# Spider-Boy

Spider-Boy (Bailey Bartholomew Briggs) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Dan Slott and artist Humberto Ramos, the character first appeared in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7 (April 2023). He is a child superhero with spider-like abilities. He was erased from existence and forgotten by everyone who knew him before being brought back. The character is also an ally of the superhero Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Gwen / Kidpool and the main character of the comic book series Spider-Boy and Kidpool & Spider-Boy.

## Development
### Concept and creation

Spider-Boy creator Dan Slott stated "So, the idea came from when we were writing. I said to my editor, "Wouldn't it be funny if there was one more guy? And now, no one remembers him." And we started talking about who that [could] be, what kind of character they would be. I was pitching really hard for it to be Spider-Boy. Why? This all-new character would be the youngest spider character we'd ever done because both Miles and Peter, when they got bit, were teenagers. I thought it would be really fun to see the adventures of a preteen Spider-Man character, someone Spider-Man won't want running around. It's child endangerment [laughs]. If you're Spider-Man, you're all about responsibility, and what kind of responsible hero would you be if you let this nine or ten-year-old kid run around and fight crime? So that's kind of where that came from." Slott later said Spider-Boy was created to be an entertaining Spider-Man supporting character, but became popular enough to get his own comic series.

### Publication history

Spider-Boy debuted in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7 (April 2023), created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos. He later appeared in the 2023 Edge of Spider-Verse series, and in the 2023 Spider-Boy series, his first solo comic book series. The first monthly issue was released in November 2023. He also appeared in the 2023 Superior Spider-Man series, and in the 2023 Marvel Unlimited exclusive Infinity Comic series.

## Fictional character biography

Bailey Briggs was originally a normal boy before being kidnapped by Madame Monstrosity. He and fellow prisoner Eli Hartman are respectively fused with a spider and an elephant and rhinoceros, with Eli being dubbed "Hellifino". Eventually, Bailey managed to escape and, after training with Daredevil to gain more control over his powers became Spider-Boy, Spider-Man's sidekick, getting his costume from Mister Fantastic.
In "End of the Spider-Verse", following the defeat of Shathra and Morlun, Bailey is among their victims who are resurrected. After realizing that nobody remembers his existence, he leaves and ends up living at a F.E.A.S.T. building after saving a young girl named Christina Wu from Mister Negative's Inner Demons.
After helping Spider-Man and the Gold Golbin defeat Elektro after Spider-Man overloaded his spider-sense, Bailey managed to convince him that he was his sidekick while reminiscing about his previous encounters with Killionaire and Big Wheel before going out to fight the bowling bandit Gutterball.
As Spider-Man and Spider-Boy fight Gutterball, Madame Monstrosity sees a newspaper talking about the latter and decides to recapture him, sending her elephant/rhinoceros henchman Hellifino to do so. Spider-Boy tries to get through to him, knowing that he was previously his friend Eli. This causes Hellifino to reconsider his actions and let Spider-Boy go, telling Madame Monstrosity that he escaped. Later, during a Thanksgiving parade, Spider-Boy takes Christina up a building where they meet Squirrel Girl and battle Balloon Man.
At the F.E.A.S.T. building, Bailey and Christina Wu help set up for Christmas before battling Taskmaster. They stop him, but he manages to obtain the Super-Adaptoid's left hand for Killionaire's use. On Christmas Day, Christina gives Bailey a picture of him and his mother.
Spider-Boy later battles Toy Soldier, a sentient action figure that Killionaire had Shannon Stillwell create by reverse-engineering the Super-Adaptoid technology and can replicate the powers of the Avengers. However, Spider-Boy convinces him to turn against Killionaire and become a hero after he proves to be worthy of wielding Mjolnir. Sometime later, Spider-Boy and Thor battle the Asgardian spider Klöpp before learning that it is Ulik's pet and reuniting the two.
During the "Gang War" storyline, Spider-Boy saves a police officer from the Inner Demons by using his paralyzing venom on him. Then he works to defend the F.E.A.S.T. building from Vermin and his clones. Spider-Boy is among the heroes who assist Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, and Daredevil in fighting Madame Masque.
It's movie night at the F.E.A.S.T. Center. Aunt May states that her movie choice is Fast Car Family Five, which is a favorite of Peter Parker. Spider-Boy and Christina Wu head to Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley to go bowling. Then he later goes on patrol where he finds Spider-Man and Miles Morales fighting the Vulturions. Spider-Boy later encounters Boy-Spider, a clone of him created by Madame Monstrosity who is more spider than human. After fleeing, Boy-Spider is calmed down by Monstrosity's servant Tabby, who is revealed to be Bailey's mother Tabitha Briggs.
While out of webs, Spider-Boy encounters Spider-Woman while dodging some drones. While Spider-Woman does not remember the day when she helped Spider-Boy defeat Red Heron, she was surprised that Spider-Boy remembered Gerry. Both of them discover that the drones were being controlled by Screwball. who combines them into one giant robot. Spider-Woman defeats the giant robot and uses one of the drones to track down Screwball. When Screwball tries to flee, Spider-Woman and Spider-Boy subdue Screwball and leave her for the police.
As Bailey tries to have lunch at PS 41 Greenwich Village, he gets surprised by a teacher and knocks him down causing Bailey to flee while apologizing. While going over the previous PS locations, his spider-senses on the pen he's holding reveals to him that Christina will be targeted by Madame Monstrosity and Hellifino. Despite his efforts, Madame Monstrosity and Hellifino succeed in kidnapping Christina and fusing her with a pigeon.
While fighting Madame Monstrosity to rescue Christina, Spider-Boy learns that Tabitha is his mother and that she does not remember him. He is later kidnapped by Monstrosity, who plans to further experiment on him to improve her Humanimals. However, Christina manages to contact Miles Morales, Squirrel Girl, Captain America, Thor, and Toy Soldier to rescue them. Madame Monstrosity transforms into a Chimera of different animal specimens and attacks the heroes before being taken away by the High Evolutionary who plans to experiment on her.
After Madame Monstrosity is defeated, her husband Jeremy Stillwell, her former henchmen Squeakerton and Mr. Cricket, Spider-Man, and Toy Soldier, modify the transformation chamber to successfully undo the Humanimal transformations. However, Boy-Spider, Jeremy, and Hellifino are unable to be restored, so they choose to live on the Farm with Tabitha. After heading to the F.E.A.S.T. building and getting a picture of him with his mother, Spider-Boy is ambushed by Puzzle Man who puts Spider-Boy through a maze. After Spider-Boy solves a crossword puzzle and Puzzle Man accidentally erases another part of the picture, Spider-Boy transforms and goes after him. With help from the readers, Spider-Boy catches up to Puzzle Man and breaks his pencil. As Spider-Boy wonders if he did something to cause everyone to not remember him as he sees the Simms Tower, Madame Web, Silk, and Lady Araña are working on how to deal with their new Spider-Friend. Spider-Boy shows up to tell Lady Araña that he brought him back wrong and that he needs her help to fix it.
Lady Araña, Silk, and Madame Web attempt to restore the universe's memories of Spider-Boy, but accidentally cast a spell that sends him through the Web of Life and Destiny. As Bailey travels the universe, visiting Earth-67, Earth-51778, Earth-51914, Earth-982, and Earth-92131 in the process, Lady Araña and Silk begin to remember his existence which led to him accidentally getting sucked into the Web of Life and Destiny. Spider-Man is informed of what happened and donates "threads" to rescue Spider-Boy. This also restores the universe's memories of him, with Madame Web stating that there will be a price for this.
Afterwards, Bailey returns to school and begins learning everything that happened while he was missing. Tabitha also joins the F.E.A.S.T. staff and learns of Bailey's secret identity, but allows him to continue being a superhero. Meanwhile, Bullseye and an unnamed female ninja take interest in him and obtain Daredevil's Golden Fang Trophy. In response, Spider-Boy and Daredevil pursue Bullseye to Madripoor. Arriving in Madripoor, Spider-Boy and Daredevil had to obtain a Golden Fang Trophy by defeating the sumo wrestler Enormo and his student Hulkette. Then they head to the location where the Challenge of the Jade Dragon tournament is where their appearance surprises Bullseye and Spider-Girl. Despite the claims of Enormo and Hulkette, the Gaping Maw will only allow them to enter if Spider-Boy and Daredevil are defeated. Spider-Boy and Daredevil make plans to make sure they stay in the tournament. They are paired up against El Gigante and La Mota where Spider-Boy's bite on La Mota caused El Gigante to yield. After Bullseye and Spider-Girl's victory, Spider-Boy goes out to buy some ramen before the next match and ends up dining with Spider-Girl. Spider-Boy then recalls that Spider-Girl is actually Funhouse, a shapeshifting villain of his. In a flashback, Spider-Girl and Ms. Marvel had subdued Stegron who was in the middle of stealing dinosaur bones when Bullseye dispatched Funhouse to attack. Spider-Boy finds her able to get a good look at Ms. Marvel and Stegron enough to copy their abilities. When she tries to copy the abilities of Spider-Boy, Funhouse lost control. Back in the present, Spider-Boy compared the incident to when Rogue copied the abilities of Ms. Marvel and that he can hook her up with Rogue and the X-Men when the tournament is over. After checking in with Tabitha, Spider-Boy finds that Hulkette has arrived as she tells Spider-Boy and Funhouse that they are needed back at the arena. Spider-Boy receives a new costume from Daredevil as they are paired up against Bengal and Tigris. After defeating Bengal and Tigris, Spider-Boy and Daredevil watch Spider-Girl and Bullseye face off against the Sisters of Stone. When the Sisters of Stone are defeated, Spider-Boy and Daredevil face off against Bullseye and Spider-Girl as Spider-Boy gets a spider-sense that Bullseye will double-cross Spider-Girl. Spider-Boy's backpack is ripped off him by Bullseye and beats him with it as Daredevil yields. Spider-Boy then quotes "That's it? We lost?"
Spider-Boy then meets a female variant of Kidpool whose the same age as him and falls in love at first sight with him. The two of them then fight Archon and Stegron the Dinosaur Man.

## Powers and abilities

Spider-Boy possesses superpowers similar to those of Spider-Man. He can transform into a spider hybrid at will, gaining paralyzing venom, enhanced vision, and the ability to communicate with spiders. Additionally, he has a variety of the Spider-Sense that manifests as psychometry.

## Supporting characters
### Enemies

Spider-Boy has his own rogues gallery:
| Name / alter ego | Creator(s) | First appearance | Description |
| Madame Monstrosity | Dan Slott Paco Medina | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6 #31 (August 2022) | Melodia Stillwell experiments on human beings to turn them into human/animal hybrids called Humanimals. She is the mother of Farley Stillwell, Harlan Stillwell, and Shannon Stillwell. |
| Gutterball | Dan Slott Paco Medina | Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #1 (November 2023) | A bowling-themed supervillain with a bowling ball for a head. |
| Balloon Man | Dan Slott Paco Medina | Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #1 (November 2023) | Emilio Helio possesses gaseous powers after an accident that changed his respiratory system. This enables him to control gases including the helium in balloons. |
| Killionaire | Dan Slott Paco Medina | Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #3 | A rich social media influencer. |
| Red Heron | Steve Foxe Carola Borelli | Spider-Woman Vol. 8 #5 | A heron-masked villain who Spider-Woman helped Spider-Boy defeat. |
| Puzzle Man | Dan Slott Jason Loo | Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #8 | Krys Crossman is a Daily Bugle worker who specializes in puzzles and breaks the fourth wall to challenge the readers to some puzzles. |
| Funhouse | Dan Slott Michael Cho | Spider-Boy Vol. 2 #11 | Maka Akana / Funhouse is the apprentice of the assassin Bullseye, a shapeshifter able to assume the powers of anyone who makes eye contact with her. After making eye contact with Spider-Boy causes her to acquire all his memories, she makes it her mission to kill him, briefly taking the name "Spider-Girl" to compete against him at the Challenge of the Jade Dragon. |

## Other versions

An alternate future timeline variant of Spider-Boy appears during the Venom War event.

## Reception
### Critical response

Casey Donahue of Screen Rant named Bailey Briggs one of the best new heroes of 2023. D. R. Bickham of Comic Book Resources called Bailey Briggs one of the most interesting incarnations of Spider-Man, writing, "While his youth, quirkiness, and awkward similarities to his mentor make him immediately endearing to fans, another contributing factor to Spider-Boy's newfound popularity and staying power lies in his unique rogues gallery." George Marston of Newsarama referred to Bailey Briggs as a one of Marvel's newest breakout characters.

### Impact

In 2023, the introduction of Bailey Briggs as Spider-Boy in Spider-Man vol. 4 #7 was credited as one of the main reasons the comic book sold out. Matt Devoe of ComicBook.com ranked the comic book 1st in their "Top 10 Comic Books Rising in Value in the Last Week Include Midnight Sons and Tons of Spider-Verse" list. His appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse #3 was also credited as one of the key reasons the comic book sold out.

## Literary reception
### Volumes
#### Spider-Boy (2023)

Diamond Comic Distributors reported that Spider-Boy #1 was the 3rd top advance-reordered comic book by retailers between November 20 to November 6, 2023. ComicHub reported that Spider-Boy #1 was the best-selling comic in November 2023. The ComicHub Top 200 Comics sales chart reflects sales data collected from the ComicHub system at comic shops across the globe that sell American comics. This report was created based on information from more than 125 stores that used the ComicHub system during the reporting period.
Sayantan Gayen of Comic Book Resources called Spider-Boy #1 a "positive debut issue," asserting that it offers the freshest take on an old formula from Marvel in recent history. He praised the potential for the character, noting that Bailey's future looks bright if the creators invest the necessary love to help him grow. Matthew Aguilar of ComicBook.com gave Spider-Boy #1 a score of 4 out of 5 stars, praising the emotional depth of Bailey's origin story and the poignant reunion that unfolds, calling it a "heartfelt" experience. He noted that the villains in the series have an appealing absurdity, which adds to its charm, with artist Paco Medina and colorist Erick Arciniega effectively embracing this whimsical style in their artwork and character designs. Aguilar also highlighted the entertaining second story, "Balloonacy," by Ty Templeton and Dee Cunniffe, appreciating the inclusion of Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe. He remarked that when Spider-Boy takes center stage, the series evokes a unique quality that feels special, leaving him eager to see where the story goes next.