A movie theater in Prince George, British Columbia, never received its official Spider-Man: Brand New Day posters. Instead of leaving the display empty, one employee drew something the internet liked enough to make famous.
Drake Landon, a 19-year-old artist who works at Famous Players 6 Cinemas, was asked by his manager to create a replacement. What emerged was not a polished studio one-sheet but a deliberately goofy, hand-drawn “Spooderman” complete with a handwritten apology for the missing promotional materials.
Photos of the poster escaped the theater lobby and spread across Reddit and social media, turning a local shipping problem into a viral Marvel story. Landon said he never expected his temporary solution to attract anything close to that level of attention.
Landon could draw a more conventional Spider-Man, but his manager specifically asked for the awkward internet-meme version of the superhero and Landon still incorporated details from the costume Tom Holland wears in Brand New Day.
The Theater Never Received Its Official ‘Spider-Man’ Posters
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The story began at Famous Players 6 Cinemas in Prince George, where the theater did not receive its promotional posters in time for the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day because of a shipping problem.
Rather than leave the “now screening” display without artwork for one of the summer’s biggest movies, Landon’s manager asked him to make a substitute. The request came with one unusual instruction, draw “Spooderman.”
The meme, also commonly spelled “Spoderman,” is an intentionally crude version of Spider-Man that has circulated online since the early 2010s. Landon told CBC that he initially pointed out he was capable of something more accurate. “I said I can draw actual Spider-Man, but I’m not gonna argue, I’ll draw Spooderman,” he recalled, according to Exclaim.
The Poster Became One of Reddit’s Biggest Marvel Posts of the Year
Landon’s finished artwork showed his deliberately misshapen Spider-Man alongside a hand-lettered version of the movie’s title. Underneath it was an explanation for anyone wondering why a major superhero release was being advertised with marker on paper. “Sorry! We never received the real posters! Sorry for any inconveniences!” the note read.
Landon later explained online that he had simply been doing what his manager asked. “We didn’t get the poster in due to shipment issues, so my boss asked me to draw it, so I did,” he wrote, according to Creative Bloq. “Never expected it to get this big.”
It did get big. After photographs reached Reddit, the homemade poster spread rapidly through Marvel fan communities. Exclaim reported that it became the most-upvoted post of the year at the time on the r/marvelstudios subreddit.
One widely circulated post had accumulated more than 50,000 upvotes within days. Commenters asked for prints, suggested Landon should make posters for other movies and praised the theater for using something handmade.
Then Head Office Asked for the Poster to Come Down
Spooderman’s run in the theater did not last. After the image went viral, Landon revealed on Reddit that his manager had told him head office called and requested that the poster be removed.
“I have the poster back, but sadly due to my boss telling me that head office called and asked for it to be taken down, for reasons that make sense now I realize,” Landon wrote. “I don’t wanna upset the studio so yeah.” The official promotional materials subsequently replaced the handmade version at the theater. Landon at least got to keep his original.
Removal did not necessarily mean the end of Spooderman. In the same Reddit update, Landon said he was considering reproducing the artwork after seeing how many people wanted their own version. “I plan on copying and printing a limited amount and/or making re-drawn duplicates,” he wrote.
‘Brand New Day’ Definitely Did Not Need the Extra Publicity
The irony is that Spider-Man: Brand New Day was already one of the biggest theatrical events of 2026. Sony said the film opened with $360 million in North America and $932 million worldwide, giving it the biggest domestic opening weekend in box-office history and the second-biggest worldwide opening behind Avengers: Endgame.
Its run only grew from there. By its third weekend, the film had surpassed $2 billion worldwide, becoming only the eighth movie to cross that threshold and Sony’s highest-grossing release ever.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Brand New Day stars Tom Holland alongside Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando and Mark Ruffalo.