While Spider-Man was the first known superhero to bond with a symbiote in 1984’s Secret Wars, it’s only now that Marvel has finally given the Webslinger his very own symbiote name. This is thanks to the massively popular video game Marvel Rivals, as well as its companion comic series.

Currently, Marvel Rivals is in the middle of its fourth season, entitled “Heart of the Dragon” (featuring new characters like Angela and Daredevil as well as new maps with the Heavenly City of K’un-Lun). However, the third season of Marvel Rivals was “The Abyss Awakens”, a blend of light and dark with Knull’s symbiotes clashing with the Phoenix Force.

Now, Marvel Comics’ companion comics had shed new narrative light on the various symbiote and Phoenix skins that were available in Marvel Rivals season 3, including the brand-new black symbiote that bonded with Spider-Man.

Marvel Rivals Finally Gives Spider-Man His Own Symbiote Name (We Are…Kerfuffle?)

In the main Marvel Timeline, Spider-Man famously bonded with the back symbiote that would later become Venom with Eddie Brock. Since then, a plethora of symbiote characters have been introduced in the comics, each with intimidating names like Carnage, Toxin, Riot, Lasher, Phage, Scream, Sleeper, and more.

However, the new Marvel Rivals: King in Black #1 by Paul Allor and Nico Leon sees multiple Marvel heroes bonding with symbiotes under Knull’s control. This includes Spider-Man, whose biggest complaint about being symbiote bonded once more is that all the good symbiote names are already taken, joking that he’s going to have to be called “Allergen” or perhaps “Kerfuffle”.

While this could have easily been a one-off gag, the rest of the issue hilariously sees the other symbiote heroes indeed referring to Spider-Man as Kerfuffle, officially making it his actual symbiote name (at least in the entangled mess of timelines that is the Marvel Rivals continuity).

In All Honesty, Kerfuffle Is Actually The Perfect Symbiote Name For Spider-Man

Kerfuffle Leaves Spider-Man in Marvel Rivals in King in Black

Nevertheless, it’s not as if Spider-Man has had any kind of official symbiote name in the main Marvel canon, so this is as funny as it is ironically significant for the Webslinger. All in all, it’s a pretty fitting name for the wisecracking webhead, especially in the more lighthearted context that is a video game tie-in series.

Rather than re-bonding with the original Venom symbiote (which was busy with Eddie getting merged with the Phoenix force to become one of Marvel Rivals‘ most unique skins), it’s pretty cool that Spider-Man got to bond with a brand-new symbiote, even if it was just for the sake of adding brand-new cosmetics to the game.

Marvel Rivals: King in Black #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.