Personality
"People often say glibly that Marvel succeeded by blending super hero adventure stories with soap opera. What Lee and Ditko actually did inThe Amazing Spider-Man was to make the series an ongoing novelistic chronicle of the lead character's life. Most super heroes had problems no more complex or relevant to their readers' lives than thwarting this month's bad guys.... Parker had far more serious concern in his life: coming to terms with the death of a loved one, falling in love for the first time, struggling to make a living, and undergoing crises of conscience."
Comics historian Peter Sanderson[79]
As one contemporaneous journalist observed, "Spider-Man has a terrible identity problem, a marked inferiority complex, and a fear of women. He isanti-social, [sic] castration-ridden, racked with Oedipal guilt, and accident-prone ... [a] functioning neurotic".[32] Agonizing over his choices, always attempting to do right, he is nonetheless viewed with suspicion by the authorities, who seem unsure as to whether he is a helpful vigilante or a clever criminal.[80]
Notes cultural historian Bradford W. Wright,
The mid-1960s stories reflected the political tensions of the time, as early 1960s Marvel stories had often dealt with theCold War and Communism.[4]:220–223 As Wright observes,
Powers, skills, and equipment
Main article: Spider-Man's powers and equipment
A bite from a radioactive spider on a school field trip causes a variety of changes in the body of Peter Parker and gives him superpowers.[81] In the original Lee-Ditko stories, Spider-Man has the ability to cling to walls, superhuman strength, a sixth sense ("spider-sense") that alerts him to danger, perfect balance and equilibrium, as well as superhuman speed and agility. Some of his comic series have him shooting webs from his wrists.[81] Academically brilliant, Parker has expertise in the fields of applied science, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, mathematics, and mechanics. The character was originally conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko as intellectually gifted, but not a genius; however, later writers have depicted the character as a genius.[82] With his talents, he sews his own costume to conceal his identity, and constructs many devices that complement his powers, most notably mechanical web-shooters.[81] This mechanism ejects an advanced adhesive, releasing web-fluid in a variety of configurations, including a single rope-like strand to swing from, a net to bind enemies, and a simple glob to foul machinery or blind an opponent. He can also weave the web material into simple forms like a shield, a spherical protection or hemispherical barrier, a club, or a hang-glider wing. Other equipment include spider-tracers (spider-shaped adhesive homing beacons keyed to his own spider-sense), a light beacon which can either be used as a flashlight or project a "Spider-Signal" design, and a specially modified camera that can take pictures automatically.
Other versions
Main article: Alternative versions of Spider-Man
Due to Spider-Man's popularity in the mainstream Marvel Universe, publishers have been able to introduce different variations of Spider-Man outside of mainstream comics as well as reimagined stories in many other multiversed spinoffs such as Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and Spider-Man: India. Marvel has also made its own parodies of Spider-Man in comics such as Not Brand Echh, which was published in the late 1960s and featured such characters as Peter Pooper alias Spidey-Man,[83] and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, who appeared in the 1980s. The fictional character has also inspired a number of deratives such as a manga version of Spider-Man drawn by Japanese artistRyoichi Ikegami as well as Hideshi Hino's The Bug Boy, which has been cited as inspired by Spider-Man.[84] Also the French comic Télé-Junior published strips based on popular TV series. In the late 1970s, the publisher also produced original Spider-Man adventures. Artists included Gérald Forton, who later moved to America and worked for Marvel.[85]
Supporting characters
Main article: List of Spider-Man supporting characters
Spider-Man has had a large range of supporting characters introduced in the comics that are essential in the issues and storylines that star him. After his parents died, Peter Parker was raised by his loving aunt, May Parker, and his uncle and father figure, Ben Parker. After Uncle Ben is murdered by a burglar, Aunt May is virtually Peter's only family, and she and Peter are very close.[33]
J. Jonah Jameson is depicted as the publisher of the Daily Bugle and is Peter Parker's boss and as a harsh critic of Spider-Man, always saying negative things about the superhero in the newspaper. Despite his role as Jameson's publishing editor and confidant Robbie Robertson is always depicted as a supporter of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.[35]
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is commonly depicted as Parker's high school tormentor and bully, but in later comic issues he becomes a friend to Peter.[35] Meanwhile Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn, is most commonly recognized as Peter's best friend but has also been depicted sometimes as his rival in the comics.[37]
Peter Parker's romantic interests range between his first crush, the fellow high-school student Liz Allan,[35] to having his first date with Betty Brant,[86] the secretary to the Daily Bugle newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. After his breakup with Betty Brant, Parker eventually falls in love with his college girlfriend Gwen Stacy,[37][40] daughter of New York City Police Department detective captain George Stacy, both of whom are later killed by supervillain enemies of Spider-Man.[45][45]Mary Jane Watson eventually became Peter's best friend and then his wife.[57] Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, is a reformedcat burglar who had been Spider-Man's girlfriend and partner at one point.[52]
Enemies
Main article: List of Spider-Man enemies
Writers and artists over the years have established a rogues gallery of supervillains to face Spider-Man. As with him, the majority of these villains' powers originate with scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology, and many have animal-themed costumes or powers.[note 6] Early on Spider-Man faced such foes as the Chameleon (introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #1, March 1963), the Vulture (#2, May 1963), Doctor Octopus (#3, July 1963), the Sandman (#4, Sept. 1963), the Lizard (#6, Nov. 1963), Electro (#9, Feb. 1964), Mysterio (#13, June 1964), Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin (#14, July 1964), Kraven the Hunter (#15, Aug. 1964), the Scorpion (#20, Jan. 1965), the Rhino (#41, Oct. 1966)—the first original Lee/Romita Spider-Man villain[87]—, the Shocker (#46, March 1967), and the physically powerful and well-connected criminal capo Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin.[37] The Clone Saga introduces college professor Miles Warren, who becomes the Jackal, the antagonist of the storyline.[40] Harry Osborn then replaces Norman as the Green Goblin and also a derivative villain called the Hobgoblin was developed to replace Norman as archenemy in #238 until Norman was revived later.[88] After Spider-Man rejected his symbiotic black costume, Eddie Brock, a bitter ex-journalist with a grudge against Spider-Man, bonded with the symbiote (which also hated Spider-Man for rejecting it), gaining Spider-Man's powers and abilities, and became the villain Venom in issue #298 (May 1988).[37] Brock briefly became an ally to Spider-Man when Carnage, another symbiote-based villain, went on a murderous spree in issue #344.[89] At times these enemies of Spider-Man have formed groups such as the Sinister Six to oppose Spider-Man.[90] Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) and Venom (Eddie Brock) are generally described or written as his archenemies.[91][92][93]
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