Who Is Spidercide: A Spider-Man Clone Across The Spider-Verse Mercifully Ignores
One of the first things that becomes apparent once we enter the world of Miguel O'Hara's (Oscar Isaac) "Spider-Society" in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is the sheer number of Spider People he has recruited. O'Hara has literally packed his multiversal base of operations to the limit with countless Spider-Man variants of all shapes and sizes. Although you might at first assume that all of these variants would be heroic in nature (given the Spider-Society's mission to protect the multiverse), comic book fans will know that a few of these variants have committed some pretty heinous crimes.
One of the most sinister variants we see within this group is the so-called "Spidercide," who appears in a brief but hilarious cameo in which he climbs into the anthropomorphic "Peter Parkedcar" (who is literally a car) alongside Lego Spider-Man, Tarantula, and Last Stand Spider-Man. Mercifully, the film doesn't spend anymore time with Spidercide, who comic book fans will know is one of the most sadistic and murderous Spider-Man variants we've ever seen. First appearing in "Amazing Spider-Man" #399, Spidercide is a genetic clone of Earth 616's Peter Parker that was created by the supervillain Jackal and subsequently granted monstrous shapeshifting powers through Jackal's science.
Although he originally was obsessed with Mary Jane Watson, believing himself to be the real Peter Parker, Jackal's specifically engineered Spidercide to seek out and destroy Peter Parker and his fellow clones Ben Reilly (Andy Samberg) and Kaine. In this, Spidercide essentially becomes a supervillain of his own, albeit one who was specifically programmed for evil.
Spidercide used bioweapons to wipe out a small town
While Spidercide is already one of the least-likable Spider-Man variants for his multiple attempts on the life of Peter Parker, the reason he is one of the most despicable variants in the entire multiverse has to do with his actions during "Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Alpha" #1.
In that storyline, Spidercide lives up to his name and works alongside Jackal to release a ribonucleic nanocontagen (stolen from the genetic research company Genetech) in the unassuming town of Springville, Pennsylvania. The nanocontagen took the form of an airborne Carrion Virus, which wiped out all 2,600 residents of the town except for Rafael Carago – whose powers were activated by this attack, and subsequently became "Helix." Considering the fact that Spidercide is the only Spider-Man variant to have used biochemical weapons on innocent civilians, it seems ludicrous that "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" would lump him into a cameo with the likes of Lego Spider-Man and Peter Parkedcar.
Spidercide's brief appearance also seems to imply that Miguel O'Hara has no qualms about recruiting even the most villainous Spider-Man variants to his cause, something that's supported by the similar cameo appearance of "Superior Spider-Man" — an exceedingly violent version of Peter Parker whose mind was swapped with Otto Octavius. In any case, perhaps fans will look at this hilarious cameo a little bit differently knowing just how twisted the story of Spidercide really is.