When considering your favorite Spider-Verse characters, you are absolutely spoiled for choice. The most devoted Spider-Man fans can pick from dozens of the best Spider-Man actors in the new movies, once they’ve recovered from the chaos of Across the Spider-Verse.
But what you may not know is that one of the most intriguing Spider-Verse characters has an even more fascinating origin story than the others. They were created by a rock star, literally.
Peni Parker, who debuted on the big screen in Into the Spider-Verse as a Spidey variant inspired by the best anime series, was originally created by Gerard Way. That’s right; the frontman of 2000s emo rock act My Chemical Romance.
Peni, along with her robot companion SP//dr, arrived in print for the first time in 2014 comic Edge of Spider-Verse #5, penned by Way with the help of artist Jake Wyatt. She’s a teenage high-schooler who pilots a powerful mech suit built by her late father.
Way told Rolling Stone he relished the opportunity to create a new Spidey from scratch. He said: “If I had to go write somebody’s character [in keeping] with years of continuity, I don’t think I would fare so well. But starting from scratch and making something new and wild out of a concept — I have a lot of fun doing that.”
Based on Peni’s appearance in Into the Spider-Verse, she’s a really enjoyable and innovative creation. Though she didn’t get a lot of screen time in Across the Spider-Verse, we hope to see a lot more of her when the Spider-Verse 3 release date comes along.
It turns out we have more to thank Gerard Way for than just Welcome to the Black Parade.
Across the Spider-Verse was a big moment for us at The Digital Fix, and our editor Tom Percival called it one of the best movies of the year in his Across the Spider-Verse review. We’ve also gone over the movie closely to reveal all of the Across the Spider-Verse easter eggs you missed.
For more, read our Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld interview and find out why there’s a new version of Across the Spider-Verse in cinemas now.
Alternatively, learn more about some of the biggest 2023 movies we haven’t seen yet, including The Marvels release date, the Barbie movie release date, and the Dune 2 release date.