gameplay mileage Nintendo has packed into every world." Otero's only complaint was that "the camera becomes a slight obstacle in four-player multiplayer". "GameTrailers" gave the game a score of 9.5, praising its gameplay and presentation, while criticizing camera issues and some odd control choices. Henry Gilbert of "GamesRadar" gave the game a score of 4.5/5, praising improved multiplayer and some moments so brilliant that they can make some other levels seem dull by comparison. Luke Plunkett of "Kotaku" called it "a terrific video game...just not a very good Wii U game", praising the game itself, but lamenting that it doesn't do much to show off the Wii U's capabilities. Patrick Klepek at "Giant Bomb", said ""World" continues to make the case that it's possible to reinvent a classic over and over again".


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: Anime News Network's Heidi Kemps gave the game an A grade, calling it "fun, imaginative, and filled with little surprises and delights". "Edge" rated the game 9/10, calling it "Wii U's best game to date," and "the most next-gen game that 2013 has yet produced," and stating that Mario is the most fun character to play as because "his cohorts' abilities aren't anything special". "Destructoid"s Chris Carter awarded the game a 10/10, praising the power-ups, such as the catsuit, which "opens up doors platforming-wise that weren't there before", and the Double Cherry, with which "Nintendo really outdid themselves in terms of the technical mechanics" to make possible, the "incredibly sharp" graphics, and "one of the best OSTs I've ever heard". Carter wrote that "the only downfall of the design is the selection of boss fights", as Nintendo "had achieved a level of platforming design that's close to perfection". "Joystiq"s Richard Mitchell gave the game 5/5 stars, praising the "astounding" visual craftsmanship, "excellent soundtrack", and "artful, purposeful design" which "communicates goals with complete clarity". GameZone's Mike Splechta stated "With multiple characters to play as (harking back to "Super Mario Bros. 2") and an unlockable fifth, a fantastic and unobtrusive multiplayer component and enough new power-ups to make even Mario's head spin, you're bound to have a highly enjoyable time with one of the best 3D platformers released thus far."


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: "Eurogamer"s Christian Donlan gave the game a 10/10, describing it as "an endless freewheeling treat of a game" with an "ad-libbed drive to...explore how many different situations Mario can be squashed into". He noted that this inventiveness carries over to the "lavish and quick-changing" soundtrack, saying it "is pastiche at its most skillful, its most panoramic." Cheat Code Central's Jenni Lada gave the game a 5/5, calling it "the closest we will ever come to a perfect "Mario" game, one that is a culmination of every right decision ever made in the series." Nintendo World Report stated that it is a "Mario" game that one would want to continue playing once the game is beaten and may be the killer app of the Wii U, saying "Thankfully "3D World" isn't just a refinement of the "Mario" formula, it's a powerful re-imagining. It's an explosive cavalcade of color and excitement as well as a well thought out evolution of "Mario"." Bob Chipman of "The Escapist" gave the game four out of five stars, but was slightly critical of it, saying "Buy it if you love that little plumber, and enjoy the new toys, but don't expect your mind to be blown."


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: In Japan, the first week's sales in three days at retail, which doesn't include eShop download sales, totaled 99,588 copies sold and 57% of its initial shipment. The sales were considered low at first, but it maintained strong sales during the following weeks. By January 5, 2014, sales totaled about 400,000 units in Japan and was still on the weekly top 10 charts. In the UK, the game debuted at number 14, behind "Knack", which debuted at number 13. In the United States, it sold 215,000 units in its first eight days according to the NPD Group, debuting out of the Top 10. , the Wii U version had sold 5.88 million units worldwide, making it the second best-selling game for the console.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: "Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury" launched at nearly three times the physical sales of the original in the UK, and became the fastest-selling release of 2021 in the region. In Japan, it was the best-selling retail game during its first week of release, with 250,018 copies sold. In the US, it was the best-selling game of February 2021. , the Switch version had sold 9.43 million units worldwide. Between both versions, a total of 15.31 million units have been sold worldwide.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: "", a spin-off game based on and expanding upon the game's Captain Toad puzzle-based levels, was released for the Wii U on November 13, 2014 in Japan, December 5, 2014 in North America and in January 2015 in PAL regions. It was re-released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS on July 13, 2018. It has been generally well received.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: In late 2014, downloadable content was released for "Mario Kart 8", adding Cat Peach to the playable roster. Elements from the game appear in "Super Mario Maker 2", as assets players can use while designing their course.


title: Super Mario 3D World

text: In April 2021, three spirits from the "Bowser's Fury" campaign appeared in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate".


title: Spider-Verse

text: "Spider-Verse" is a 2014–15 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics. It features multiple alternative versions of Spider-Man that had appeared in various media, all under attack by Morlun and his family, the Inheritors. The event was touted as including every single living spider-powered individual created up to that point, while also introducing many new ones. There were several notable exceptions however, such as the Spider-Man from the television series "The Spectacular Spider-Man" unable to appear due to copyright restrictions.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The comic book series received generally positive reviews. Following the conclusion of the event in "Amazing Spider-Man" #14, several characters introduced in it such as Spider-Gwen, the Spider-Woman of Earth-65, were featured in titles of their own. Several of the Spider-Men from this event reunited for the second volume of "Spider-Verse" set during the "Secret Wars" and continued to operate together in the "Web Warriors" series. The 2017 event "Venomverse" was structured in a similar way to Spider-Verse, featuring alternative versions of Venom instead. In 2018, a direct sequel to "Spider-Verse" titled "Spider-Geddon" was released. A conclusion to the "Spider-Verse" storyline—titled "End of the Spider-Verse"—is scheduled to begin later in 2022, following the release of the "Edge of Spider-Verse" series in August 2022 which introduces even more new alternate versions of Spider-Man.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The idea of bringing together alternate versions of Spider-Man was also explored in various video games and the "Ultimate Spider-Man" animated series, with the 2018 animated film "" and its sequels "" (2023) and "Beyond the Spider-Verse" (2024), serving as a loose adaptation of this story arc. The 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film "" also took inspiration from this idea, featuring all three live-action movie versions of Peter Parker.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The premise of a crossover was conceived by Dan Slott, who wrote the core part of the story in "The Amazing Spider-Man" (vol. 3) #9–15, after working on the 2010 video game "" which featured Amazing, Ultimate, Noir and 2099 versions of Spider-Man. The last two episodes of "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" about multiple Spider-Men going across dimensions fighting villains, also served as inspiration. Slott's idea was originally postponed to make room for the 2012 "Spider-Men" storyline by Brian Michael Bendis, which featured the first meeting of the original Peter Parker, and Miles Morales of the Ultimate Universe. Beginning in August 2014, the event was preceded by two new issues of the cancelled "The Superior Spider-Man", issues of "Spider-Man 2099" and a five-issue run of one-shots, all under the "Edge of Spider-Verse" banner.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-311, Peter Parquagh is on stage at the Globe Theater when Morlun appears. Peter attempts to defend himself, but Morlun proves too powerful and absorbs Peter's life essence. Before disappearing into another dimension, Morlun declares that all spiders will die. Shortly after his death, his universe was destroyed.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus' mind in Spider-Man's body) is pulled via a time warp into the year 2099. Superior Spider-Man attempts to return home, but instead transfers to alternate Earths, where he finds the bodies of alternate Spider-Men, all slain by similar double-puncture wounds. He decides to assemble an army of Spider-Men to fight the killer.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-2818, home of the cyborg Spider-Man, the Superior Spider-Man and his new team (Spider-Man Noir, the Six-Armed Spider-Man, Spider-Monkey, Ashley Barton and the Assassin Spider-Man) set an ambush for Karn, which backfires when Karn reveals he is unaffected by their weapons. The team is only able to escape when Karn's brother and sister Brix and Bora arrive, and fight among themselves. Meanwhile, Karn had escaped the little incursion between his brother and sister, and hops into another multiverse to kill an Alternate Ai Apeac by reminiscing his past life as an Inheritor, and sucking away his life force essence back at him.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Earth-90214 is the home of Spider-Man Noir. While battling Mysterio, Spider-Man is attacked by Karn, but saved by the timely arrival of the Superior Spider-Man, who takes them back to the year 2099.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-65, Gwen Stacy became Spider-Woman, while Peter Parker became the Lizard. Peter died while fighting Gwen, and Spider-Woman is blamed for his death by J. Jonah Jameson and her father, Captain George Stacy. She is a member of the Mary Janes, a rock band led by Mary Jane Watson. At a gig where her band is playing, an assassin makes an attempt on George Stacy's life. Gwen defeats the assassin, but Captain Stacy holds Spider-Woman at gunpoint. Gwen is forced to reveal who she is. Shocked, Captain Stacy tells her to leave while she can. The events are watched by a British Spider-Man called Spider-UK.


title: Spider-Verse

text: In a Japanese anime-like universe, Aaron Aikman uses his spider-based powers in an advanced suit of armor to become the Spider-Man. Years ago, Aaron's old lover Kaori Ikegami found her daughter brain dead after a car accident. Kaori became a recluse, but has now returned claiming that her daughter is awake and possessed by something. Kaori's daughter forces her to kidnap people, possessing those people in turn, and now the possessed are assembling into an army. Aaron suits up, and begins to head out the door. But Morlun appears, and tells him that "this is the end of your story." However, it is unknown if he killed this Spider-Totem or not, when he approached him at the door."


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-51412, Patton Parnel is a disturbed young man who lives with his abusive Uncle Ted. Patton "experiments" on animals and spies on his next-door neighbor Sarah Jane. On a trip to Alcorp Industries, Patton is bitten by a red spider. Patton gradually exhibits spider-like behavior, trapping several people (including Uncle Ted) in webs as food sources. When Sarah Jane comes to Patton's house looking for Gene, Patton kisses her, bites her neck, then transforms into a monstrous spider-like creature. Morlun arrives and drains Patton's life force, allowing Sarah Jane to escape. The following morning, hundreds of baby black spiders emerge from the bite on Sarah Jane's neck.


title: Spider-Verse

text: And once more, in another Japanese anime-like universe, Peni Parker is a half-Asian school girl whose father piloted the robot SP//dr. SP//dr's pilot is chosen by an intelligent radioactive spider who becomes mentally-linked to the new pilot. After her father dies in battle, Peni take his place. Peni is recruited by Spider-Ham and Old Man Spider (an elderly Spider-Man from Earth-4 who wears the same costume as "Last Stand Spider-Man") to join the fight against Morlun and his family.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The Miguel from the Exiles begins having visions when the Destiny War Miguel O'Hara is killed. Miguel prepares to flee to Earth-616 where Morlun was once killed. As Morlun kills the Timestorm Spider-Man 2099, Earth-616's Miguel (now stuck in the 21st century) begins to feel the deaths as well. Just as the Exiles' Miguel is about to make the dimensional jump, Morlun arrives and kills him in front of the Earth-616 Miguel. Hesitant to step into Earth-616 as he is afraid of that Earth's Peter Parker, Morlun retreats. Miguel realizes he must find Peter Parker.


title: Spider-Verse

text: At the Omniverse, Billy Braddock (a.k.a. Spider-UK) is one of the newest recruits of the Captain Britain Corps. Scanning other universes, he has seen the deaths of alternate Spider-Men by the Inheritors: Morlun slays Earth-1983 Spider-Man and his teammates the Iceman and Firestar; Bora and Brix arrive on Earth-999 and kill Spider-Cat; and on Earth-7831, Daemos kills Spider-Man and several of the animalistic residents of Counter-Earth. Daemos' brother Jennix detects Billy watching them; he immediately cuts the scanner feed. As Saturnyne and Lady Roma discuss their concerns about the Incursions that are destroying many dimensions, Spider-UK tries to explain about the killings of the Spiders across the multiverse. Saturnyne rebuffs him, but a sympathetic Roma gives him a talisman that allows him to travel through the web of life in order to save the remaining Spiders.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-982, Daemos attacks May Parker (Peter Parker's daughter and the heroine known as Spider-Girl). Her boyfriend Wes, Peter, and Mary Jane sacrifice themselves in order to save her and her baby brother Ben. Spider-UK and Last Stand Spider-Man arrive via portal and take her and Benjy away. May vows to kill Daemos.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-001, Morlun is taunted by Daemos and Verna about which Spider-Man he killed. Verna goes on a hunt with her Hounds Sable, Fireheart, and Kravinoff (Earth-001's version of Silver Sable, Puma, and Kraven the Hunter). Daemos tells Morlun the family knows he has been avoiding a specific thread of the Great Web, which is revealed to be Earth-616.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-616, Spider-Man and Silk meet with Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-UK, Spider-Girl of Earth-982, and Spider-Ham. Spider-UK explains they are the Spiders of other dimensions and that all the strands of the Great Web are converging on Earth-616 Peter. Spider-UK tells him Morlun's elder brother Daemos is coming to Earth-616 and all of them head into a portal to another dimension.


title: Spider-Verse

text: In Eastern Europe at the home of the New Warriors, Peter Parker's clone Kaine Parker (a.k.a. the Scarlet Spider) and other members of the New Warriors are beaten down by Daemos. Kaine stabs Daemos through the chest with his arm spikes. Daemos realizes that Kaine can hurt him, because he is the current receptacle of . Old Man Spider-Man, the Spider-Man of Earth-70105, and the Spider-Woman of Earth-65 appear. Daemos snaps the Spider-Man of Earth-70105's spine and the others escape through a portal.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-13, a large group of Spider-Men are gathered. Cosmic Spider-Man tells Spider-Man this is a world where he never lost the Enigma Force and the Inheritors would be foolish to come here. However, he cannot leave his world or the Enigma Force would stay behind. Spider-UK says there is a war coming and Peter is the greatest of them all.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-001, at a dinner table laden with crippled Spider-Totems, Brix, Bora, Jennix, and Daemos wait impatiently for Morlun to arrive. Daemos dismisses Jennix's concern that the Spiders are banding together. The siblings' father Solus reveals he has known all along where the Bride, the Other, and the Scion are located, then asks his children what the Web of Life and Destiny means to them. Brix and Bora view the Web as an eternal game, a competition to see who can kill the most Totems. Jennix sees the Web as a puzzle to be solved, as the Web's Spider Deity, the Master Weaver, told him that he would never unravel its secrets. Daemos views the Web as a license for debauchery, as the Weaver informed him that he would perish before his father and he wants to enjoy what life he had left to the fullest. Morlun responds that as Solus' chosen heir, the Great Web is his legacy and obligation. Solus says the Web is all things and everywhere and that it is their kingdom, making them the Inheritors of All Creation. The Spider-Man from Earth-9105 calls the Inheritors thieves and warns that the other Spiders will stop them.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-1610, Miles Morales and Jessica Drew are attacked by Verna's Hounds, but are saved by the Superior Spider-Man, the Assassin Spider-Man, and Spider-Punk.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-13, Spider-Man asks why he is special and is told it is because he is the only one who faced an Inheritor and won. Spider-UK gets a reading on the second team and Old Man Spider-Man says they need to act quickly to recruit them. Peter insists Spider-Woman of Earth-65 stay behind. Old Man Spider-Man gives Spider-Man one of their devices to travel the Great Web and tells him to pick a team. Old Man Spider insists Silk remain behind, refusing to say why. Silk waits until they have gone through the portal and then follows.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The group arrive on Earth-928, and Peter is horrified to see the Superior Spider-Man in charge. Old Man Spider-Man tries to explain that Kaine and Silk are the receptacles of the Other and the Bride, but the Superior Spider-Man dismisses his talk of Totems as superstition. Daemos emerges from a portal and kills the Spider-Cyborg, but the Superior Spider-Man manages to kill Daemos. Spider-Man is surprised that Daemos's body does not disintegrate, as Morlun did when Spider-Man last killed him. Spider-Man 2099 explains they used 2099 technology to put Daemos' corpse in stasis. Old Man Spider-Man tries again to explain about the Totems, but is killed when a second Daemos (plus Brix and Bora) appears and snaps his neck. In the ensuing chaos, the Assassin Spider-Man is killed. Kaine and Ben Reilly deduce that the Inheritors are clones (explaining why their bodies disintegrate upon death) and Ben opens a portal to the Inheritors' home base. The Ultimate Spider-Woman (now going by the name the Black Widow) joins them, stating she is a clone as well. Spider-UK opens a portal to Earth-13 for the rest to escape. The dying Old Man Spider reveals himself to be Ezekiel Sims from Earth-4 and tells Peter to protect the Totems at all costs. Silk steals Spider-Man's portal device, intending to set right the deaths she caused and opens a portal while attracting the Inheritors' attention. The surviving Spiders regroup on Earth-13, where Spider-Man is met by an angry Superior Spider-Man, who announces they are at war with the Inheritors and from this point on, he is in charge.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Peter and Otto fight over who is better suited to lead the Spiders. Spider-Man realizes Otto thinks Peter is from before the mind-swap took place, not after. Taking advantage of this, Spider-Man challenges the Superior Spider-Man to prove his superiority and kill him. Unwilling to create a time paradox, the Superior Spider-Man backs down. Spider-Man tells the Superior Spider-Man that since the Inheritors cannot die, killing is not the solution.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-13989, Karn slays a werewolf version of Spider-Man called Spider-Wolf and asks Solus if he can finally return home. Solus commands the Master Weaver to send Karn to another more challenging world. Solus mocks Morlun's fear of the Spider-Man of Earth-616. Morlun says he is concerned about the prophecy and that "the Other," "the Bride," and "the Scion" have all manifested. Solus agrees they could end the Inheritors' reign, but rebukes him when Morlun says the Scion still lies outside their reach. Solus calls for Jennix to join them, claiming it is time to crush the Spiders' last hope.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-13, Spider-Man tells the Superior Spider-Man he respects his expertise and would be a fool not to seek his advice. Checking with their away teams, Peter gets no response from Kaine's group, and is brushed off by Spider-Man 2099. The Superior Spider-Man says he has located the Inheritors' homeworld, but they need a stronger army. Peter asks Spider-Girl, the Spider-Woman of Earth-65, Miles Morales, and the Animated Spider-Man to help gather recruits. Spider-Man apologizes to Gwen for his prior overprotectiveness. He confesses he failed to save the Gwen Stacy of his world and in turn, Gwen tells him of her failure to save the Peter of her world.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-13, Morlun and Jennix emerge from portals, killing Captain Spider and Spider-Monkey. Captain Universe Peter Parker destroys Jennix with the Enigma Force. Solus arrives and reveals the Enigma Force is pure life force energy on which the Inheritors feed and devours Cosmic Spider-Man. Morlun takes Benjy Parker from Spider-Girl of Earth-982, declaring him to be the receptacle of the Scion.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-802, Jennix regenerates from a clone fetus. He declines to return to the battlefield. Outside, the Black Widow of Earth-1610, Kaine, and the Spider-Man of Earth-92 prepare to make an assault on his headquarters, the Baxter Building.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Back on Earth-13, the Spiders charge Solus, who easily kills the Prince of Arachne and Arachnosaur. Morlun takes Benjy to Earth-001. Spider-UK calls Spider-Man and tells him the Safe Zone is lost. Spider-Man, the Spider-Woman of Earth-65, Spider-Girl, the Mangaverse Spider-Man, and Spider-Man J arrive, followed by Takuya Yamashiro, the Spider-Man of Earth-51778, who is flying his giant robot Leopardon. Takuya charges Solus, but Solus destroys Leopardon. The Spiders open a random portal in order to escape. Spider-Man tells him he has a plan and swears to Spider-Girl that they will find Benjy.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Silk, on the run from Brix and Bora, arrives on Earth-3145, a radioactive wasteland. When Brix steps out of the portal, he is nearly killed by the radiation before Bora can pull him to safety. Realizing that the irradiated world is off-limits to the Inheritors, Silk covers herself in web for protection and sets off looking for a familiar location.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The Spider-Army arrives on Earth-8847. Spider-Man tries to talk to Spider-Girl of Earth-982, but she refuses to listen to him. Peter is contacted by Spider-Woman, who has infiltrated the Inheritors' house by impersonating her Earth-001 counterpart. As her communicator is damaged, Peter loses Jessica's signal. Peter ask Miles to help her, along with his new recruits. Peter calls Miguel and Lady Spider on Earth-928 as they dissect Daemos' corpse. Miguel tells him they have discovered the Inheritors' cloning facility, but before he can say more, Jennix cuts the transmission. Since the Spiders have been moving and speaking across the dimensional threads of the Great Web, Jennix has been monitoring them the whole time.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-001, the Master Weaver tells Spider-Woman that Solus has forced him to reveal knowledge that has helped the Inheritors gain dominion over reality. As an act of rebellion, the Weaver has created seemingly insignificant threads that can change the design, allowing Spider-Woman to reach him so that he can give her the prophecies. These scrolls contain all they need to know of the Other, the Bride, the Scion, and something else. Morlun arrives and gives Benjy to Brix and Bora. Jessica manages to use her damaged transporter to send the scrolls to Peter before Morlun discovers them.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-8847, Spider-Man receives the scrolls and is also contacted by Silk. She tells Peter to get to Earth-3145 before Jennix blocks her. Arriving on Earth-3145, the Spiders follow web arrows left by Cindy directing them Earth-3145's Sims Tower. They find Sim's bunker, which Spider-Man knows is designed to hide them from the Inheritors. Inside, they find Silk, along with Earth-3145's spider-totem: that world's Uncle Ben.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-3145, Uncle Ben explains that after being bitten by the spider, he became his world's Spider-Man. All went well until his nemesis the Emerald Elf (this world's version of the Green Goblin) discovered his secret identity and killed Aunt May and Peter. Brokenhearted, Ben gave up being Spider-Man. When Ezekiel Sims told him he was in danger from Morlun, Ben accepted his offer to stay in the bunker. Sometime afterwards, this world's Doctor Octopus held the world at ransom with nuclear weapons. With no Spider-Man to face him, the ransom was paid, but the bombs were accidentally detonated, killing everyone on this Earth.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Angered by the actions of his counterpart, the Superior Spider-Man attempts to translate the scrolls using his holographic assistant. When Spider-Man notes that it resembles Anna Maria Marconi, the Superior Spider-Man realizes that Spider-Man is from his future, meaning that Otto will eventually lose everything. Spider-Girl reveals that, due to her original powers having come from a cult that worships the Master Weaver, she can read the text. The first scroll contains a prophecy that the Inheritors will lose to the Spiders 1,000 years in the future, and the only way of averting this fate is by sacrificing the Other, the Bride, and the Scion, which will stop new totems from existing. Spider-Girl of Earth-982 demands they travel to Earth-001 and rescue Benjy, the Scion.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-802, Kaine, the Black Widow of Earth-1610, and Ben Reilly have destroyed Jennix's cloning facilities, at the cost of Ben's life. The Inheritors, sensing the presence of the Other and the Bride, go on the offensive. On Earth-3145, Spider-Girl states they can use the contents of the second scroll, which contains Karn's life story, to turn him to their side. Spider-Man contacts Kaine, who reveals he is on Loomworld and intends to kill the Inheritors. Spider-Man contacts his away teams, ordering them to rendezvous at Earth-001.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-001, Kaine transforms into a massive Man-Spider as the Inheritors arrive. Kaine impales Solus on multiple spines, killing him. An enraged Morlun rips off one of the Other's legs and stabs it through the head, apparently killing Kaine.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-3145, Peter tries to talk Uncle Ben into joining the fight, quoting his Uncle Ben's lesson that "with great power must also come great responsibility". Ben, however, is afraid to fail again. An angry Superior Spider-Man upbraids Ben, stating that he lost more times than he won, but that did not keep him from fighting. The Superior Spider-Man's rant inspires Ben to put on the costume and the Spider-Army sets off for the final battle.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The Spiders and a now-redeemed Karn head to Loomworld for the final battle with the Inheritors. Miguel O'Hara and Lady Spider arrive with a repaired Leopardon, now powered by radioactive isotopes. Spider-Ham disguises himself as Benjy, allowing Ben Parker to take Benjy back to his home reality. Meanwhile, the Superior Spider-Man's plan to put an end to the Inheritors' reign by killing the Master Weaver does stop the Inheritors, but also causes the fabric of reality to unwind. Spider-Girl threatens to destroy the crystal that contains Solus' soul, but changes her mind after realizing that "heroes don't kill". The Inheritors are exiled to Earth-3145, where they are forced to hide in the Sims bunker to avoid death by radiation, while feeding off the radioactive spiders.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Earth-802 is ruled by Jennix of the Inheritors. The Spider-Man of Earth-94, the Scarlet Spider (Kaine), and Jessica Drew, the Black Widow of Earth-1610 travel here in order to find the secret of his cloning process, but are intercepted by this Earth's Tony Stark. The Spiders overpower Stark and learn that Jennix's headquarters are in the Baxter Building. Spider-Man uses Stark's Iron Man armor to impersonate him and gain access to the Baxter Building. In the Baxter Building, Jennix reveals to the Spiders that he has attempted to clone numerous Spider-Men from across the Multiverse, in an attempt to create a stock of spider-totems to consume. However, his experiments have failed because he has not been able to clone the essence of the spider (which the Inheritors feast on) into the cloned body. The Spider-Man of Earth-94 sets out to destroy the device which receives the signal that allows the Inheritors to transmit their life force into new bodies. Unable to activate it remotely, Spider-Man is forced to explode the device manually, sacrificing himself in the process. Kaine is furious and steals Jessica's teleporter, then heads directly to Earth-001 to kill the Inheritors.


title: Spider-Verse

text: The Six-Armed Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099 and steam punk Lady Spider of Earth-803 travel to 2099 in order to dissect the clone body of Daemos for clues on how to defeat his brethren. Followed to the future by a new Daemos, the Six Armed Spider-Man creates a distraction, but is killed before Miguel traps the Inheritor in a stasis field. The trap is short-lived, as Daemos kills himself so another clone can be activated. Miguel enlists the help of the Earth-928 Punisher to hold off Daemos until Spider-Man 2099 and Lady Spider can transport back to the safe zone of Earth-13, only to find that it has been destroyed by Solus. They find Leopardon and transport the mecha to Earth-803. They borrow the lab of Lord Harry Osborn, who mentioned to his father that he knows Lady Spider, not realizing that his father is the Green Goblin. The Six Men of Sinestry attack, but are dispatched by Spider-Man 2099 and the fist rockets of Leopardon. They find uranium in Doctor Octopus' backpack and use it to get Leopardon fully operational for the final Inheritor showdown.


title: Spider-Verse

text: This miniseries explores various incarnations within the Spider-Verse. The first is Earth-2301, or the Marvel Mangaverse. Peter Parker returns to the Spider-Clan fortress and faces off with his cousin Venom, but Spider-UK rescues him.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-803 in a steam punk version of 1895, May Reilly's father kept animals in his study. One of these animals was a spider. One day, May Reilly tried to pet the spider, but it bit her. According to May, the spider taught her an important lesson: not to let anyone cage you. After her father died, May used spare parts of his garage to create a suit with four mechanical arms and mechanical web-shooters. During a ball May was attending, Electro took the mayor hostage. May used this as the opportunity to debut as Lady Spider. She confronted Electro and webbed him up. However, soon the rest of the Six Men of Sinestry (which also consisted of the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and the Vulture) arrived. After taking some plans the mayor had hidden in his tuxedo, the Six Men of Sinestry were forced to retreat due to the opposition Lady Spider posed to them. Believing she would miss the ball, May left the scene to return there.


title: Spider-Verse

text: In Earth-51914, the designated universe for Hostess-branded comics, Spider-Man throws Mostess sponge cakes at Morlun before being quickly dispatched.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Earth-11 is the world of Penelope Parker, who is bitten by a radioactive spider. Her best friend is MJ, Flash is still the class bully, and their teacher is Miss Kraven. She puts on a hoodie and a paper bag over her head and rescues Flash before falling off a ledge.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Earth-77013 is the home of the comic strip Spider-Man. Morlun is unable to proceed since each "strip" is a repetition of the previous strip with only a partial progression in the story line. A frustrated Morlun leaves without killing that Spider-Man. The Master Weaver tells him that universe collapsed on itself, but he secretly hides that universe from the Inheritors.


title: Spider-Verse

text: In an unidentified Spider-Man video game, titled on a false Earth-30847's barren wasteland (the setting of the "Marvel vs. Capcom" franchise), Spider-Man is confronted by Morlun and announces his intent to kill him. Spider-Man goes on the offensive, using his most powerful attacks, but Morlun is uninjured and defeats him with a single punch, leaving the young video gamer boy playing the video game not surprised and outraged.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Kwaku Anansi of Earth-7082 is a spider totem that is recruited by Spider-UK, but before he can join, he needs to trick a demigod named Mister Mighty after stealing his sheep, then escape from Shango, the storm god.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-138, Hobart "Hobie" Brown was a homeless teenager transformed by a spider that was irradiated as part of President Norman "Ozzy" Osborn's toxic waste dumping. He becomes the punk-rock inspired Spider-Man, leading the downtrodden people of New York and the Spider-Army against Osborn's V.E.N.O.M. troops. Operating as Spider-Punk, Hobie kills President Osborn during a riot by bashing him with his guitar. After President Osborn is dead, Spider-Punk unmasks himself to the crowd as their savior.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Earth-TRN521 is a Spanish language comic set in Mexico City. Junior is the son of a luchador who died after unnecessary roughness organized by the mob. He becomes a vigilante named "Arácnido". It is never explained how he got his powers, but he is recruited by Spider-UK.


title: Spider-Verse

text: During the final battle with the Inheritors, two Spider-Men stop to replace web cartridges and talk about some of the Spider-Men they met:


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-94, Ben Reilly was not killed by the Green Goblin. He is fighting alternate versions of the Vulture sent by Verna when Old Man Spider and Spider-Ham arrive. During the fight, they are paralyzed by poisoned knives thrown by the Vultures. Ben manages to break free, due to having fought a similar type of control when he was bonded with the Carnage symbiote. He webs one of the Vultures, causing him to throw acid at one of his partners. The distraction is enough for Old Man Spider and Spider-Ham to break free and web the rest of the Vultures. They escape to Earth-13.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On an unknown Earth, Peter Parker had an allergic reaction to the bite of the radioactive spider, and lapsed into a coma. Uncle Ben and Aunt May are with Peter at the hospital while their house is burgled (meaning this Uncle Ben is not killed as the mainstream one was). Spider-Man Noir and the Six-Armed Spider-Man, having arrived to recruit Peter, realize the Inheritors will still come for him, despite his coma. Six-Armed Spider-Man creates a cure similar to the one which had given him his extra arms in order to save the comatose Peter. Before the antidote can be completed, Peter turns into a mindless Man-Spider and attacks Uncle Ben and Aunt May, but is restrained by Spider-Man Noir. The Six-Armed Spider-Man is able to cure Peter with the serum. Now powerless, they leave him since he will no longer be threatened by the Inheritors.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-67, Peter Parker hears of two Spider-Men spotted in New York City: the Animated Spider-Man and Miles Morales. Peter attacks them, but stops when Miles convinces him they are from alternate dimensions. Spider-Man-67 agrees to join them, but only after they help find the recently escaped Noah Boddy. Noah and the Spider-Catchers (consisting of Electro, Green Goblin, Scorpion, and Vulture) attack and incapacitate the three Spider-Men. When Noah and the Spider-Catchers argue over who should get the privilege to kill the heroes, the three Spider-Men manage to trick the Spider-Catchers into attacking each other, and Miles is able to render Noah Boddy unconscious with his venom blast. After dropping off the villains with the police, Spider-Man-67 leaves for Earth-13 with the other Spider-Men.


title: Spider-Verse

text: On Earth-21205, Verna and her Hounds Rhino and Scorpion arrive to hunt Hobgoblin (the identity of this world's Peter Parker) and attempt to drain his life force. Spider-Gwen is able help him. They are both shocked at first, since Spider-Gwen allowed her Peter to die and this Hobgoblin Parker is a vigilante after allowing Gwen to die. Soon the two are surrounded and Hobgoblin sacrifices himself to save Gwen and allow her to escape.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Karn comes to Earth-3123 to kill the spider-totem of this reality, where Aunt May was bitten by a radioactive spider and became Spider-Ma'am. May surrenders herself to keep her husband and nephew from harm. Karn is stopped by Spider-Girl, Spider-UK, Spider-Punk, , and Spider-Woman of Earth-807128. The Spiders, after revealing intimate details about his history, convince Karn to join them. The Spiders allow him to drain a non-lethal amount of life-force from each of them to satiate his hunger and Karn agrees to join them against the Inheritors.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Back in an underground bunker of Earth-3145, Mayday Parker is fed up with waiting and wants to head for Earth-001 immediately. That world's Uncle Ben tells her that attacking rashly will only lead to her death and Benji's death. She angrily punches a wall, which allows in millions of radioactive spiders. Ben helps Mayday stop the spiders and patch the hole in the wall. She promises to wait for her revenge on Daemos.


title: Spider-Verse

text: Spider-Woman followed Silk with Spider-Man Noir to an unknown reality where they were being tracked by Brix and Bora. Spider-Man Noir was wounded and the trio escaped to Earth-90214 to allow him to recover from his injuries. After this, she was sent by Spider-Man to Earth-001 to gather more information on the Inheritors, while Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen and supposed to watch Silk, who sneaks away from them. Spider-Woman begins her infiltration on the Inheritors' headquarters where she manages to pose as the Jessica Drew of that universe, who is also Morlun's lover. Silk is cornered in a random universe by Brix and Bora, but sneaks behind them into Earth-001. Jessica 616 switches her good teleporter for Silk's broken teleporter and then asks this universe's Pirate Namor to help kidnap this universe's Jessica Drew. Silk then escapes to nuclear apocalypsis Earth-3145. Brix and Bora cannot survive in this universe and Silk then enters the SIM bunker, only to find that universe's Spider totem—Uncle Ben Parker. Jessica Drew also is invited on a date with Morlun, to her disgust. During the date she uses her pheromones to confuse Morlun and sneaks into the Master Weaver's lair. The weaver gives her an ancient prophesy that is the key to defeating the Inheritors. She uses her broken teleporter to send the scrolls to Spider-Man. Later Spider-Gwen, Spider-Girl and Silk come to rescue Jessica Drew and help the Jessica Drew from Earth-001 become the new benevolent dictator, since all the factions are fighting and only she can unite them. Back on Earth-616, Jessica asks Carol Danvers to join her in speaking with Captain America, since she is quitting the Avengers.