Who is Silk - the powers, enemies, and comic history of the Korean America Spider-hero

Silk in Marvel Comics
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Everybody knows how Spider-Man got his powers: Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider during a high school field trip, and its uniquely irradiated nature altered his D🍸NA to give him the proportioౠnate strength and speed of a spider, as well as the ability to stick to walls, and his famous Spider-Sense.

But did you know there was a second student bitten by a radioactive spider that same day, on that same trip, by the same spider?

Tဣhat's right, Peter's classmate Cindy Moon was also bitten that day. And in addition to giving Cindy her own spider-powers, her spider bite also gave her a strange connection to Peter Parker - with ramifications t𒁏hat kept her hidden from the world for years, till she debuted as Korean American Spider-hero Silk.

With Silk aboꦇut to be the subje🌜ct of her own Amazon Prime streaming series, Silk: Spider Society, which was just picked up for a series order, we'll break down everything you need to know about the other friendly neighborhood wall-crawl💜er who shares Peter Parker's origin.

Who is Silk?

Silk in Marvel Comics

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Silk was created by writer Dan Slott and artist Humberto Ramos back in their 2014 relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man. After a cameo iꦰn Slott and Ramos' , Cindy Moon AKA Silk made her full debut a few months later in .

The origin of Cindy's powers basically lines up with Peter Parker's, just as we said up top. When the radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker on his h🎶and fell to the floo🌌r, it also happened to bite Cindy's ankle on its way down, before dying. 

The next few weeks of Cindy's life played out a lot like Peter Parker'ꦺs. She began develop😼ing spider-powers which in turn started complicating her life more and more. That's where things diverge from Peter's origin.

Rather than going on to💮 become a superhero learning through her own mistakes, Cindy comes under the tutelage of the mysterious Ezekial, a so-called "Spider-Totem" with powers similar to those of Peter Parker and Cindy Moon, who believes all spider-heroes are connected through mystical origins.

First, Ezekiel tries to train Cindy (something he'd repeat years later with Peter Parker). But when he discovers the villainous Morlun, one of the villains of the later story, is hunting Cindy well before she's prepared to take him on, Ezekiel locks Cindy away in a bunker wܫhere Morlun can't find her, with years worth of supplies as well as tapes to keep her informed about the outside world.

Cindy stays there for 13 lo🀅ng years, despite being able to leave at any time, thanks to her fear of Morlun finding her.

Silk in the Marvel Universe

Silk in Marvel Comics

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

After 13 years locked away, Peter learns the tr𓂃uth about Cindy's existence and life in the bunker, quickly tracking her down and freeing her. Cindy isn't pleased to be freed, however, as she's un💮der the belief that Morlun is still a threat. She and Peter briefly fought, before Cindy learned that Peter had previously defeated Morlun. 

Cindy took on the name Silk, with Peter promising to mentor her as a hero while also h𓄧elping her find her parents, who had moved on in the 13 year🉐s since she disappeared.

Sure enough, Morlun actually returned when he sensed Silk was freed and began hunting her. In the course of fighting Morlun, Peter and Cindy realize that their complementary spider-powers actually cause a kind of resonance between their Spider-Sense, making them almost uncontrollably attracꦦted to eac𒁃h other and sparking an intense romantic relationship that eventually burns out almost as quickly as it started.

But before breaking 🤡up, Peter and Cindy go through the trials and tribulations of the first Spider-Verse event together, which eventually led toꦗ Silk getting her own solo title which ran for several volumes.

Along with her solo adventures, Silk's time in the Marvel Universe also includes a stint as part of the so-called Order of the Web, a group of spider-heroes from around the Multiverse, organized around Peter Parker. And she's also been a member of both the predominately Asian superhero team the Agents of Atlas, and a reserve member of the teen team t🍷he Champions.

Most rec꧒ently, she starred in a five-issue limited series that ran through the first ༺half of 2022.

Silk in movies and TV

Cindy Moon in the MCU

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Silk hasn't appea🐻red in live-action yet, but Cindy Moon has actually been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years as one of Peter Parker's classmates, played by actor Tiffany Espensen. 

Cindy first appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming, following that up with an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War. Her picture was later shown in Spider-🎐Man: Far From Home as one of several students who had survived Thanos' snap, having gone on to graduate in the five years after many of her classmates disappeared. That was her final MCU appearance (so far).

Now, Silk will lead her own live-action Amazon Prime streaming ser❀ies spinning out of Sony's Spider-Man-centric films, which may be just the first of several planned Spider-spin-off shows, judging by a 2020 report that fiꦜrst announced the Silk series was in development. Silk is also set🌄 to appear in animation in an all-female Spider-Man: Into the Sp🌌ider-Verse spin-off film.

It's unclear if Tiffany Espensen will resume the role of Cindy Moon, or even if there will be any connection between the MCU version of the character and the s🐎how's version. What we can somewhat guess from the series title, Silk: Spider-Society, is that it may indeed include some version of the group she was once part of, the Ord🔜er of the Web.

Can't get enough Spider-heroes? Read up on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Spider-Man stories of all time.

I've been Newsa🎀rama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)