Embedded Files
Making Spidersonas
2025.03.09 | by Kailyn Chu
Let’s go back on a journey through time. The year is 2022. My best friend and I finished watching Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) for the millionth time, when I was struck with inspiration.
"Anyone can wear the mask"
It was this idea that inspired me and many others to think about what it would be like to be a part of the Spider-verse. The 2018 film explores the idea of the infinite multiverse, where the possibilities are endless. Fanartists began to share their designs of personally influenced Spider-people, using the term “spidersona”, a portmanteau of “spider” and “persona”.
First spidersona design (April 2022)
Designing the Spidersonas
My first attempt at designing my spidersona, borrowed elements from Spider Woman/Ghost Spider (Gwen Stacy), with a mainly purple colour scheme. I liked it for all of two months, when I wanted to try again.
This time, I spent more effort coming up with a bit of a backstory. I also wanted to draw a spidersona for my best friend, a non-artist. It only made sense that we would be friends in other universes after all.
Combining our favourite superhero characteristics, aesthetics, and Marvel storylines, I began to craft a new lore for our spidersonas and with it a new design. And so, the spidersonas of Earth-17909 came to life.
In our universe, the spidersonas are agents of SHIELD, in a time when the world doesn’t know if they can trust the new web-slinging vigilante, Spider-man. Tasked with learning the secrets of his powers, an experiment results in two more spider-themed heroes. (Read more here.)
My spidersona is Agent Avicularia. She is a trained fighter who specializes in tactical stealth missions. Her real name Jia is borrowed from the first part of the Chinese word for spider “蜘蛛” (zhīzhū/jiju). Her purple-blue colour scheme was adapted from the original design, but I changed the design to match some of the classic SHIELD uniforms from the comics. The codename, Avicularia, comes from Avicularia Purpurea, a dark bluish-purple tarantula typically found in Ecuador.
For my best friend’s spidersona, she requested that the design be colourful. So I researched “colourful spiders” and came across the genus of jumping spiders known as Chrysilla. These spiders are covered in iridescent scales and carapaces that give them both a colourful and shiny appearance. Chrysilla’s alter ego, Ahalya Mehta, is part of SHIELD’s science division. A genius in bio-tech, she led the Project Spyder research team.
Avicularia and Chrysilla designs (June 2022)
OCs like spidersonas are such a fun way of exploring a piece of media. I think it lets people engage with it in a more personal way, but also leaves the door open for others to easily understand these fan-made characters as well. It’s such a unique way for a community to enjoy a shared interest together.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse