--- title: Marvel Is Actually Going to Publish That Sexist Spider-Woman Cover description: But don't worry: The words 'Spider-Woman' are covering her butt, so it's fine, right? canonical: https://time.com/3594514/marvel-spider-woman-cover/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-19T15:17:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:46.377Z og:title: Marvel Is Actually Going to Publish That Sexist Spider-Woman Cover og:description: But don't worry: The words 'Spider-Woman' are covering her butt, so it's fine, right? og:url: https://time.com/3594514/marvel-spider-woman-cover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d91840e1d2542/6987698735ba6f41c6c05687/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-9-26-13-am.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2014-11-19 at 9.26.13 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marvel Is Actually Going to Publish That Sexist Spider-Woman Cover twitter:description: But don't worry: The words 'Spider-Woman' are covering her butt, so it's fine, right? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d91840e1d2542/6987698735ba6f41c6c05687/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-9-26-13-am.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Marvel Is Actually Going to Publish That Sexist Spider-Woman Cover  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 3:17 PM UTC  Spider-Woman #1 Variant Cover by Milo Manara Spider-Woman #1 Variant Cover by Milo ManaraMarvel Comics  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 3:17 PM UTC Remember that ludicrously objectified version of the Spider-Woman No. 1 cover from August—the one that made Spider-Woman’s bottom look like an apple? The alternate cover that [drew fan outrage](http://time.com/3153866/spider-woman-marvel-comic-butt/) is now getting published on Thursday with one major tweak: The words “Spider-Woman” will now cover the offending derriere. It’s unclear what Marvel hoped to accomplish by the strategic positioning of the title: Perhaps it thought nobody would notice. Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios have made headlines this year for embracing their female heroes: In July, Marvel Comics [revealed](http://time.com/2987551/thor-marvel-woman/) that a woman would be taking up the hammer of Thor, and earlier this month the studio [announced](http://time.com/3554606/captain-marvel-movie-kelly-sue-deconnick/) a Captain Marvel movie slated for 2017, the first female-centric film from the studio. Even the announcement of the Spider-Woman cover at San Diego Comic Con was enthusiastically received by female fans of the comic who were excited that a female character in the Spider-Man universe was getting a big PR bump. That’s why female fans are particularly disappointed in the company for overly-sexualizing what they hoped would be an empowering female character on the cover. Even worse, artist Milo Manara seems to have based the cover on an [erotic image](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GA07WW8/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00GA07WW8&linkCode=as2&tag=richjohnston-20&linkId=YO4FGLHKIFSUS3IA) he had drawn earlier in his career of a nude woman lying bottom-up in front of a gang of men. The woman-focused entertainment site, The Mary Sue, even mocked the image with [several memes](http://www.themarysue.com/marvel-spider-woman-variant-butt/2/). Here’s the original image:  Spider-Woman #1 Variant Cover by Milo Manara Marvel Comics ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3594514/marvel-spider-woman-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3594514/marvel-spider-woman-cover/"},"headline":"Marvel Is Actually Going to Publish That Sexist Spider-Woman Cover","datePublished":"2014-11-19T15:17:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:46.377Z","description":"But don't worry: The words 'Spider-Woman' are covering her butt, so it's fine, right?","url":"https://time.com/3594514/marvel-spider-woman-cover/","keywords":["Living","Marvel","sexism","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d91840e1d2542/6987698735ba6f41c6c05687/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-9-26-13-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d91840e1d2542/6987698735ba6f41c6c05687/screen-shot-2014-11-19-at-9-26-13-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-11-19 at 9.26.13 AM","caption":"Spider-Woman #1 Variant Cover by Milo Manara","creditText":"Marvel Comics","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3594514/marvel-spider-woman-cover/","name":"Marvel Is Actually Going to Publish That Sexist Spider-Woman Cover"}}]}] ```