The Heroic Honey-Bee

The Heroic Honey-Bee is a rule 63 Alternate Universe version of Marvel's Spider-Man, also known as the Bee-verse. Not only are major characters gender-swapped, their concepts are swapped as well - For example, instead of Peter Parker being bitten by a radioactive spider, the Heroic Honey-Bee, Petra Parker, is stung by a radioactive honey bee. However, most non-powered characters and the larger Marvel Universe are unchanged in this Alternate Universe. The idea first spawned in a rule 63 thread on October 29th, 2021, and the first thread was made a few days later on November 1st, 2021.

## Non-powered Characters Changed in the Bee-verse

* Mary Jane Watson
* Gwen Stacy
* Liz Allen
* Harry Osborn

## List of Honey-Bee Clones

*Full Article: Honey-Bee Clones*

* Belle Reilly/Bumble-Bee
* Lilith
* Takumi Yamashiro/Hanii-Bii
* Pippi Parker/Vulture-Bee
* Penelope
* Piper
* Patty
* Phoenix
* Polly

## Story Arcs

The following are the arcs written and conceptualized for Heroic Honey-Bee, in rough chronological order, though some stories may be reordered if necessary. For ease of understanding and sorting, Honey-Bee is split into three eras: The Early Era, the Established Era, and the Respected Era. It's important to note that these are not hard delineations, and that stories on the threshold between eras could easily be sorted into either era they straddle.

### The Early Era

The Early Era runs between Honey-Bee's time starting from the beginning of her journey, to her early days in college. In this time, Honey-Bee meets her supporting cast, namely the Frenemies (MJ, Gwen, Liz, Maddie, Doe, Dazzla, and Toxic), but also rogues, like Quake, Centipede, Purple Pixie, Black Swan, Radia, Clawdia, Dragonfly, and Miss Positive/Mistress Negative. The Early Era encompasses the following story arcs:

* Origin Story
* Early Encounters with the main villains
* Quake's Malfunction Incident
* Centipede's "Sinister Six"
* Dazzla's Depression and Redemption
* The Kidnapping of Gwen Stacy

### The Established Era

The Established Era runs during Honey-Bee's college days, where she's known as the Bugle's mascot, but there is still some skepticism regarding her place among the heroes. Here, the crime lords, Empress, Cheshire, and Sculpture start keeping tabs on Honey-Bee, and are more willing to staff up on enforcers like Leopard Seal and villains for hire like Flamme Fatale. Likewise, more heroes start pouring into the city, either for work, like Guard Dog, or in search of a specific target, like Bronze Bear. This era would see the introduction of a majority of the cast listed above. The Established Era encompasses the following story arcs:

* Toxic Race
* Toxic's True Heritage
* SHAPE conspiracy
* Meeting Guard Dog
* Redcap and Spring-Heeled Jill (separate stories, but will occur sometime around this time)
* The Discovery of the Hornet Symbiote

### The Respected Era

The Respected Era runs during Honey-Bee's young adulthood, where she's universally recognized as a proper hero, thanks to her actions in more catastrophic events. Here, she is universally feared by criminals both small and large, and every crime lord knows to not underestimate her. Younger heroes idolize Honey-Bee, while the old guard respect her for her actions, and no longer look down on her. The Respected Era encompasses the following story arcs:

* Civil War and Clone Saga
* Mutant Honey-Bee
* Yokai Night
* Gwen's Corruption
* Superior Honey-Bee
* Undead Heart's Takeover
* Maximum Carnage
* Cheshire's Fiendish Four

The followings are arcs that were written and conceptualized, but not sorted into the timeline:

* Reverse Evolution
* Earth 616 Crossover

## Other Notable Differences between the Bee-verse and Earth 616

The Bee-verse is considerably lighter in tone compared to Earth 616 - notably, Petra saves both Uncle Ben and James Jonah Jameson during her first outing as Honey-Bee. As a result, Uncle Ben convinces Jameson to bring Honey-Bee on to the Daily Bugle as a mascot and Petra as a journalism intern. Mary Jane Watson is hired by Jameson as Honey-Bee's fashion coordinator to make the mascot more marketable. However, due to Honey-Bee's status as a mascot, she has a hard time appealing to major heroes, like the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, until the events of Civil War, where she proves her worth as a heroine to both sides. Gwen Stacy notably dies in Earth 616, but is saved by Honey-Bee in the Bee-verse. Most of Honey-Bee's rogues are notably on friendlier terms with Honey-Bee, even occasionally helping out with her heroics.

## Decoupling the Bee-verse

*Full Article: Decoupling the Bee-verse*

Due to the extensive changes to the Marvel Universe made to create Honey-Bee and her cast, many believe that Honey-Bee is no longer a believable r63 counterpart to Spider-man. Others believe that tying Honey-Bee and her world to Spider-man and the Marvel Universe limits the stories and ideas that could be done with the characters. Either way, the above article outlines ways a writer could decouple the Bee-verse from the Marvel Universe so they could use Honey-Bee and her associated cast of characters in either their own universe, or in a standalone universe independent of Marvel.