Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He has been featured in comic books, television shows, films, video games, novels, and plays.
This article is about Spider-Man, the main and original version of the superhero. For other uses, see Spider-Man (disambiguation). For other versions, see List of incarnations of Spider-Man and Alternative versions of Spider-Man.
Peter Parker
Spider-Man
Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
Peter Benjamin Parker
The Amazing Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Ricochet,[1] Dusk,[2] Prodigy,[3] Hornet,[4] Ben Reilly,[5] Scarlet Spider, [6] Captain Universe[7]
- Superhuman strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, and durability
- Ability to cling to solid surfaces
- Precognitive spider-sense
- Genius-level intellect
- Proficient scientist and engineer
- Utilizes wrist-mounted web-shooters
- Master martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant
Spider-Man's secret identity is Peter Benjamin Parker. Initially, Peter was depicted as a teenage high-school student and an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues and gave him many supporting characters, such as Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, and Harry Osborn; romantic interests Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Cat; and enemies such as the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom. In his origin story, Spider-Man gets his superhuman spider-powers and abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider. These powers include superhuman strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, durability, coordination, and balance; clinging to surfaces and ceilings like a spider; and detecting danger with his precognition ability called "spider-sense". He builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webs of his own design, which he uses both for fighting and for web-swinging across the city. Peter Parker originally used his powers for his own personal gain, but after his Uncle Ben was killed by a thief that Peter could not stop, he began to use his powers to fight crime by becoming Spider-Man.
When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist. The Spider-Man comic series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker, a high school student from Queens, New York, as Spider-Man's secret identity, whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" were issues to which young readers could relate.[8] While Spider-Man was a quintessential sidekick, unlike previous teen heroes Bucky Barnes and Robin, Spider-Man had no superhero mentor like Captain America and Batman; he had learned the lesson for himself that "with great power comes great responsibility"—a line included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man's origin story, but later retroactively attributed to the late Uncle Ben Parker.
Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first and longest-lasting of which is The Amazing Spider-Man. Since his introduction, the main-continuity version of Peter has gone from a high school student to attending college to currently being somewhere in his late 20s. Peter has been a member of numerous superhero teams, most notably the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Doctor Octopus also took on the identity for a story arc spanning 2012–2014, following a body swap plot in which Peter appears to die.[9] Marvel has also published comic books featuring alternate versions of Spider-Man, including Spider-Man 2099, which features the adventures of Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the future; Ultimate Spider-Man, which features the adventures of a teenage Peter Parker in the alternate universe; and Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, which depicts a teenager named Miles Morales who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after Ultimate Peter Parker's apparent death. Miles later became a superhero in his own right and was brought into mainstream continuity during the Secret Wars event, where he sometimes works alongside the mainline version of Peter.
Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes.[10] He has appeared in countless forms of media, including several animated TV series: the first original animated series Spider-Man, with Paul Soles voicing the titular character, a live-action television series, syndicated newspaper comic strips, and multiple series of films. Spider-Man was first portrayed in live-action by Danny Seagren in Spidey Super Stories, a recurring skit on The Electric Company from 1974 to 1977.[11] In live-action films, Spider-Man has been portrayed by actors Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, by Andrew Garfield in two films directed by Marc Webb,[12] and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tom Holland. Reeve Carney originally starred as Spider-Man in the 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.[13] Spider-Man was also voiced by Jake Johnson and Chris Pine in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with the former reprising his role in the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Fictional character biography
Early years
In Forest Hills, Queens, New York City,[49] Midtown High School student Peter Benjamin Parker is a science-whiz orphan living with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. As depicted in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), he is bitten by a radioactive spider (erroneously classified as an insect in the panel) at a science exhibit and "acquires the agility and proportionate strength of an arachnid".[50] Along with heightened athletic abilities, Parker gains the ability to adhere to walls and ceilings. Through his knack for science, he develops a gadget that lets him fire adhesive webbing of his own design through small, wrist-mounted barrels. Initially seeking to capitalize on his new abilities, Parker dons a costume and, as "Spider-Man", becomes a novelty television star. However, "[h]e blithely ignores the chance to stop a fleeing thief, [and] his indifference ironically catches up with him when the same criminal later robs and kills his Uncle Ben." Spider-Man tracks and subdues the killer and learns, in the story's next-to-last caption, "With great power there must also come—great responsibility!"[51]
In the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (March 1963), despite his superpowers, Peter struggles to help his widowed Aunt May pay the rent, is taunted by Flash, and continues fighting crime and saving the city as Spider-Man, but his heroic deeds engender the editorial wrath of newspaper publisher of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson, holds a grudge against Spider-Man, and continues making false statements about Spider-Man despite his heroism. Peter gets hired as a freelance photographer by Mr. Jameson to take pictures of Spider-Man, with him being unaware that Spider-Man is Peter Parker.[52][53] Spider-Man fights his enemies, including superpowered and non-superpowered supervillains—his archenemy and nemesis Green Goblin and then Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Chameleon, Lizard, Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, and Mysterio, defeating them one by one[54]—but Peter finds juggling his personal and superhero life difficult. In time, Peter graduates from high school[55] and enrolls at Empire State University (a fictional institution evoking the real-life Columbia University and New York University),[56] where he meets roommate and best friend Harry Osborn and girlfriend Gwen Stacy,[57] and Aunt May introduces him to Mary Jane Watson.[54][58][59] As Peter deals with Harry's drug problems, and Harry's father, Norman Osborn, is revealed to be the Green Goblin, Peter attempts to give up his costumed identity for a while.[60][61] Gwen Stacy's father, New York City Police detective Captain George Stacy, is accidentally killed during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (issue #90, November 1970).[62]
1970s
In issue #121 (June 1973),[54] the Green Goblin throws Gwen Stacy from a tower of either the Brooklyn Bridge (as depicted in the art) or the George Washington Bridge (as given in the text).[63][64] She dies during Spider-Man's rescue attempt, and Spider-Man swears revenge against his nemesis; a note on the letters page of issue #125 states: "It saddens us to say that the whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her."[65] The following issue, Spider-Man vengefully attacks and overpowers the Green Goblin, who kills himself accidentally in the ensuing battle with Spider-Man.[66]
Working through his grief, Peter eventually develops tentative feelings toward Mary Jane, and the two "become confidants rather than lovers".[67] A romantic relationship eventually develops, with Parker proposing to her in issue #182 (July 1978), and being turned down an issue later.[68] Peter went on to graduate from college in issue #185,[54] and becomes involved with the shy Debra Whitman and the extroverted, flirtatious costumed thief Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. the Black Cat,[69] whom he meets in issue #194 (July 1979).[54]
Powers, skills, and equipment
Peter Parker has superhuman spider-powers and abilities derived from mutations resulting from the bite of a radioactive spider.[112] Since the original Lee-Ditko stories, Spider-Man has had the ability to cling to walls. This has been speculated to be based on a distance-dependent interaction between his body and surfaces, known as the van der Waals force,[113] though in the 2002 Spider-Man film, his hands and feet are lined with tiny clinging cilia in the manner of a real spider's feet. Spider-Man's other powers include superhuman strength, agility, and balance and a precognitive sixth sense referred to as his "spider-sense", which alerts him to danger.[112]
Spider-Man has a healing factor that allows him to recover from injuries sustained during battle.[114] In the aftermath of the 1989 "Acts of Vengeance" storyline, Spider-Man was said to have "superhuman recuperative abilities" that sped up his recovery from the exhaustion he suffered in defeating the Tri-Sentinel.[115]
The character was originally conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko as intellectually gifted, and later writers have depicted his intellect at genius level.[116] After years of fighting, Peter honed his skill into an equivalent of martial arts that is unique to his powers. Academically brilliant, Peter has expertise in the fields of applied science, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, mathematics, and mechanics.
With his talents, he sews his own costume to conceal his identity, and he constructs many devices that complement his powers, most notably mechanical web-shooters that allow him to shoot webs, swing at high speeds throughout the city, and navigate and trap his enemies with his webs, additionally with a spider-signal as a flashlight and a warning beacon to criminals.[112] Thomas Fireheart's scientists, world-renowned, are unable to replicate the fluid Parker created while in high school.[117]
Content in this article was copied from Spider-Man at the Fictional Characters wiki, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC BY-SA 3.0) license.
