Black Spider

A lethal vigilante who targets drug dealers.

Black Spider is a DC Comics super-villain and anti-hero, primarily an adversary of Batman. Created by Gerry Conway and Ernie Chua, the character debuted in Detective Comics #463 (September 1976). He is considered one of the earliest explicit African-American super-villains in DC Comics and a thematical mirror to Batman.

Quick Facts

Publisher

DC Comics

Debut

Detective Comics #463 (September 1976)

Creators

Gerry Conway (writer); Ernie Chua (artist)

Full name

Eric Needham

Homeworld

Gotham City

Alliances

Suicide Squad
Secret Society of Super Villains
Basilisk

Species

Human

Also known as

Urban Ninja, Derrick Coe

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

An older version of Eric Needham appears in the DC Black Label series Rogues.
In DC vs Vampires, Black Spider is killed by King Shark while investigating vampires with the Suicide Squad.
The character has been portrayed as queer in some stories.

Fictional character biography

Eric Needham, an African-American native of Gotham City, had a healthy childhood until his mother died from illness and his father became emotionally withdrawn. He turned to small-time crime and developed a heroin addiction. After nearly killing an elderly woman during a mugging, he was sentenced to prison but released after three years as a minor. As an adult, he entered a relationship with Linda Morre, and they had a son, Michael.

One source says Eric was unaware of Michael's birth until a chance meeting; another says he robbed to support his drug habit and care for their infant son. Needing money for drugs, he robbed a liquor store and unintentionally killed the owner, who was his father. Overcome with remorse, he overcame his addiction and began a personal crusade against drug dealers. A mysterious source provided weaponry, training, and a costume, and he became the vigilante Black Spider, using lethal methods.

He clashed with Batman repeatedly. After being severely injured and believed dead, he recovered at a free clinic and learned his resources were funded by drug kingpin Hannibal Hardwicke. Seeking vengeance, he tried to kill Hardwicke but was stopped by Batman. Eric later refocused on drug dealers after his wife and son died in a botched drug deal, and he sacrificed himself to dismantle the cartel. He later appeared in The Sandman dating Lyta Hall, with no explanation for his resurrection.

In other media

Black Spider appears in Young Justice, voiced by Josh Keaton, as a member of the League of Shadows who uses wrist-mounted web-shooters and mocks opponents in an homage to Spider-Man. In Batman: Assault on Arkham, voiced by Giancarlo Esposito, he is a vigilante who killed gangsters across the U.S. and is recruited into the Suicide Squad. He is implanted with a nano-bomb, but after the squad learns the Riddler can deactivate their bombs, Waller detonates them, killing Black Spider and King Shark. Black Spider appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. He appears in The Batman Adventures as a member of Black Mask's gang, and in issues #3-4 of the Young Justice tie-in comic. The Johnny LaMonica incarnation appears in the Batman: The Telltale Series tie-in comic Batman: Sins of the Father.