Allegedly for over 700 years, the title and powers of the Black Tarantula have been passed down from father to son. Each Black Tarantula supposedly separates the male heir from the mother at an early age to begin a life of vigorous training. The current Black Tarantula, Carlos LaMuerto, a crimelord in South America and parts of Europe, met his Brazilian wife, Marina Caches, while attending an American graduate school. They had a child, Fabian. Upon discovering her husband’s illegal activities, Marina filed for divorce and fled with her son. Marina settled in New York where she became a criminal psychology teacher at Empire State University and began dating Dante Rigoletto (unaware that Dante was the son of the infamous mobster, Don Rigoletto). Discovering his ex-wife to be in the New York area, the Black Tarantula launched a campaign primarily to locate his son while establishing a foothold in the lucrative New York underworld market in the absence of the Kingpin of Crime (Wilson Fisk). He dispatched his powerful agent, el Uno, with a gang of his men to violently introduce himself to his competition, the Rose (Jacob Conover). Humiliated by el Uno, the Rose’s assassin Delilah killed el Uno and returned his severed head to the Black Tarantula. The Black Tarantula dispatched Madam Qwa and the True Believers -- a Korean cult of ninjas who defected from the Hand -- to harass the Rose by killing a former colleague, Daily Bugle editor Joe Robertson, while framing the Rose. With opposition from the Hand ninjas, Spider-Man, and Elektra, the Black Tarantula’s agents failed to kill Robertson.

The Black Tarantula went to New York to personally attend to matters. The Rose hired the remaining True Believers under Madam Qwa's brother, Master Zei, to resurrect Doctor Octopus as an ally. However Zei intended to turn Doctor Octopus over to the Black Tarantula, but was killed during the resurrection ceremony. As Madam Qwa demanded revenge, the Black Tarantula conceded, breaking Delilah's neck, then healing her with a stern warning for the Rose. Meanwhile, his diminutive loyal assistant, Chesbro, located Marina, who had been teaching Spider-Man’s wife, Mary Jane Watson-Parker. The Tarantula invaded Don Vincente Fortunato's mansion brokering a deal for portions of the Rose’s hijacking operations in exchange for sending a dire message to Spider-Man. Offering mercy only upon learning Spider-Man was searching to rescue a kidnapped child (Norman Osborn Jr.), the Tarantula beat Spider-Man nearly to death and departed with his mask. He offered the mask to Fortunato, who recounted his partially correct understanding of the legendary Black Tarantula's secret origin, beginning with Marco Polo's expeditions to the Orient. Peter Parker (in four alternate disguises while a bounty was on his head), tackled Black Tarantula's operatives, Bloodscream and Roughouse who had incapacitated Delilah while on assignment to kidnap Marina Caches. Marina fled to Dante's godfather, Don Fortunato, for protection. The Black Tarantula raided Fortunato's mansion, tearing through the mobster's defenses, and Killdroids. Spider-Man arrived and stopped the Rose from shooting the Black Tarantula in the back. Spider-Man's heroics, and his wife's pleading on behalf of Fabian persuaded the Black Tarantula to depart and return another day. The Black Tarantula fled during a raid on a Roxxon facility used to augment criminal agents with superhuman abilities located on his Bolivian jungle property.

The Black Tarantula was incarcerated in the U.S. and kept depowered in Rykers prison along with Daredevil (Matthew Murdock), the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Hammerhead, and the Punisher (Frank Castle) where he was nearly killed by Bullseye.