Last updated on December 20, 2025
Spider-Man Noir | Illustration by Xabi Gaztelua
Universes Beyond sets promise to immortalize fan-favorite characters in cardboard and Magic mechanics, but the newest entry—Marvel's Spider-Man—has a unique challenge, as comic books are rather insane when it comes to characters.
Between multiversal variants and heroes that pass the cowl, reclaim the cowl, and travel through time, there can be many iterations of one character, and Spider-Man is no different. So let’s rank all the Spider-Man variants in SPM and SPE so you can find the best heroes to enhance your deck.
What Are Spider-Man Variants in MTG?
Spider-Man, Miles Morales | Illustration by InHyuk Lee
Spider-Man variants are cards that depict the character of Spider-Man, currently only printed in Marvel's Spider-Man (SPM) and Marvel's Spider-Man Eternal (SPE).
These aren't simply cards with art or borders that include Spider-Man, but cards that represent the hero. I’ve included the classic Peter Parker Spider-Man, as well as characters from alternate dimensions in the Spider-Verse or different time periods. Basically, if these characters have called themselves Spider-Man or some variant therein, I ranked them. I didn't include characters with spider-related powers like Madame Web or Venom cards.
I've ranked these based on their strength as Magic cards rather than how well they adapt the character, or how cool I find the respective Spider-People, and so on.
#28. Spider-Girl, Legacy Hero
Spider-Girl, Legacy Hero is a Limited card. It's a great enabler or payoff for web-slinging cards, but they aren't strong enough to build around outside of Sealed or Draft.
#27. Spider-Rex, Daring Dino
Spider-Rex, Daring Dino would have been way funnier if it were just a legendary Colossal Dreadmaw. It's fine, your Limited deck will thank you for it, and we'll forget about it once Avatar: The Last Airbender drops.
#26. Spider-Man Noir
Spider-Man Noir rewards lone wolf-style attacks with one creature. It's too expensive and low-impact to be good outside of Limited, but I appreciate clever designs, and this one captures the idea of a solo noir detective perfectly.
#25. Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy
A 5-mana card that needs to survive a turn cycle and requires a wide board is so tepid in 2025. Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy is weaker than Hellrider in every regard, with no reason to play it outside of an affinity for the character.
#24. Spider-Gwen, Free Spirit
Magic has plenty of effects that tap your creatures as a cost, like Springleaf Drum and vehicles. Spider-Gwen, Free Spirit plays well with those effects and all of red's discard synergies, so it has a place as a role-player in plenty of decks, even if it's never the most exciting card you play.
#23. Spider-Man, Miles Morales
Spider-Man, Miles Morales is a super vanilla creature that buffs your team with counters. It's cute with cards like Danny Pink and Kodama of the West Tree that reward you for putting counters across your entire team, but it’s ultimately too tame for 2025 Magic.
#22. Cosmic Spider-Man
Many Universes Beyond sets have a 4- or 5-color legendary creature printed explicitly to be the commander where you add all the cards from the set. Final Fantasy had Terra, Magical Adept for all the summons, Lord of the Rings had Aragorn the Unifier for your favorite heroes, and so on. Cosmic Spider-Man fills this niche for Marvel's Spider-Man, and it’ll never be more than the 5-color commander you use to play all your favorite Spider-Man variants.
#21. Spider-Man, Web-Slinger
I really want to be high on Spider-Man, Web-Slinger; it's a 1-mana 3/3! But it probably has one hoop too many since web-slinging creatures need to be tapped. Still, I see this working well in white weenie decks that attack with Savannah Lions then play this and replays the Lion on turn 2.
#20. Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O'Hara
None of the Marvel's Spider-Man Eternal Spider-Men are particularly inspiring, but Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O'Hara combines good abilities. Man-o'-War stapled to Coastal Piracy does plenty of work, and this might be better than a vanilla Coastal Piracy since it impacts the board. Still, I wish these were more interesting takes on the characters.
#19. Spider-Man, Peter Parker
Putting counters on a creature when you gain life is a pretty common lifegain payoff in white, but indestructible makes Spider-Man, Peter Parker an interesting take on it. Cracking Food and casting Revitalize suddenly becomes a protective ability, which is interesting, even if attached to an expensive creature.
#18. Spider-Byte, Web Warden
Spider-Byte, Web Warden is a legendary Man-o'-War that hits any permanent type. This card is overshadowed by Aether Channeler‘s modality in any context where being legendary doesn't benefit you, but some decks have room for both.
#17. Sun-Spider, Nimble Webber
Sun-Spider, Nimble Webber works as a clean, simple tutor. These are the perfect colors to flicker creatures with solid enters abilities, and flying lets it carry those enhancements well. It isn't flashy or cheap enough to be broken, but it works.
#16. Spiders-Man, Heroic Horde
Spiders-Man, Heroic Horde looks like a great value engine in Peasant Cube. Every Peasant Cube I've played has been a grindy format that maximizes the two-for-ones in their deck. This hero fits perfectly alongside cards like Mulldrifter and Ravenous Chupacabra with strong enters abilities.
#15. Spider-Man India
The idea of playing Spider-Man India after a Spirited Companion or other Elvish Visionary variant feels back-breaking. Once you get it into play, the cast trigger ends games in short order. You can even play it turn 2 off a mana dork for a truly aggressive start.
#14. Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade
Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade is a great riff on Steel Overseer that does something with the counters it spreads. I normally look down on colorless commanders, but this one has potential—and it works as a support piece in any counters deck looking for additional card draw.
#13. Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior
Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior disrupts your opponents cleanly. Aggressive decks leverage it well to disrupt blockers. In Commander, it punishes players that rely on mana rocks and Treasure for explosive potential. It's an abundantly fair effect we've seen before at a great rate since this is a flying Grizzly Bears.
#12. Superior Spider-Man
Superior Spider-Man works like a reanimation spell, except it has creature synergies; you can drop it into play with Chord of Calling or tutor it up with Captain Sisay. Most reanimation targets are selected for their abilities rather than their size—think Griselbrand and Archon of Cruelty. It offers excellent consistency as a commander because you always have a reanimation spell on turn 3 or 4.
#11. Spider-Man 2099
Cards that you can't cast in the early turns have an interesting restriction, and it works particularly well with Spider-Man 2099; by turn 4, you should have plenty of mana to cast it and another spell, plus time to set up something like Valakut Exploration. The end step trigger is a fine payoff for impulse draws, and red has plenty of cards to buff its power or increase the amount of noncombat damage that creatures deal.
#10. Symbiote Spider-Man
Symbiote Spider-Man runs away with the game if not answered—combining card draw and self-mill into a single, over-statted package makes for a great compact threat. Oh, and it kind of comes back after it dies. Wizards loves to print 3-mana 2/4s that run away with the game if you give them an inch. This feels like a great alternative to Thief of Sanity, a similarly powerful 3-drop that's just too fragile these days.
#9. Spectacular Spider-Man
Spectacular Spider-Man is a perfectly fine, on-rate card. Three mana for a team-wide protection spell is on par with cards like Boromir, Warden of the Tower and Make a Stand, and being a cheap flash creature gives you plenty of versatility: You can attack for some damage, ambush a creature, and so on. This is a fine utility creature that’s playable in similar circumstances to Cathar Commando.
#8. Spider-UK
White card draw often comes with conditions, like creating tokens or gaining life, and Spider-UK fits within this template nicely. Web-slinging sets up your first trigger admirably since you can bounce and recast a second creature. Since the creatures that enter don't need you to cast them or anything, it plays well with token and flicker strategies.
#7. Spider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary
Web-slinging for 3 mana seems perfect. Plenty of 2-mana plays like Elvish Visionary and Fear of Missing Out have great enters abilities to curve into, or you cast them turn 2 by bouncing a Llanowar Elves.
That sets Spider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary up well, and it has one of the stronger web-slinging payoffs. Mana is super important in Magic, so a 4/3 Rampant Growth on turn 2 or 3 sets you up for success. Despite being common, this is one of the stronger web-slinging cards.
#6. Miles Morales / Ultimate Spider-Man
Miles Morales starts with an excellent enters ability that plays nicely with other spiders since cheap creatures with good enters abilities are exactly what you want with your web-slinging cards. Ultimate Spider-Man works pretty well too, increasing the value of your counters beyond spiders to all legendary creatures. I appreciate that Spider-Man doesn't have to be attacking itself, which lets you increase your counters safely.
#5. Spider-Ham, Peter Porker
Spider-Ham, Peter Porker has an excellent design, and it's stronger than the joke might suggest. This is a cheap lord for many archetypes. Some of them are popular, like cats and dogs and rabbits, but it works with pretty competitive creature types, too. Otters are everywhere in Standard because of Stormchaser's Talent, and spiders and squirrels have enough support to be serious Commander archetypes. This might become the most played Spider-Man variant due to how many archetypes can run it.
#4. Gwen Stacy / Ghost-Spider
Gwen Stacy fits nicely with red's many impulse draw effects, but Ghost-Spider is far more interesting. Cards that use +1/+1 counters as fuel for an ability rather than just making the numbers go up pique my interest. Counter decks normally just focus on making the biggest creatures possible, but this one converts them into a card draw engine.
#3. Sensational Spider-Man
Stun counters have been around for a while, but Sensational Spider-Man is our first real stun counter commander and payoff. A creature that attacks and either locks down a creature or taps a blocker and draws a card is fine, but it gets really exciting once you start to draw two or three cards. That requires more stun counter cards and a healthy dose of proliferation; I imagine this is more of a buildaround than a card you play casually.
#2. Peter Parker / Amazing Spider-Man
The classic Spider-Man, Peter Parker has an acceptable enters ability, but the value lies on the shoulders of Amazing Spider-Man. This is an absurd ramp commander that lets you cast battlecruisers like Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Torsten, Founder of Benalia for a fraction of their cost. Cheating on mana is incredibly powerful, and I expect this to be one of the stronger commanders from Marvel's Spider-Man.
#1. Spider-Punk
Spider-Punk is perfect. Simply perfect. The simple text box captures the flavor of the character while being strong. A cheap anti-countermagic card should see play in a range of formats.
How Many Spider-Men Are There in Marvel's Spider-Man?
If you want to get technical, 15 cards are called “Spider-Man” something; Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and so on. Being more flexible with the definition to consider characters across the Marvel Multiverse that fill the role of Spider-Man gives us 28. Given Spider-Man's tendency to team up with other heroes like the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Deadpool, I expect to see this number grow in the coming years—and I'd put money on a special Secret Lair to come out around the time of the third Spider-Verse movie from Sony.
Wrap Up (in Webs)
Spider-Rex, Daring Dino | Illustration by Narendra Bintara Adi
Combing through endless comic issues to decide which variants of a character to adapt sounds exhausting, but Wizards did a good job. They got the classics, of course, along with more modern versions of the character. I wish this set overall had a higher power level, but I expect some of these cards to make an impact in Commander and beyond.
What's your favorite Spider-Man variant? Are you happy with how they were adapted? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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