The History Of Night Monkey (& The Stealth Suit) In Spider-Man Comics

Spider-Man: Far From Home introduces a new name for the web-slinger, referring to him as Night Monkey when he’s wearing his black stealth suit, but is this actually taken from Marvel’s Spider-Man comics? Spider-Man’s new suit is given to him by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who hijacks his summer vacation and puts him to work alongside Mysterio.

One of the reasons Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is reluctant to work for Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home is because having Spider-Man suddenly appear in Europe at the same time as him would be too much of a giveaway about his identity, which is why he gets the new stealth suit. However, since his powers and general look remain the same, it’s not long before people are picking up on the presence of a hero similar to Spider-Man, which is where Ned (Jacob Batalon), Peter’s man in the chair, comes up with the new moniker.

He initially tells Betty (Angourie Rice) that it’s not Spider-Man, but rather Night Monkey, a cheap European rip-off, who is running around Berlin and the Netherlands saving the day, and rather surprisingly the name really begins to take off, which leads to some great gags in Spider-Man: Far Far Home. Despite the focus on the name, however, there is no character from Marvel Comics called Night Monkey, even though it does sound like the kind of thing that would come from comic books.

There is a character called Hit Monkey, but that’s a very different thing. There’s also a real animal called a night monkey, which is a nocturnal species of monkey that’s native to Central and South America. This Night Monkey, though, is a purely original creation for Spider-Man: Far From Home, although the suit itself draws inspiration from a number of different black, stealthy suits from the comics, including Spider-Man: Noir and the Spider-Man: Big Time comic book series, but with some additional Peter Parker twists such as the goofy flip-up goggles.

Night Monkey might not have any relevance to Marvel Comics yet, but given the popularity of the name it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see it referenced in some way in the future. It would also fit, and be quite funny, if the name and suit were to return in Spider-Man 3, especially given the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Maybe Spider-Man can no longer save the day, but Night Monkey still can.

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