Spider-Man swiftly became Marvel Comics’ most beloved character following his introduction in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s “Amazing Fantasy” #15 back in 1962. He’s since appeared in thousands of comics and has been featured in various video games, live-action movies, animated series, and beyond. Initially, there was solely one Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but over the years, numerous clones, peculiar mutations, and versions have emerged.

Marvel’s “What If…?” showcased a wealth of alternative reality Spider-Beings, and the Spider-Verse has only grown from there. The general movie audience learned just how many Spider-allied heroes and villains exist when “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and its sequel “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” presented a vast array of them. Generally speaking, Spider-Man maintains similar powers across these portrayals, holding a four on Marvel’s Power Grid.

This system assesses intelligence, speed, and other traits, with a four in strength deemed superhuman. Persons at this level can lift between 800 lbs. and 25 tons. Of course, Spidey has more than just spiderlike strength—gadgets and technology provide some versions with advantages. Apart from Spider-Man’s broad spectrum of abilities, some have incorporated additional powers from others. Other variants have vastly different abilities, and among them, these ten stand as the strongest.

It’s safe to say Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus have longstanding history, given their clashes since Doc Ock’s debut in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” #3 in 1963. Their battles spanned decades, culminating in writer Dan Slott and illustrator Humberto Ramos’ “The Amazing Spider-Man” #700 in 2012. As Doc Ock nears death, he exchanges consciousness with Peter Parker, seizing Peter’s body while leaving Peter’s mind to die in his. Doc takes over Peter’s existence to demonstrate he’d be a better Spider-Man — a Superior Spider-Man.

He attempts heroism but reverts to ruthless violence. Technically, Superior Spider-Man matches the original’s strength since only their minds exchanged. Superior Spider-Man’s advantage over the previous Spidey arises from Doc Ock’s tech. Crafting a new suit, he includes four elaborate mechanical arms, struggling to abandon his prior, eight-appendage existence. These blend Spidey’s strength with Doctor Octopus’, who has a five in strength.

This results in a notable boost in overall power, and Superior Spider-Man uses it to inflict severe punishment on most adversaries. Predictably, he goes overboard, prompting a gang of supervillains to band together to defeat him, though it’s no easy task, as Superior Spider-Man truly surpasses the original. Ultimately, Doc Ock sacrifices himself to restore Peter’s body to his consciousness, residing deep within his memories.

Marvel launched its “2099” series in 1992 with its most popular character, albeit with a 21st-century update. Miguel O’Hara comes from Earth-928, which is set around a century later than the standard Marvel Universe of Earth-616. The world is run by evil megacorporations, and Miguel attempts to quit on ethical grounds. Instead, he’s drugged with Rapture, a highly addictive substance he can only get from Alchemax. To try to overcome his addiction, Miguel undergoes a genetic procedure.

His DNA is spliced with that of a spider, gaining numerous powers as a result. Spider-Man 2099’s powers are different from the 20th-century version, but they’re thematically similar. He doesn’t adhere to surfaces in the same manner and instead has sharp claws at the tips of his fingers. He also has superhuman hearing and can see in complete darkness. He even has fangs and produces venom, so he’s more like a spider than Spider-Man in several ways. Miguel has a four in strength, just like Peter Parker, but he’s stronger, thanks to the advanced technology at his disposal.

Peter is no slouch in the gadget game, but Miguel is a century ahead of him and has many improvements. His original suit is crafted from unstable molecules, which resist his claws. He can also glide using anti-gravity elements woven into the suit’s lightweight airfoil. There are also blades along his forearms that he uses as weapons. His white suit is even more impressive, boasting sensors, boot jets, Kevlar, hologram projectors, and explosives.

Peter Parker is a super-strong human, but who said superpowers were limited to a single species? There’s Spider-Ham, for example, but he’s not incredibly strong. Spider-Rex, however, most certainly is. Spider-Rex is pretty much what you’d expect from the name: a variant of the classic character, but in the body of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Pter Ptarker comes from Earth-66, where the world is populated by sentient dinos.

When you proportionally increase the strength of the King of the Dinosaurs with that of an alien spider, you’re going to end up with an incredibly strong Spider-Man variant. Unlike the original, Spider-Rex boasts organic webbing, and he’s incredibly powerful. Still, he has limitations that a human variant doesn’t. Spider-Rex has remarkably short arms, a characteristic common to the species, which is somewhat of a limitation. Granted, he has a bite force unequaled in other variants, and plenty of teeth to back it up.

Most fans first met Spider-Rex in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” where he remains primarily in the background, looking a bit silly. The character first appeared in Dan Slott and Martin Coccolo’s “Edge of Spider-Verse” Vol. 2 #1 in 2022. He went on to appear in a handful of issues and hasn’t been utilized as much as some other variants since his debut. Still, there’s no denying that a Tyrannosaurus Rex version of Spider-Man is significantly stronger than his human counterpart.

One of the strangest variants of Spider-Man is a legally licensed version from Japan known as Supaidāman. He’s known for being almost entirely different from the Western character that inspired him. In the “Supaidâman” television show, Takuya Yamashiro (Shinji Tôdô) is the Spider-Man of Earth-51778, who introduces himself as “An emissary from Hell. Supaidāman!” He starts out as a motocross racer whose life changes when he happens upon a crashed UFO called the Marveller.

He meets a survivor of Planet Spider and receives his suit and spider powers via a blood transfusion. Aside from the general appearance of the costume, there’s not much that aligns with the comics, making Supaidāman almost an entirely different character. While he has plenty of power like the comic book character he’s loosely based on, Supaidāman’s biggest strength comes from Marveller. He has control over the craft, which transforms into a giant mecha called Leopardon.

Think of what Spider-Man might be like if he had Mechagodzilla under his command, and that’s Supaidāman in a nutshell. Leopardon isn’t merely massive — the mecha has an arm rocket, an energy shield, and a sword. On the Power Grid, Supaidāman has a strength of three, but with Leopardon, it’s boosted to a whopping seven. That level is incalculable and in excess of 100 tons. The only reason Supaidāman isn’t the strongest is because, occasionally, he can be separated from his mecha.

In his battle with Morlun in “Spider-Man: The Other,” Peter Parker dies and is reborn with increased powers after embracing his inner spider. Anytime Spider-Man makes a choice like that, it’s interesting to wonder “What if Spider-Man had rejected the Spider?” That’s the title of writer Peter David and illustrator Khoi Pham’s 2006 book that reveals why it’s best for Peter to be Spider-Man. Peter refuses to be the Spider-Totem’s puppet and rips its head off, choosing oblivion over resurrection.

His body lay entombed in a cocoon beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, which is exactly where the Venom symbiote finds him. It permanently bonds with Peter’s body, and when he emerges from the cocoon, it’s neither Spider-Man nor Venom — it’s Poison. He’s more spider than man, and his brutality knows no bounds as he deftly defeats Luke Cage and Wolverine after they confront him. Poison is the Peter Parker of Earth-70134, but he’s far removed from his Earth-616 counterpart.

When Peter initially bonded with the symbiote, his powers were all augmented, including his strength. Despite this, Peter always held back so he wouldn’t smash someone’s skull to smithereens. Poison has no such reservation, and both Peter’s abilities and Venom’s are significantly augmented as Poison. He’s also capable of resurrection and can bond the symbiote’s offspring onto other people and corpses, as he did with the body of Gwen Stacy. This ability allows Poison to create an army of similarly powered, yet morally ambiguous beings, which is a terrifying thought.

On Earth-14512, Peni Parker followed in her father’s footsteps to control the SP//dr suit. She was nine when he died, and she allowed the radioactive spider inside to bite her. This developed a psychic link with the spider, giving her control over the suit. On her own, Peni isn’t superpowered like most Spider-People, but she’s incredibly intelligent and has well-developed fighting skills.

Peni’s strength stands at two, which is considered normal human strength. Once she puts on the suit, it boosts to four, matching the likes of Peter Parker from Earth-616. SP//dr is more than a mechanized suit Peni can wear or command from the outside — it’s a highly developed technological weapon that has had several variations across different media. The one featured in the “Spider-Verse” films is very different from those depicted in the comics. Regardless, SP//dr is, in any depiction, a powerful weapon system Peni can mentally command.

Peni has taken on several superpowered villains throughout her time in the Marvel Universe, proving she has what it takes to be a Spider-Verse superhero. SP//dr can stick to surfaces, leap great distances, and fire web projectiles, mirroring many of the abilities of other Spider-Man variants. The suit is also durable to the point of being nearly invulnerable, protecting the 14-year-old Peni while she’s operating it from the inside. Some depictions show that the suit is inoperable unless she’s piloting it, but others give it a mind of its own.

Miles Morales is the second Spider-Man of Earth-1610, otherwise known as the Ultimate Universe. He was bitten by a radioactive spider, though his abilities diverged from those of Peter Parker and other variants. Miles’ abilities are similar, but he has several that are entirely new to the Spider-Man mythos, making him a standout character in the Spider-Verse. This was the main plot of “Across the Spider-Verse,” where an army of Spider-People turn on Miles when it’s revealed that his spider came from a universe that wasn’t his own.

Like Peter, Miles has a strength of four, but his power stems from much more than muscle. While he has the same abilities to adhere to surfaces, superhuman levels of agility, stamina, speed, durability, and equilibrium, Miles can also generate electricity. He can focus his Spider Sense to see through solid objects and produce bio-electricity. He calls this his Venom Blast, which sends a large current of bio-electricity along with his punches, delivering far more power than his mere strength alone.

He even learned to harness his bio-electric power to create hard energy constructs. His Venom-Saber is a bio-electric sword, and he can produce energy threads similar to webbing in the same manner. Miles can also make himself invisible or blend in with his surroundings, and it’s also likely that he’s immortal, thanks to the Oz formula, though this hasn’t been confirmed. Whether this is true or not, Miles’ abilities far surpass his predecessor and many others in the Spider-Verse.

On Earth-11638, Uncle Ben never died, so Peter Parker’s view on responsibility is skewed. Ben helps Peter train to become a hero using his abilities, which are the same as those of your run-of-the-mill Spider-Man. He becomes fabulously wealthy and begins bringing Spider-Men from other realities into his own. Instead of a nice handshake, Peter steals the powers of other Spider-Men, absorbing them into himself, making him exponentially more powerful each time he does this.

When he pulls in Spider-Man from Earth-616, it doesn’t work out well for him. He’s seemingly killed, but is instead in a coma, though his soul is stuck in Hell. Later, Dr. Banner, the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth-11638, frees Peter from Hell, infusing his soul with the power and spirit of the repentant damned, making him the Ghost Spider. He awakens from his coma and turns to the side of good once more, returning Spider-Man and others to their universes.

It’s difficult to determine precisely how strong Spider-Man of Earth-11638 was before his resurrection, but it’s safe to say he was considerably stronger than the baseline Spidey. Add to that the power of the Spirit of Vengeance, and he has all of the abilities of Ghost Rider on top of his existing ones. Ghost Rider’s strength is four when the spirit possesses a normal human, so it’s likely Ghost Spider’s strength is closer to five or six on the Power Grid when everything is taken into account.

When a zombie plague engulfs Earth-2149, superheroes don’t become shambling, mindless brain-eaters. Instead, they become undead versions of themselves who will stop at nothing to consume the living. After Spider-Man is bitten, he heads home, but transforms and eats both Aunt May and Mary Jane. As the world falls, the heroes and villains band together to find anyone left alive to eat. At this point, Spider-Man is literally falling apart, but he’s still Spider-Man.

He’s also undead and immortal, so he’s pretty much an unstoppable force. Things change when the Silver Surfer visits, informing the undead denizens of Earth that Galactus will come to devour their world. Undeterred by this, some of the zombies, including Spider-Man, eat the Surfer. They gain a portion of the Power Cosmic and use it to cook and eat the other zombies. Not long after, Galactus arrives. They eat him, too. You probably won’t be shocked to learn that only a handful of characters have managed to destroy Galactus.

Spider-Man and the remaining zombies become the new Galactus, zipping around the cosmos eating every living creature they can find. In addition to his regular Spider-Man superpowers, the zombified Spidey has a Zombie Sense, which gives him the ability to detect any nearby living flesh. He can also use his arteries and veins as webbing, which is as nasty as it sounds. Still, it’s the Power Cosmic that makes Zombie Spider-Man one of the most powerful variants, as he essentially has one-sixth of the power of Galactus, and is truly a cosmic force.

The Enigma Force is a power that was once used by the nigh-omnipotent Beyonders to maintain the Multiverse. It’s essentially a godlike force from the dawn of the universe, opposite to the power of the dark god Knull. His opposing deity, the God of Light, chooses a single being to wield the Enigma Force, and these people are known as Captain Universe. On Earth-13, that person is Peter Parker, but he wasn’t empowered before gaining superhuman abilities from a spider-bite: This universe’s Peter is Spider-Man augmented with the Enigma Force.

This effectively makes him a god, and, as you can imagine, while there are many powerful Spider-Man variants, Cosmic Spider-Man is the strongest of them all. In addition to his Spidey abilities, Cosmic Spider-Man can fly, manipulate matter, has telekinetic powers, and Uni-Vision. Whoever possesses the Enigma Force tops out every aspect of the Power Grid, so Cosmic Spider-Man has a seven in strength and everything else.

A strength of seven is incalculable and seemingly has no limit. Still, despite everything he had going for him, Cosmic Spider-Man died at the hands of Solus, the leader of the Inheritors. Solus consumes life force, and that’s what the Enigma Force is derived from, making Cosmic Spider-Man vulnerable. Before the killing blow, Cosmic Spider-Man exclaims, “This is impossible! I’m the most powerful thing in the universe!” Unfortunately for him, his universe is but one of an infinite number of realities in the Multiverse, where Solus derives his power.