Spider-Man is without a doubt the face of Marvel Comics. With his incredible powers and morally pure nature, Spider-Man has saved millions of people and inspired countless more. This is evident today in the many other Spider-People swinging around New York, including Miles Morales, Scarlet Spider, and Spider-Woman. And since Spider-Man has already inspired so many people in the present day, it’s not a big surprise that people in the future would want to continue Peter Parker’s legacy. Whether it’s decades or even centuries into the future, the Marvel Universe will always need a Web-Head to save the day from the forces of evil.
In Marvel Comics, the future is anything but set in stone. Yet across all possible timelines, there’s almost always a Spider-Person that’s either an older Peter Parker or someone who inherits his superhero identity.
Ten years into the Marvel Universe’s future, the villainous Revelation in the Age of Revelation event unleashes the deadly X-Virus which spreads across the globe. Humans who contract the X-Virus either become mutants or die horrible deaths. For Peter Parker, his radioactive blood ensures that he can keep the virus somewhat at bay. However, even with this protection, the virus causes Peter to develop additional spider-like arms. And despite the X-Virus ravaging his body and Revelation ruling the world with an iron fist, Peter still does his best to help people as Spider-Man. However, Peter is forced to make an impossible choice when Aunt May mutates into a mindless monster. Having no other option, Peter is forced to kill his surrogate mother in order to end her pain. The Spider-Man of the Age of Revelation timeline is one of the darkest possible futures of the Wall-Crawler as the X-Virus takes everything away from him.
In the dark future timeline of the Old Man Logan series, the world has been reduced to a barren wasteland ruled by supervillains who have successfully massacred most of the superhero community. However, one of the few survivors of the slaughter was Hawkeye, who eventually married Spider-Man’s daughter, Tonya. Together, they had a child named Ashley, who inherited her grandfather’s powers. As Spider-Woman, Ashley led a team of heroes to retake control of Hammer Falls from the Kingpin’s tyranny. However, Ashley inherited neither her father nor grandfather’s sense of justice and responsibility. When Kingpin was defeated, Ashley killed him in cold blood. She then took Hammer Falls for herself and planned to use its resources to conquer the rest of the post-apocalyptic world. Luckily, by the time Ashley teamed up with the Spider-Army during the Spider-Verse event, she began to regain her humanity and started acting like an actual hero instead of a superpowered crime lord.
Even in the far-off year 2211, the world still needs a Spider-Man. However, Dr. Max Borne is more than just a Web-Slinger who protects a futuristic New York City. He is a TimeSpinner who is a guardian of the entire time stream. In addition to the powers of someone bitten by a radioactive spider, Max has one of the most sophisticated Spider-Suits in the multiverse. The most obvious feature of his suit is its four mechanical arms that are like Doctor Octopus’ tenacles. It can also be used to travel through time, let the user view alternate timelines, and erase people’s memories. Tragically, Max’s archenemy is his own daughter, Robin Borne, aka Hobgoblin 2211, who went insane after being infected with a nanovirus. Using his time-travel technology, Max would team up with Spider-Man 2099 and modern-day Peter Parker Spider-Man to thwart Hobgoblin’s plans to erase not just her father, but every version of Spider-Man in the multiverse.
One of the most tragic moments in Spider-Man’s life was when his and Mary Jane’s daughter died in childbirth. However, Earth-982 offers an alternate future where Mayday Parker not only survives but grows up to continue her father’s heroic legacy. After Peter lost his leg in a battle, he retired and focused his energy on being a father to Mayday. As Mayday grew up, she eventually discovered that she had inherited her father’s spider-like abilities. Peter and Mary Jane never wanted Mayday to become a superhero and forbade her from putting her life in danger. However, Mayday knew that great power came with great responsibility, so she donned a costume anyway and became New York City’s new protector, Spider-Girl. She would bring her heroism to the multiverse when she joined the Spider-Army in their war against the Inheritors. She also joined the Web-Warriors to protect universes which don’t have Spider-Men to defend them. Peter may not have wanted this life for his daughter, but Mayday proved herself to be an amazing hero.
The most popular future version of Spider-Man is Miguel O’Hara. He was the first hero to show that Peter Parker’s heroic legacy would continue for decades. Miguel was a brilliant scientist who lived in 2099. He worked for the nefarious megacorporation Alchemax and his job was to develop a new breed of superhumans. Alchemax then gave him an artificial addiction to ensure that he’d stay under their control. To rid himself of the addiction, Miguel subjected himself to an experiment to rewrite his DNA. However, a jealous colleague tried to kill him by introducing spider DNA into Miguel’s experiment. Instead of killing him, the spider DNA caused him to develop an array of spider-based superpowers. Along with enhanced strength and agility, Miguel possesses unique abilities like retractable claws, enhanced vision, organic webbing, and venomous fangs. Inspired by the Age of Heroes, Miguel took up the Spider-Man mantle to liberate Nueva York from Alchemax’s tyrannical rule.
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