Early Life and Origins[]

Bailey Briggs was a young boy who lived at the F.E.A.S.T. Center. One day, he and other children were kidnapped by the evil scientist known as Madame Monstrosity who spliced his DNA with that of a spider, turning him into a Human-Spider Hybrid. During his imprisonment he befriended a fellow kid named Eli. However, when they were conversing, Briggs gave his new friend the nickname Hellifino, causing Madame Monstrosity to turn the other boy into a human-elephant-rhinoceros hybrid, filling Bailey with guilt.^[3]

He later on managed to escape,^[3] and gifted with spider-like powers, he became Spider-Boy, the alleged sidekick of Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man, going on adventures with him and Miles Morales.^[6] Alongside his mentor, he fought a number of villains including the Inner Demons and Gutterball,^[1][3] while also meeting some of Peter's allies like Daredevil and Mister Fantastic.^[2] Bailey appeared to be close to Peter's civilian identity as well.^[1]

After Doctor Octopus took over Peter's body and became the Superior Spider-Man, he decided to finally grant Bailey his own pair of web-shooters. However, while swinging through the city, he saw that his mentor was currently fighting Mister Negative and beating his goons to near death. Spider-Boy attempted to intervene, telling who he thought was Peter that he was taking it too far, only for Mister Negative to take advantage of his distraction and corrupt him with his touch. On Mister Negative's order Spider-Boy began to fight Spider-Man who could have easily beaten him hadn't been reminded of his traumatic past. Eventually, as Mister Negative attempted to escape, Otto knocked Bailey out. Declaring that he was better off without a sidekick, Spider-Man left Bailey in the care of the Fantastic Four who had just arrived to help detain the criminals.^[7]

Return from Nonexistence[]

At an unknown point in time, after making a great sacrifice for the sake of the Spider-Men, Bailey was supposedly erased by the Totem Dagger by an unknown Spider corrupted by Shathra. He was restored to the Web of Life by Neith following Shathra's defeat. Frustrated that his friends didn't remember him, he swung off in a fit of rage.^[6] Bailey explored New York City trying to find scraps of proof that he existed, but was unsuccessful.^[8] Rebuilding his reputation, Spider-Boy saw an innocent girl being threatened by the Inner Demons and intervened. He fought the criminal gang and rescued the girl named Christina Xu, and befriending her he revealed his identity to Xu. With Xu's help, Briggs sought to reinstate his presence in New York.^[1]

Suddenly, he felt that Peter had heightened his Spider-Sense using Oscorp's technology, and remembering that he did this same thing previously, Briggs went to intervene. He was too late as Peter was having a breakdown from the immense amount of information overflowing his mind, and with no other choice Briggs went to Norman Osborn, who had become the hero Gold Goblin, for help in reverting the process. The two arrived to Peter's location where they found him fighting Electro.^[9]

As Peter was left at Electro's mercy, Spider-Boy swung to defend him by exposing his fangs and biting into the villain, incapacitating him. With the battle over, Osborn revert Peter's Spider-Sense to normal, but although the day was saved the public became wary of him due to his monstrous appearance. Frustrated from Spider-Boy's interfering activities, Spider-Man took his protege to a rooftop where he demanded that Bailey abandon his superheroic identity.^[10] However, Briggs reminded Peter of their time together, going on adventures, fighting villains and meeting various other heroes, before telling him how he taught Bailey the importance of powers and responsibilities. Spider-Man understood and apologized for being too harsh on him, accepting Spider-Boy as his sidekick and resuming their activities in defending New York.^[2]

Convincing Robbie Robertson to organize an award presentation solely for Spider-Boy. As Spider-Boy celebrated his day with the public, the event was interrupted by Hellifino who was sent by Madame Monstrosity to see if Briggs was one of her creations since she, like the rest of the world, had completely forgotten about him. Although Hellifino was able to ascertain that Spider-Boy was in fact an experiment of Madame Monstrosity, Briggs tried to remind his former friend of their past and convinced him he wasn't a monster and let him go.^[3]

Gang War[]

During the war between the criminal organizations, Spider-Boy helped by battling the criminals. He at first fought the Inner Demons but then received a premonition about the F.E.A.S.T. shelter being attacked by the Maggia. He broke inside the shelter in order to rescue the staff inside which included Peter's Aunt May and Xu. Spider-Boy managed to take down the criminals, but found the shelter being overrun by rats.

Spider-Boy, with the assistance of Xu, helped the F.E.A.S.T. staff to get rid of the rat infestation, only to be confronted by the Vermin. He battled the Vermin and was successful in repelling them away from the shelter.^[11] He later participated in the climax of the criminal war.^[12]

Spider-Society[]

Spider-Boy would eventually be contacted by Miguel O'Hara of Earth-2099 or Anya Corazon of Earth-616 and would be asked to join the Spider-Society. Spider-Boy would accept among others.^[13]

Spider Physiology: Bailey possesses an enhanced physiology comparable to that of Spider-Man, thanks to him being a Human-Spider Hybrid. He possesses:^[1]

• Superhuman Strength: Spider-Boy possesses superhuman strength just slightly inferior to that of Spider-Man, possibly due to his young age. He is strong enough to break through a stone wall with just a single punch.^[7] and can break iron chains with a little effort.^[14] Spider-Boy's physical strength also extends to his legs, enabling him to jump heights of several stories in a single bound.^[1]
• Superhuman Speed: Spider-Boy is capable of reacting and moving at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.^[3]
• Superhuman Agility: Spider-Boy's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. His agility can be considered almost on par with Spider-Man.^[3][15]
• Superhuman Reflexes
• Superhuman Stamina
• Wall-Crawling: Spider-Boy is able to cling to any surface and crawl across it just as Spider-Man is capable of.^[9]
• Regenerative Healing Factor: Spider-Boy's physiology has also granted him a limited healing factor. If injured, his body is capable of regenerating faster than an ordinary human being is capable of. Although it will take a couple days for him to fully recover.^[15]
• Spider-Sense: Spider-Boy's Spider-Sense is more evolved than that of Spider-Man. It acts as a form of psychometry; his body can pick up psychic threads which bind him to people in danger, giving him visions of his would-be rescuee's recent past and current circumstances. This link can only be broken once the person featured in his vision is safe from the danger.^[1]
• Venom Bite: Bailey has the ability to inject a paralyzing venom into people through fangs that are able to pierce through his mask without damaging it. The move is so unsettling that Peter Parker refuses to do anything with the young hero, let alone work alongside him.^[10]
• Extra-Eyes: Due to his mutations, Spider-Boy has grown spider-like eyes on his forehead, temples and back of his head, which allow him to see in multiple directions. At first this really bothered him because he couldn't control his eyesight. However, after training under Daredevil's tutelage, he can hide and pop them out whenever he needs to.^[2]
• Immune to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense: For unknown reasons, Bailey seemed to be immune and undetectable to Peter's spider sense, since his spider-sense wasn't triggered by Spider-Boy's surprise attack.^[2]
• Communication with Arthropods: Spider-Boy has the ability to communicate with spiders, either from earth or other dimensions such as Asgard, using their own language. Although he often feels uncomfortable with people's cynical looks because of the change in his appearance when using this ability fearing that people will see him as a freak.^[16]

Spider-Boy is a quite formidable hand-to-hand combatant, and uses an unusual type of free-style technique similar to that of Spider-Man.^[1] He also received some martial arts training from Daredevil to improve his fighting skills.^[2]

Spider-Sense limitation: Spider-Boy's Spider-Sense did not automatically warning him to potential danger or potential attack around him. Therefore, he must rely solely on his superhuman reflexes and instincts to avoid attacks.^[7]

• Bug-Pack^[1]
• Web-Shooters: Bailey once used a Web-shooter during the origin Superior Spider-man story that was given to him by Spider-man.^[7] However, for some reason he no longer uses that device.

• Spider-Boy's shoes and costume were created by Reed Richards using Unstable Molecules (same as the FF suits), which is why Bailey can stick on to walls with them despite their thickness.^[2] Dan Slott had confirmed this is how they worked on Twitter several months beforehand when Spider-Boy's design was first revealed.^[17]
  • For reference, Peter Parker usually needs to either be barefoot or wear something very thin (his costume's shoes are very thin^[18]) in order to wall climb. He is sometimes drawn climbing with shoes on but Tom Brevoort stated that those instances are mistakes.^[19]
• Bailey is ten years old at the time of his debut and has been active as Spider-Boy for three years, which has been erased.^[1][2] According to Dan Slott, he started at around the Big Time era.^[20]
• Bailey has a kind of barcode tattoo on his nape that was made by Madame Monstrosity as a marker for all the Humanimals she created.^[3]

• Like many Marvel character names, Bailey Briggs is an alliteration.
• This is the second character named Bailey Briggs. The first one was also created by Dan Slott.
• Peter Ross was a "Spider-Boy" before Bailey but he was created in collaboration with DC Comics as the amalgamation of Superboy and Ben Reilly. Dan Slott created this Spider-Boy when he found out that he could legally use that name, though he had had the idea for the character for "some time."^[21]
• Screwball was one of Bailey's favorite streamers.^[22]