Fictional character biography
Bartholomew "Bailey" Briggs was originally a normal boy before being kidnapped by Madame Monstrosity. He and fellow prisoner Eli Hartman were respectively fused with a spider and an elephant and rhinoceros, with Eli being dubbed "Hellifino". [17]
At the end of the "End of the Spider-Verse" storyline, following the defeat of Shathra and Morlun, the Spider-Totems they had killed were restored. Among the restored was Bailey Briggs, a sidekick of Spider-Man who was erased from history. [18] After realizing that nobody remembers his existence, he leaves and ends up living at a F.E.A.S.T. building after saving a young girl named Christina Wu from Mister Negative's Inner Demons. [19] [20] [21] [22]
Spider-Man later has Spider-Boy meet with Daredevil to train and gain more control over his powers. In the process, he reminisces about his previous encounters with Killionaire and Big Wheel before going out to fight the bowling bandit Gutterball. [23]
As Spider-Man and Spider-Boy fight Gutterball, Madame Monstrosity sees a newspaper talking about the latter and decides to recapture him, sending her elephant/rhinoceros henchman Hellifino to do so. [24] Spider-Boy tries to get through to him, knowing that he was previously his friend Eli. This causes Hellifino to reconsider his actions and let Spider-Boy go, telling Madame Monstrosity that he escaped. Later, during a Thanksgiving parade, Spider-Boy takes Christina up a building where they meet Squirrel Girl and battle Balloon Man. [17]
At the F.E.A.S.T. building, Bailey and Christina Wu help set up for Christmas before battling Taskmaster. They stop him, but he manages to obtain the Super-Adaptoid's left hand for Killionaire's use. On Christmas Day, Christina gives Bailey a picture of him and his mother. [25]
Spider-Boy later battles Toy Soldier, a sentient action figure that Killionaire created by reverse-engineering the Super-Adaptoid and can replicate the powers of the Avengers. However, Spider-Boy convinces him to turn against Killionaire and become a hero after he proves to be worthy of wielding Mjolnir. Sometime later, Spider-Boy and Thor battle the Asgardian spider Klöpp before learning that it is Ulik's pet and reuniting the two. [26]
During the "Gang War" storyline, Spider-Boy saves a police officer from the Inner Demons by using his paralyzing venom on him. Then he works to defend the F.E.A.S.T. building from Vermin and his clones. [27] Spider-Boy is among the heroes who assisted Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, and Daredevil in fighting Madame Masque. [28]
It's movie night at the F.E.A.S.T. Center. Aunt May states that her movie choice is Fast Car Family Five, which is a favorite of Peter Parker. Spider-Boy and Christina Wu head to Lucky Lane's Bowling Alley to go bowling. Then he later goes on patrol where he finds Spider-Man and Miles Morales fighting the Vulturions. Spider-Boy later encounters Boy-Spider, a clone of him created by Madame Monstrosity who is more spider than human. After fleeing, Boy-Spider is calmed down by Monstrosity's servant Tabby, who is revealed to be Bailey's mother Tabitha Briggs. [29]
While out of webs, Spider-Boy ran into Spider-Woman while dodging some drones. While Spider-Woman does not remember the day when she helped Spider-Boy defeat Red Heron, she was surprised that Spider-Boy remembered Gerry. Both of them discover that the drones were being controlled by Screwball. who combines them into one giant robot. Spider-Woman defeats the giant robot and uses one of the drones to track down Screwball. When Screwball tries to flee, Spider-Woman and Spider-Boy subdue Screwball and leave her for the police. [30]
As Bailey tries to have lunch at PS 41 Greenwich Village, he gets surprised by a teacher and knocks him down causing Bailey to flee while apologizing. While going over the previous PS locations, his spider-senses on the pen he's holding reveals to him that Christina will be targeted by Madame Monstrosity and Hellifino. Despite his efforts, Madame Monstrosity and Hellifino succeed in kidnapping Christina and fusing her with a pigeon. [31]
While fighting Madame Monstrosity to rescue Christina, Spider-Boy learns that Tabitha is his mother and that she does not remember him. He is later kidnapped by Monstrosity, who plans to further experiment on him to improve her Humanimals. [32] However, Christina manages to contact Miles Morales, Squirrel Girl, Captain America, Thor, and Toy Soldier to rescue them. Madame Monstrosity transforms into a chimera and attacks the heroes before being taken away by the High Evolutionary, who plans to experiment on her. [33]
After Madame Monstrosity is defeated, her husband Jeremy Stillwell, her former henchmen Squeakerton and Mr. Cricket, Spider-Man, and Toy Soldier, modify the transformation chamber to successfully undo the Humanimal transformations. However, Boy-Spider, Jeremy, and Hellifino are unable to be restored, so they choose to live on the Farm with Tabitha. After heading to the F.E.A.S.T. building and getting a picture of him with his mother, Spider-Boy is ambushed by Puzzle Man who puts Spider-Boy through a maze. After Spider-Boy solves a crossword puzzle and Puzzle Man accidentally erases another part of the picture, Spider-Boy transforms and goes after him. With help from the readers, Spider-Boy catches up to Puzzle Man and breaks his pencil. As Spider-Boy wonders if he did something to cause everyone to not remember him as he sees the Simms Tower, Madame Web, Silk, and Lady Araña are working on how to deal with their new Spider-Friend. Spider-Boy shows up to tell Lady Araña that he brought him back wrong and that he needs her help to fix it. [34]
Lady Araña, Silk, and Madame Web attempt to restore the universe's memories of Spider-Boy, but accidentally cast a spell that sends him through the Web of Life and Destiny. As Bailey travels the universe, visiting Earth-67, Earth-51778, Earth-51914, Earth-982, and Earth-92131 in the process, Lady Araña and Silk begin to remember his existence which led to him accidentally getting sucked into the Web of Life and Destiny. Spider-Man is informed of what happened and donates "threads" to rescue him from being lost in the Spider-Verse. This also restores the universe's memories of him, with Madame Web stating that there will be a price for this. [35]
Afterwards, Bailey returns to school and begins learning everything that happened while he was missing. Tabitha also joins the F.E.A.S.T. staff and learns of Bailey's secret identity. Meanwhile, Bullseye and an unnamed female ninja take interest in him. [36] [37]
