| Peni Parker | |
|---|---|
 Peni Parker and SP//dr, from the cover ofEdge of Spider-Geddon #2 (October 2018), by Jake Wyatt | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Edge of Spider-Verse #5 (October 2014) |
| Created by | Gerard Way (writer) Jake Wyatt (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Peni Parker |
| Species | |
| Place of origin | Earth-14512 |
| Team affiliations | Spider-Army/Web-Warriors |
| Abilities |
|
| Altered in-story information for adaptations to other media | |
| Partnerships | |
Peni Parker is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by writer and musicianGerard Way and artist Jake Wyatt, she is analternative version ofSpider-Man from anEvangelion-inspired universe. Piloting a psychically-powered mech suit originally piloted by her father known as theSP//dr, partially controlled by a radioactive spider (named SP//dr) that also shares a psychic link with her, the teenage Peni has been fighting daily since she was nine years old.[1]
Both Peni Parker and SP//dr have made limited appearances in media, with their most prominent being the animated filmsSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequelAcross the Spider-Verse (2023) voiced byKimiko Glenn, and in the video gameMarvel Rivals (2024) voiced bySally Amaki.
Sometime after completing work on his debut solo albumHesitant Alien, following the hiatus of his bandMy Chemical Romance, comic writer and musicianGerard Way was contacted byMarvel Comics editorNick Lowe, asking if he was interested in creating a custom Spider-Man for the then-upcomingSpider-Verse comic series. Lowe, a fan of Way's prior comics work, had previously approached Way about anX-Men annual series which ultimately never materialized. Enamored by the idea that he could do whatever he wanted without fear of being burdened by any prior continuity, Way ultimately agreed to the offer and began working with comic artist Jake Wyatt on his new creation.[2]
_(6825192746).jpg)
Way "took the basic concepts of Spider-Man and then (...) looked deeper into it" while conceptualizing Peni, recalling in a 2014 interview withRolling Stone, "I thought about the radioactive spider: 'What if it was more than just a bite? What if a bite was a psychic link and the spider stayed part of the story?' That brought up a little girl who loses her dad. Then I drew the spider suit."[2] According to Way, SP//dr "is comprised of three vital components: a pilot, a machine, and a radioactive sentient spider acting as one half of the brain that makes it all work."[3][4] Way opted to make his character female as he was more interested in creating female characters, stemming from both his past, and his prior workThe Umbrella Academy. He also decided to includeDaredevil in his story, deciding "[I]f I’m only getting going to get to write one Marvel comic, I’m going to put Daredevil in it as well."[2]
Peni and SP//dr's comics were largely inspired by mecha anime, withNeon Genesis Evangelion singled out as an influence.[5][6][7][8] As aneaster egg, the main characters of Evangelion;Shinji Ikari,Rei Ayanami,Asuka Langley Soryu, andKaworu Nagisa, make cameo appearances as Peni's classmates in her premiere issue, along withSimon fromGurren Lagann and Kei fromDirty Pair.[7]
Peni Parker and SP//dr debuted inEdge of Spider-Verse #5, released on October 15, 2014. SP//dr’s story was continued in theSpider-Geddon comic book,Edge of Spider-Geddon #2 by Alberto Albuquerque, released on August 29, 2018.[9] The same year, Peni and SP//dr appeared in the animated filmSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The filmmakers, who initially considered a differentAsian American Spider-Woman,Cindy Moon / Silk, for the film, chose Peni as her unique abilities acted as a contrast against the film's other characters. At the suggestion of production designer and futureAcross the Spider-Verse co-director Justin Thompson, Peni was given aSailor Moon inspired redesign after the filmmakers, including directorBob Persichetti, found her initial design “iffy”.[8]
In 2022,Eisner Award winning comic authorKen Niimura createdPeni Parker: After School as part of theSpider-Verse Unlimited series exclusive toMarvel Unlimited, Marvel's digital comic service. The six-part story follows a younger Peni, delving into her relationship with her "Uncle Ben", how she feels about her father, and her struggles to juggle both school and being a superhero, also going into depth about her struggles to fit in with her fellow students due to her responsibilities as a hero. Niimura largely conceived of the story as an entry point to the character "for veterans and newcomers alike" as "(...) being a relatively new character, there’s still not much published yet."[10]
Peni's father acted as the original pilot of the SP//dr mecha, in which he protected New York from crime and other dangers. After her father died, Peni is approached by her father's handlers, "Aunt May" and "Uncle Ben", who force her to become the new pilot of the SP//dr, releasing the sentient spider that controls part of the suit into a room with her to bite and bond with her, a process they describe as being incredibly painful. Soon after being bitten, Peni becomes the new protector of the city, onEarth-14512.
Five years later, a more solemn and matured 14-year-old[11] Peni battles her universe's version ofMysterio – an obsessed fanboy of hers, while listening to music to help her focus. Peni eventually teams up with "D" (her universe's version ofDaredevil) – who had known her father, and tells her that she is "too young" to feel "tired" as she says she is – though noting he felt her father's use of SP//dr caused it so that "even through the machine, you could feel a sadness, like something was missing from him", although seeming "pretty cool" – to battle a group of criminals given up by Mysterio (a fan of the various numerous "Gene-Pop" magazines about Peni) before being approached bySpider-Ham andOld Man Spider to join the Spider-Army to fight theInheritors. Agreeing to join them, Peni states: "We're called SP//dr and we protect the city. Like my father, a soldier––who died in service of his people––we will be this, untilterminal failure."
Two years after the events of "Spider-Verse" in her home reality, a now-16-year-old Peni is approached by a girl namedAddy Brock, asking if she was the pilot of SP//dr and her experiences as the SP//dr pilot. Peni ignores her, but Addy follows up by saying she is not as special as she thinks, before clarifying that she doesn't mean as an insult, and just wants to talk to her. At home, Peni tries to talk to Ben and May about being special, but her worries get pushed aside which causes her to be annoyed and expresses her feelings of sadness towards the fact she isn't acknowledged as she should be. While improving the SP//dr's web shooters, she notices Addy walking in the base and follows her; only to find another mech-suit similar to the SP//dr, but in black and powered by a “sym-engine” calledVEN#m, with Addy as its pilot (Addy's character design having been previously used for one of Ben's and May's tech people inEdge of Spider-Verse, retroactively making that her first appearance). Peni becomes furious at Ben and May for not telling her about this. When akaiju-like creature namedM.O.R.B.I.U.S. starts to drain the city's electrical energy, Peni goes after it as SP//dr, only to be temporarily disabled due to her frustration clouding her judgement. In order to defeat M.O.R.B.I.U.S., Peni's aunt and uncle send VEN#m to defeat the creature. It is successful, but the SYM Engine inside it, which is shown to not be fully developed and is later revealed to still have unresolved issues, causes VEN#m to malfunction; causing the mech suit to attain sentience and start to consume Addy. When May flies in to fix the problem manually, it consumes her with Addy as well, with her final words berating Ben over their comms for never fixing the problem that had gotten Peni's father killed testing VEN#m in the first place. SP//dr confronts VEN#m, but the black mech suit overpowers her until she uses her improved web shooters to defeat it. However, as she opens up VEN#m's cockpit, she realizes it's too late to save her Aunt May and Addy, who have vanished from inside the suit. 2 hours following the battle, Peni and Ben have a heart-to-heart, but Spider-Ham interrupts this, appearing once more to recruit Peni to help defeat the Inheritors once more during the events ofSpider-Geddon. Peni seems reluctant to go after what had just happened to her Aunt May as she was still grieving her death, but Uncle Ben beckons her to leave anyway.
Peni returns inEnd of the Spider-Verse operating her larger SP//dr mecha, alongsideTakuya Yamashiro and his mech, Leopardon.[12]
InSpider-Gwen, a future SP//dr was one of the members of the Amazing Eight who travelled to Earth-65 in order to help that reality'sGwen Stacy fight off a unit of S.I.L.K. being led byScorpion.[13] Later, this SP//dr was one of the many heroesCable brought back in time to killThanos as a baby inCosmic Ghost Rider so that their dystopian future didn't come to pass. However, SP//dr was killed shortly after this by a cosmic version ofGhost Rider.[14]
This arc's story takes place after the events onEdge of Spider-Geddon. It follows Peni as she tries to be a regular teenager, trying to fit with the cool kids, while facing the responsibility of being a hero against various enemies such asAtomic Lizard orMecha D.O.O.M. However, as much as she’s able to save the city from trouble, she finds herself struggling with one of the greatest challenges of all: homework. One of her assignments consists of writing about her father, but she barely remembers him, as he died when she was very little. Her uncle Ben helps her understand more about her father and the kind of person he was, affirming her father's affection and love for her. Throughout the arc, Peni must balance her duties as a superhero with her responsibilities as a student and friend. When Mecha D.O.O.M. attacks the set of the popular TV show “The Tony Stark Show”, Peni has to face her insecurities about her abilities, and whether she is truly worthy of being a superhero. She finally finds confidence in her own instincts, becoming a stronger and more determined hero.
Thegraphic novelSpider-Ham: A Pig in Time features a humanoidpig version of the character namedPeni Porker, whomSpider-Ham andSpider-Ham 15.88 (2099) observe from across the multiverse.[15]
SP//dr makes a non-speakingcameo appearance in theUltimate Spider-Man episode "Return to the Spider-Verse" Pt. 4 as one of several alternate reality Spider-Men that the villainousWolf Spider took hostage to siphon their powers before the "prime"Spider-Man,Kid Arachnid, andSpider-Woman arrive to save them.[16]
Peni Parker and SP//dr appear as playable characters inMarvel Champions: The Card Game.[26]
Way's version may be one of the most unusual: his Spider-Man is actually a Spider-Girl, a 14-year-old named Peni Parker (who may be the daughter of a certain Peter Parker)
Spider-Man characters | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spider-Man family |
| ||||||||||||
| Supporting characters |
| ||||||||||||
| Antagonists | |||||||||||||
| Alternative versions |
| ||||||||||||
| In other media |
| ||||||||||||
| Other topics | |||||||||||||
| Films | |
|---|---|
| Short films | |
| Characters | |
| Music | |
| Comics | |
| Related | |
