Speaking to Post Cred Podcast, What If? writer A. C. Bradley revealed that they scrapped an episode concept where Spider-Man would turn into Man-Spider.
"[There were] a couple of episodes that were a little too dark," Bradley said, "There was an original 'What If?' run where Spider-Man turns into a real spider, and that was just too dark and too body horror for the PG-13 [rating]."
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However, while it didn't make it into Marvel Studios' upcoming animated Disney+ series, the concept has surfaced in animated television before – particularly, the '90s Spider-Man show. Adapting the same character from the comics, it introduced us to Man-Spider who Dr. Curt Connors – alter-ego The Lizard – described as Peter Parker's final mutation. It was the inevitable conclusion to that innocuous spider bite.
What's particularly interesting about this is that we never saw Tom Holland's origin story in the MCU. It glossed over that part and dived right into the action. So, we didn't see him getting nipped on the hand by a black widow. I'm not talking about Scarlett Johansson.
If this episode's concept had made it to production, it would've been the closest thing to an origin story. The catch being that it would've been an elseworld rendition that saw Tom Holland's Peter Parker become a bit more arachnid than man. Danny Devito would be proud.
In the comics, Man-Spider came about when Peter Parker ventured to the Savage Land with the X-Men's Archangel. The villain Brainchild "devolved" them into their primordial forms with a machine he had invented, turning Spider-Man into Man-Spider and Angel into a griffin-like being.
It happened again when villain Plantman exposed Spider-Man to some mutagenic pollen, turning him into a similar state. That's one hell of a case of hayfever. At any rate, it was always horrifying in the comics and so it makes sense that they were concerned about pushing the boundaraies of PG-13. Still, you can get a glimpse of it in the '90s cartoon which is conveniently available on Disney+.
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