Character Spotlight: Peni Parker and SP//dr

Doing whatever a spider can means gets real big when you involve a mech. Peni Parker knows all about it. A spider bite brought great responsibility and great power to stand up for it. How does a teenager get to be the pilot of a sentient mecha? Let’s find out!

SP//dr is an advanced piece of technology designed to be worn by a compatible genetic host/pilot. The machine interfaces through a spider that finds a willing and compatible recipient, then bites them, giving them the required key to control the Sp//dr. Peni Parker’s father was the original pilot of SP//dr and he protected the city and its people until his dying day. That’s when Peni was brought in, due to the genetic nature of piloting SP//dr, she was asked to volunteer to be the new pilot at a young age. She accepted and for five years served the people well, often working with other heroes and law enforcement, such as Daredevil. She would live with her Aunt May and Uncle Ben as they were in charge of the SP//dr project.

She would protect the city from gangs and mecha of all kinds, wondering who her father was and if he would have liked her and been proud. One day, a man and a talking pig arrived, alerting Peni that she and others like themselves, Spiders, were in danger. As her spider seemed to trust them, she would join them and begin a journey through the multiverse alongside other Spider people. Eventually, she would return home to discover a new mech, VEN#m and its pilot, Addy Brock. During a mission to stop the city’s power from being drained, SP//dr would be taken down for a time, and VEN#m would be deployed. Things would get complicated as it seemed there was more to the VEN#m mech than first appeared, it would assimilate Addy and Aunt May, leaving nothing behind when Peni was able to reach it to help stop the threat of M.O.R.B.I.U.S. She would then get another visit from Spider-Ham, another multiversal threat was upon them and Peni was needed, she left, confused and worried about what had happened with VEN#m.

There you have it! Peni is a recent addition to the Spider-Man mythos but she is also an homage to mecha anime and manga, in general. She’s going to be making her big screen debut very soon and who knows where will see her next? See you next time!