Of all the Spider-Man variants seen in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Spider-Ham is the most bizarre. An anthropomorphic pig with the powers of a spider, his Looney Tunes-style antics are the weirdest aspect of an already weird idea. So who is Spider-Ham? And what’s his world actually like?
Peter Porker: Spider-Ham
Unlike most versions of Spider-Man, Spider-Ham didn’t start like as a person (or in this case, pig). He was actually a spider, living in the laboratory of the anthropomorphic pig scientist May Porker. When she accidentally irradiated herself in an experiment, she bit the spider – simply called Peter – imbuing him with the appearance of a pig and her scientific knowledge while he retained his existing spider-powers.
In her confused state, May Porker came to believe she was the aunt of “Peter Porker” – who took on the name the Spectacular Spider-Ham – and the rest is alternate history. Of course, this is just the earliest version of the story. Spider-Ham’s continuity isn’t what you’d call consistent, with some versions establishing him as a pig who was bitten by a radioactive spider, and others showing him living with his ageing “Aunt Ham”.
What we can say is that Spider-Ham’s first appearance was in Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #1, a book that was a parody of “funny animal” comics. Two years later he starred in an ongoing series of his own – Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham – which came out every two months for 17 issues from Marvel’s kid-focused “Star Comics” publishing imprint. Aside from a brief stint as a backup strip in the ongoing reprint series, Marvel Tales, Spider-Ham has mostly just been a guest-star since.
And if all of that sounds odd, well, there’s a reason TIME magazine listed him as one of the top 10 oddest Marvel characters…
Spider-Ham’s world
Although there are many Marvel characters who take the form of anthropomorphic animals, it’s worth pointing out that most of them aren’t from the same world as Spider-Ham. Howard the Duck, for example, comes from a world where everyone’s a duck, whereas the Marvel Apes (including Spider-Monkey) are from a world where everyone is a chimp. On Spider-Ham’s earth, everyone is an animal, but they’re mostly different animals.
There are analogues of all your favourite Marvel characters, though. Sometimes more than one. Spider-Ham’s most famous love interest Mary Jane Watson has appeared as both Mary Jane Waterbuffalo, and Mary Crane Watsow, while his original romantic partner Betty Brant has appeared as a Bat (Batty Brant) and an Anteater (Betty Branteater).
The parodies extend beyond Spider-Man’s supporting cast, too. Ghost Rider is replaced with Goose Rider. Doctor Doom with Ducktor Doom. Captain America is Captain Americat. Doctor Strange is Croctor Strange. Even the teams are a little mixed up: the Avengers are called the Scavengers, and the Fantastic Four are the Fantastic Fur.
Perhaps most relevantly to Into The Spider-Verse, there’s even a pig version of Miles Morales called Miles Morhames. He has an uncle who commits crimes as the Fowler. You probably don’t need to keep track of this stuff, but… it happened.
What next?
If you’re intrigued by the adventures of Spider-Ham, there are a few places you can go to read more of him. He famously turned up in the comics version of Spider-Verse, which featured almost every version of Peter Parker and/or Spider-Man, and he was given a major role in a series which followed up on that – a Web Warriors ongoing.
However, the most recent comics to feature Spider-Ham (at time of writing) are those in the Spider-Geddon event crossover, which follows up the original Spider-Verse. But with the success of Into The Spider-Verse and sequels on the horizon, you can guarantee there’ll be more Spider-Ham in your comics soon. Whether you like it or not.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is out now in UK cinemas.