If there is one superhero in all of fiction that could be said to stand alongside Superman in terms of sheer popularity and depth of lore, it would be Spider-Man. Since 1962, Peter Parker, victim of the radioactive spider bite that changed the face of American fiction, has been a beloved character and role model to kids, teens, and even adults across the world.

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The web-slinging, wall-crawling wise-cracker has espoused the idea that power and responsibility are inextricably linked, and that it is our duty as human beings to help who we can, and for this he has been loved (and highly profitable) for at least 3 generations now.

Unfortunately, even the most wholesome and kind characters aren’t immune to having a skeleton or two in their closets, and Spider-Man has an entire graveyard stuffed into his. From murder to maiming and back again, here are the 10 darkest moments in Spider-Man history.

10 He Killed Finisher

When most people think of Spider-Man, one of the first things that comes to mind is his policy on killing. The wall-crawler, like Batman, has a strict policy on capturing criminals rather than killing them. Unfortunately for the criminals, this hasn’t always been the case.

Enter a villain named Finisher, a former assassin contracted out to notorious boss villain Red Skull. Finisher is an assassin who is so good at his job that he only requires a piece of cloth to track his target, like a bloodhound with a rocket launcher. When tracking Spider-Man, the deadly assassin found him easily, and proceeded to fire a rocket at the hero! Spider-Man jumped out of the way, and redirected the projectile back at the villain…killing him on the spot.^[1]

9 Possessed By A Villain

The Superior Spider-Man story line is regarded as one of the best, albeit darkest, Spider-Man stories available. The comic line features Doc Ock, the villainous scientist with 8 cybernetic limbs, downloading his own brain into Peter’s body and taking over, forging his own path as the One and Only Superior Spider-Man.

The evil (and one might say mad) scientist downloaded his brain into Peter’s brain stem, and from there suppressed the real Peter, taking over his mind like a cyberpunk future version of a demonic possession. This led to “Peter” acting reckless, aggressive, and without care or mercy, leading to him being expelled from the Avengers and publicly disgraced (the great delight of J. Jonah Jameson, everyone’s favorite hero-critical journalist).

Although Peter managed to wrestle control of his body back from Doc Ock in the end, the damage was already done, and his reputation (and sense of self) permanently tainted by Doc Ock’s influence.^[2]

8 The Death of Gwen Stacy

A moment often regarded as one of the most important in the history of the character, the death of Gwen Stacy, is also remembered as his greatest mistake. In a famous scene from the comic (and surprisingly shown in the movie ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’), A-list villain Green Goblin threw Gwen off of a high ledge and Spider-Man, thinking quickly, tried to save her with a line of webbing. The web-slinger did what he does best, and slung a rope of web, which attached to Gwen’s back and stopped her descent towards a gory demise. The act was intended to save her from becoming a blood smear on the concrete.

Unfortunately for Peter (and of course Gwen, and the audience), it instead had the opposite effect. The whiplash from the sudden stop broke her neck, killing her instantly.^[3]

7 He Hit Mary Jane

During the infamous Clone Saga, there was an issue where Ben Reilly (another of the Spider Clones) and Peter Parker had a little dispute over who was the real Spider-Man and who was the clone. Some tainted DNA evidence and a few tests later, and it’s revealed that Peter Parker is the clone!

This was, of course, simply a lie designed to aid Ben Reilly, but this news did not settle well with Peter. In fact, the news so disturbed him that when Mary Jane, who was pregnant at the time, attempted to comfort him, he hit her, throwing her across the room. The intent was simply to brush her hand off of him, but Spider-Strength being what it is, he instead delivered a strong slap that sent her flying across the room. The good news is that they got past the incident and went on to raise a family together, but how do you ever really forget something like that?^[4]

6 He Killed Kraven The Hunter

In another possible future for the wall crawler, this one led by a Peter whose decision was to kill his enemies rather than turn them in to face justice, Spider-Man was a murderer not by chance or by spur of the moment actions but by cold, calculated choice. It all started with Kraven the Hunter, a demented villain who, as his name suggests, hunts our hero Spider-Man as if he were an animal, stalking him through the streets of New York like a panther tracking an injured rabbit.

Eventually, his hunt takes him too far, and leads to him killing Kaine (a Spider Clone) and Martha “Mattie” Franklin (a Spider-Woman). A huge mistake for Kraven, who would soon learn that a cornered spider can and will bite!

In grief and rage, Peter turns the hunter into the hunted, and slaughters Kraven in a brutal act of vengeance and fury. Peter was then expelled from The Avengers and hunted by the police for his crimes, as he began a slow descent into the life of a super powered serial killer.^[5]

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5 The Breaking of Harry Osborn

Moving away from the comics and their many alternate universes, one particularly dark moment comes to us from the movies, specifically the third of the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire trilogy. While under the influence of the alien creature known as a ‘symbiote’ that would later become Venom, Peter confronts Harry Osborn and, as expected of anything involving an angry ball of alien slime, the confrontation turns sour, with our hero (anti-hero? Villain? The lines become so blurred in this film) taunting and tormenting an injured and psychologically damaged Harry.

This fight between former friends comes to a head when Harry throws a pumpkin bomb towards Peter, who catches it with his web and purposefully redirects the exploding Halloween ornament back at Harry, not as a split second reaction but as a calculated tactic to hurt his former friend as much as possible. The explosion leaves Harry horrifically disfigured, and shows just how far apart the two have become, as well the darker side of the web-slinger. It’s one thing to redirect a rocket towards an enemy, another entirely to explode a friend.^[6]

4 As A Sentient Zombie, He Ate His Aunt May

In an alternate reality nestled among the endless sea of the Marvel multiverse, there exists a place known as Earth-2149, a place where all the Marvel heroes (barring of course the non-organic heroes and those with total control over their bodies) have become infected with a horrific virus. This virus left the heroes with rotting flesh, an unending hunger, and all of their sentience but none of their self control, which would in time prove to be the worst part of the infection.

In this universe, Spider-Man, already rotting away, had swung his way home to warn his aunt and girlfriend about the spreading infection, only to then lose control and devour them alive and screaming! His guilt over the act would haunt the zombie Peter all the way through the comic’s run right up until his last appearance in the story, where he pulled off his own face to avoid seeing his former self.^[7]

3 Peter Gave Mary Jane Cancer

In what sounds like a bad April Fools Day joke, an alternate universe Spider-Man once gave Mary Jane cancer via sex. The story, which was set in a dark, gritty possible future of Spider-Man, had a lot going for it at first. There were depictions of hallucinations of deceased loved ones, a corrupt mayor, foul things afoot in the city, everything you need for a gritty Spider-Man comic. It looked to be a riveting story for fans, poised to go down as one of the greats, a Spider-Man turned Batman arc.

That is, until it was revealed that the main source of conflict is that Peter feels immense guilt for killing Mary Jane with radioactive sperm. According to the comic, the radioactive spider that bit him turned him into a radioactive Spider-Man, and therefore making love to Mary Jane was the equivalent of giving her a radioactive booster shot every single time. Yikes!^[8]

2 He Sold His Marriage To The Devil

In another moment so infamous that many have called it the worst Spider-Man moment of all time, the arc One More Day shows Spider-Man being given a choice between keeping his marriage with Mary Jane, the woman of his dreams, whom he had been chasing after for years, or curing his aunt of her illness.

This choice was presented to him by the literal Devil of the Marvel universe. At one point, Jesus Christ himself came down from Heaven to tell Peter to let his aunt go, so that she could finally be at rest. Peter instead made the deal, trading his life with Mary Jane for his aunt’s health in a move that more or less pushed the reset button on several aspects of his personal background. While the choice to save Aunt May came as little surprise to readers of the comic, it was still recorded as one of his darkest moral moments.^[9]

1 He Was Molested

One little known fact about Peter Parker comes from that glorious time in comic book history: the ’80s, when PSAs were everywhere and nothing was safe from a character looking directly at the camera and telling you to never even think about drugs, sex, or rock-n-roll.

One such PSA comes to us in Spider-man and Power Pack, a comic that definitely meant well with its message against sexual abuse. What it did in practice, unfortunately, was horrify many readers in a scene where a young and vulnerable Peter is molested by a family friend. While nothing explicit is shown, it’s made clear what happened to the unfortunate young hero.

The story has no doubt helped several abuse victims feel less alone, but to many of us, this moment was a dark, horrific scene that came out of nowhere and left a lasting sense of unease in its wake.^[10]

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In all of human history, the most devastating weapon has been the nuclear bomb. With just one piece of ordnance, a military can (and has) wiped out entire cities. Still, the engineers who make weapons weren’t done with those early models.

In the years since the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientists and engineers have continued to improve their designs. The results are both fascinating and horrifying. These 10 nukes were designed, created, or both by various militaries, and with any luck, they’ll never see the light of day.

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10 W54
Man-Portable Rocket-Launched Nuclear Weapon

When nuclear weapons were invented, they were large, bulky objects with relatively low yields. Over time, the size of these weapon systems got much smaller while the nuclear yields grew larger. As far as we know, the smallest nuke developed and deployed by any military is the W54.

The United States developed the bomb in the 1950s as a tactical, low-yield nuclear weapon capable of delivering a 10-ton to 1-kiloton blast. It was created for use in the M-28 and M-29 Davy Crockett short-range rockets and had a range of 2–4 kilometers (1–2.5 mi).

The W54 was adapted into a man-portable Special Atomic Demolition Munition. Specifically, it was to be used if the Soviet Union invaded Europe. It was designed to be carried and fired short distances as an artillery munition.^[1]

W54s were enhanced to become nuclear-tipped, air-to-air missiles. The W72 model was a rebuilt W54 used with the AGM-62 Walleye-guided bomb, which was capable of delivering a 600-ton nuclear yield. However, no models are believed to have been completed.

The W54 was extensively tested before the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. Between 1957 and 1979, the US produced around 400 W54 bombs.

9 Mark-18
Ivy King

Some people feel that nuclear bombs should be precise, low-yield weapons, while others favor more of a “go big or go home” attitude. The Mark-18 Ivy King satisfies the latter as it was the largest pure-fission nuclear bomb tested by the US.

In direct response to the Soviet Union’s development of high-yield nukes in the 1950s, the Truman administration launched Operation Ivy, which resulted in the aptly named Ivy King. On November 16, 1952, the bomb was tested, and it achieved a yield of a 500-kiloton blast.^[2]

The massive bomb weighed 3,900 kilograms (8,600 lb). It used a 92-point implosion system and contained an enormous amount of highly enriched uranium (equivalent to four critical masses). This put the bomb on the edge of criticality safety, so aluminum and boron chains filled the central chamber to prohibit accidental collapse.

The chains absorbed neutrons, which were needed to achieve the desired reaction. To arm the bomb, the chain was removed. Overall, the US produced 90 Mark 18 bombs from March 1953 to 1956.

8 W82
Nuclear Artillery Shell

There are two types of deployments concerning the use of nuclear weapons: tactical and strategic. The bombs dropped in Japan were strategic. Their purpose wasn’t to destroy two Japanese cities. Rather, it was a display of force meant to compel a Japanese surrender.

Tactical nuclear weapons were meant to be used in specific combat operations alongside conventional weapons. The best example is the W82, a low-yield tactical nuclear warhead designed to be used in a 155 mm artillery weapon system.

The W82 was a dual-purpose weapon with a blast yield that reached two kilotons. It came with interchangeable components that would enable the shell to function as either an “enhanced radiation” or a “standard” fission device.

Like many nuclear weapons developed by the United States, the W82 was meant to provide a “cohesive forward defense” of NATO territory if the Soviet Union invaded. The ordnance could be fired to a range of 30 kilometers (18.6 mi) via an additional rocket assist.^[3]

The United States planned to produce 2,500 rounds of W82 ordnance. But the government only developed around 1,000 before the program was canceled in 1991 after the Cold War ended.

7 W44
Nuclear Depth Charge

Submarines have proven to be one of the most effective naval vessels in combat as they represent a clear and present danger to surface vessels during warfare. To counter this, navies across the world have developed torpedoes and depth charges designed to find and destroy submarines.

As the United States had to put a nuke on every type of ordnance during the Cold War, one was developed for use in the RUR-5 ASROC (Anti-Submarine ROCket) in 1961. The system fired a Mark 44/46 torpedo fitted with a W44 nuclear warhead.

These torpedoes were only launched by surface ships, and they carried a great deal of explosive energy. The W44 achieved a yield of 10 kilotons, making it particularly deadly if it was fired and detonated anywhere near a submarine.^[4]

The ASROC would fire on a sub’s position with a rocket carrying an acoustic homing torpedo to deploy the system. After entering the water, the depth charge detached from the torpedo and sank quickly to a predetermined depth. There, it detonated.

Placed into service in 1961, the W44 was only tested one or two times, although 575 were produced. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 put an end to underwater nuclear testing.

6 B61 Mod 11/12
Nuclear Bunker Buster

For the most part, keeping yourself safe from a nuclear weapon requires staying deep underground. This protects you from the blast and ensuing radiation, but that presents a problem for the people trying to take out the target. To mitigate bunkers, the United States developed the Mod 11 for the B61 thermonuclear gravity bomb.

The device works by combining ground shock with earth penetration of around 3 meters (10 ft). This combination works to force the bulk of the explosive energy further into the Earth, resulting in the target’s destruction.^[5]

Bunker buster bombs carrying the B61 Mod 11 can carry one of three nuclear yields: 0.3, 340, or 400 kilotons. Beginning in 2019, the US started developing the GPS-guided Mod 12, which will produce yields of 0.3, 1.5, 10, or 50 kilotons. It is believed that the weapon was designed to penetrate up to 304 meters (1,000 ft) of solid granite to counter the continuity of government facility at Kosvinsky Kamen in Russia.

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5 MK-54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition

While the W54 was designed to be launched via rocket, the MK-54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was meant to be carried by personnel into combat. The SADM was intended to be used to counter a Soviet invasion of Europe.

The device was relatively lightweight at 23 kilograms (51 lb) and able to fit inside a duffel bag. The warhead carried a yield of between 10 tons and one kiloton. It was equipped with a time delay, so troops could place the weapon and escape the target location before detonation.

Three hundred MK-54s were developed, and airborne troops were trained in their use. Ideally, paratroopers would jump from an aircraft over enemy or occupied territory. They would head to a predetermined target, which would be a power plant, bridge, or another resource. Then they would remove it from the battlefield.

The bomb is enveloped in controversy . . . more than other nuclear weapon. This is due to allegations that any mission carried out by a paratrooper was a suicide mission. It wasn’t practical to outrun the timer or the blast radius. According to Mark Bentley, a soldier trained in the deployment of atomic bombs, “We all knew it was a one-way mission, a suicide mission.”^[6]

4 RA-115
Suitcase Nuke

The United States’ development of the MK-54 wasn’t something that the Soviet Union was willing to let slide, so the USSR created its own so-called “suitcase nuke.” The RA-115 weighed 22–27 kilograms (50–60 lb). They were designed to be placed for long periods at a target location for eventual detonation.

The bombs were connected to a small power source with a battery backup, which would signal a potential loss of power to a GRU post at a Russian embassy or consulate office. Numerous RA-115s were placed at strategic locations around the world.

Much of what is known about the RA-115 weapon system has been provided to the West by Stanislav Lunev, the GRU’s highest-ranking defector. According to him and the former Russian National Security Adviser Aleksandr Lebed, the USSR created 250 of these weapon systems and more than 100 are missing.^[7]

That’s a frightening proposition as the weapons were designed to be placed inside the United States to eliminate targets and politicians if the Cold War turned hot. The Russian Security Council has investigated these claims and suggested that they are misleading. But with so much secrecy, there’s no way to know for certain.

3 Blue Peacock
Nuclear Land Mine

The United Kingdom developed a nuclear land mine to support a NATO defense if the Soviet Union crossed north Germany in a European invasion. The project was known as Brown Bunny before the name was switched to Blue Bunny and finally became Blue Peacock.

The mines were designed to produce a yield of 10 kilotons. They would either be detonated via an eight-day timer or by wire manually. According to a policy paper, the thinking was that “a skillfully sited atomic mine would not only destroy facilities and installations over a large area but would deny occupation of the area to an enemy for an appreciable time due to contamination.”^[8]

The Blue Peacock program went through development but was never deployed. There was too much risk of fallout and the contamination of territory that NATO nations wanted back.

Interestingly, the system had a problem in keeping the electronics from freezing. One suggestion was to seal live chickens with food and water inside the casing. The chickens’ body heat would theoretically keep the weapon system from freezing.

The proposal was so outlandish that many thought it was an April Fools’ joke when the project was declassified in 2004. It wasn’t.

2 9M730 Burevestnik
Nuclear-Powered, Nuclear-Armed Cruise Missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled six new Russian strategic weapons in March 2018, with the 9M730 Burevestnik being the most extraordinary. It’s a nuclear-tipped cruise missile that’s also nuclear-powered.

The intercontinental cruise missile was in development shortly after the United States deployed the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system, which was intended to counter nuclear ICBMs. The 9M730 Burevestnik was designed to counter the THAAD.

According to Russian claims about the weapon, it has an unlimited range and “is invincible to all the existing and advanced air and missile defense systems.” Theoretically, the THAAD can’t stop them.

As the weapon is relatively new, no declassified or confirmed information exists about its potential yield. It is believed that the development of the system caused the Nyonoksa radiation accident in August 2019. This resulted in the deaths of five weapons scientists following a test of an “isotope power source for a liquid-fueled rocket engine.”^[9]

Aleksei Karpov, the Russian envoy to international organizations in Vienna, stated that the accident was related to “one of the tit-for-tat measures in the wake of the United States’ withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.”

1 RDS-220
Tsar Bomba

The RDS-220 Tsar Bomba is probably the best-known nuclear weapon. Tested in October 1961, it was the largest man-made explosive ever detonated.

The device was developed as more of a proof of concept than a usable weapon system. It was 8 meters (26 ft) long and weighed a massive 27,000 kilograms (60,000 lb). Only one was ever built and tested.

There are various claims about the atomic yield, which might have reached 100 megatons if a uranium-238 fusion tamper had been included. Instead, the RDS-220 Tsar Bomba is estimated to have achieved a yield of 50 megatons, as measured by Soviet scientists at the time. That was more than 3,300 times the size of the Hiroshima blast.^[10]

The aircraft used to deploy it was stripped down to support the massive ordnance. The craft’s outer hull was covered in a special white reflective paint, and the crew was given only a 50 percent chance of survival. Despite this, they dropped the bomb, which unleashed a mushroom cloud that reached 67 kilometers (42 mi) high.

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About The Author: Jonathan is a graphic artist, illustrator, and writer. He is a Retired Soldier and enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects.