The Origin of the Black Spiderman Suit

The Symbiote Costume, also known as the Black Suit, is one of the most significant alterations to Spider-Man’s costume. It first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 and Marvel Team-up #141, released concurrently in May 1984. The black costume stemmed from an idea submitted by a then 22-year-old fan named Randy Schueller in 1982, after Marvel had asked its readers for ideas for new Spider-Man stories. “I was thinking, ‘This is a guy who is swinging around at night wearing a bright red-and-blue costume.’ That’s where the black suit came from.” Schueller’s idea was purchased by Jim Shooter for the sum of $220. Shooter also asked Schueller’s help in possibly writing a script for Spider-Man’s new look.

Here’s the copy of the letter Randy received from Shooter almost 25 years ago, in August of 1982.

The History of Spider-Man’s Black Costume

The Black Spiderman Costume was born in Secret Wars #8. Spidey wants to replace his much-torn costume but chooses the wrong costume machine, which released black blob covered his body and then transformed into the black costume.
Spidey discovers that the costume has the power to generate webbing, and returns to earth with his black spiderman suit in Amazing #252. He also discovers that it also has the power to change to appear as normal street clothing. However in the following few issues, the costume starts behaving quite strangely. In Spectacular Spider-Man #99, Felicia gives Peter a set of five cloth Black Costumes, and he wears the first one in Amazing #263. For the next couple of years, he alternates between the red and blue spiderman costumes, and the black spiderman outfit. Different writers had their own preferences, and often he used the black at night, and the red and blues during the day. During a battle with the villain Magma Spidey’s last remaining red-and-blue costume was destroyed. At that point Peter decided to forego the red-and-blue and wear only the black costume form now on. But Mary-Jane pointed out that the Black costume reminded her of Venom Black costume, and insisting that Peter no longer wear it, that was the last time Peter wore it regularly. However, Peter did put on the black costume for a few special occasions after that. The reason mostly being that it makes him harder to see at night.

Spiderman Black Suits VS Venom Suit

The black Spiderman costume has a large white spider on the chest and back and white organic web-shooters on the backs of the hands. A variation on the black costume is featured in the film Spider-Man 3. The Spiderman 3 black suit includes the webbing pattern from Spider-Man’s red and blue costume with a black coloring and a slightly altered spider symbol, both on his chest and back. The same costume is also worn by Venom, with the added details of Venom’s signature teeth, a more muscular appearance and a spider on his chest that closer resembles the comic book version’s spider emblem.

Symbiote Spider Costume

First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #252, Secret Wars #8
In the Marvel Secret Wars series, Spider-Man’s costume was torn during battle and he was sent to a machine that would repair it. Unknown to Spider-Man, the machine was actually a prison that contained an alien symbiote, which copied Spider-Man’s thoughts about the costume worn by Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter), and created a duplicate of it.
During and after the Secret War, Spider-Man learned that the costume could respond to his thoughts, change its shape, and create a seemingly unlimited amount of organic webbing. However, after wearing the suit for some time, he began to feel unusually tired and consulted his friend, Mr. Fantastic. Mr. Fantastic said that the suit was actually an alien creature and that it was taking him web-swinging every night while he slept. Spider-Man then had Mr. Fantastic remove the costume using a sound wave generator, as its only weaknesses are loud sound waves and intense heat, and locked it in a protective case. The suit eventually escaped and hung itself in Peter’s closet, disguised as one of his red and blue costumes. Unfortunately, Peter grabbed the symbiote and it reattached itself to him, which forced Spider-Man to use the bells of the Our Ladies of Saints church to remove the suit. Many issues later, the suit secretly found and bonded to Eddie Brock, who became Venom.

The Amazing Alternative Spider-Man-1

Skrull Spider-Man

Secret Invasion, Marvel’s huge crossover comic event from 2008, featured a wide-spread invasion of Earth by the shape-shifting Skrulls. Every Marvel character came under close scrutiny as many heroes were discovered to be dupes. Despite not being a major player in Secret Invasion, Skrull Spider-Man is included in this list for the awesome cover image above alone.

Classic Spiderman Morphsuit

The one and only classic Spider-Man look: Red & Blue Spandex Spiderman Morph suit, sometimes Red and Black costume with spider on front and back with webbing all around the red parts of the costume…This was Peter Parker’s first costume after his wrestling costume he wore in Amazing Fantasy #15 and every time he went on to change his look, it wasn’t long before he went back to the tried and true classics!

Here are some looks of the classic Spiderman costumes:

Coolest Spider-Man Costume Ever

From his 1st appearance, Spider-Man wore a costume. He had a lot of costumes like classic red and blue costume, the black costume, the armor costume, Ben Reilly’s scarlet costume, Iron Spider costume and much more. But, which is the coolest costume of all spider-man costumes EVER?

The New Spider-Man

First Appearance: Sensational Spider-Man Vol. 1 #0 (1995)

Once the Clone Saga entered that infamous phase where Ben Reilly replaced Peter Parker for a time, Reilly was due for a wardrobe upgrade. The Scarlet Spider suit and its ragged hoodie were swapped out for something a little more reminiscent of Peter’s costume. Aside from the external web shooters and the larger spider emblem, the biggest change came to the balance of red and blue areas. The torso was now completely covered in red, while the boots and gloves became stylistically fragmented.

This costume died with Reilly himself, but it’s worth noting that it seems to have at least partially inspired the look of Andrew Garfield’s costume in the new Amazing Spider-Man movie.

The Verdict: This suit made some interesting changes to the formula, but ultimately they seemed like changes for change’s sake.

My Top 5 Alternate Spider-Man Costumes

Peter Parker In the movie The Amazing Spider-Man wears a new classic red and blue Spiderman costume. He always keeps changing his suits from time to time, so I decided to put together a list of my top five favorite Spider-Man alternate costumes.

5) Scarlet Spider-Man Costume
One thing I like the Scarlet Spider design is that it actually looks like something I would have, the suit is simple red, but the spider hoodie is effective.

4) Last Stand Costume
The “Last Stand” costume was first introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #498-500. The simplified, looser-fitting jacket and slacks feels more like a uniform and less a costume.

3) Spider-Man 2099 Costume
With darker future comes, new Spider-Man Miguel O’Hara got the darker 2099 costume. There were claws and sharp scallops on the wrists. The traditional blue and red color scheme became much darker. It’s even got a skull on the front.

2) Black Symbiote Spider-Man Costume
The best of all Spidey alternate costumes. Spider-Man would switch back and forth between black and classic red and blues until the arrival of Venom scaring MJ so much that she asks Peter to stop wearing that same black suit.

1) Alex Ross movie concept Costume
It’s not the classic blue and red but it is a fresh take on a very familiar character. It’s a mixture of the black symbiote costume with the iconic red web classic costume. If I’m playing a Spider-Man video game and this costume is unlockable, it’s almost always my secondary suit after the classic.
What’s your favorite alternate costume of Spider-Man?

The Most Famous Spider-Man Costumes

Spider-Man holds claim to one of the most iconic and recognizable costumes of any superhero, ranking right up there with Batman and Superman.
Let’s look back at some of the more significant and long-term attempts to overhaul Spiderman costumes, and how well those costumes stand the test of time.

1. The Black Spiderman Costume: First Appearance: Secret Wars #8 (1984)
Spidey wore this suit for a number of years as the ’80s wore on, eventually discovering it was a living symbiote attempting to permanently bond with him. But even after ditching the symbiote and inadvertently creating Venom, Peter continued to wear a spandex version of the black costume for a while longer.

2. Spider-Man 2099: First Appearance: Spider-Man 2099 #1 (1992)
Miguel O’Hara was a darker, meaner Spider-Man for a darker, meaner Marvel Universe. His costume was adjusted accordingly. Miguel’s suit was mostly blue, with a series of red shapes creating the image of some futuristic, deathly spider across his chest and face. A series of spiked talons and a cape of tattered webbing cemented the harsh new look.

3. The Scarlet Spider: First Appearance: Web of Spider-Man #117 (1994)
The Scarlet Spider wore a simple red bodysuit with white lenses. Over the suit was a ragged, sleeveless, blue hoodie and a spider emblem emblazoned on the chest. It was a poor man’s version of the Spider-Man costume, and intentionally so.

4. The New Spider-Man: First Appearance: Sensational Spider-Man Vol. 1 #0 (1995)
Once the Clone Saga entered that infamous phase where Ben Reilly replaced Peter Parker for a time, Reilly was due for a wardrobe upgrade. The Scarlet Spider suit and its ragged hoodie were swapped out for something a little more reminiscent of Peter’s costume. Aside from the external web shooters and the larger spider emblem, the biggest change came to the balance of red and blue areas. The torso was now completely covered in red, while the boots and gloves became stylistically fragmented. This costume died with Reilly himself, but it’s worth noting that it seems to have at least partially inspired the look of Andrew Garfield’s costume in the new Amazing Spider-Man movie.

5. The Iron Spider: First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #529 (2006)
The Iron Spider costume offered Peter protective armor, extra robotic limbs, camouflage, and a host of useful gadgets. Visually, it was very similar to the Black Costume, with a large spider emblem dominating an otherwise uniform bodysuit. The main difference was the color scheme. Rather than sign his work the traditional way, Tony forced Peter to wear the Iron Man colors of red and gold.

6. The Stealth Suit: First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #650 (2010)
At first glance, the stealth suit looks like Spider-Man’s attempt at Tron cosplay. The basic design is once again similar to the Black Costume, only a bit more angular. The spider emblem and lenses light up to denote the suit’s particular function. When they glow green, Spidey becomes invisible. When they glow orange, he becomes immune to sonic waves.

7. FF Spidey : First Appearance: FF #1 (2011)
Spidey joined the team just as the Fantastic Four morphed into the Future Foundation. Gone were the familiar blue suits, replaced by batch of white and black uniforms. Spidey’s suit looked like nothing if not a reversed version of the Black Costume. A series of black strips running down either side helped differentiate the suit to some extent. The suit could also mimic his other costumes, ensuring that Spidey would never again have to worry about wearing the right outfit to his 19 different superhero team affiliations.

8. The New Ultimate Spider-Man: First Appearance: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #5 (2011)
Ultimate Peter Parker’s costume was more or less identical to the original, and thus not worth mentioning here. It was only when the Spider-Man mantle passed to Miles Morales last year that the Ultimate costume took on an identity of its own. Unlike almost every alternate Spider-Man costume, this new suit retained the webbing. It was dominated mostly by black and accentuated by red webbing and white eye lenses. In terms of color and shape, it was a take that was both startlingly different and comfortably familiar at once.

What’s your favorite Spider-Costume?