Is Peter Parker Dead? Comic Book Death(s) Explained

It’s hard to imagine the world of Marvel Comics without Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Well, there are storylines and Marvel universes that no longer have Peter Parker. And, with the emergence of Miles Morales as the new ‘main’ Spider-Man, fans are getting confused – is Peter Parker really dead?

MCU’s Peter Parker is alive, and so is Peter Parker from Earth-616, Marvel’s main continuity from the comics. However, that version of Peter died in the comics before (and came back to life). Also, the Earth-1610, aka the Ultimate Universe version of Spidey, has died in the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film.

Now, there are over a dozen other Marvel Universes where Peter Parked has already died. And, for a while, we all thought that our main, original, Earth-616 Peter was gone too, until the writers brought him back, both in the comics and the Spider-Verse. I’ll try to explain it in a bit more detail below.

Is Peter Parker dead in the comics?

To answer the question if Peter Parker was dead in the comics, first, I have to ask a counter-question – in what universe? As you probably know, many different universes appeared in Marvel Comics before, but the main continuity happens in the Earth-616 universe. Let’s start with that one, shall we?

In the Earth-616 universe, Peter Parker is still alive and well. However, there have been at least two instances where that hasn’t been the case, and Peter was dead and gone. Most recently, it happened in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #700.

In the issue, Spider-Man’s mind was switched with Doc Ock’s. Otto Octavius ended up in Peter Parker’s body, whereas Peter was trapped inside the dying body of Doctor Octavius. He died shortly after, and Doc Ock was left to become Spider-Man himself.

Now having Peter’s morals and memories, Otto realized he had wasted his life and decided to become Spider-Man, but even better than Peter – he became the ‘Superior Spider-Man.’ 

It lasted for a while, but eventually, we found out that it was only a copy of Peter’s mind inside Doc Ock’s body and that his real consciousness was still in his original body, waiting to take control. That’s how Peter Parker is ultimately resurrected.

There was also the situation in ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ #4 in 1991 when Thanos created a creature named Terraxia to replace Death, his former lover who had left him. The Mad Titan’s creation, Terraxia, was made as nearly a clone of himself, but imperfect, so that she couldn’t be an exact replica of him.

Terraxia was heavily devoted to Thanos, so when Spidey tried attacking him, Terraxia intervened and smashed Peter’s skull with a rock. He died but was revived after Thanos and his actions were reversed.

Those two situations happened in the main Marvel universe, Earth-616, but Peter Parker’s death happened plenty of other times, actually. In some universes, Peter never returned. Such is the Earth-1089 universe.

In ‘What If? #4’ from 1989, Peter bonded with Venom for way too long, and the Symbiote started devouring Parker’s brain from the inside while also aging him rapidly. Pete knew he was as good as gone, so he said goodbye to Aunt May and was later found dead by Reed Richards in his room, trying to find ways to kill the Symbiote.

Then there’s the Marvel Ruins continuity or Earth-9591. In ‘Marvel Ruins’ #2, Peter Parker still works for the Daily Bugle, but he is a college student already. The radioactive spider that inadvertently bites Peter is infected with a virus that Peter himself had been working on in the lab.

Once the spider bit Parker, he started exhibiting some strange symptoms and accidentally infected a guy at the Bugle, who died shortly after. Slowly but surely, instead of developing superpowers, Peter developed awful symptoms, including hair loss, severe rash, bleeding, and more gruesome symptoms that eventually led to his death.

In ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #500, we don’t see our Earth-616 Peter die, per se, but rather one of his alternate future selves. Madam Web sees Spidey’s potential future on so-called Earth-312500, where Parker kills Kraven the Hunter out of revenge.

After that first kill, Peter becomes a very dark, violent version of himself. The Avengers expel him, and he also kills Doc Ock in cold blood. Parker of Earth-312500 sees his end when the police catch up to him and gun him down for his heinous crimes.

The Earth-1610 version of Peter Parker – the one from the Ultimate Universe, died two times in a way. First, in the comics, Peter was shot while fighting the Green Goblin. He won the fight but later succumbed to his injuries and died in Mary Jane’s arms.

In ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ we meet ‘Blonde Peter,’ aka Earth-1610B Peter Parker – it ought to be the Ultimate Universe, but seeing that the Earth-1610 already exists as a different universe in the comics, fans call the Spider-Verse version Earth-1610B.

Blonde Peter was killed by the Kingpin who tried opening the portal to different universes, where his wife and kid were still alive. Peter told him he couldn’t do it and that they were gone for good, so the Kingpin crushed him to death.

Then you have the Spider-Gwen universe, aka Earth-65. Here, Peter Parker never became Spider-Man. Instead, his friend, Gwen Stacy, became the famous superhero, while Peter remained a nerdy teen, bullied by his peers. When he’s had enough, Parker steals the lizard formula from Dr. Connors and becomes the Lizard himself.

He gets into a fight with Gwen and succumbs to his injuries. He becomes her ‘Uncle Ben,’ as his death inspires Gwen to become the hero the world needs.

We must not forget that the MCU version of Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland), aka Earth-19999 Peter, had also died. Sure, he came back the very next movie, but Peter was one of the most emotional and heartfelt victims (at least to me) of Thanos’ Snap that saw half the universe wiped out.

Apart from these, it’s insane how many Peter Parkers were killed by Morlun – a multiversal monster that quickly became one of Spidey’s arch-nemesis across not just one but all the universes. For those who don’t know, Morlun is a very powerful being that has to absorb the life force energy of other living creatures to replenish his life, strength, and power.

He can do it with most living things, but the ones that give him the most power are animal-related superbeings – such as, you guessed it, Spider-Man. Quickly, Peter Parker became Morlun’s go-to prey to become more and more powerful. As time passes by, his power diminishes, so he has to feed again.

I won’t list every single scan of Morlun killing off Spidey, but there have been about a dozen, including Peter Parquagh from Earth-311, Peter from Earth-8107, Peter from Earth-30847, and Peter from Earth-449. The following scan is of Earth-51914’s Peter, which perfectly sums up the dire ‘relationship between him and Morlun.

Other Parkers have died due to Morlun, as well. For instance, Spider-Man Noir, aka Earth-90214, was defeated by Morlun and then took a gun and shot into explosives nearby to kill himself before Morlun could consume his life force.

Even the most powerful Peter Parker, the Cosmic Spider-Man, aka Earth-13 Peter, who held the powers of the Enigma Force, was killed by Solus, Morlun’s father.

We could go on, but you get the gist. Peter Parker has died in the comics, the Spider-Verse, and the MCU a huge number of times throughout the years. Some versions of him came back – like the Earth-616 Spidey or the MCU Spidey – but some are gone for good.

Is Peter Parker dead in the MCU?

Now, we already established that Peter Parker is not dead in the MCU. He died as part of the Snap but then came back in the Blip in the next movie. Since then, Tom Holland’s Peter had two stand-alone movies – ‘Far From Home’ and ‘No Way Home.’ However, for long, fans believed that this was it for MCU’s Spider-Man – at least Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.

Is it the case, though? Will Peter Parker return to the MCU? Well, according to Marvel Studios exec Kevin Feige, it’s already in the works. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly as late as this February, he was asked for an update about when we might be seeing Peter Parker again, to which Feige revealed:

“All I will say is that we have the story. We have big ideas for that, and our writers are just putting pen to paper now.”

So, there you have it. We don’t know a lot, but we do know that we haven’t seen the last of Peter Parker in the MCU.

Is Peter Parker dead in the Spider-Verse?

In this very article, we said that Peter Parker died in the first Spider-Verse movie, aka ‘Into the Spider-Verse.’ but then, we also know that Peter Parker – and his baby – appeared in the second film, ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ – and that he is married to Mary Jane Watson. So, is Peter Parker alive or dead in the Spider-Verse?

It’s simple – one variant of Peter – the Earth-1610B Peter, aka Blonde Peter – died in the first film. However, the variant from Earth-616B, aka Peter B. Parker, is still alive and well. He mentored Miles Morales in the first Spider-Verse film and continued serving a similar role in the second. 

I hope we managed to clarify everything regarding Peter Parker’s death, not just in the comics but in other media as well.

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