While the term "supergene" may bring to mind the genetic hocus-pocus of Peter Parker's transformation into Spiderman, supergenes are actually fairly common phenomena in the realm of biology. A supergene refers to a genomic region containing multiple genes or genetic elements that are tightly linked, allowing genetic variants across the region to be co-inherited. Supergenes may arise when there is a clear benefit to inheriting specific combinations of biological traits together. Perhaps the most well-known examples of supergenes are sex chromosomes, which allow traits that are beneficial to the reproductive success of one sex to be co-inherited. In humans, this explains the prevalence of male-specific genes on the Y chromosome. While the concept of supergenes arose nearly a century ago, until recently, the study of their origin, evolution, and eventual fate was largely theoretical. Now, however, thanks to advances in genomic sequencing and computational biology, scientists can put those theories to the test with real-world data. In a recent review published in Genome Biology and Evolution titled "The genomic architecture and evolutionary fates of supergenes," Associate Professor Tanja Slotte and her colleagues at Stockholm University in Sweden discuss new findings in the field of supergene evolution and reveal how the genomic architecture of a supergene is inextricably tied to its evolutionary fate.