Spider-Man isn’t queer on screen, but he’s a queer icon on Twitter

This weekend, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be catching millions of moviegoers in its animated web, continuing the story of Miles Morales as the wall-crawling superhero. The June 2 film is LGBTQ-affirming — note the “Protect Trans Kids” poster fans spotted in the trailer — but we doubt it’ll establish Miles as anything other than […]

Mark

Jun 3, 2023 - 20:00

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Spider-Man

This weekend, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be catching millions of moviegoers in its animated web, continuing the story of Miles Morales as the wall-crawling superhero. The June 2 film is LGBTQ-affirming — note the “Protect Trans Kids” poster fans spotted in the trailer — but we doubt it’ll establish Miles as anything other than cis and hetero.

A queer onscreen Spider-Man is long overdue, as even the latest two live-action Spideys have noted. In 2013, Andrew Garfield told Entertainment Weekly that he talked with a producer about the prospect. “I was kind of joking, but kind of not joking about [Peter Parker’s love interest] MJ,” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘What if MJ is a dude?’ Why can’t we discover that Peter is exploring his sexuality? It’s hardly even groundbreaking! … So why can’t he be gay? Why can’t he be into boys?”

And Tom Holland told The Times in 2019 that there could soon be a gay Spidey onscreen. “Of course,” he said. “The world isn’t as simple as a straight, white guy,” he added. “It doesn’t end there, and these films need to represent more than one type of person.”

In 2015, however, a hack of Sony Pictures documents revealed that Marvel Entertainment’s contract with the studio insisted that the cinematic Spider-Man is “not a homosexual (unless Marvel has portrayed that alter ego as a homosexual),” as Variety reported at the time.

On the printed page, it’s a different story. In October 2022, Marvel debuted a gay Spider-Man in the form of the new superhero Web-Weaver in the fifth issue of the comic book series Edge of Spider-Verse.

“Something I realized immediately when conceiving Web-Weaver is that he can’t — and shouldn’t — represent all gay men. No single character can,” Steve Foxe, who co-wrote the issue, previously explained to fans on Twitter. “His fearlessly femme identity is central to who he is, but it’s not the story.”

If only our onscreen webslingers could follow suit! While we wait for that kind of queer representation, scroll down to see how Twitter users uphold Spidey as a queer icon.

Spider-Man is strictly for the queers, sorry everyone else pic.twitter.com/cdroFewGKn
— Jon Erik is: probably haunting a 7/11 (@HonestlyJon) September 12, 2018

Straight People: *are vitriolically homophobic*
Gay People: Could you maybe not do that?
Straight People: lol queers are so sensitive
Gay People: Haha Spider-Man is gay
Straight People: NO. YOU CANT FUCKING SAY THAT WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT IM FUCKING SHAKING AND CRYING
— Casey Lee Danger (@dykeules) January 23, 2020

Spider-Man has to be Gay bro, why does he always do the most when he’s swinging across buildings pic.twitter.com/Mu98yTbfEs
— , (@Zvbear) January 7, 2023

spider man was slinging webs at Fire Island. he was getting his hole pounded out by venom at berghain. but the papers won't publish this and we all know why
— Chris "laserdisc" Person (@Papapishu) March 27, 2022

being queer is actually a requirement to be spider-man
— Slaynge ???? (@WallyWestStan) May 29, 2023

Spider-Man Homecoming
Spider-Man Far From Home
Spider-Man Homosexual
Spider-Man sex with the Homies
— Kidder ?? (@Kidderaang) May 7, 2019

On my way to write a whole essay in which I’m gonna describe why Spider-Man 2002 and its sequels are so queer-coded (Parksborn) https://t.co/o50iF10l8z
— IT’S ATSV DAY (@0sboreed) April 14, 2023

Spider-Man is Queer and uses Grindr in NYC pic.twitter.com/VCXLRNhnxg
— Wanda’s Defense Attorney (@Z_ninetales) September 10, 2018

I will not get married until there is a non-white, homosexual Spider-Man
— JD Harmeyer (@jdharm) June 25, 2015

A journalist just asked me to comment on whether Spider-Man should be queer. Living my best life. pic.twitter.com/eFDzt0kyJ0
— Meg-John Barker ?????????? (@megjohnbarker) July 3, 2019

im ngl that spider-man movie being about having the ability to choose who knows your identity is some real queercoding shit and im tired of it!!! make the boy queer or i start swingin ?
— klaudia amenábar (@kaludiasays) August 24, 2021

Nothing gay abt Spider-Man. Who would ever think that a character who hides their identity from their friends and family and goes out at night in elaborate costume, while shooting sticky white stuff in the face of bad bad men would be at all queer coded.
— Drinker (@Drinker1840) March 21, 2022