Except for when he’s a card-carrying member of the Avengers, the Future Foundation, or running his own multinational organization, Spider-man is usually a loner. He swings high above the streets in a selfless, solitary crusade against the forces of evil. There’s no Spider-Lad to keep him company up there. But that doesn’t mean Spider-Man is alone all the time.
In fact, Spider-man has teamed up with more heroes than pretty much any other superhero outside of the Thing. A little title called Marvel Team-Up kept him well-stocked with a different hero every month, and over the life of his career he’s been paired off with hundreds of heroes. At this point it’s almost an initiation for a brand new hero to be teamed up with Spider-man for an adventure or two.
Not bad for a loner.
Over his career, Spidey has accumulated a handful of relationships with costumed types that he can count on to get his back if the need arises. We’ve already been lucky enough to get a decent showing of some of these characters in Marvel Legends: Black Cat, various Spider-Women, Silk, Prowler, and several Spider-people, be they clones, future versions of alternate universe versions. The upcoming Cloak and Dagger (finally!)will fill out these ranks even more. Frankly we’ve done quite well on this front.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few important holes left that need to be filled. As Spider-Man is a vigilante, he tends to attract like-minded individuals. Often those he has befriended have tried to kill him at one point. For instance:
Puma
Puma definitely tried to kill Spider-Man. A typical “mercenary with a code of honor” type, Puma realized that Spider-Man was a good person, and stopped with all that trying to kill him jazz. Not one to hold a grudge, Spidey has maintained contact with Puma over the years. Being a were-puma type, Puma is a combination of fuzzy parts and a costume. He could reuse some jackal parts, but would need a new torso.
Cardiac
Again, Cardiac is a mercenary that fought Spider-Man off an on before they eased into a working relationship. Another killer with a conscience, Cardiac will kill if he has to, but isn’t at a Punisher level. One of the snazziest designs the ’90s came up with, Cardiac would make an excellent-looking figure. He’d need quite a bit of new tooling, and hopefully those funky shoulderpads wouldn’t hinder his articulation too much. Add in his pulse staff and maybe some energy effects and it’s another fun, colorful figure.
,Silver Sable
Another mercenary, Silver Sable has teamed up with Spidey on numerous occasions. She’s fought against him a few times too, but it was just business. Then she died, but got better. Give her that snazzy silver treatment the upcoming Walgreens Silver Surfer is getting and she’d really jump off the shelf.
Frog-Man
You shut up, you’ll take Frog-man and you’ll like him. The son of the Leapfrog, Frog-Man is a kid that dresses up in a frog costume and jumps around. He’s…well, he tries really hard to be a hero, and has gotten better at it, but he’s still a dork in a frog costume, which is absolutely the reason he needs to be made, because he’s a dork in a frog costume and his figure would be awesome. Give him some removable springs that attach to the bottom of his feet and and Frog-Man would be the highlight of any collection. Or at least mine.
Wraith (Yuri Watanabe)
The newest character on the list, Yuri’s version of the Wraith has primarily gone after Mr. Negative’s criminal empire. And like most of the names on the list, she has worked both with and against Spider-Man. A fairly simple purple costume, it would rely mostly on ribbons to get the job done.
Honorable mention:
Aunt May
I couldn’t make a list like this and leave out Aunt May. She’s been the backbone of Peter Parker’s life since day one. Friends may come and go, women may drop in and out of his life, people might die, but Aunt May is the immortal bedrock and the one true constant that Spider-Man can depend on. I’d prefer a more classic depiction where she looks like she’s literally about to die any second, which means the long dress might hinder articulation, but it would be worth it to have her stand by, wrinkled and worrying, while Spider-Man did Spider-things. It’s either this or Golden Oldie.
