Marvel Just Set the Stage For a Classic Spider-Man Villain to Transform Into a Hero, But Will It Go Through?

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Warning! Spoilers for Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider (2024) #9 ahead!

Marvel’s newest version of Spider-Man villain Black Tarantula, has so far been depicted as wavering on the precipice of a redemption arc, though it remains to be determined whether Marvel will follow through with this character development, or if his adversary Spider-Gwen will believe his heroic turn is for real.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider (2024) #9– written by Stephanie Phillips, with art by Paolo Villanelli – features Black Tarantula’s attempt to convince Gwen to join forces with him.

After Gwen is affected harder than any other victim of Mister Fear’s Toxin, Fabian risks his own life to bring back a sample of the toxin to the hospital where Gwen is being treated. When she wakes up again, Gwen still wants nothing to do with Tarantula, but after another fight with Mister Fear, he shows her what he’s really doing in New York: giving unhoused people a place to stay.

Black Tarantula Has Always Been A Morally Gray Villain, But Marvel Could Finally Be Pushing Him Toward The Light

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider (2024) #9– Written By Stephanie Phillips; Art By Paolo Villanelli; Color By Matt Milla; Lettering By Ariana Maher

The current Black Tarantula is Fabian LaMuerto, whose father Carlos was the previous Spider-foe to go by that name. According to Jessica Jones, Carlos LaMuerto used crime to do his own version of the right thing. Carlos started off as a crime boss in South America, but when he discovered his ex-wife was keeping his son in the USA, Carlos used a foothold in New York’s crime circle to try and get his son back. Carlos tussled with Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Elektra, and eventually ended up incarcerated in Rykers Prison.

In The Ghost-Spider #9, Fabian LaMuerto admits that his father isn’t a good man, but also that he tried to make up for his past by teaming up with heroes, though this was largely forgotten about, as Carlos LaMuerto fell back into crime. Either way, Fabian has not come in New York to follow in his father’s footsteps and help rebuild his criminal empire; instead, he’s come to the city to create something better. That something better is a place for the unhoused, but Fabian’s crusade also involves punishing those who put them out of a home.

Marvel Sets Up A Complex Dynamic, As Black Tarantula’s Idea Of “Justice” Gets In The Way Of Him Becoming a Hero

Spider-Gwen Could Make The Difference

The one difference between Black Tarantula and heroes like Ghost-Spider is that Gwen believes in the system, and Fabian LaMuerto believes his system is better. Fabian operates in a way where the ends define the means. The app he created, which allows citizens to vote whether someone is innocent or guilty of something, soffers a version of justice, but in an uncompromising, totalitarian sort of way, as his system involves killing those voted guilty. Fabian has the right idea of punishing the guilty, but he trusts himself to deal with them rather than the system, and that complicates matters greatly.

Black Tarantula is on the right track with his desire to help the innocent, but he has so far gone about it the wrong way; if Spider-Gwen would be willing to work with him, she may be able to help Fabian LaMuerto see what he’s doing is wrong. Fabian is close enough to the line between heroism and villain that he could swing back over and join Gwen as another hero of the Marvel Universe’s version of New York City. Many Spider-Man villains have gone on to have heroic careers, and this version of Black Tarantula could be the latest.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #9is available now from Marvel Comics.

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