Spider-Man has had a lot of great storylines in the 21st century, many of which changed the status quo in some considerable ways. Spider-Man was introduced in Marvel Comics in 1962 as a teenager who was bitten by a radioactive spider and developed superhuman powers. Through the years, he graduated from high school, went to college, became an Avengers member, and had several highs and lows. However, in the 21st century, so many things happened that changed his life, including what some consider the worst Spider-Man moment of all time, with the ending of One More Day. That said, what came next was some great comic book stories.
From Spider-Man’s death to his seeking revenge against some of his greatest villains, here is a look at the best Spider-Man stories of the 21st century, ranked.
10) Back in Black
One More Day was a storyline that most people hated, and Spider-Man’s treatment during the Civil War storyline was a travesty. However, in the middle of the Civil War storyline and leading into One More Day was one of Spider-Man’s best stories of the 21st century. This was Back in Black and followed Spider-Man after his Aunt May was gunned down by one of Kingpin’s assassins.
Spider-Man, wanted by the police for leaving Iron Man’s pro-registration side, ditched the red and blue and returned to his black costume, where he then tore through Kingpin’s men, working his way to the big boss. This was an incredible series of fights because, for the first time, Spider-Man didn’t hold back and just destroyed his enemies. Finally, Spider-Man gets into the prison, takes off his mask, and beats Kingpin down, telling him how easy it would be to kill him, before letting him live. It was brutal and a fantastic show of force by Spider-Man.
9) Spider-Island
Spider-Island is a Marvel Comics event series that was almost too ridiculous to work, but it did, and that made it Spider-Man’s most fun comic book storyline of the 21st century. The main plot sees the Jackal return and his experiments that turn everyone in Manhattan into a spider-based superhuman, including the other heroes who were there.
With everyone in town having spider powers, no one is really special anymore, and this comes into play when the people decide what they will do with their powers. It was a silly premise that was just a ton of fun, and it proved how reading comics without needing serious subject matter could be just as good as anything else.
8) Spider-Verse
Spider-Verse gave Marvel Comics a chance to throw every spider character into a giant battle, and it was more fun than anyone could have expected. The story began in The Amazing Spider-Man #9 in 2014, and it featured just about every Spider-Man and variant that has appeared in Marvel Comics over the last 50 years, which was when Peter Parker debuted with his powers.
This led them into battle with some of the most powerful villains that they ever faced in the Inheritors, all led by the villainous Morlun. There were several other Spider-Verse titles over the years, but it was this original one that really shone the brightest, and allowed the Spider-Family to show why they are so special when working together.
7) Coming Home
While J. Michael Straczynski was the writer who led Spider-Man to his One More Day fiasco, he had some good stories leading up to that. One of these came in the Coming Home storyline. This saw a new man show up in Spider-Man’s life, named Ezekiel Sims. This older gentleman has powers similar to Spider-Man, and he knows a lot about what is really behind Spidey’s powers.
What makes this great is that it introduces Morlun to Spider-Man comics for the first time, and this first fight was the best that the two men ever had. Not only that, but this was the comic book storyline that introduced the idea of the spider-totem and the idea that this mythical creation connects all spider-based characters. It changed everything about Spider-Man’s mythos and remains one of the character’s most interesting changes in the 21st century.
6) Brand New Day
While it is true that most fans hated One More Day because it destroyed Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s marriage and had Peter Parker inexplicably make a deal with Mephisto, something he never should have done. However, it led to Brand New Day, which was a surprisingly good reboot of the character.
Yes, fans hated Peter and Mary Jane no longer being together, and it made most love interests after Mary Jane immediately hated by the readers, but the actual story itself was good, and Dan Slott proved he was going to be a good writer for the title following the controversial reboot. Yes, One More Day was bad, but don’t mistake Brand New Day as part of the problem. It tried to be a solution.
5. No One Dies
No One Dies was arguably one of the best Dan Slott-written Spider-Man storylines that didn’t involve a giant event. This is the storyline right after J. Jonah Jameson’s wife, Marla, dies, and Peter Parker is overcome with guilt because he couldn’t stop it. As a result, Spider-Man makes a promise to himself that he will never be able to keep.
He swears that he won’t let anyone else die on his watch. With names like Gwen Stacy, Jean DeWolffe, George Stacy, Harry Osborn, and more in his past, Spider-Man has seen his fair share of tragedies. This was the culmination of that, and it was a moment where Dan Slott was able to tell a smaller, personal story that might be one of the finest in the comic book line’s history.
4) Death of Spider-Man
The Death of Spider-Man takes place in the Ultimate Marvel Comics line. This rebooted Peter Parker as a teenager again and updated his story for a new generation. However, one of the biggest things about the Ultimates line was that death mattered here. That made this one of the most emotional storylines Marvel ever published. The Ultimates and New Avengers battled, and Punisher tried to shoot Captain America, but Spider-Man tried to save him and took the bullet instead.
Spider-Man then went to fight the Ultimate Goblin to save his Aunt May and all his friends and won the fight, but died at the end. It was highly emotional as Mary Jane held him as he died, and he told his Aunt May he saved her while he couldn’t save his Uncle Ben. The follow-up with Aunt May confronting Captain America was gold as well. This also led to the rise of Miles Morales, which was also a fantastic storyline.
3) Last Remains
While it might not have been to everyone’s taste, Last Remains was a well-written and intricately plotted Spider-Man storyline. The story saw a new villain show up named Kindred, and this villain knew everything there was to know about Spider-Man. He also brought in countless other villains to pull off his plan. He used Sin-Eater to wipe out countless villains, which ultimately turned Norman Osborn into a hero. He caused the Sinister War, which brought in almost every Sinister Six villain who ever existed.
Kindred pretended to be Harry Osborn, which messed up Spider-Man, and then everyone from the Kingpin to the Spot got involved. He even brought Mysterio back from the dead. By the end, the mystery revealed who Kindred really was, which was a slight disappointment, but the entire storyline leading up to that was brilliantly written and showed Nick Spencer working at the top of his game.
2) Spider-Man: Life Story
Spider-Man: Life Story was one of the Marvel “Life Story” event series that looked at what Marvel heroes would look like if the Marvel sliding scale didn’t exist and they aged at the same pace as their comic book publication dates. This means that in this series, Peter Parker got his powers as a teenager in the 60s, and was in his 20s in the 70s, 30s in the 80s, when the first Secret Wars happened, and was in his 50s in the 2000s during Civil War.
This worked well alongside Fantastic Four: Life Story, and it was a fun way to look at events in Spider-Man’s life and the Marvel Universe itself from a fresh perspective as Spider-Man aged into his 70s by the end, where everything tied up. It was an emotional story that was well written and is easily one of the best comics of the 21st century.
1) Superior Spider-Man
The best Spider-Man comic book storyline of the 21st century had little to do with Peter Parker. Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man had a battle at the end of Ock’s life, as the villain was dying of cancer. However, Doc Ock found a way to transfer his mind into Peter’s body, switching places with the Wall-Crawler before his body died, and the Superior Spider-Man was born.
This series showed Doctor Octopus pledging to be a hero in Spider-Man’s body, and he started to use his brain for good. However, he was more violent than Spider-Man was, and his arrogance never wavered, putting him at odds with Spider-Man’s allies. To make it better, Peter still had a sliver of his consciousness in his body and began to push Ock into being a better person. By the time it ended, Peter was back in control, and Ock had a new cloned body to go into, but Superior Spider-Man was superior storytelling in the 21st century.
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