As mutantkind head towards their potential extinction in Marvel’s ongoing Fall of X era, it turns out that Peter Parker’s Spider-Man is along for the ride. A longtime ally of the X-Men, Peter Parker has been aiding Nightcrawler in his attempts to hide in plain sight as a New York hero. However, it turns out he should have been worrying about himself.
In a preview of Simon Spurrier, Lee Garbett, Matt Milla, and Joe Caramagna’s Uncanny Spider-Man #4, Nightcrawler struggles with his ghostly new ‘conscience’ while Spider-Man attempts to rescue a civilian accused of being a mutant and attacked by an angry mob. Things are going poorly, but they only get worse when one of Orchis’ Stark Sentinels gets involved.
The Stark Sentinels are equipped to recognize the mutant genome, and licensed to kill mutants after Orchis set up several false flag attacks that made the X-Men appear to be a terrorist cell. However, it seems the Sentinels’ AI is also equipped with the ability to lie, falsely branding Spider-Man a mutant in order to turn public opinion against him. With world governments now following Orchis’ lead on the “mutant issue,” the fact that Spider-Man is actually human won’t save him from Orchis’ lie.
Orchis Has Falsely Declared Spider-Man a Mutant
Peter Parker Gets Caught Up in the X-Men’s Struggle for Survival
Spider-Man being wrongly branded a mutant is a fascinating twist to the Fall of X era, where the mutant-hating group Orchis has outplayed the X-Men and begun the genocide of homo superior. With many X-Men dead, scores of mutants exiled to Mars, and others teleported across the galaxy, the remnants of mutantkind are working underground to fight back against Orchis. Having been forced to commit a series of murders by Orchis, Nightcrawler is a major target, and has been trying to escape the Fall of X as the Uncanny Spider-Man. However, while his own costume hides his X-gene and allows him to operate around the Stark Sentinels, Peter Parker’s ‘outing’ may change things.
Marvel’s Human Heroes Are Defending the X-Men
Spider-Man Joins Iron Man & Captain America as an Ally of Mutantkind
Spider-Man being branded a mutant is a fascinating look at what the word means in Marvel Comics. While at its basic level ‘mutant’ denotes a carrier of the X-gene, it’s also a social category that often subjects the bearer to hatred and violence. While Peter lacks the X-gene, it doesn’t take much for him to occupy the social role of mutant – attacked because of powers he never chose, and has only ever used to help people.
As Marvel gears up to conclude X-Men’s Fall of X era in early 2024, most of its heroes are getting involved. Iron Man is working against Orchis after a tactical marriage to Emma Frost, while Captain America is leading the Uncanny Avengers, having recruited major mutant heroes to improve public opinion and strike at Orchis. Now, it seems Peter Parker’s Spider-Man will also be intimately caught up in the mutant cause, as Orchis’ categorization of Spidey as a mutant makes him a new, high-profile target of the people he fights to protect.
Uncanny Spider-Man #4 is available from Marvel November 22.
