Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional character, the alter ego of Peter Parker and a Marvel Comics superhero created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in the comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), with a cover drawn by Jack Kirby and Ditko. He has since become one of the world's most popular characters.

Spider-Man expanded the dramatic potential of the fantasy and superhero subgenres by having a strong focus on a younger, more troubled character and his personal struggles. Since his creation, his popularity has led to many of the superheroes who predated him being reworked with more complex personas.

Spider-Man is one of the most recognizable of all superheroes. Through the years, he has appeared in many media, including several animated series, a daily and Sunday comic strip, and two very successful films, with a third one debuting in 2007.

Marvel has published multiple ongoing comic book series featuring the character, the flagship being The Amazing Spider-Man. Since his debut in the 1960s Silver Age of comic books, Peter Parker has grown from a shy high school student to a troubled college undergrad and graduate student, to a married man and a professional, but the core of the character has remained the same.

Publication history

Creation of character

Various accounts of the character's creation have been given.

Speaking in the 1980s, Stan Lee said the idea for the series sprang out of the apparent increased teenage interest in the new Marvel comic books, and that he wanted to create a character that could cater to them. One influence Lee has described for the character's name is the non-superpowered pulp magazine crimefighter The Spider. In the Spider-Man movie DVD extras, Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters and Marvels and elsewhere, Lee said he was inspired by seeing a fly climb up a wall. When discussing this in documentaries, he often comments, "I've told this story so many times, it may actually be true." Originally, Lee assigned Jack Kirby to illustrate the story, but after seeing sample pages, decided Kirby's style was "too 'larger than life'" for what he wanted. Lee turned to artist Steve Ditko, who found the concept particularly appealing and developed a visual motif Lee found satisfactory.

Kirby stated in a 1982 interview in Will Eisner's Spirit Magazine that Lee had minimal involvement in the creation of the character:

"Spider-Man was discussed between Joe [Simon] and myself. It was the last thing Joe and I had discussed. We had a strip called the 'The Silver Spider'. The Silver Spider was going into a magazine called Black Magic. Black Magic folded with Crestwood [Simon & Kirby's 1950s comics company] and we were left with the script. I believe I said this could become a thing called Spider-Man, see, a superhero character. I had a lot of faith in the superhero character that they could be brought back ... and I said Spider-Man would be a fine character to start with. But Joe had already moved on. So the idea was already there when I talked to Stan".¹

Simon, in his 1990 autobiography, disputes this account:

[T]here were a few holes in Jack's never-dependable memory. For instance, there was no Black Magic involved at all. ... Jack brought in the Spider-Man logo that I had loaned to him before we changed the name to The Silver Spider. Kirby laid out the story to Lee about the kid who finds a ring in a spiderweb, gets his powers from the ring, and goes forth to fight crime armed with The Silver Spider's old web-spinning pistol. Stan Lee said, 'Perfect, just what I want.' [After obtaining permission from publisher Martin Goodman,] Lee told Kirby to pencil-up an origin story. Kirby...using parts of an old rejected superhero named Night Fighter...revamped the old Silver Spider script, including revisions suggested by Lee. But when Kirby showed Lee the sample pages, it was Lee's turn to gripe, He had been expecting a skinny young kid who is transformed into a skinny young kid with spider powers. Kirby had had him turn into...Captain America with cobwebs. ... He turned Spider-Man over to Steve Ditko, who ... ignored Kirby's pages, tossed the character's magic ring, web-pistol and goggles ... and completely redesigned Spider-Man's costume and equipment. In this life, he became high-school student Peter Parker, who gets his spider powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. ... Lastly, the Spider-Man logo was redone and a dashing hyphen added. ²

Elsewhere, Simon gave additional details:

In the late 1950s, Archie Comics asked me to create a new line of superheroes. I gave the Silver Spider sketches to Jack Kirby and I changed the name again, this time to The Fly. Jack held onto the sketches and when Stan Lee asked Jack for new ideas, Jack brought the original Spider-Man pages to Marvel Comics. [Later,] Stan handed the pages over to Steve Ditko. Ditko, on first seeing those pages, commented, 'This is Joe Simon's Fly.' Steve Ditko worked up his own version of the character's costume. [1]

Ditko's recollections in Comic Book Artist #3 (Winter 1999) were similar. Much earlier, in a rare contemporaneous account, Ditko specified his and Lee's contributions, in a mail interview with Gary Martin published in Comic Fan #2 (Summer 1965), and reprinted at the defunct but cached site Excerpt:

GARY - Who originated Spider-Man?
STEVE - Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal.

When publisher Goodman was eventually presented with the concept, he was resistant to the unorthodox ideas of a teenage hero with a troubled personal life, but allowed the character to be used as a cover story for an anthology title, Amazing Fantasy, that was already scheduled to be canceled, so there was nothing to lose. The story was published in issue #15, and months later, sales figures indicated that the cover story was unexpectedly popular. Goodman called for a regular series for the character.

Will Murray in Comic Book Marketplace #44, suggested that Lee originally might have been considering Spider-Man's debut for the anthology Tales of Suspense rather than Amazing Fantasy. Murray based this on the launch pattern of several Marvel characters at the time, including Thor (in Journey into Mystery), Ant-Man (in Tales to Astonish) and a solo Human Torch feature (in Strange Tales), as well as on the production numbers for individual stories. He speculated that Goodman's skepticism about the feature, and a possible attempt to revitalize Amazing Fantasy, led to Spider-Man appearing there. Although another issue of Amazing Fantasy was in production, he says, the title was cancelled to clear a space in the limited distribution schedule for another series.

Spider-Man and the Comics Code

In 1971, Spider-Man was the first comic to challenge the rigid Comics Code. Previously, it was forbidden to depict illegal drugs, even negatively. However, The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971) featured a story arc that showed the negative effects of drug abuse (a storyline conceived at the request of government drug-prevention authorities). Most notably, Harry Osborn started taking pills and became so ill that, when Spider-Man fought the Green Goblin (a.k.a. Norman Osborn), Spider-Man vanquished Norman by simply showing him his sick son. The three comics were sold without the Comics Code approval, but met with such critical acclaim that the industry's self-censorship was undercut.

Character history

Early life

Peter Benjamin Parker was born to Richard Parker and his wife Mary Fitzpatrick-Parker, both of whom were agents of the CIA and later of S.H.I.E.L.D. (a fictional secret agency). Their last assignment was the infiltration of the criminal organization of Albert Malik, the third Red Skull. Malik found out about their plans and arranged a plane-crash that resulted in their deaths, although this retconned backstory was not known at the time of the creation of Spider Man's character.

The infant Peter Parker was left in the care of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Richard's older brother Benjamin Parker and his wife May Reilly Parker), who lived in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York. Though Peter was always loved by the aging couple, he was unpopular among those of his own age. Over time he grew to be a lonely, timid teenager. The exceptionally bright Peter showed more interest in his studies, especially science, than in any kind of social life. He was often the target of jokes by more popular fellow students like Flash Thompson, the high school's star athlete, who ironically would later become Spider-Man's biggest fan and one of Peter's best friends. In addition, Aunt May made him wear non-prescription glasses to protect his eyes, since she was worried that his constant reading would have a negative effect on his eyesight. When these glasses were broken in a schoolyard fight with Flash Thompson, he didn't bother to get new ones, since they were never really needed in the first place and only made him look awkward. (Note: In virtually all retellings of his origin, Peter's eyesight really was poor and somehow got fixed by the spider bite, but this is not the case in the original comic book series.)

Spider bite

When he was 15 years old, Parker attended a science exhibition where he was bitten by a spider which had been irradiated. The spider bite gave Parker an array of spider-like powers. These powers included the ability to cling to walls and ceilings, super-human strength, and an extra-sensory "Spider Sense".

In addition to his physical powers, Peter Parker successfully designed and utilized mechanical "web-shooters" of his own design to spin webs in a variety of ways. In current Spider-Man continuity, he produces his webs from organic spinnerets in his wrists and no longer requires the mechanical web shooters, most likely to bring character recognition inline with fans who mainly know him from his movie incarnation.

His legal guardian and beloved Uncle Ben was later killed by a thug that Peter had allowed to escape. Realizing that stopping the thief when he had the chance would have prevented his uncle's murder, Spider-Man devoted himself to fighting injustice, driven by the realization that "with great power there must also come great responsibility."

Problems as Spider-Man

Spider-Man consistently tries to do the right thing, but is viewed with suspicion by many authority figures. He is often considered little more than a costumed menace himself, largely thanks to a smear campaign by J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle. Ironically, Parker has spent much of his life working, off-and-on, as a freelance photographer for Jameson, selling photographs of himself as Spider-Man.

Despite having amazing spider-like abilities, Spider-Man cannot solve his emotional and personal problems with his super powers. Frequently, his powers complicate his relationships (especially when he unknowingly gained the Captain Universe powers which made him irritable due to his advanced Spider-Sense, the mistakes he had made during his time as Captain Universe caused the world to hate him thus adding more pressure than he could handle), his responsibilities as a student (in the earlier stories) and his varied careers as a photographer for the Daily Bugle and as a teacher at his old high school. His relationships with his aunt, his co-workers, his best friends, and most importantly, his love interests, have always been hampered by his secret life as a masked super-hero. Although these problems have pushed him to the edge numerous times, he has always continued on as Spider-Man because of his strong belief that "with great power comes great responsibility", the immortal words which his Uncle Ben instilled in him when he was a youth. This moral continues to serve as the major theme of Spider-Man's story.

Spider-Man has amassed a slew of major enemies over the years, most taking a particular interest in harming the hero, and some even targeting Peter Parker himself. His amazing abilities, combined with his natural intelligence and inclination towards science, have allowed him to emerge victorious against these odds on a great number of occasions. Oddly enough, his most notable ability, that of generating webs, was not originally a superpower. The instincts he learned from the spider that bit him combined with his bent for chemistry, enabled him to concoct a webslinging device that he wore on his wrists. The first exception to this was the movie version of the story, in which his famous webbing emanates naturally from his wrists (a concept first used for the title character of Marvel's futuristic semi-spinoff Spider-Man 2099). Shortly after the second film, the Spider-Man of the comics was captured by a supervillain named Queen and during this incident gained some "upgrades" to his powers, including not only new, organic webbing, but a spider-sense made more sensitive in ways yet to be disclosed.

As originally conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Peter Parker was something of an Everyman character. However, as with many characters published for many years and handled by multiple creators, Spider-Man's history is convoluted. He continued working as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle and living with his elderly and somewhat fragile Aunt May until he graduated from high school. He then enrolled in the fictional Empire State University where he befriended Harry Osborn—the son of his archenemy the Green Goblin—and Gwen Stacy, with whom he would have a lengthy romance before the Goblin killed her.

After years of single living, interspersed with several romantic relationships, including the cat burglar and sometime crimefighter Black Cat, Parker became serious with longtime girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson, a fashion model and actress when she returned after a lengthy absence with a newly found maturity and revealing her knowledge of Peter's secret identity since the beginning of his career. Eventually, the two married, but the stresses of Parker's dual identity, combined with Mary Jane's tempestuous career, led to a separation, though the couple later reconciled.

Love Interests

Peter Parker/Spider-Man has many love interests in his life:

Comics

• The first love-interest of Peter was Liz Allen though they never got together. Instead Liz married Peter's friend, Harry Osborn.

• Peter's next love interest was Daily Bugle's secretary, Betty Brant. They dated for sometime but in the end broke up. Later, Betty Brant married Daily Bugle reporter, Ned Leeds.

• Peter's first real girlfriend was Gwen Stacy. Many years later, the Green Goblin killed Gwen by throwing her off a bridge. In the Sins Past saga, it was explained that Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy—in a moment of weakness for both—had a romantic tryst. The consensual encounter resulted in a pregnancy that she then hid from Peter with a trip to Europe. She later gave birth to twins, Gabriel and Sarah. Gwen told Norman that she wanted Peter to be the father of the twins which was another reason why Green Goblin killed her so that he can have the twins for himself. When the twins were older, Norman told them that Spider-Man killed their mother. Many years later, Gabriel and Sarah decided to kill Spider-Man in an attempt to seek revenge. In the House of M storyline, Gwen is still alive and married to Peter with a baby son.

• After Gwen Stacy, Peter's next and most well known girlfriend was Mary Jane Watson, who is also currently Peter's wife. Before Peter, Mary Jane has also dated Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn. She works as an actress and a model. Like Peter, MJ lives with her aunt. After many years of dating, Peter and MJ finally got married. In the MC2 continuity, Peter and Mary Jane gave birth to their daughter, May Parker (Spider-Girl) who is named after Peter's Aunt May. Later Peter and MJ gave birth to another child, a boy named Ben who is most likely named after Peter's Uncle Ben or Ben Reilly, Peter's clone.

• Another love interest of Spider-Man was Felicia Hardy a.k.a. Black Cat. The relationship between Spider-Man and Black Cat was short lived after Spider-Man learned that Felicia Hardy was only interested in him as Spider-Man and not Peter Parker.

Television

• In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Peter's love interest was Mary Jane Watson. MJ was thrown into a portal created by the Green Goblin. She then returned in the series without explanation. Later in the series, Peter married MJ and found out she was a clone made by Miles Warren for Morris Bench/Hydro-Man. Spider-Man also has feelings for the Black Cat and most fans think that she was a better love-interest for Spidey than MJ.

• In the Spider-Man Unlimited animated series, Peter's Counter-Earth love interest was Dr. Naoko Yamada Jones who reminds Peter a lot of MJ. Lady Vermin, one of the Knights of Wundagore, has feelings for Spider-Man but he does not reciprocate.

• In the MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Peter's love interest was still MJ. Later in the series, he fell in love with Indy, a girl who works for Empire 1, a news channel. This made MJ jealous.

Ultimate Spider-Man

• In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Spider-Man's love interest is Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat of the X-Men after breaking up with MJ. In Ultimate Spider-Man #87, Kitty and Peter are dating for the first time in the "real" comic. Brian Michael Bendis, writer of Ultimate Spider-Man, plans to continue with Kitty as a supporting character in USM. [3]. Issue 66 of Ultimate X-Men showed Kitty and Spidey on a date. This issue reveals that they spend much of their time hunting criminals to fight. This effectively makes Kitty his crimefighting partner.

Clone Saga

In one of the most controversial stories of the 1990s, Marvel reintroduced a short-lived clone of Spider-Man, now calling himself Ben Reilly. It was revealed that the clone had survived the first "clone saga", involving Dr. Miles Warren (aka the Jackal). When Ben Reilly came to New York to see Aunt May, it was revealed that he was the true Peter Parker. For a brief stint, Ben Reilly was Spider-Man, and even defeated Venom singlehandedly. Norman Osborn (the original green goblin) was resurrected (in a controversial storyline itself) and revealed that he had manipulated the tests which indicated Reilly as the real Parker. Reilly was killed saving Peter's life, and shortly thereafter, his body crumbled into ashes. This was called "clone deterioration", and was the final proof that Ben Reilly was the clone, and Peter was the original.

21st-century Spider-Man

Peter's life had begun to calm down in recent years, until a villain named Morlun, and an ally named Ezekiel (possessing the same powers as Peter) appeared. Ezekiel suggested that the accident that gave Peter his abilities might not have been a fluke, and that he might have a deeper connection to a totemic spider spirit (not unlike DC's Animal Man, and his connection to "The Red"). Morlun had come to New York for that reason: He feeds off the powers possessed by those connected to animal totems. After a fight between Peter and Morlun that spanned New York, wherein Morlun severely beat Peter—whose attacks had no effect on Morlun—Peter fell back onto his last plan: Morlun wanted only pure spider-blood, so Peter injected another dose of radiation into his bloodstream, attempting to 'poison' his powers. The plan was a success, and Peter battled Morlun again, and aided by the impurity in his blood, defeated the villain, which led to Morlun's apparent death at the hands of his own lackey.

Currently, Parker works as a science teacher for his old high school while still moonlighting as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. In 2004, an altercation with a former classmate turned superhuman, Charlie Weiderman, led to the destruction of both Peter's apartment and Aunt May's house. Thanks to Spider-Man's membership in the latest incarnation of the Marvel Universe superhero team the Avengers, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May were able to move into Tony Stark's Stark Tower.

Spider-Man: The Other

In a 2005 story arc spanning 12 parts, across several titles, Spider-Man finds himself cursed, killed, and eventually reborn in a metamorphic experience which "evolves" his powers, including the addition of new "stingers," as well as upgraded speed and spider-sense. The last issue of "The Other" series revealed two of Spider-Man's new abilities including the ability to see in the dark and an ability to "feel" his environment as he can detect vibrations from his immediate surroundings due to his web and hairs on his arms.

Appearance

Costumes

Although the details and proportions have changed somewhat over the years, with a few notable exceptions, Spider-Man's costume has remained fairly consistent. The standard costume is a form-fitting fabric covering his entire body. From the waist down, it is dark blue (or sometimes even black, depending on the colorist), except for mid-calf boots with a black web pattern on a red background. From the waist up, the fabric is the red-and-black web pattern, except for his back, sides, and insides of his upper arms, which are dark blue. There is a large red spider outline on his back, and a smaller black spider emblem on his chest. The mask has large white eyes rimmed with black that allow him to see but hide his eyes. He is sometimes depicted with "under-arm webbing" connecting his arms to his torso.

Several alterations occurred when Ben Reilly replaced Peter Parker in the role. He placed more emphasis on the spider on the chest, making it large enough to cover the entire torso. Instead of a large red spider on his back, the web pattern and spider emblem were repeated there. The gloves had web-shooters on the outside, and the web design on the boots and gloves was partially replaced with dark blue.

The most significant alteration to Spider-Man's costume came about in the mid-1980s, after his return from the Secret Wars. He appeared in an almost all-black costume, with a large white spider emblem on the chest and back, and with built-in webshooters on the back of his hands. The costume turned out to be a living symbiotic creature, capable of generating its own webbing and improving most of Spider-Man's abilities. Spider-Man rejected the symbiote after finding out it was alive and trying to merge with him. He did however wear a non-living version of the black costume until the new occupant of the living costume, Venom, frightened Mary Jane so badly that she could no longer stand to see Peter in the non-living black costume.

The House of M saga had Spider-Man become a famous celebrity (as Scarlet Witch used her reality warping powers to give Spider-Man the life he always wanted). His costume was altered as well, incorporating aspects of the black costume (large spider chest symbol, and square patches on the gloves) with his classic red-and-blue costume.

Recently, it has been revealed by Marvel Comics that, after the events of The Other, Iron Man is giving Spidey a new costume with a red and gold color scheme. The suit is rumored to have a variety of optional extras as well.

Powers, abilities and equipment

Powers and abilities

Peter Parker became Spider-Man when he was bitten by an irradiated spider, causing a variety of changes in his body which gave him his superpowers.

Spider-Man gained the ability to adhere to any smooth surface using any part of his body. With this, he is able to support something many times his own weight while clinging to a hard vertical surface such as the side of a building. It follows that he can grip an object with any part of his body with this talent. While the exact nature of this has never been pinned down in comics (and various attempts to explain it have contradicted one another), in the live-action movies Peter is shown to have barbed hairs or bristles similar to those of real spiders which extend or retract through his skin. At one point in the comic series, it was suggested that his ability to adhere to surfaces was due to the fact that he could create a field of static electricity around his body. This posited explanation became crucial in his fight against the villain Electro, who used his powers of electricity to nullify Spider-Man's "sticking power." However, at another time, it was implied that his "sticking power" was somehow based on his pores actually being the important element, and Spider-Man had been momentarily subdued using a gaseous fog that supposedly "plugged" his pores.

He is super-strong, allowing him to lift objects many times his own body weight (Spider-Man says that he could barely lift a VW Beetle, which is about 800 kg. Now, according to the 2005 Spider-Man handbook, he can lift 15 tons (this is in part due to the transformation to a spider by the Queen in the Avengers Dissembled event) but has been known to lift more under duress, before he found the alien symbiote), and the muscles in his legs have developed to the point where he can jump the distance of several city blocks in a single bound, or multiple stories straight up. Another aspect of his physical prowess is his superhuman agility and amplified reflexes. This allows him to outmaneuver foes and to dodge automatic gunfire.

His bodily tissues are substantially more durable and resistant to impact or trauma than an ordinary human, making it more difficult to injure him, although he is certainly not invulnerable. His recovery time from injury is somewhat faster than that of an ordinary human, although not nearly as fast as those with true healing factors. He can also recover from poisons, but he is not immune to natural diseases - he has once nearly lost a confrontation with Rhino because of a bad cold. His myopia was corrected as a result of the spider bite.

It was revealed in the story arc "Evolve or Die" that Spider-Man enters a state of dormancy and sheds his skin and outer tissues, just like an actual Spider, at least once in his life time. Spider-Man's recent intermittent black outs and loss of superpowers were the result of the involuntary attempt of his body to enter this dormant state. The symptoms manifested themselves because Parker was simply too stubborn to allow himself to hibernate; he finally did so as a result of a near-death experience.

When he finally experienced this period of dormancy, in the Spider-Man: The Other storyline, Spider-Man emerged with substantial changes. Most dramatically, his body had regenerated all damaged tissue, including an eye he had lost in a battle with Morlun. Unfortunately, this seems to have been a one-time occurrence - he does not have the power to heal himself (as, for example, Wolverine does). He also gained a number of additional abilities. He now has stingers that can protrude from his wrists in periods of stress. His spider-sense has improved dramatically - he can now see in the dark (or very low-light) and sense vibrations transmitted over his web lines. He is also much faster. The full extent of the change has not yet been revealed - it may turn out to be even more profound.

Apart from his physical abilities, Peter has prodigious aptitude in the physical sciences. In the comics, he has a facility for chemistry and physics, and later pursues a graduate degree in biochemistry from Empire State University. In the recent films, he maintains his superb intellect with a mastery of physics and a degree from Columbia University.

Spider-sense

Spider-Man's most subtle power is his spider-sense. A form of clairvoyance or sixth sense, it unconsciously activates and alerts him to any threat to himself, manifesting as a tingling at the back of his skull. While it cannot tell him of the exact nature of the threat, it is vaguely directional and Spider-Man can judge the severity of the threat by the intensity of the tingling.

The spider-sense not only alerts Spider-Man to threats to his physical safety, but also warns him to threats to his privacy such as being observed while changing identities. Spider-Man also uses the spider-sense as a means to time his evasive maneuvers to the point where he can avoid multiple gunshots or machine gun fire. When combined with his superhuman reflexes and agility, this makes him an extremely difficult target to shoot in combat and formidable in close quarters.

Although his spider-sense has saved his life innumerable times, Spider-Man has learned the hard way that it can be beaten. For instance, the Green Goblin once secretly attacked him with a gas that temporarily suppressed this perceptive ability, allowing the supervillain to shadow him and learn his secret identity. Additionally, the alien symbiote Venom and its offspring Carnage are not recognized by the spider-sense. This is believed to have been caused by the Venom symbiote's bonding with Peter Parker. The spider-sense recognizes both as a part of Parker's physical body. For instance if Peter were to slap or punch himself his spider-sense would not perceive the act as a threat and would not activate. Ben Reilly did not suffer from this problem as he never bonded with the symbiote. The ability to avoid Parker's spider-sense gives some supervillains an edge that Spider-Man often has trouble countering.

The fact that it is nonspecific has also been used directly against Spider-Man at times. In one issue of "What if...?", the Punisher successfully kills Spider-Man by hiding bombs in a mannequin made to look like Dr. Octopus. Spider-Man approached the mannequin, believing his spider-sense to be warning him about a long-known enemy, learning only too late that it was actually warning him of the explosives as they went off almost in his face.

The phrase "My spider-sense is tingling" has since become an often parodied catchphrase in American pop culture.

Spider-Man has honed this sense to allow him to have 360 vision which ties in with the mystical totemistic side of his powers. This ability is like a spider's, as spiders can see all around them.

In comics, the activation of the spider-sense is often shown by wavy lines emanating from Peter's head, with his mask occasionally being half-drawn when he is out of costume as an additional cue.

Equipment

Although he is usually of limited financial means, Spider-Man has developed personal equipment that plays an important role in his superhero career. Every so often he will concoct a special armor or web fluid for a specific threat. For example, he donned a padded suit to battle Electro, and used a very short-lived armored suit in Web of Spider-Man #100.

Web-shooters

Spider-Man's web-shooters are one of the character's most distinguishing traits. They are wrist mounted devices that fire a fibrous adhesive very similar to the material spiders use to construct webs. The trigger rests high in the palm and requires a double tapping from the middle and ring fingers to activate, so Peter can't accidentally fire the shooter if he makes a fist or his hand hits the trigger. The placement of the trigger and the finger pressure needed to activate it yield Spider-Man's distinctive hand gesture, with the two outer fingers extended, and the two inner fingers on the palm.

The default setting has the adhesive threaded through a special mesh to take on a spider web like design. The substance dries almost immediately into a strong material that can support very heavy loads: into the one-ton range. Typical uses of his webs include creating long swing lines which he uses to travel through the chasms between the Manhattan high-rises. He can change the setting to a wide spray to ensnare criminals, and to form protective shields or nets. He can also form crude objects with a heavy application. In addition, when Spider-Man desires it, he can fire the web fluid as a straight liquid when he needs to use the substance's maximum adhesive strength. However, the default meshed spray generally allows for sufficient strength while being more versatile in its use and easier to remove when desired. The substance is formulated to dissolve after one hour which is generally sufficient time for Spider-Man's needs while ensuring the webs he makes do not cause undue litter. In addition, Parker can modify the fluid formulation to suit particular specialized needs when called for (this explains why the webbing sometimes conducts electricity, but can also be used as an insulator). The web-shooters can also be used to expel other liquids, using interchangeable cartridges, but are seldom used to do this.

In some versions of the character (such as in the popular movie series), the character generates webs organically from his own altered spider-like biology, instead of mechanical web shooters.

Recently, Spider-Man and Captain America crossed paths with a villain called the Queen. During this encounter, the Queen transformed Spider-Man into a human-sized spider. The end of the situation saw the Queen presumably dead and Spider-Man reverting back to human form. The transformation, however, seemed to give Spider-Man organic web glands in his wrists. Spider-Man is now able to produce webbing without the aid of his web-shooters.

Spider tracers

Spider-Man has also developed small electronic "spider-tracers" which allow him to track objects or individuals. The outer casing is shaped like a spider and is designed to cling to a target without attracting attention. While he originally threw his tracers at a target in the hopes that at least one hits, he later developed a wrist launcher which ejects tracers above the wrist while the web is fired from below to allow for more precise and reliable applications of the tracers.

Spider-Man originally used a small receiver device to follow the tracers. However, he eventually learned that he could tune the tracer signal frequency to his own spider-sense for more convenient use, but the receiver is still used as a back-up and long-range measure.

Other equipment

Spider-Man keeps his regular field equipment in a specially designed utility belt that contains his web fluid cartridges and his tracers.

It also carries his camera, which has an extended rear metal plate that allows him to use his web to position it without interfering with its functions. The camera also has an automatic shutter mechanism linked to an internal motion detector so it will take a picture whenever Spider-Man moves in front of the camera lens.

Finally, the belt contains a strong light called a Spider Signal that creates an image of his mask when activated. He typically uses it not only for a light source, but as a way of unnerving opponents and to call attention.

In addition, the Human Torch once helped Spider-Man build a car called the Spider-Mobile which had a paint job and modifications that followed his spider motif. Unfortunately, Spider-Man had never learned to drive a car, and crashed the car into the Hudson River soon after receiving it.

Enemies

Spider-Man has one of the best-known rogues galleries (list of enemies) in comics. His most famous enemies include the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom. Like Spider-Man himself, a large percentage of these villains have their origins based in storylines featuring scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology.

Other Spider-Men

In the comics, others have used the Spider-Man identity. Four of these actually exist in the Marvel Universe:

• Ben Reilly, a clone of Parker, who also fought crime as the Scarlet Spider.
• Kraven the Hunter donned Spider-Man's costume for a short time in Kraven's Last Hunt.
• Mattie Franklin, the niece of J. Jonah Jameson, who assumed the role with a padded costume when Parker temporarily quit. She later became Spider-Woman for a time.
• Blood Spider was an evil version of Spider-Man created by the Taskmaster and the Red Skull.

Other characters are spin-offs and exist in alternate versions of the Marvel Universe. These include:

• May "Mayday" Parker a.k.a. Spider-Girl, the daughter of Peter Parker, set in an alternate reality.
• Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of Marvel 2099.
• Yu Komori (小森ユウ Komori Yū) in Spider-Man: The Manga.
• Takuya Yamashiro (山城拓也), the Spider-Man of Spider-Man (tokusatsu).
• Peter Parquagh in the 1602 miniseries.
• Peter Porker a.k.a. Spider-Ham, a pig in a funny animal version of the Marvel Universe.
• Pavitr Prabhakar in the Indian adaptation of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: India.
• Mary-Jane Watson a.k.a. Spider-Woman in an alternate reality, "Exiles: Legacy", issues #20–22.
• Spider-Boy of the Amalgam Universe is a merged character of the Ben Reilly Spider-Man and Superboy after all characters from Marvel Comics and DC Comics were merged due to the war between the two universes.

Appearances in other media

Television

Spider-Man has been adapted to television numerous times, through a short-lived live-action television series and several animated cartoon series. There were also the "Spidey Super Stories" segments on the PBS educational series The Electric Company, which featured a Spider-Man that did not speak out loud but instead used thought balloons.

Cinema

• Spider-Man: On May 3, 2002, the feature film Spider-Man was released. It was directed by Sam Raimi and stars actor Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. The film featured a number of impressive CGI effects used to bring Spider-Man to life. Although the film adaptation took a number of liberties with the character's history and powers, most notably giving him organic web-shooters rather than mechanical ones, it was essentially true to the character and was widely embraced by the viewing public. Earning more than $403 million at U.S. box offices, it was the highest-grossing movie of the year while also opening up at a record $114.8 million. Spider-Man went on to become the sixth highest-grossing film in North American history and is ranked 11th worldwide with a total take of more than $821 million internationally.

• Spider-Man 2 was 2004's second-most financially successful movie and 15th-most financially successful movie of all time. It premiered in more North American movie theaters (4,152) than any previous movie. Its first-day gross ($40.5 million) surpassed its predecessor's $39.4 million record. The only higher single-day movie grosses were Shrek 2's $44.8 million in the first weekend of its May 2004 release and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's $50 million on the first day of its May 2005 release. Spider-Man 2 was also the first motion picture released in the Sony Universal Media Disc format for the PlayStation Portable, being included for free with the first one million PSP systems released in the United States.

• Spider-Man 3 began production in 2005 under director Raimi. The studio has announced a theatrical release date of May 4, 2007. [2]

Stage

In 2002, the company 2MA produced the first live-action Spider-Man stunt show, staged in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Video games

Main article: Spider-Man (games)

As a popular franchise character, many games starring Spider-Man, based on both the comics and the movies, have been released for different platforms. Spider-Man also appears as a boss in the video game Revenge of Shinobi.

Real life

Spider-Man imitators in real life include:

• "Spider Dan" Goodwin, who in 1981 climbed the glass of the Chicago skyscrapers the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center using suction cups.
• Alain Robert nicknamed Spiderman, rock and urban climber who has scaled more than 70 tall buildings using his hands and feet, without using additional devices. He sometimes wears a Spider-Man suit during his climbs. In May 2003, he was paid approximately $18,000 to climb the 312-foot Lloyd's of London building to promote the premiere of the movie Spider-Man on the British television channel Sky Movies.
• The surname Parker was chosen to honor Richard Parker, a childhood friend of Stan Lee and father to famed personal injury attorney Larry H. Parker. Peter's father is named Richard Parker for the same reason.

Spider-Man in music

The catchy original 1960s Spider-Man cartoon theme song has been covered and reinterpreted by numerous musical acts, including The Ramones, Moxy Fruvous (often miscredited as They Might Be Giants), and Tenacious D. The 2002 movie features Jayce Bartok as a subway performer singing the classic song. For other versions, see: Spider-Man (1960s animation)

The 2003 "Weird Al" Yankovic album Poodle Hat has a track entitled "Ode to a Superhero". It is a parody of the Billy Joel song "Piano Man", and recounts the events of the film.

Spider-Man in pop culture

On Halloween 2004, an estimated 2.15 million U.S. children dressed up as Spider-Man, making it the year's most popular costume.

In the political sphere, David Chick used a Spider-Man outfit to obtain publicity for fathers' rights. See [3].

In the early to mid-1990s, the wrestling organization then owned by Ted Turner, World Championship Wrestling featured a wrestler known as "Arachnaman" who wore a costume like Spider-Man's except rather than being blue and red, it was yellow and purple. He used a web gun to shoot something like silly string during his entrances. Marvel got the character squashed. He was played by a wrestler known as Brad Armstrong (who had previously been known as "The Candyman"), the son of the legendary wrestler, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, and brother of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling wrestler, B.G. James, who is best known for his stint in the WWF as "Road Dogg".

Bibliography

Ongoing titles

Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15. After that, he was given his own series. Many followed, and as of 2005, the related titles are:

Marvel Universe

• The Amazing Spider-Man #1–441, Vol. 2 #1–58, #500— (Marvel Comics; March 1963–November 1998, January 1999–December 2003, January 2004—). Currently written by J. Michael Straczynski, and penciled by Michael Deodato.
• Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1— (Marvel Comics; December 2005—), written by Peter David and penciled by Mike Wieringo.
• Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1— (Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights; June 2004—). Currently written by Reginald Hudlin and penciled by Pat Lee.
• Spider-Man Unlimited Vol. 3 #1— (Marvel Comics; March 2004—), showcasing Spider-Man in stories by new writing talent.
• New Avengers #1— (Marvel Comics; January 2005—, continuation of Avengers Vol. 3), written by Brian Michael Bendis and penciled by David Finch. This book is not one of the official Spider-Man titles but includes him as part of the current team line-up.
• Astonishing Spider-Man #1— (Panini Comics/Marvel UK; Unknown month 1994—). Part of Marvel UK's "Collector Edition" line, reprinting US stories from 2–3 years earlier.

Other continuities

• Ultimate Spider-Man #1— (Marvel Comics/Ultimate Marvel; October 2000—), written by Bendis and penciled by Mark Bagley, set in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
• Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1- (Marvel Comics/Marvel Adventures; May 2005—; continuation of Marvel Age Spider-Man), written by Sean McKeever, set during Spider-Man's high school years but not within regular Marvel continuity.
• Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1— (Marvel Comics, December 2005—, sequel to Mary Jane and Mary Jane: Homecoming miniseries), written by Sean McKeever and illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa. Set outside the regular Marvel continuity.