Spider-Man's 8 Greatest Black Suit Moments

Get in the spirit of 'Symbiote Spider-Man' #1 by catching up with this alien costume retrospective!

Last week, SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN #1 reopened a unique chapter of Spidey’s history: the Alien Costume Saga. Over the course of five issues, Peter David and Greg Land are exploring a previously untold tale about Peter Parker’s time with the symbiote that was destined to become Venom.

The black costume and Venom are the most enduring legacy of SECRET WARS. During that event. Spider-Man and several other heroes were summoned to Battleworld by the Beyonder, but before that story could unfold, Peter returned to Earth in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 with a stylish black outfit that no one had ever seen before.

Although the costume was later revealed to be a symbiote, it still only occupied a relatively small chapter in Peter’s life. He only wore it for 18 issues that were divided between six months worth of stories in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, and MARVEL TEAM-UP. But in that time, and shortly thereafter, there were some truly wild moments between Peter and his costume. Here are some of our favorites...

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 quickly established some of the costume’s abilities. In the safety of Peter’s apartment, it transformed into a seemingly ordinary black outfit. It even spat out Peter’s camera almost as soon as he thought about it.

That really should have tipped him off that the costume had a thought process of its own...

It took a little convincing for Spidey to assure Black Cat that he was still her boyfriend under that new suit. Basically, the first three pages of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #91 dealt with her initial fear of the suit.

The fourth page got a little weird when the suit opened up a space on Peter’s mask so he could plant a smacker on Felicia!

After another hard day of being a hero, Peter went to sleep in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #255. But as soon as he dozed off, the symbiote creeped towards him in a genuinely unsettling way.

(It wasn’t until AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #258 that readers realized that the suit was taking Spidey’s body out for joy rides at night!)

While battling Puma in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #257, Spidey’s latest villain hit him with a revelation: His webbing was organic. The fact that Spidey didn’t know only made Puma angrier, because he thought he was being mocked.

But it wasn’t until the suit began refusing to leave his body that Peter started wondering what was wrong with it.

While the villain known as the Answer has faded into obscurity, this evil know-it-all came up with a conclusion about the symbiote’s true nature before Reed Richards! In SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #192, the Answer observed Spider-Man in battle and concluded that his costume moved like it was alive. He never discovered how right he was...

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #258 marked the end of Peter’s harmonious existence with the symbiote. A quick visit to Reed Richards confirmed Spidey’s worst nightmare: The costume was alive and it wasn’t coming off this time! Reed had to take quick action to keep the symbiote from bonding with Peter’s body.

Peter left the symbiote as a prisoner in Reed’s care, which only made it hate Peter for his rejection. And no container could hold the symbiote for long...

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #1 kicked off the post-MARVEL TEAM-UP era by reuniting Spidey with the symbiote against his will. From the opening page, the symbiote waited inside Peter’s closet until it had the perfect opportunity to reclaim its ideal host.

Once the symbiote rejoined Peter, he spent the issue fighting it while also fending off an assault by the Vulturians.

The final page of WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #18 gave Peter a nasty surprise... Someone pushed him in front of a subway train, but his Spider-Sense didn’t warn him.