Marvel Just Published Its Most Controversial Art Since THAT 2014 Spider-Woman Cover

Published Oct 7, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot.

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Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for Midnight Spider-Man #1.

Marvel’s brand-new horror line has finally arrived with three simultaneous book launches: Midnight Fantastic Four, Midnight Spider-Man, and Midnight X-Men. Midnight Spider-Man, in particular, is already one of the most phenomenal and novel retellings of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man origin story, and it’s neat to see how roles are reverse-engineered in service of the lore and worldbuilding of this continuity, with Midnight Spider-Man #1 being anything but an ‘amazing fantasy.’

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For example, Black Cat’s Felicia Hardy gracing covers for the first two issues of this thrilling new ongoing series successfully teased that she’d be a paramount and focal character in Midnight Spider-Man, and issue #1 reveals her to be a vital aspect of Spider-Man’s origin story. Ironically, it’s not body horror that seems to have ensnared readers’ attention most, but a particular panel featuring Felicia that may be considered comparably alarming.

Felicia Hardy turns a lot of heads as Oscorp’s vice president of Talent Relations in Midnight Spider-Man #1. She’s as stunning as ever with a Black Cat redesign that evokes her traditional black-and-white, fur-filled catsuit, though the suit she wears here is decidedly more businesswoman chic.

Sex appeal is a defining trait that Felicia possesses, to be sure, yet there’s a panel choice that’s interesting, to say the least. Whether it’s meant to depict what Peter is ogling or not, the literal third panel of Felicia in this book is a POV shot from her cleavage. Nothing else is like it in the entire issue, even when Felicia is pressed up against a perspiring, nervous Peter, and readers appear to be more disturbed or startled by it than anything.

It says something that this panel has caused such a stir of discomfort when Midnight Spider-Man’s astonishing body horror is so fantastic and unprecedented for a Spider-Man book. But maybe discomfort is the whole point, in which case this POV from Felicia’s breasts is brilliant—the predator’s view of its prey, essentially.

While on the cusp of adulthood, Peter is explicitly still a minor during the events of this first issue, and Felicia is presumably much older. Either way, he’s a minor and a boy, meaning that Felicia’s sexuality is perhaps being deliberately weaponized in this regard.

It may be too soon to say with certainty whether or not there’s a more sinister and unsavory allegory at play here (Felicia is poised as a rather alluring and seductive form of ‘Talent Relations,’ after all). Still, it’s obvious that, as an Oscorp executive, she’s up to no good and may be one of the people whose job it is to discover candidates for panels to ‘interview’ and experiment on.

It wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprising if Peter and Felicia are meant to be perceived as ‘cat and mouse,’ with Peter being pawed at as the food that Felicia is first playing with. If nothing else, it may merely be a bit of manga-inspired fan service.

Of course, Peter and Felicia’s relationship in this Marvel continuity is probably going to look quite different from here on out due to the fact that Peter is no mild-mannered minor anymore, and, depending on how severely and indiscreetly his mutation metastasizes, he may be a wholly unrecognizable monster to Felicia the next time the cat crosses his path. The solicitation for Midnight Spider-Man #2 reads as follows:

Where is Peter Parker? A new Oscorp employee is missing. An NYC teaching assistant is missing. In Queens, a municipal services tech didn’t clock in this morning. And for some reason, Oscorp defense contractors are scouring their building’s security tapes... for a spider. Where is Peter Parker?

Midnight Spider-Man #1 is out now.

What were your thoughts on this specific panel, and Midnight Spider-Man in general?