Jeremy Sons, the 46-year-old North Texan known to thousands as the Denton Spider-Man, is recovering in a Fort Worth intensive care unit after a venomous cottonmouth snake bit him twice while he searched for animals on his rural property. His right arm swelled so severely that doctors gave him 30 vials of antivenom and performed emergency surgery in the middle of the night, with another operation still to come once the swelling subsides.
Sons was reaching under a log on his land when the snake struck, according to FOX 4 News, which reported he pulled the snake off himself after being bitten twice. He underwent emergency surgery at around two or three in the morning, and the station reported his doctor considered his physical reaction one of the worst they had seen from a snake bite. Sons is now recovering at a Fort Worth ICU, where his arm must be kept elevated, per the same report.
Despite the ordeal, Sons insisted the snake wasn’t to blame, telling the station the animal was not at fault for biting him. That instinct toward compassion for animals, even the one that nearly took his arm, tracks with the life Sons has built since he first put on a Spider-Man costume in 2020.
From Pandemic Morale-Booster to Sanctuary Founder
Sons began dressing as Spider-Man that year to lift spirits during the COVID-19 lockdowns, originally donning the suit for a trip to a Denton Sam’s Club after his local fitness coaching gym was shuttered by statewide pandemic restrictions, according to the Dallas Observer. The persona grew into something bigger: Sons has since performed at more than 2,000 free events and visited children in hospitals across North Texas in costume, per the outlet’s earlier reporting. He also organized a toy drive for children in Uvalde following the 2022 school shooting there…