Spider-Mutant
Carson Owens is a 17-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At age 14 mutant powers began to manifest themselves within Carson. Carson has the ability to scale walls with his adhesive hands and feet, he can leap a great distance, and his body produces a strong, web-like substance that is launched from the back of his hands. Realizing that his powers are extremely similar to those of Spider-Man, Carson makes the decision to go to New York City and find the hero.
Carson makes himself a costume, his design partially influenced by Spider-Man’s black suit. The suit is black with light grey squares on the tops of the hands, the mask’s eyes are outlined with the same color, and a similarly colored belt with a spider insignia is wrapped around the waist. Most different from Spider-Man’s costume is Carson’s dark, grey hooded cloak which is thrown over the costume and has a web pattern over it. Carson’s belt serves a purpose, as he has a rare blood disorder which requires him to take injections every hour; the belt holds these injections within its compartments.
Thus, fully suited Carson confronts Spider-Man. Carson knows that Spider-Man is getting older and that the life of a superhero can’t be lived forever. Carson bargains that if he can defeat Spider-Man, then he will take his place and the wall-crawler must go into retirement. Angered by a refusal to his proposal, Carson attacks Spider-Man and begins a brawl between two spider-men. Carson is much more agile and energetic in his youth, but his arrogance gets the best of him.
Spider-Man defeats him and calmly gives him some experienced advice: “I got into this whole Spider-Man mess when I was just fifteen. I’ve helped a lot of people in that time, but I’ve also hurt some of the people that I care for. You’ve got potential, but you’re just a kid. Live your life before you throw it away. Maybe someday I’ll be ready for you to take my place when you’ve grown up.”
Carson doesn’t ignore this advice completely, but he explains the hard life he left behind in Philadelphia. He had been living with his stepfather and stepbrother, two people that didn’t really care what he did with his life. His one hope was that maybe he could find his place in New York. Carson leaves Spider-Man with one last statement: “Even if it’s not as Spider-Man, I’m going to find my place.”
Joining the X-Men
After his disappointing loss to Spider-Man, Carson decides that his place may just be with other mutants. He takes on the name of “Spider-Mutant,” wanting to keep his identity a secret, and becomes a young, new face amongst the X-Men. During this time Carson alters his costume by removing the cloak, adding a large yellow X across the chest, and replacing all grey areas with yellow. In his time spent with the X-Men Carson unintentionally tries to outshine all of the other members. Over time, though, his arrogance is dulled and he becomes a valued teammate. However, he still maintains a desire to work alone and eventually leaves the team.
Solo Period
Carson returns to Philadelphia to help his own hometown with its crime problems, resuming use of his old costume. Over a three year time period Carson fights a number of criminals, none of which are particularly supervillains save those that come from outside the city. Carson still feels that he’s not living up to his fullest potential.
Spider-Man
Carson finally gets his chance to become Spider-Man. Peter had be walking down a street and was hit by a car whose driver had lost control; this accident left him in a comatose state. Carson at first sports Spider-Man’s traditional costume (with his injection belt wrapped around the waist). However, he feels that his own identity is represented through the costume and he designs a new one. The new costume follows the same color scheme as Peter’s, but it looks completely different. The mask, gloves (which now have black squares on the top), and trousers are all still red and web-patterned. The top is dark blue with a net-like pattern and the boots are fully black. As Spider-Man, Carson is a much better-rounded hero, having found himself in the place where he belongs. When Peter recovers, Carson yields the Spider-Man mantle, realizing that he can’t keep trying to be someone that he isn’t. Afterwards, Carson returns to Philadelphia in an alteration of his Spider-Man costume and resumes his activity as Spider-Mutant.