History ComicBook / SpiderManSpidersShadow

* ForWantOfANail: This issue starts during [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_258 Amazing Spider-Man #258]], but there's a small change: instead of going to the Baxter Building immediately after his nightmare, he gets distracted by a fight with the Hobgoblin, where he ends up giving into some of his darker impulses and beats and unmasks Hobgoblin, warning him that he's "playing for keeps." This allows the suit a little more control of Peter and when he finally ''does'' have Reed Richards examine the suit and learns it's alive, he doesn't remove it like in the original story, but keeps it.

'''''Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow''''' is a 2021 Creator/MarvelComics five-issue mini-series written by Creator/ChipZdarsky, with art by Pasqual Ferry and Matt Hollingsworth. The reality this comic is set in has been officially designated as Earth-21619. It is the first in a new line of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' mini-series, in this case: What if Peter Parker became Venom? The story received a follow-up called "Spider's Eclipse" in ''ComicBook/ExtremeVenomverse''.

* DeathByAdaptation: May Parker, Hobgoblin, Shocker, Scorpion, Mysterio, Rhino, Electro, Doctor Octopus [[spoiler:and Reed Richards are all killed in the course of this series]].

* DeathByAdaptation: May Parker, Hobgoblin, Shocker, Scorpion, Mysterio, Rhino, Electro, Doctor Octopus, [[spoiler:and Reed Richards are all killed in the course of this series]].

* TheCorruptible: The Symbiote tries to get Peter to see its way of thinking through nightmares, which leave the web-head with many sleepless nights and exhausted, both physically and mentally due to it taking him for a joyride to fight crime. It finally succeeds in turning him into a TerrorHero when Hobgoblin kills Aunt may and Spider-Man kills him in retaliation.

'''''Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow''''' is a 2021 Creator/MarvelComics five-issue mini-series written by Creator/ChipZdarsky, with art by Pasqual Ferry and Matt Hollingsworth. The reality this comic is set in has been officially designated as Earth-21619. It is the first in a new line of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' mini-series, in this case: What if Peter Parker became Venom?

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ComicBook/WhatIf What would happen if,]] Peter Parker never took off the Symbiote?]]

'''''Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow''''' is a 2021 Creator/MarvelComics five-issue mini-series written by Creator/ChipZdarsky, with art by Pasqual Ferry and Matt Hollingsworth. It is the first in a new line of ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' mini-series, in this case: What if Peter Parker became Venom?

* RedemptionDemotion: Horrifically [[InvertedTrope inverted]] when the symbiote bonds to [[spoiler:Mr. Fantastic]]. The symbiote takes full advantage of [[spoiler:its new host's genius-level intellect to spawn more symbiotes, noting that [[ReedRichardsIsUseless he "knows how to do a lot of things besides interfere" with its bond with Spider-Man but hasn't put that intelligence to use]]]].

* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The series ends with Peter joining the Fantastic Four, which was what the very first original ''What If?'' issue was all about.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The symbiote is destroyed thanks to Peter disguising the Human Torch as himself, but not before it kills Reed Richards in an attempt to make sure he can't stop them again. Peter is ultimately found not guilty of his actions under the symbiote's influence thanks to the testimony of other symbiote-infected heroes, and Sue Richards decides to bring Peter into the Fantastic Four so they can heal together as a new family. However, Peter's identity has still gone public, May Parker is dead, and Kingpin is seeking revenge after surviving a brutal attack from the symbiote-infected Spidey]].

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:The final issue shows Kingpin being offered the Carnage symbiote.]]

** In the epilogue: [[spoiler:Kingpin is revealed to be alive and dead set on killing Spider-Man, and he has the Carnage symbiote in his possession]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The symbiote is destroyed thanks to Peter disguising the Human Torch as himself, but not before it kills Reed Richards in an attempt to make sure he can't stop them again. Peter is ultimately found not guilty of his actions thanks to the heroes' testimony and Sue Richards decides to bring Peter into the Fantastic Four so they can heal together as a new family. However, Kingpin survived his attack by Spidey and wants revenge.]]

* FromBadToWorse: [[HopeSpot Jameson manages to remove the symbiote from Peter by forcing him into a burning barn and presumes it to be dead]], but Peter senses that it survived the fire. [[spoiler: The symbiote makes its way to the Baxter Building and takes over Mr. Fantastic, and to make matters worse, ''it has begun to spawn more symbiotes''.]]

* KilledOffscreen: What happens to poor Shocker and [[spoiler:Beetle]]. The latter even gets [[spoiler:strung up by Spider-Man to taunt and scare the Sinister Six when they try to spring a trap for the murderous web-slinger.]]
* KryptoniteProofSuit: [[spoiler:The symbiote, having learned its lesson from past encounters with fire, builds itself a fireproof suit of armor once it takes possession of Reed Richards.]]

-->'''Kingpin:''' So I went about investigating. Seeing if you had any other close family members. A wife, a girlfriend--someone I could threaten. But there was no one. So incredibly sad. You have no one, Peter Parker. [[KilledMidSentence Anyone you ever loved is--]]

* RemovedAchillesHeel: [[spoiler:Once the symbiote takes over Reed Richards, it genetically modifies its offspring to remove their vulnerability to fire.]]

** In the epilogue: [[spoiler:The Kingpin is revealed to be alive and dead set on killing Spider-Man, and he has the Carnage symbiote in his possession.]]