10 Best Black Suit Spider-Man Comics, Ranked (2024)

"Black, White & Red" comic miniseries are becoming increasingly popular. DC originally published Batman: Black and White comics–part anthology, part reprints–as well as Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red, and Marvel also published Darth Vader: Black, White and Red. After the success of the Black, White & Blood miniseries starring brutal characters like Wolverine and Moon Knight, Marvel brings Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood, yet another return of the iconic black suit.

Containing several stories written and drawn by iconic Spider-Man comic creators like J.M. DeMatteis and J. Michael Straczynski, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood will spark a resurgence in the black suit's popularity, prompting fans to pick up their favorite Spider-Man comics featuring the black suit, whether it's the symbiote or cloth version.

10 A Black Suit For Darker Spider-Man Comics

"The Death of Jean Dewolff" was published in the middle of the Symbiote Saga, taking place solely within the Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man comic series. Originally published as a Spider-Man "B-book," stories like "The Death of Jean DeWolff" skyrocketed Spectacular Spider-Man's popularity to heights even with the classic Amazing Spider-Man title.

After the Sin-Eater murders Jean DeWolff, a New York City police captain and Spider-Man ally, Peter Parker spirals, dons his black suit and vows revenge. Ultimately, Daredevil pulls Spider-Man from the edge of a moral abyss his lessons of "power and responsibility" would not have helped him climb out of. Spider-Man in the black suit felt right for this arc, allowing for iconic cover images.

9 Battle Of The Spider-Man Costumes

The new black suit Spider-Man acquired during Secret Wars came with so many advantages. The original black suit could transform into ordinary clothing and even produce its own webbing, saving Peter a lot of hassle in those chem labs. Peter had no idea that he wore an infectious symbiote.

Amazing Spider-Man #258 shows the first of many struggles between symbiotes and their unwilling hosts. Spider-Man fights for his freedom and sheds the symbiote. The cover image is iconic, and it is referenced in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The story serves as the blueprint for many symbiote sagas to come.

8 Kraven Dons Spider-Man's Black Suit

"Kraven's Last Hunt" usually tops the darkest Spider-Man comics of all time lists for its brutality and incredibly dark ending. While the black suit is not the focus, it helped make "Kraven's Last Hunt" even more iconic. As Spider-Man crawls out of the grave he was buried alive in, wet mud drips from that iconic black suit.

To add insult to injury, Kraven donned a copy of the black suit to tarnish Spider-Man's name and twist the knife, figuratively and literally. The black suit in "Kraven's Last Hunt" is emblematic of an increasingly dark comic book universe where these kinds of stories would never have hit the comic stands even a decade earlier.

7 The Symbiote Makes Peter Parker A Stronger Spider-Man

The events of Secret Wars and "Kraven's Last Hunt" play out almost simultaneously in Spider-Man: Life Story. The series depicts a Peter Parker who actually ages just like everyone else in the real world. A middle-aged Peter Parker grows tired after long battles on the Beyonder's Battleworld. When he returns home, he finds that the symbiote he acquired in space makes up for any speed or strength lost with age.

Spider-Man goes full Venom after Kraven familiarly buries the Web-Head alive. The symbiote is terrifying, monstrous, and memorable, as Zdarsky and Bagley reference the first time Mary Jane encountered Venom and voiced her disdain for the black suit.

6 The Symbiote Controls Spider-Man

Written by Peter David and illustrated by Greg Land, Symbiote Spider-Man was a five-issue miniseries documenting an unseen adventure in Peter Parker's life. At the same time, Spider-Man still wore the original symbiote suit. While Spider-Man slept, the symbiote rose.

The success of Symbiote Spider-Man spawned several sequel miniseries like Alien Reality starring Hobgoblin and King in Black, a tie-in to Venom's own saga. Symbiote Spider-Man allowed Marvel to jump back into Spider-Man's past and present a never-before-seen adventure with the symbiote at a time when Peter would, under few circ*mstances, don the black suit again.

5 Untold Stories Of Spider-Man & The Symbiote

During the beginning of Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man run, the Amazing Spider-Man Annual (2018) issue detours from the conflict involving Kindred, instead focusing on the Bronze Age era of Spider-Man shortly after Secret Wars. The symbiote is the main POV character in the annual issue, recounting how it ended up on Battleworld and what it first thought of Peter Parker.

Often overshadowed by more exciting, lore-altering symbiote comics, Amazing Spider-Man Annual (2018) is an incredible story about the black suit, showcasing how much it has grown over the years and why it may have favored Peter Parker over later hosts.

4 Spider-Man Becomes Poison

In this What If? version of events, following his battle with Morlun, Peter Parker refuses the gifts of the Spider-Totem, something the Earth-616 Spider-Man would likely have done as well. However, this choice leaves Peter's mind stranded, allowing the symbiote to take over.

Peter Parker has always had at least one hand on the wheel, but everything changed thanks to the specific circ*mstances in What If? Spider-Man: The Other. The symbiote takes full control, erasing Spider-Man's identity completely to become Poison, a deadly, fully bonded symbiote.

3 What If Mary Jane Had Died Instead Of Aunt May?

What if the deal Peter Parker and Mary Jane made with Mephisto, which ended their marriage and split the fanbase, never happened? What if Mary Jane died following the events of Civil War instead of Aunt May? The What If? Spider-Man Back in Black one-shot explores Spider-Man's raging rampage as he hunts for revenge on the Kingpin.

Peter only wears a black fabric suit, but based on how he acts, he might as well have been wearing the symbiote. Spider-Man doesn't pull his punches against Iron Man or Kingpin; only Aunt May prevents him from taking a life. In the end, Peter says he regrets marrying MJ––a nod to the "One More Day" storyline that will never exist in this What If? world.

2 Spider-Man Dons The Black Suit For A Grim Hunt

"Grim Hunt" was an epic saga created by some of the best writers and artists who worked in Spider-Man comics. From Dan Slott to Roger Stern and Marcos Checchetto to Chris Bachalo, "Grim Hunt" was an incredible follow-up to "Kraven's Last Hunt," decades in the making.

The Chameleon, Mysterio, Madame Web and Kaine guest-star in this grim, dark rematch between Spider-Man and Kraven the Hunter. Equipped with his classic black suit and a deadly invitation from Kraven, Spider-Man becomes the hunter, as ruthless and determined to spill some blood as he's ever been.

1 The Black Suit Returns To Spider-Man Comics

The black suit is not just the symbiote. On many occasions, Peter Parker has donned the iconic black suit, not because he wants the advantageous symbiote suit, but because it feels more appropriate than his classic red and blues. In "Back in Black," hunting down the man who shot Aunt May and the Kingpin who hired him, the black suit felt more than appropriate.

"Back in Black" was such an exciting comic event. Fans were overjoyed to see Spider-Man back in the black suit, although Mary Jane wasn't too thrilled. All the rage and brutality Peter exhibited in "Back in Black" felt so much more natural and deserved because he was in that infamous costume.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Spinning out of Amazing Fantasy #15, Marvel's Spider-Man gained his own series with 1963's The Amazing Spider-Man! For decades, fans have anxiously awaited for the next issue of the Web-Slinger premier series to read up on the latest adventures of their favorite superhero!

Publisher(s)

Marvel

Main Characters

Spider-Man

Artist

Steve Ditko