When Marvel Comics introduced the Spider-Verse concept, little did they (or we) know it would spawn an Oscar-winning movie like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. While Disney retains the merchandise rights to the web-slinger, that franchise is owned by Sony Pictures, meaning the benefits are minimal to the House of Mouse...could that explain why it's now time to end the Spider-Verse?
Marvel Comics recently announced that a new Edge of Spider-Verse limited series will be released in August. Over the course of five issues, it will introduce brand-new Spider-heroes as well as catch us up with classic favourites like Araña, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Gwen, and Spider-Man: India.
One of those new heroes is Spider-Rex, with the spider-themed dinosaur set to make his debut in a story by Spider-Woman creative team Karla Pacheco and Pere Perez. While a glimpse at the hero has been previously teased in cover art for the series, he takes centre stage on a badass variant cover from legendary comic book artist Leinil Francis Yu.
We're intrigued to see where this story is heading, but a return to the Spider-Verse should be welcomed by fans. Marvel Comics probably won't put the concept to bed for good, but it would be no bad thing for them to focus on Peter Parker for a while, especially during this 60th anniversary year.
On that note, if you haven't been reading Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.'s current Amazing Spider-Man run, we'd highly recommend checking it out. With a mystery at its core and the return of villains like Tombstone and Digger, it's delivering exactly what fans could want from the web-slinger's main title and is easily one of this year's best comic book titles.
Check out Yu's Edge of Spider-Verse variant cover featuring Spider-Rex below: