Spider-Verse: The Comics To Read For Each Of The Movie's Big Spider-Heroes

Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" has expanded the Spider-Verse in significant ways, with many new characters joining Miles Morales' Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy's Spider-Gwen in the critically acclaimed animated film. The second installment of the franchise features hundreds of different Spider-People, with several new heroes being introduced along the way. From Spider-Man: 2099 making his first full appearance after cameoing at the end of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," to the scene-stealing Spider-Punk 2099, and May Parker, audiences met some new intriguing faces. 

While viewers won't see the stories of the film version of the characters continue until 2024's "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse," the comics that inspired and served as source material for the most recent film give readers an immediate chance to learn more about its heroes. For those eager to take the plunge into the comics and read the adventures of the new starring web-slingers of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," here's what we'd recommend as some of the best comics to read after watching the film. 

Miles Morales has had several ongoing books, with his earliest stories taking place in the Ultimate Universe before the events of "Secret Wars." Still, it's his most recent run fans should latch onto after seeing "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse."

"Miles Morales: Spider-Man" by Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garron, David Curiel, Cory Smith, Michele Bandini, Christopher Allen, Carmen Carnero, and other talented artists ran for over 40 issues. The comic felt like a needed evolution of Spider-Man's story into new territory for the hero. The book takes Miles to some dark places, with several prominent villains, including Rhino, Prowler, and the Assessor. But what makes the run so special is not only how it handles Miles' battle with personal responsibility, his personal life (including a new love interest), and being Spider-Man, but the new characters introduced throughout the book. From his kid sister, Billie, to several doppelgangers showing up in his own "Clone Saga," the run has much more highs than lows (his new suit seen later in the comic is a miss) and is required reading for fans of the hero.

Spider-Gwen's two ongoing series are both excellent, but the first volume covers a lot of what the audience learned about the hero in "Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-Verse" and its sequel. If you want a deeper dive into Spider-Gwen's origin and backstory, check out "Spider-Gwen" volume one. But Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and Rico Renzi's second volume of "Spider-Gwen" is where the character's story goes to unexpected places.

The 20-issue run features Spider-Gwen hunting down a new version of Lizard who is not Peter Parker, Earth-65's Frank Castle replacing Gwen's dad as captain, and a villainous version of Matt Murdock who's a real piece of work getting in her way. Additionally, the hero spends some time in the main Marvel Universe and teams up with Miles Morales. The book hits the notes you'd want to see in a story starring a Spider-Person presented through the unique lens of Spider-Gwen and is the perfect Gwen-starring comic to read after watching "Spider-Man" Across the Spider-Verse."

The Spider-Woman in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is primarily based on the web-slinger Jessica Drew. While Spider-Woman's comic history features several great runs, including the character's most recent ongoing book by Karla Pacheco and Pere Perez, the best story Marvel has ever put out starring Jessica comes from the 2014 run by Dennis Hopeless, Javier Rodriguez, Veronica Fish, and Rachelle Rosenberg. 

The book stars a pregnant Jessica, with the hero getting one of Marvel's best costume redesigns in history. The story sees her investigating several disappearances alongside Ben Urich, leading her on a cross-country road trip. Despite the book getting caught up in several crossovers, including the original "Spider-Verse" and "Secret Wars" events, the "Spider-Woman" series is a colorful adventure showing Drew's foray into motherhood while teaming her up with some fan-favorite heroes. The irreverence of villains and the old-school feel of the book make it continually entertaining.

For readers who want to see the adventures of a pregnant Spider-Woman in action with some breathtaking art from Rodriguez and co. and a heck of a story from Hopeless, "Spider-Woman" is a can't-miss series. 

Spider-Punk is arguably the breakout character of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" despite not having a sizeable comic offering so far since his 2015 debut. The character has appeared mainly in Spider-Verse-related crossovers, but a recent miniseries showed how fun stories starring the anarchist hero could be.

The 2022 "Spider-Punk" miniseries from Cody Ziglar, Justin Mason, and Jim Charalampidis is a hard-rock romp, following Hobie Brown and his band while they take on Norman Osborn, the president of the United States that the spunky web-slinger previously killed by slicing his head off with his guitar. However, when Osborn returns with the Venom symbiote and a group of villains, Spider-Punk makes the phrase "battle of the bands" literal and fights alongside his punk allies, including Riotheart, the Daredevil drummer Mattea Murdock, a chain-wearing Hulk, and the shield-wielding Captain Anarchy. While the comic only has five issues, the creative team makes sure to get every last drop of punk rock fun throughout its story, making for a must-read Earth-138 adventure.

While Peter David and Rick Leonardi's original run on "Spider-Man 2099" definitely feels like a comic book from the '90s, the series forges something unique by introducing Miguel O'Hara in a world Spider-Man had never been a part of before. In the future, O'Hara is an Alchemax scientist working on creating a version of the hero in the timeline. O'Hara becomes Spider-Man himself — not by his choice — and uses his new powers and incredibly designed suit to take on the corporation he worked for. Part of what made Miguel's initial stories so incredible was how it was built around a 2099 universe also featuring the likes of Punisher 2099, Doom 2099, and Ravage 2099. The book features many changes to the Marvel Universe inspired by what a dystopian future could look like.

If readers are looking for a more modern take on "Spider-Man 2099," Steve Orlando's and a great group of artists' recent "Spider-Man: Exodus" limited series tells an epic story in Nueva York with many new characters and huge stakes — including updated versions of the Winter Soldier, Loki, and the New Avengers.

May "MayDay" Parker might just be an adorable infant alongside her father, Peter B. Parker, in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," but the character's heroic persona shown off in her 1990s ongoing series showed she had serious staying power and was much more than just another Spider-Hero.

Taking place in the MC2 Universe and spinning out of the events of a "What If...?" comic, the Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz creation jumped onto the scene with serious momentum. Being the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Parker, the comic explores her origin, coming into her spider-powers, her rise as Spider-Girl, and her battles against a pretty unique set of villains, including Fury the Goblin Queen and Lady Octopus. The stories don't feel like rehashes of classic Spider-Man stories and feature plenty of cameos from familiar faces, including the clone, Kaine. Even running the length of 100 issues, the book never gets stale. It feels like it's time Spider-Girl got her own ongoing comic again.

Ben Reilly certainly has fans, but part of the problem with the character is he's appeared in largely lackluster Spider-Man stories, most infamously the "Clone Saga." While the stories from that era have charm, they aren't the best spotlight for Ben. Instead, Marvel did a new miniseries called "Ben Reilly: Spider-Man" in 2022 from J.M. DeMatteis, David Baldeon, and Israel Silva featuring the clone when he first arrived on the scene. The book is a reminder Ben can work in his own stories and doesn't need to be consistently changed like he was in the recent "Dark Web" crossover, which saw him take on a dark new persona as Chasm.

With Andy Samberg's hilarious and brooding take on the Scarlet Spider being well-received by audiences and directly parodying the character's edgy nature when he first debuted in the comics, there's potential for more Ben Reilly-focused stories in the future. He could certainly use more spotlight without the identity crisis. It would be nice to see Ben find some stability in a world that constantly saw him as nothing more than a copy of one of its greatest heroes. Hopefully, Marvel picks up on the renewed attention on the hero and decides to give him more starring roles with and without the main version of Spider-Man.