Marvel with Spider-Man and the bazillion other spider-themed characters has made the idea of a spider-themed power set so synonymous with them that some mistakenly think it's a copyright, which is ridiculous because that's like if DC could copyright super speed because of the Flash. But I'm not here to debate that. What I'm trying to come up with is a character who uses a spider theme and power set that feels distinct from the webslinger, as in it actually draws upon powers a spider person could have beyond what Spider-Man's power set is.
Here's my idea so far:
[b]Hunting Spider[/b]
Hunting Spider is a mercenary with spider-themed abilities. He doesn't consider himself a hero, but a professional, yet he seeks the thrill of a strong foe. Unlike what you would expect, Hunting Spider doesn't use webs, as that's not in his power set due to the spider he was mutated from being a tarantula (and he doesn't have web shooters). He also can't wall-crawl innately, either. He does have other very useful spider powers, and they get put to good use.
Those powers are:
[b]Superhuman Strength:[/b] Hunting Spider is very strong, and can use that strength to take many others out of commission.
[b]Accelerated Healing:[/b] Hunting Spider has very fast healing due to the spider venom running in his veins.
[b]Poison Manipulation:[/b] Hunting Spider can secrete poison, able to burn through objects and injure others.
[b]Bio-Electricity Generation:[/b] Hunting Spider can generate electricity through his body, and while he can't shoot it, he can use it to enhance his strikes with electrical attacks.
[b]Superhuman Speed:[/b] Hunting Spider isn't a full-on speedster, but he's among the fastest outside that category. He can move faster than the eye can track, which leverages his agility and reflexes.
[b]Talons:[/b] Hunting Spider can summons talons from his fingers, which are useful for getting a grip on surfaces or when facing an especially tough foe.
[b]Superhuman Senses:[/b] Hunting Spider can sense vibrations, use smell and hearing to get a good idea of what's around him.
[b]Superhuman Agility:[/b] Hunting Spider has vastly improve agility beyond the finest human acrobat, enabling him feats impossible for normal humans.
That's my idea so far. Anyone got suggestions for making a unique spider hero in terms of characterization, backstory or powers?
You could build a backstory involving sea spiders. Not actually arachnids, the pycnogonids look a lot like those other chelicerata.
They often have eight legs, but can have five or six pairs of legs. As an anthropomorphic sea spider you could have a pair of fused spider limbs in place of each arm, leg and your head. Or growing out of your head, like horn(s).
There's not much on Wikipedia to guide power selection. They do suck nutrients out of sea anemones without killing them (anemones being much larger) so perhaps vampiric powers. Combined with water breathing, it does suggest some kind of control of fluids.
Looking elsewhere in the arthropoda you also have the horseshoe crab, considered more closely related to spiders than to crabs. That gives you armour, blue blood and an Ordovician heritage (time powers, or immortality, or anything dinosaurian). Anthropomorphing could mean a stegosaurus head and an eight-legged backpack. It would still be spider-like, with a spider-themed name - Dinorachnid, Spidersaur, Carapace-Hugger.
Returning to the more conventional, spiders lay a web behind them. You could have a hero that ran past/over enemies leaving web trails to tie down foes. Or to entrap, like the bikes in the first Tron movie.
[size=14]"The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths." - Pushkin[/size]
[size=14] "One piece of flair is all I need." - Sister Silicon[/size]
Arachnia (I've also gone with Rave Spider), half white, half black, girl, who while visiting Africa with her family becomes the avatar of Anansi, the African Spider God.
Her archenemy is her twin brother, known as Talon, who wasn't considered worthy to be the avatar of Anansi. However, as he's quite black and she looks pretty white, something that he never considered an issue until she became the avatar. The NAACP also tries to discredit her and blames her for everything (Arachnia's version of J. Jonah Jameson) as they consider her culturally appropriating the African Spider God.
Agile with a lot of her abilities being based around the idea of Telekinesis/Hardlight style powers (tactile and ranged) as I felt that gave enhanced abilities, illusions, flight and even sticking to walls.
Sounds cool, and as someone who's biracial, I can sympathize with the NAACP angle.
Doctor Virgil Aranis
A molecular biologist who was always a bit too fond of the spiders. After losing his bid for head of the zoology department and loss of his tenure. He used his expertise and lack of ethics to create parasitic, gigantic spiders to lay waste to the locale.
[hr]
[color=red]PR, Forum Moderator[/color]
[url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/desvipers-creative-impulsivity]My Non-Canon Backstories[/url]
Avatar by MikeNovember
The first thing that came to mind was the time Spider-Man pretended his power was the ability to control spiders. And there is a species of spider called Anelosimus eximius that form colonies of tens of thousands of spiders. Could lead to a spider themed mastermind character.
https://i.redditmedia.com/wtbro9iL0cCpOX6jSb27FEyWAYm4_xGw9wgiOX9lN3o.jpg?s=1271c560e62d6faed66e0d0613ec1267
An idea I had was based loosely not on Peter, but more on Doc Ock, an armored hero who has waldoes on the back that serve as extra limbs. Something similar was done when Peter had the Iron Spider suit from Tony Stark, and when Doc Ock had taken over Peter's body he did something similar during his time as the Superior Spider-Man. I just say go all out on the armor angle.
[CENTER][URL=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm][IMG]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/17.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER]