Spider-Man Had Much Better Webbing Years Ago, And We Need It to Return ASAP

Spider-Man has developed a diverse set of superhuman abilities over the years, but he will always be first and foremost synonymous with his webbing – which used to be much more powerful and versatile than it is commonly depicted as now. Unfortunately, Peter’s webs have gotten a major downgrade over the years. As Peter becomes more important than ever, Marvel should really bring back his more absurd and spectacular webbing.

The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man storyline, which kicks off in Amazing Spider-Man #61 – written by Joe Kelly, with art by Ed McGuinness – presents the perfect opportunity for the Webslinger to truly live up to the nickname once more, by making this a renaissance for the character’s webbing powers. In the story, Spider-Man will act as one of Doctor Doom’s most faithful servants, after Doom has taken over the planet.

This includes a new magic suit for Spider-Man as well as the ability to resurrect eight times after death – and hopefully, some additional upgrades to his webbing.

Spider-Man Used To Be Defined By His Webbing – Now Marvel Has Chance To Make Webs His Most Important Power Again

Amazing Spider-Man #61 – Written By Joe Kelly; Art By Ed McGuinness; Available Now From Marvel Comics

There’s no doubt that this new suit – bestowed upon Peter Parker by Doctor Doom, who sends him on a mission to take down powerful deities known as the Scions of Cytorrak – will come with several magical enhancements, in addition to the power of self-resurrection. While Marvel is likely going to be more focused on exploring the magical side of things in the upcoming 8 Deaths of Spider-Man storyline, this would be a perfect opportunity for Marvel to return to the webbing that Spider-Man had years ago, which is vastly superior to his current one.

Spider-Man’s webbing is absolutely iconic. Spider-Man’s webbing is stronger than steel, and is capable of restraining some of Marvel’s most powerful characters with ease. It lasts for hours and there are tons of variants of it, even a form that ignites as it’s sprayed, making it deadly to most symbiotes. But over the years, Marvel has stopped allowing Spider-Man to get truly creative with it, instead just having him spray it at his enemies with little thought or imagination, which has become pretty visually repetitive by now.

Early in Spider-Man’s history, there were few problems he couldn’t solve by using his webs. Spider-Man created parachutes, rafts, skis, clubs, barriers, and even shields with it. No matter what dangerous situation he was up against, a few clever uses of his webbing was all it took for Spider-Man to save the day. It was fun seeing what absurd creation Spider-Man would show off next, but over the years, this seems to have fallen out of favor for some reason. It’s a shame, because it was one of Spider-Man’s best powers, and Marvel desperately needs to bring it back.

Spider-Man Is Getting A Magical Upgrade – Marvel Can Make His Webbing More Impactful Again In The Process

8 Deaths Of Spider-Man – Amazing Spider-Man #61 Through #68

Bringing Spider-Man into the mystical side of the Marvel Universe is a great direction to take the character in. The most interesting aspect of giving a character a new ability is often seeing how those new abilities interact with the old ones the character already had. This is shown when Peter, in his new magic suit, is using Dr. Strange-like symbols, but with a web pattern. It’s a great design choice, but Marvel needs to go further with it and really explore what someone like Spider-Man would be able to do with magic in addition to his traditional power set.

With all of this magical power, Spider-Man could use it to augment his own webbing, allowing him to regain the fantastical webbing he had in years past. Being able to just web up a gangster is certainly cool, but creating almost Green Lantern-like constructs out of webbing is even cooler. Especially if Marvel lifts ideas from the video games, Spider-Man’s physical strength is no match for characters like the Hulk or Juggernaut, but hitting them with a giant magic-infused web fist might be enough to make them second guess fighting him.

Spider-Man’s Webbing Has Been Reduced In Strength Over The Years – That Should Change

The Webs Make The Hero

Spider-Man’s abilities can be so much more than what they are right now. It seems that over the decades, Marvel has continued to downgrade Spider-Man’s powers; he’s not quite as fast as he used to be, not nearly as strong as he once was, and his Spider-Sense doesn’t seem to help him as much as it did in its original incarnation. His webbing is perhaps the greatest illustration of this – not only has it become less strong, it has been made less versatile, less innovative, than it has the potential to be.

While Peter Parker’s webbing used to be the solution to every problem Spider-Man faced, now they’re often reduced to being simply the first thing Peter uses in an attempt to restrain someone. Peter’s webbing has the perfect chance to return to its classic form with this magical upgrade in 8 Deaths of Spider-Man, as there is little doubt that the powerful supernatural beings Spider-Man will be facing against will require a lot more than just some sticky webs holding them down.

Spider-Man #61 is available now from Marvel Comics!