Spider-Man and the X-Men are heading into 2023 tangled up in a crossover event titled Dark Web, which spins across Amazing Spider-Man, Venom, and several tie-ins for characters such as the newly christened Norman Osborn/Gold Goblin, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel and more.
November 23's Amazing Spider-Man #14 set the stage for the story, which centers on clone villains Ben Reilly/Chasm and Madelyne Pryor/Goblin Queen trying to steal the souls of their respective progenitors Peter Parker and Jean Grey.
Now, on December 7, Dark Web Alpha #1 kicks off the crossover in earnest, bringing in the X-Men, and launching Chasm and Goblyn Queen's invasion of Manhattan - and we've got a fresh, hot preview of interior pages of the one-shot from writer Zeb Wells, artists Adam Kubert and Frank Martin, and letterer Joe Caramagna.
In the pages, Magik and Jean Grey are Christmas shopping - seemingly to Magik's chagrin - while elsewhere, Goblyn Queen and Chasm prepare to launch their attack.
Here's the gallery of interior pages from Dark Web Alpha #1:
There's a lot of backstory between Ben Reilly, the so-called Spider-Clone, and Peter Parker, whose DNA lent itself to creating Ben. Though they've usually been allies, with Ben Reilly even filling in as Spider-Man on occasion, the recent loss of his memories and personality have left him with a "chasm" in his being, as he calls it, lending the phrase to his supervillain name.
Meanwhile, Madelyne Pryor is a clone of Jean Grey - and the ex-wife of Cyclops (who kinda straight up ditched her and his own son to reunite with Jean). She was created and manipulated by Mister Sinister,
If that sounds like a lot, we've got a handy guide to everything you need to know about Spider-Man/X-Men: Dark Web right here.
Stay up to date on all the new Spider-Man comics and new X-Men comics Marvel has planned for release in 2022 and beyond.
