Boys let black widow bite them in hopes of turning into Spider-Man

Three young Bolivian brothers were hospitalized after getting a black widow spider to bite them — thinking it would turn them into Spider-Man, according to officials.

The Marvel-loving siblings — ages 12, 10 and 8 — found the spider while herding goats in Chayanta, a Ministry of Health official revealed at coronavirus briefing Saturday, according to Telemundo.

Thinking it would give them superhero powers, they prodded it with a stick until it bit each of them in turn, said the official, Virgilio Pietro.

Finding them crying, their mom rushed them to a nearby health center, which transferred them to a nearby hospital, Telemundo said.

The would-be Peter Parkers were transferred a third time, taken to the Children’s Hospital in La Paz the next day with fevers, tremors and muscle pains, according to the report.

There, they were treated and discharged last Wednesday, almost a week after they were bitten, the report says.

Pietro shared the drama as a warning to parents, saying that “for children, everything is real, movies are real” — even though they are in fact an “illusion,” according to Telemundo.

With venom 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake’s, black widows are one of the most feared spiders in the world, and the most venomous in North America, National Geographic says.

While their bites are not usually fatal, children are among those most at risk, along with the elderly and infirm, the site says.

The arachnids are not aggressive and bite only in self-defense, National Geographic says — including, it seems, when prodded by young superhero fans.