Quick Answers
What event led to Peter Parker gaining his Spider-Man powers?
Who raised Peter Parker after he was orphaned?
What are some of the professions Peter Parker has held?
How did Peter Parker initially use his Spider-Man powers?
What is the real name of the character Spider-Man in the Marvel comics?
History
See also: Peter Parker (Earth-616)/Expanded History
Early life
Peter Parker was born in Queens to CIA agents Richard and Mary Parker. While Peter was still an infant, his parents were assigned to infiltrate the Algerian based spy ring controlled by the communist agent, the Red Skull (Albert Malik). The moment the Red Skull learned that Richard and Mary Parker were double agents, he had them killed in an airplane crash overseas by one of his agents. The Skull then had his parents framed for treason. [2] Peter went to live with his uncle and aunt, Ben and May Parker, in Forest Hills, New York, they became Peter’s surrogate parents and raised him as if he were their own son. Over the next 9 years, Parker grew to be extremely bright and became a high honors student at Midtown High School. Parker's shyness and scholastic interest often made him a social outcast and a target for bullies, primarily football star Flash Thompson.
Becoming Spider-Man
While attending a public exhibition demonstrating the safe handling of nuclear laboratory waste materials, sponsored by the General Techtronics Corporation, then-15-year-old Peter Parker was bitten by a spider that had been irradiated by a particle accelerator used in the demonstration. Making his way home afterwards, Peter discovered he had somehow gained incredible strength, agility, and the ability to cling to walls, spider-like traits that he immediately associated with the spider bite.[3]
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Introducing: Spider-Man!
Encountering an ad offering a cash prize for staying in the ring for three minutes with a professional wrestler, Peter decided this would be a good way to test his powers. Wearing a mask to avoid potential embarrassment, Peter easily defeated his opponent. A TV producer observed his performance and convinced him to go on television with his 'act.' Designing a costume and some wrist-mounted web-spinners, Peter called himself Spider-Man, becoming an immediate sensation.
Following his first TV appearance, Peter failed to act to stop an escaping thief, claiming that it was not his responsibility to do so. Peter forgot the incident as his fame rose, but one night he returned home to find his Uncle Ben had been murdered. Learning the police had the burglar responsible holed up in a warehouse, Peter easily captured him only to discover it was the same thief he had allowed to escape earlier. Filled with remorse, he realized that when someone has power, he has an obligation to use it responsibly, so he decided to become a superhero.[3]
Peter's early career as Spider-Man.
Taking on Great Responsibility
The first problem young Peter faced was the lack of money with the death of his uncle. Due to the fact that his Aunt May was too weak to work and Peter was seen as fragile, he decided to get a job, even though Aunt May wanted him to become a scientist instead. Peter even thought about using his spider powers for crime, but decided against it after thinking how his Aunt would react to him in jail.
However, it was seeming impossible to him to find a job in order to pay his growing debts. As Spider-Man, he was not able to continue his career as TV star, because of J. Jonah Jameson, owner of the NOW magazine and the newspaper Daily Bugle. Jameson started a campaign against Spidey, stating that he was a bad influence for children and a criminal for taking justice into his own hands, referring to the situation with the burglar. These protests start taking effect and turning the public against Spider-Man, causing Spidey's manager to leave him, impeding his ability to earn money even as Spider-Man.[4]
Peter searched through the wanted ads, only to be rejected by all the employers. Not being able to use his super-powers as Spider Man infuriated Peter, and his fury only intensified after seeing his Aunt May selling her jewelry to try and earn some money.
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Spider-Man vs. the strangest foe of all time... Doctor Octopus.
Spidey's second heroic action was to save Jameson's astronaut son, John Jameson from an accident in a deviated space capsule. Spider-Man hitched a ride on a small airplane, and boarded the capsule during re-entry. Spidey then attached the missing capsule piece- allowing it to land safely. Although he helped to save John, Spidey was still blamed by J.J. Jameson for the accident.
Later, trying to find a way to make some money, Spidey tried to intrude into the Baxter Building, battling the Fantastic Four, as a way of showing them his power, but the team refused Spidey's entry after explaining to him that they did not get paid for their actions and that they were a family, not an enterprise. Later that day, the Russian criminal and master of disguise known as the Chameleon used Spider-Man's identity to steal defense missile plans. The real Spidey was used by Chameleon as a pawn to escape the scene without problems. After managing to avoid capture by the police, Spider-Man caught Chameleon in a helicopter and handed him in to the authorities.[4] Peter finally found a way to make money when the Daily Bugle asked for photos of the winged criminal known as the Vulture. Not only did Spider-Man defeat the villain, he also found a way to take photos, which caused J.J. Jameson to hire Peter to get him pictures of Spider-Man, under the condition that the publicist would not ask Peter how he took the pictures[5].
Early in his career, Spider-Man fought many villains including the Tinkerer[5], Kraven the Hunter, who tried to hunt Spider-Man; Sandman, a criminal turned into sand with shapeshifting powers[6]; Doctor Doom[7], the Lizard, a brilliant scientist turned a giant reptile[8]; the Fox (in his first team-up with the Human Torch)[9]; the Living Brain (a machine gone crazy)[10], Electro, a former electrician who in an accident was turned into a human battery[11]; the Kingpin of crime Big Man and his Enforcers[12], Mysterio, an illusionist who tried to make Spider-Man seen as a criminal[13]; Doctor Octopus, a good scientist who, after an accident, had four extra metallic arms attached to his back[14][15]; and his deadliest foe of all time: the Green Goblin, a mad criminal who wanted to be the new king of the underground[16][17]. Several of these villains would form the Sinister Six, under the leadership of Doctor Octopus himself, a team who tried to get Spider-Man by kidnapping Aunt May, trying to force Peter to "call" Spider-Man, but they failed[18].
During this time, Parker dated Betty Brant of the Daily Bugle, although Liz Allan had a crush on him. At the same time, both Peter's Aunt May and their neighbor, Anna Watson, were constantly encouraging Parker to date Anna's niece, Mary Jane Watson.
Before his high school graduation Peter continued to fight off menaces, including the Circus of Crime[19][20], the Scorpion[21], the Beetle[22], Mysterio (who pretended to be a renowned psychiatrist in an attempt to make Spider-Man believe he was insane)[23], Spencer Smythe's Spider-Slayers[24], the Crime-Master[25], and the Molten Man[26]. He also assisted the recently formed Avengers in defeating a Spider-Man robot created by Kang[27].
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Spidey Unmasked!
A Hero in the University
Eventually, Peter graduated from high school and enrolled at Empire State University on a science scholarship[26], meeting new classmates such as Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy[28]. Even though he got off to a bad start with them, finally Peter became friends with them, as well as Flash Thompson, his high school bully who ironically was Spider-Man's biggest fan. The Green Goblin came back and discovered Spider-Man's identity, kidnapping him and revealing his own alter-ego, that of Norman Osborn, Harry's father. In a furious battle, the villain lost all memories of his time as a supervillian.[29]
During that time, Spider-Man fought new foes such as the Cat Burglar[30]; the Rhino, a villain in an armored suit who tried to kidnap John Jameson; Shocker, a criminal with shock wave gauntlets; as well as teaming up with Dr. Strange to defeat the wizard known as Xandu[31]. Also, Peter finally met Mary Jane Watson, but at that time he was interested in Gwen, so Mary Jane started dating Harry.
After finding an old newspaper clipping that identifies that his parents were traitors to their country in his aunt’s house, Peter decided to learn the full story, traveling to Algeria with the Fantastic Four's aid. He learns that his parents were supposedly spies who worked for the Red Skull and he came across their ID badges for the Skull's organization. Spider-Man also stumbles upon the original Nazi Red Skull and his men, who previously worked for the other Red Skull. In the aftermath, he finds that his father's CIA identification card, proving to Peter that his parents were secret government operatives. With evidence to clear his parents' names, Peter returns to the States. [2]
Weeks after the return of Kraven the Hunter and battling a new Vulture, Peter started wondering if he may be better off not being Spider-Man. Crime rose and a Kingpin appeared in NY, and abducted J. J. Jameson. Peter was forced to return to his heroic identity.[32]
A mystical artifact called the Tablet of Life and Time, exhibited in ESU was stolen by Kingpin, the Tablet passed over many people who tried to get it, including Spider-Man, Shocker (who was working for Kingpin) and Man Mountain Marko (who was working for the Maggia crime family). Finally the Tablet got to the Maggia boss, Silvermane, who forced Doctor Curt Connors to translate the tablet. Connors managed to create a powerful rejuvenation serum from it. Silvermane drank it and became a young man again. But the serum made Silvermane regress beyond birth. Meanwhile Connors, as the Lizard, escaped.[33]
The Death of the Stacys
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The Death of George Stacy
Soon after, Doctor Octopus managed to get his metallic arms again and broke free from prison. After Spider-Man thwarted his attempt to hijack a plane, he started attacking the city's main power plant. Although Spider-Man escaped from Ock, Spider-Man was attacked by surprise by Ock the next day. They battled on a rooftop and Captain Stacy died when saving a child from falling debris. Before dying, Stacy revealed to Spider-Man he knew his identity, and asked him to take care of Gwen.[34]
Being accused for Stacy's death, Spider-Man faced some heroes who wanted to take him to authorities, such as the X-Man Iceman and the beginner hero The Prowler. Peter even went to London to prevent Gwen's departure forever, after her father's death.[35]
Things got worse. Harry became addicted to LSD, and Peter, along with Gwen and Mary Jane, took care of him. This familial stress caused Norman Osborn's Green Goblin persona to return, where he again battled Spider-Man. During the battle Norman was exposed to his son's declining condition in the hospital. This severed the control of the Green Goblin persona over Norman and caused Norman to have amnesia.[36]
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The Night Gwen Stacy Died!
With his secret identity making his life impossible, Peter tried to give up being Spider-Man and created a cure for his powers that made him grow four extra arms[37]. With the help of Curt Connors he found a cure, fighting Morbius the Living Vampire and his alter-ego in the process. He finally returned to normal, even though it meant interfering in a gang war between Doctor Octopus and Hammerhead[38] and battling Hulk in Canada.[39]
Norman Osborn's alter ego resurfaced and the Green Goblin kidnapped Gwen Stacy. Spider-Man found them at the Brooklyn Bridge, where they fought and Gwen fell from the bridge. She died when Spider-Man reached her with a web-line, breaking her neck. Green Goblin escaped. A furious Peter searched found, and battled him again. In this battle Norman was impaled with his own Goblin glider, apparently killing himself.
Peter was extremely distraught over the death of Gwen, possibly even more so than when Uncle Ben died. An equally traumatized Mary Jane tried to comfort Peter after Gwen's death; she was initially brushed off, but they eventually got closer.[40]
Being accused of the death of both Stacys, Spider-Man was confronted by heroes such as Power Man and the Punisher in the latter's crime-fighting debut[41]. Later, Harry, who had wanted revenge on Spider-Man for his father's death since it happened, took the Green Goblin mantle and kidnapped Flash Thompson, Mary Jane and Aunt May in an attempt to lure him out and kill him. Spider-Man managed to find him at his father's old home and defeated him, leaving him to the authorities. Harry was sent to an asylum.[42]
The First Clone Saga
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"Even if I live... I die!"
Peter had to go on a work trip with Robbie Robertson, and he and Mary Jane shared their first kiss at the airport. After returning from the trip to France, Peter found himself with Gwen Stacy, but could not bear to rekindle their relationship because of his kiss with MJ. With the help of Ned Leeds, Spider-Man found out that Gwen Stacy was a clone created by the Jackal, who, after defeating Spider-Man with the help of Tarantula, was revealed to be Peter's professor, Miles Warren.[43]
After kidnapping Leeds and Spider-Man, Warren explained to the hero that he loved Gwen and blamed Spider-Man for her death. And after managing to clone a frog, he used a blood sample from Gwen to clone her. Later, Spider-Man was left unconscious in a stadium, where he battled a clone of himself to save Ned from a bomb.
Gwen's clone made Jackal realize everything was wrong, so he freed Ned and the bomb exploded, apparently killing him and the Spider-Clone. Spider-Man took the corpse of his clone and buried it at an industrial chimney, while the clone of Gwen Stacy left New York[44]. Unsure whether he was the real Peter Parker or just a clone, he had Curt Connors run tests on him. However, he never checked the results, being convinced by his emotions for Mary Jane that he must be the original[45].
Peter had to leave Betty Brant's engagement party to defeat the Shocker, causing friction between him and Mary Jane[46]. He then came into conflict with the Kingpin once more who was trying to acquire parts of a crime super computer before it was activated[47]. The computer itself turned out to be self-aware and a menace[48]. Peter served as best man at Ned Leeds' and Betty Brant's wedding[49]. He had to deal with Dr. Octopus kidnapping his aunt May as a result of being haunted by the ghost of Hammerhead[50], defeated the Fly[51] and faced off against the Tinkerer, who had reconstructed the Spider-Mobile at the orders of the Kingpin[52]. He teamed up with the X-Man Nightcrawler and the Punisher to being down Jigsaw who was trying to fame the Punisher for several sniper killings[53].
Spider-Man faced Harry's psychologist, Bart Hamilton, who became the third Green Goblin, who, after various encounters, died at the hands of Harry[54]. Peter proposed marriage to Mary Jane, but she would not accept, making their relationship falter. MJ went to Florida with her Aunt Anna.
Spider-Man managed to clear his name, while Peter Parker graduated from ESU.[55] Also, Spencer Smythe, the creator of the Spider-Slayers, died from illness after trying to kill Spider-Man and Jameson, the men he blamed for ruining his life.[56]
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Never let the Black Cat cross your path!
Enter the Cat
As Peter continued to live on his own, his Aunt May decided to transform her home into a senior citizens' boarding house. At one point Parker began a romantic relationship and heroic partnership with the Black Cat, developing feelings for her and even starting to love her, although Parker later broke it off due to the Black Cat's disdain for Parker's life apart from being Spider-Man.
A "Friend" from Outer Space
Prior to this, Spider-Man was among the heroes kidnapped by the powerful Beyonder to fight in his "Secret Wars". When his costume was damaged, Parker tried using the futuristic technology on the Beyonder's planet to repair it, and instead, replaced it with an alien "symbiote" which transformed into a black version of Spider-Man's costume, perhaps based on that of the newly appeared Spider-Woman. Parker used the symbiote for his costume, which was capable of transforming into street clothing as well as generating webs. Later, Mary Jane returned to Peter's life.
After a vicious "final" battle with Kraven the Hunter (in which Peter actually died and, reborn, crawled out of his grave), a man named Puma dislocated Spidey's arm. Spider-Man passed out pushing it back into place. Black Cat saved Peter from Puma and left Peter at home. MJ came over to visit, because she thought Peter felt let down by something, and tried to have some fun. But Peter shoved MJ out of the door when his Spider Sense went off. Just as Peter shut the door, Puma crashed in. During the battle in another building Puma confirmed that Spidey's web was organic. After the battle Peter returned home and Mary Jane told him that she knew he was Spider-Man. Peter tried to convince her that she was wrong, but Black Cat came in and MJ left. Cat said MJ is nobody, and Peter snapped at her. When she started to leave the suit webbed her hand, and Felicia (thinking he'd done this on purpose) decided to stay. Peter noticed that the costume behaved strangely, so he sought help from the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic, who discovered the costume was a living organism. He helped remove the costume by force, and kept it at the Fantastic Four's headquarters in captivity. The symbiote would later escape, plaguing the life of Parker again and ultimately merging with one of Spider-Man's critics, Eddie Brock, creating the villain, Venom. In a climatic fight, Spider-Man defeated this new foe.
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Spider-Man's symbiote costume.
Improving Life
As Spider-Man, Parker met and fought alongside nearly every hero in Manhattan, if not the world. Although he fought alongside the Avengers many times[27], he unsuccessfully (for now) tried to join their number when he learned of the financial stipend their members received. Parker helped them stop an invasion and subsequent breakout of the energy research and villain internment facility, Project Pegasus. Spider-Man was deemed, however, to disrupt the team's cohesiveness (perhaps due to either his loner nature, lack of experience, or annoying sense of humor), and was denied membership. Later, however, Spider-Man met the international mercenary Silver Sable, often working on her behalf.
Vs. Venom.
Soon after a fight with Electro, Peter and Mary Jane married. Spider-Man later defeated Venom in battle again. Peter's old friend Harry Osborn leased the couple a loft in the condo that Harry and his family were also living in. Mary Jane's cousin Kristy also temporarily moved in with the Parkers at one point. Eventually, however, the Parkers had to move into a room in Aunt May's house due to financial problems.
At this time, Spider-Man once again allied with the Avengers to stop the alien Nebula from destroying reality with her Infinity Union. An increasingly unnerved Spider-Man, unaccustomed to dealing with cosmic-scale menaces, accidentally allowed Nebula to absorb the power of the Infinity Union, although the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the alien Stranger thwarted her regardless. Parker was told again that Spider-Man might not be suited for Avengers membership, although later he was inducted into their number on a provisional basis.
Parker later returned to his studies and postgraduate work as a lab assistant at Empire State University. During this time, Parker was briefly endowed with the powers of Captain Universe, in order to stop a series of robots, including the mutant-killing Sentinels. Once the menace was defeated, the extra powers left him.
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Spider-Man, the Jackal and the Spider-Clones.
The Second Clone Saga
Aunt May supposedly suffered a debilitating heart attack. This also led to the Parkers meeting Ben Reilly, whom Peter had fought earlier as a clone of himself. Reilly created a similar spider-costume, dubbed the Scarlet Spider by the Daily Bugle, and helped Spider-Man in his adventures. Shortly afterward, Mary Jane became pregnant. Peter and Mary Jane briefly moved to Portland, as Parker considered retiring from being Spider-Man in order to start a family. A series of events caused Peter to think that he was a clone of Ben Reilly, rather than the other way around, so he gave up being Spider-Man and became the Scarlet Spider while slowing down on crime-fighting to raise his family.
Reilly eventually assumed the identity of Spider-Man himself, since the second villain by the name of Doctor Octopus tarnished the reputation of the Scarlet Spider. Mary Jane, meanwhile, was to give birth to baby May Parker, but was rushed to the hospital under the pretense of a medical emergency. The original Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, having somehow survived) stole the baby, unbeknownst to the Parkers, who were told the baby died in a miscarriage (in reality, the baby was stillborn). When the Green Goblin tried to kill Peter Parker, Ben Reilly jumped in front of the Goblin's glider, sacrificing himself to save Parker. Reilly's body disintegrated, finally convincing Peter that he was the original. Due to this "revelation" and the fact that his daughter had died, Peter once again became Spider-Man.
The Final Chapter
After many more months of adventuring, Norman Osborn returned to take control of the Daily Bugle. He angered Peter, which caused Spider-Man to brutally beat Norman, which was all caught on a hidden camera in his house. The recording was shown to the media which made Spider-Man a criminal and increased pressure was placed on capturing him. In order to continue his crime-fighting career and investigate the fraudulent claims, Parker relinquished his Spider-Man identity while creating four unique and separate ones: Dusk, Hornet, Prodigy, and Ricochet. As Dusk, Parker was able to investigate the villain Trapster and publicly exonerate Spider-Man, at which point he resumed his Spider-Man identity. Later, the Golden Age hero Black Marvel acquired the four costumes and gave them to four teenagers, forming a team he named the Slingers.
When the Avengers were attempting to reform their number after disbanding for a year after the crisis known as Onslaught, Spider-Man was contacted due to his past affiliation with them. However, by his own choice, Parker decided to dissolve ties with the Avengers.
Aunt May was later discovered to still be alive; the woman who seemingly died was in actuality a genetically modified actress. Parker, Mary Jane, and Aunt May moved to an apartment in Manhattan. Parker had promised Mary Jane to give up his Spider-Man identity, but he would continually sneak out at night as Spider-Man. Their marriage began to strain, in part because of Mary Jane's new modeling career and in part because she discovered Parker's secret. Before they could reconcile, however, Mary Jane was supposedly killed when her airplane exploded. For a long time, Parker refused to believe her dead, but eventually grew to accept it.
Parker discovered Mary Jane was alive, captured by a villain who had been stalking her prior to her airplane flight. After a brief reconciliation, Mary Jane requested to leave Parker once more, saying that she needed time to adjust by herself.
A New Lease on Life
Spider-Man with his soulmate MJ Watson and his Enemies.
Peter soon took a job as a teacher at his somewhat beloved Midtown High. After getting this job, he encountered a strange old man named Ezekiel who possessed powers very similar to his. He knew Peter's secret identity and talked to him about things about his powers he had never thought of, like, "Did the radiation enable the spider to give you these powers? Or was the spider trying to give you those powers before it died?" After many questions, telling Spidey his powers were 'totemistic' in nature, and showing Peter what he could have done had he stayed in showbiz, Ezekiel warned Peter about a totemistic predator named Morlun, who would try to kill him. After ignoring the warnings of Ezekiel, and being defeated by Morlun, Spidey attempted to get Ezekiel to help him. With Ezekiel refusing to do so, Spidey went after Morlun again after Spidey found him terrorizing innocent people.
After being nearly beaten again, Ezekiel helped Spidey, but seemingly perished. Spidey then injected himself with radiation at a nuclear plant, which hurt Morlun when he tried to absorb his life force, enabling Spider-Man to defeat him by injecting him with radiation with every punch he trew. Morlun pleeded Spider-Man to spare him, saying he has doing what he need to survive. While considering what to do with him, Morlun's assistant, Dex, shoot Morlun. After the brutal battle, Spider-Man returned to his apartment, and fell deep asleep. Aunt May came by, only to find that Peter had severe wounds and scars, and a tattered Spider-Man costume on the floor.
After a day of coming to grips with the fact that her nephew was Spider-Man, Aunt May revealed that she knew his identity following the events of September 11th. Now their relationship was stronger than ever, and eventually, Mary Jane and Peter reunited for good. Later still, after a breakout at the Raft Security Prison, Spider-Man joined the New Avengers. May, Peter, and Mary Jane moved into Avengers Tower after an enemy destroyed both Peter's and May's places.
The Other Spider
Shortly after joining the Avengers, Peter discovered that his skin was shedding for some reason. Knowing the situation was hopeless, Morlun got into a fight with him and brutally defeated him. The bloodied, rapidly shedding Spider-Man was rushed to the hospital with extreme wounds. Morlun attacked him there again, and the two killed each other right before Mary Jane's eyes.
Iron Man took away Peter's body later, but as the Avengers mourned over him in another room, Spider-Man's body disappeared, leaving only the skin already shedded. It turned out that his body had briefly sprung to life and formed a cocoon underneath a bridge. While in the cocoon, Peter was resurrected with a new body. He then completed several tasks that proved him worthy of his spider-powers.
Changes resulting from the confrontation with Morlun and the shedding of his skin[57] caused Peter to try and reconcile 'the man and the spider' within himself. He then gained greater speed; poisonous, razor-sharp stingers located within his arms; night vision; increased sensory awareness via vibratory patterns transmitted through the hairs on his body and through his web lines; a greater clinging ability; and equal superhuman strength in order to carry heavy objects on his back.
Spider-Man in "Iron Spider" suit.
Civil War: War at home
Despite misgivings and with the support of his family, Peter initially sided with Iron Man in support of superhero registration, after being unsure initially, as he felt that heroes needed to get public support for their actions. Many of the heroes on that side had public identities, with him being the only major supporter without one following Iron Man's unmasking; Iron Man also said it was a positive thing to unmask if they were to gain support. He planned to liquidate his assets and flee the country in case his unmasking caused any problems, but his family suggested against it, believing that Peter needed to get recognition for his actions. With Iron Man at his side, at a live press conference in Washington, D.C., Peter unmasked and said "My name is Peter Parker, and I have been Spider-Man since I was 15 years old". His siding with the pro-registration heroes also saw him gaining the "Iron Spider" armor, which Stark had been building since Peter's death and resurrection.
Reaction to the unmasking was diverse. Among the negative supporters was Jameson (who fainted upon watching the broadcast, and came to "disown" Peter, having seen him like a son over the years) and Liz Allan (who blamed Peter for causing so much suffering in their lives).
However, fighting against the fugitive heroes and the existence of the Thor clone left a poor taste in his mouth, and he even found out that Iron Man was tracking him with the Iron Spider suit. This caused him to switch sides and instead join the renegades. In retaliation, the pro-registration heroes tried to kill him; although severely bloodied, he was saved by the Punisher, who took him to the Secret Avengers, having also decided to join the anti-registration heroes. After joining the team, Spider-Man interrupted a news broadcast, announcing that he had changed sides. Spider-Man was one of the few heroes who did not accept the general amnesty after the arrest and death of Captain America, continuing to work with the underground New Avengers.
Peter took the Death of Captain America hard, even blaming himself for his death despite not being present at the shooting. After an encounter with Rhino and receiving condolence from Wolverine, Spider-Man watched Cap's funeral on TV with the New Avengers; when the team discussed why they didn't go, Spider-Man said they could not risk getting arrested by Tony Stark on the spot.
"Any questions?": Peter publicly unmasks
Back in Black
Peter's now-public identity allowed the Kingpin to put a hit on Parker's family. An assassin critically injured Aunt May and Peter donned the black suit to track down those who were responsible. Realizing he could not afford for his identity to be public knowledge, Peter agreed to aid the Scarlet Spiders in return for their help in re-establishing his secret identity.[58] Towards the end of his search, Peter even had an encounter with the One-Above-All.
Pact with the Devil on One More Day
Back in Black.
Peter grew increasingly desperate to save the life of his Aunt May. He sought the help of Dr. Strange, finding that even magic could not help him save Aunt May's life. After appealing to Tony Stark, Jarvis was sent with $2 million to pay the hospital fees and give her the best care possible. At one point, Eddie Brock was found in Aunt May's room; where he attempted to commit suicide by jumping out of the window. The interdimensional Demon Mephisto offered to save Aunt May in exchange for Peter and MJ's love. As part of Mephisto's deal, everyone would forget Peter's identity as Spider-Man. Because of this decision, the daughter they would have had never existed.[59]
Then Mephisto re-arranged history to make it so that Peter unwittingly would not show up to his wedding day, but stayed with Mary Jane as a long time couple. But this re-arrangement also caused it to be Doctor Strange who erased people's memories about Parker's secret identity (except Mary Jane, the Jackal, all his clones and Harry Osborn, who was now alive thanks to the re-arrangment of history, though he later revealed it to the Fantastic Four) and protected Peter with a "psychic blind spot". But Mary Jane was bitterly hurt from having knowledge of a time of great emotional pain that no one else on the planet remembered. She and Peter agreed that they were still in love with each other but they had to accept that their relationship put everyone they cared about in danger and that it was best for them to remain as friends.
Back from five years in a European rehab center was Harry Osborn. While searching for a job, Peter joined the Daily Bugle again which was now bought out by Dexter Bennett, and began to work as a paparazzi reporter, which was something that neither his Aunt May or Harry approved of. However, after his photographs of the celebrity Bobby Carr resulted in the deaths of women by a crazed super villain stalker who was obsessed with him, Peter decided to destroy the new photos he took resulting in Bennett firing him. Peter soon learned that Bennett had blacklisted him to nearly every news source in town preventing Peter from finding work. However, Harry suggested that Peter find a job at a news source that was Bennett's enemy, which he did by joining the Front Line as it was not under Bennett's influence.
Spider-Man fighting Norman's Dark Avengers.
Dark Reign & American Son
Due to the fact that Norman Osborn transformed Venom into a more Spider-Man like look and joined Osborn's Dark Avengers,[60] Peter had to reveal his secret identity to the New Avengers, in order to implicitly earn the team's trust. Upon doing so, Jessica Jones fled the place, as she had gone to high school with Peter and had a crush on him at the time.[61]
During a trip to the Macroverse, Spider-Man re-revealed to the Fantastic Four his identity, and after coming back two months later in standard time, J. J. Jameson become the new NY major. Then Spider-Man knew he must act against Norman Osborn and his Dark Reign.[62]. With help of the F4's Unstable Molecules, Spider-Man infiltrated Osborn's Avengers as Venom and discovered how Osborn wanted to make his son a new hero called American Son. After Spider Man was captured by Norman Osborn, Harry confronted Norman Osborn with the truth about his father's relationship with Lily Hollister (Harry's girlfriend). Spider-Man prevented Harry from killing Norman.[63]
Rematches and Grim Hunt
Peter with old flames.
After the wedding of Aunt May and Jay, Spider-Man saved Jameson from Doctor Octopus with the help of the Human Torch. Around this time Mary Jane returned to New York, and Peter renewed his relationship with Black Cat. He later battled a man who wanted to kill Ben Reilly, and saw the return of Peter's living clone Kaine. Despite his problems, Spider-Man helped the original Jackpot start fighting crime[64] and overcame the corrupting control of Mister Negative's energy.[65]
The Kravinoff family started a vengeance scheme on Spider-Man, kidnapping Madame Web and Mattie Franklin, one of the Spider-Women.[66] In addition, Spider-Man managed to get a videotape of Osborn practicing illegal experiments to damage his reputation and leaked it to the public.[67]
Later, Spider-Man faced repowered villains such as Electro, who destroyed the DB! building; Sandman, who became obsessed with taking care of his "daughter" Keemia; Rhino, who left reformation to kill a new Rhino who murdered his wife; The Lizard, who evolved and "killed" his alter-ego. Many of them where helped by Sasha Kravinoff, who wanted revenge on Spider-Man.
The Kravinoffs killed Mattie Franklin to resurrect Grim Hunter, and finally hunted Spider-Man and killed him to revive Kraven. However it was revealed that the corpse was Kaine's, who had earlier knocked out Peter and switched places to save him. After a battle with the Kravinoff family, Madame Web died and Julia Carpenter took up her mantle. The surviving Kravinoffs left New York. Later, Kaine was resurrected from his grave and mutated into a more spider-like creature.
The world of Spider-Man.
Big Time
After a massive war between Doctor Octopus, and Spider-Man, to get Norman Osborn's son by Lily Hollister, Spidey found that the child was actually Harry's, who later leaves the town to take care of him. Peter starts a relationship with Carlie Cooper.
Spider-Man's hero career rose up again, and he joined The Avengers . Peter found a dream job, thanks to Jameson's wife Marla Madison, as a scientist at Horizon Labs where he had access to much technology and Spider-Man assisted the Avengers in defeating Doctor Octopus' army of macro-octobots. He then faced a new Hobgoblin and the Kingpin, but days later, he lamentably lost Marla in a fight between Alistair Smythe's Spider-Slayers.[68]
24/7 Hero
Spidey and the rest of the FF.
Spidey, Wraith and Anti-Venom vs. Mister Negative's henchman.
After the death of Johnny Storm (the Human Torch), Peter joined the Fantastic Four, now as the Future Foundation and helped them to fight an interdimensional version of Reed Richards, and the Sinister Six, who managed to steal tech from the Baxter Building.
Their third mission was in the Caribbean, on Earth. There, Reed located the epicenter of the dimensional anomalies the Future Foundation had been fixing. As the team explored the island, they were attacked by zombie pirates. It was revealed it was all a fake created by the Sinister Six, with only Mysterio and Chameleon really present, the other four members were robots. Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus and the others infiltrated the Baxter Building, stealing technology for Doc Ock's further plans.
Spider-Island
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Spiders, spiders everywhere.
After helping Anti-Venom to reveal Mr. Negative's identity and help the Avengers Academy (as well as learning that Aunt May was moving to Boston with Jay), Spider-Man found himself with a new problem. The Jackal returned and gave the majority of New Yorkers spider-powers.
Spider-Queen was revealed as the true mastermind, who wanted to turn the whole human race into spiders. Mr. Fantastic created a cure using the Anti-Venom Symbiote, also, after battling Peter (under Jackal's influence), Peter's clone Kaine was accidentally cured from his mutations, turning him into a perfect clone.
Kaine killed the Spider-Queen in Central Park, and Peter managed to get the cure to every citizen via Doc Ock's (mentally controlled) octobots. Also, because of revealing he had spider-powers during the Spider-Island event, Peter's psychic blind spot was weakened, letting Carlie know he was Spider-Man, which caused her to break up with him. [69]
Ends of the Earth
After fighting some old foes like the Vulture and his Vulture hechmen and teaming-up with Daredevil and Black Cat, and, the returned from death, Human Torch, Spider-Man faced the return of a menace.
Before death, Doctor Octopus wanted to be remembered as the man who saved Earth by stopping the Greenhouse Effect. Equipped with a new suit, Spider-Man joined the Avengers to stop Octavius and his Sinister Six.[70]
Anti-Sinister Six Suit
After every Avenger was subdued by Octavius, Silver Sable, who followed Spider-Man to his battle, saved him and Black Widow. When they tried to get to one of Octavius' manufacturing satellites, they defeated Sandman. Octavius asked for help from all nations, to capture Spider-Man. Octavius called on many villains to hunt down Spider-Man and his allies. To counter this, Spider-Man called on the heroes that were still on Earth to destroy the facilities of Octavius. When he and his allies arrived at the main base in Romania, Doc Ock stated that Spider-Man was right and he activated his satellites. This caused a huge explosion in the areas that were facing the sun. When the trio exited the base they saw what happened. Sable then asked if that is Symkaria to which Peter answered it is half of the world and Spider-Man said, "We failed". The destruction was revealed to be a trick made by Mysterio (only burning a small portion of a city in Skymaria, while Chameleon uses a robot to fight Spider-Man. After they are defeated, Mysterio is convinced by Spider-Man to help him catch the Octopus in his base in Guatemala, but Octavius used the mind-controlled Avengers as his new Sinister Six. For saving half of Symkaria, Sable kissed Peter, but he refused to get into a relationship with her because he had redeveloped feelings for Mary Jane.
Spider-Man, Sable and Widow managed to defeat the Avengers, then he and Sable headed to Octavius' underwater base. They were faced by Rhino while the base started to flood, Octavius trapped Sable and left Spider-Man with two choices, to continue to fight him in order to save Sable from drowning (but then Octavius would activate the lenses) or let him drown himself leaving Sable to stop Octopus. After leaving Sable to her death at her request, Spidey managed to destroy Octavius's arms and equipment before taking his foe away to a doctor, thus finally saving the world. Peter again was distraught over the deaths of Silver Sable and Rhino, as he felt that he could have saved them once again. Julia Carpenter, however, told him that Sable was alive.
Avengers vs. X-Men
When Cable returned to the present and kidnapped the Avengers, Spider-Man and Wolverine went to go rescue their team. Wolverine was keen on killing Cable, but Spider-Man was unsure of doing so. Cable however, was eventually taken down. After failing to completely cure the Lizard with the help of Morbius, Spider-Man sided with his fellow Avengers against the X-Men. He was present during the Siege of Utopia and together with Wolverine they attempted to take Hope away. They failed however as Hope's Phoenix powers manifested and incapacitated them. Spider-Man was later seen among one of the teams searching for Hope across the world, and came into conflict with several X-Men, most notably the new Juggernaut.
After the Phoenix Force was split into five pieces and possessed Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magik, Namor and Colossus as its hosts, Spider-Man was brought to the mythical city of K'un-Lun due to a prophecy that predicted that he would train Hope Summers. She was initially unresponsive to him as a teacher, due to him being clueless about what to teach her, but after telling her what his uncle always told him "With great power comes great responsibility", she quickly took to him.
When the Avengers attempted to free their imprisoned comrades from the Phoenix Force enhanced Colossus and Magik, Spider-Man bought them time to do so. He attempted to slow them down but instead got beaten down by Colossus. When Magik told Colossus to kill him, Colossus replied that they are turning into things that are not due to their power, Spider-Man took advantage and managed to convince them to attack each other. And as they did, they were both knocked unconscious and were depowered of their Phoenix Force powers. He was present during the final battle against the Dark Phoenix, Cyclops, and was the first person to sense the manifestation of new mutants after Scarlet Witch and Hope destroyed the Phoenix Force.
Spider-Men: Two heroes of two worlds
While out web-swinging, Spider-Man came across a differently costumed Mysterio in a warehouse. After a brief skirmish, he was shot by Mysterio and sent through a dimensional rift into another dimension, where he encountered the Spider-Man of that world, Miles Morales. Though he initially gained the upper hand, Peter was ultimately subdued by Miles and taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Upon regaining consciousness, Peter was interrogated by Nick Fury, who believed his story of coming from another universe and sent him off with Miles to learn this world's history, though not before Peter told Nick that he was much cooler than the Nick Fury of his world.
During their conversation, however, Peter and Miles were attacked by a robotic avatar of Mysterio, which self-destructed after a brief battle and knocked Miles unconscious. Peter subsequently went off on his own to investigate, and was shocked and horrified to discover that his counterpart in this world died in battle against the Green Goblin, and that not only was the city still mourning his loss, but his identity is now public knowledge. Making his way to Queens, he came across May Parker and Gwen Stacy. Initially furious at what they believed to be a disrespect of their Peter's memory, the two were taken aback when a distraught Peter unmasked himself before their eyes. Still, the two attacked Peter until Miles vouched for him, leading to Aunt May passing out.
When May awakened, she went upstairs and heard Peter exchanging stories with Gwen. When Gwen asked what happened to her in his dimension, Peter became uncomfortable and changed the topic. Aunt May and Peter had a tearful reunion and Peter was very surprised to find out he had a relationship with Kitty Pryde. Nick Fury came to pick him and Miles up, and for a second, Peter saw Mary Jane's Ultimate counterpart before she ran away. He was taken over to meet Iron Man, where the two began to work on a time-space formula until Miles pointed out a familiar building in a video of a previous fight against Mysterio.
Peter led the charge to Mysterio's headquarters, where they quickly subdued him before he could destroy the portal and trap Peter on Earth-1610 forever. Giving a satisfied Miles his blessing as the new Spider-Man, Peter returned to his world, subsequently running an online search to see if his world had a Miles Morales counterpart, and seems to be shocked by what he discovered on the net.
Dying Wish - Death of a Hero
Death of "Dr. Octopus"
By using a mind-swapping Octobot, Doctor Octopus managed to switch minds with Peter Parker, putting himself in Spider-Man's body and trapping Peter in his own, dying body.[71]
As Doc Ock could access to Peter's memories, Spider-Man could do the same to Octavius', and discovered that Octavius used an Octobot to switch brain patterns in order to perform his plan. Peter managed to access that Octobot and use it to send a message to many super villains to help him get out from prison. Hydro-Man, Scorpion and the Trapster heed the call, freeing "Doc Ock" from the Raft, then they were tasked with the mission to bring Spider-Man to him.
He put on a new set of tentacles and decided to search for the Octobot with which his mind was transferred. He decided to go to Stark Tower in order to ask Tony Stark for help, but encountered Octavius as Spider-Man, who released a set of giant Octobots worldwide in order to distract the rest of the Avengers. They battled until both fell from the Tower, fatally wounding Octopus. When Ock tried to use the brain-swapping Octobot, Spider-Man revealed that he was using a Carbonadium helmet, making his brain totally inaccessible for changing brains. Otto declared his final victory against Parker by giving him a lethal punch which caused Octopus to give his last breaths.
Both then discovered that the Octobot managed to connect their minds (although it could not swap them, Parker's mind was in Octavius'), and Peter forced Otto to relive "his" most suffering experiences and memories that Spider-Man actually lived out, making him realize the responsibility his power came with. Otto told Peter he did not want this, but they could not change bodies in time. Finally, Otto promised Peter to continue his legacy both as Spider-Man. Satisfied that his final wish was granted, Peter Parker died.[72]
Superior Spider-Man and Return
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Peter Parker is once more the Amazing Spider-Man.
While Otto Octavius continued the legacy of Spider-Man, he accidentally performed certain actions against his will, such as saving someone's life as the original would do.[73] It was revealed Peter's consciousness had survived as a subconsciousness (thus not able to control the actions of his organism entirely), and had the intent on reclaiming his life and body back by overcoming Otto from the inside out and attempt to get help from people around who would understand.[74] However, Otto detected the anomaly that was Peter's presence in his brain and proceeded to seemingly erase it.[75] Actually, Peter had survived but decided to keep a low profile to prevent Otto from attempting to erase him again.[76]
During the massive assault on Manhattan by the Goblin Underground, Otto found himself overwhelmed by his enemies and almost with no resources or allies.[77] Realizing he had failed as the "superior" Spider-Man he claimed to be, Otto let the consciousness of Peter, who had revealed his presence again to push Otto into saving a young child, take over his body once more, and defeat the Goblin King once and for all in order to save Anna Maria Marconi, Otto's love.[78] Peter managed to track down the Goblin King and thwart his plan as well as save Anna Maria, but Osborn escaped.
Afterwards, Peter took up the reins at Parker Industries, and apologized to his family members for "his" erratic behavior, promising to publicly cut all his ties with Spider-Man. He then went to visit Jameson as Spider-Man in an attempt to persuade him to stay and fight, but was too late, for Jameson had resigned from his post as Mayor.[79] Also, the Living Brain, who was Octavius' assistant was retained as Peter's.[80]
A Second Chance at Life
Peter would spend most of the time adjusting to his new status quo, specially coming to terms with his position as CEO of his own company.[80] After the return of Electro, Peter decided to help New York build a new prison for super villains.[81]
Personality
Spider-Man is commonly seen as a brave and righteous hero with an indomitable sense of justice and responsibility. Shaken by his uncle's tragic death, Spider-Man's vow of responsibility has led him to a path of heroism and humanitarian service. There are times when Spider-Man's sense of responsibility can be almost overbearing; this was noted by Luke Cage when he felt embarrassed about Electro (one of his villains) causing the Raft breakout, despite the fact he had nothing to do with it.[82] This combined with his strong moral compass in the face of adversity and sharp wit make him one of the most iconic and enduring heroes in the Marvel Universe.
One of Spider-Man's most prominent traits is his sense of humor. Even at the face of certain death, Spider-Man invariably cracks a joke, to the annoyance of both friends and foes. His reasons for this vary: either he wants to relieve the stress of a situation or simply because he wants to hide how scared he really is during a crisis. Also, he does this to get on the nerves of his opponents, since he knows that if they are angry, that they would normally lose themselves and be vulnerable to a superior skilled opponent. It is generally agreed, however, that whenever Spider-Man stops making jokes, he will take the current situation with the utmost seriousness.
Spider-Man is also a loner. Due to his individualistic style (having been a social outcast in his youth), Spider-Man finds it hard to work in teams. However, this has gradually lessened over the years, to the point Spider-Man is a member of the Avengers, the New Avengers, and more recently, the Future Foundation.
Spider-Man's righteousness complimented Daredevil's maturity as a crime-fighter during the Death of Jean DeWolf arc, leading to an enduring friendship.[83] Peter also made close ties with the Fantastic Four at the very start of his career, which stands greater than ever today, like a family rendering aid to each other unconditionally.[84] He is also quite close to the X-Men, able to sympathize with the public scorn that mutants often face. More recently Spider-Man has bonded with the New Avengers of whom he is a founding member, trusting them so much that he would reveal his identity to each member.[61] Of the two previously mentioned teams, Spidey is closest to the Human Torch and Wolverine, playing pranks on one another or seeking solace respectively.
Reputation
Seen by some as the heart of New York, Peter has gained quite a reputation with not only the superhero community, but villains and civilians as well: his Aunt May searched the Internet and found that Spider-Man had saved roughly 10,000 lives directly, excluding all of his team-ups with other heroes and all the bombs or devices he's deactivated.[85] In the Bar with No Name, the villains present initially felt discouraged to bet money against the wall-crawler as he fought Overdrive since "He always beats the new guys."[86]
When the Hood began his criminal career and was almost killed by the Constrictor, the Constrictor noted how new he was to villainy and that he "didn't even get to fight Spider-Man." [87] Despite all the grudges Spider-Man has accumulated, he has made peace with some former enemies such as the Punisher (now an uneasy ally,) and even checked up on the less than lethal Frog Man after his incarceration ended to make sure things were fine. [88]
During a recent fight with Cable, Cable noted that Spider-Man is seen in the future as the greatest hero of them all. [89] Also, after Spider-Man helped the villain Loki to save his daughter from Morwen, one earned the other grudging but genuine respect. [90]
In spite of his many heroics, Spider-Man is infamous for numerous smear campaigns against him, especially at the hands of the Daily Bugle. The reason of this bad-mouthing upon him is because of the Bugle's manager and main publisher, John Jonah Jameson has strong distrust towards the wall crawler due to being a costumed vigilante with no affiliation to law and to take the spotlight of "true" heroes like public servants.
It was also revealed that Spider-Man is disliked by a good deal of police cops in New York because, even though he comes to turn in captured super villains, the police mistrusts him due to his vigilantism, and they are also embarrassed over their dependency on him to arrest the threats they couldn't handle.
In some cops, this dislike grew into hatred and they had tried to incriminate the Wall-Crawler by putting some of his trackers on recent corpses to turn public opinion against him. However, Vin Gonzales (one of the involved cops) revealed the scheme for a lighter sentence and they earned the anger of general public that the police ironically tried to frame Spider-Man with the crime.Attributes
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Powers
Spider Physiology: Spider-Man possesses the proportionate powers of a spider, granted to him from an irradiated Common House Spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum) which bit Peter Parker that was apparently already mutated from prior exposure to certain frequencies of radiation and received a final, lethal dose during Parker's attendance of the exhibition. The radioactive, complex mutagenic enzymes in the spider's blood that were transferred at the time of the bite triggered numerous body-wide mutagenic changes within Parker, granting him superhuman strength, speed, toughened flesh, and numerous arachnid-like abilities. Like many superhuman powers, the effectiveness of Spider-Man's abilities varies based on the author and the needs of the story. His powers include:
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Wall-Crawling
- Wall-Crawling: Spider-Man's exposure to the mutated spider venom induced a mutagenic, cerebellum-wide alteration of his engrams resulting in the ability to mentally control the flux of inter-atomic attraction (electrostatic force) between molecular boundary layers. This overcomes the outer electron shell's normal behavior of mutual repulsion with other outer electron shells and permits the tremendous potential for electron attraction to prevail. The mentally controlled sub-atomic particle responsible for this has yet to be identified. This ability to affect the attraction between surfaces is so far limited to Spider-Man's body (especially concentrated in his hands and feet) and another object, with an upper limit of several tons per finger. At one point, Spider-man was able to prevent Anti-Venom from taking his mask off by making it stick to his face.
- Mark of Kaine: Kaine, the relatively amoral clone of Spider-Man, has shown the ability to use his wall-crawling abilities in a more offensive manner, burning distinctive scars, known as the Mark of Kaine in the face of his victims. Later Spider-Man himself used a variation of the same ability to escape from The Green Goblin by making his fingertips cling to his face and tearing them away, digging five deep wounds in Norman's face. Despite the obvious offensive potential of such an ability, Peter claims that it is unlikely he will use it again, as it was a move born out of anger and desperation.[91] In later events during the Grim Hunt arc, due to Peter's rage at Sasha Kravinoff over everything she put him and his 'spider family' through, he used his version of the Mark of Kaine on her, ripping the skin off her face in the shape of a hand print, proclaiming "This is from my brother."[92] Limits to this ability seem to be psychosomatic, and the full nature of this ability has yet to be established.
- Superhuman Strength: Spider-Man possesses superhuman strength enabling him to press lift many tons. Originally, Spider-Man could lift ten tons, after Queen's mutation, he could lift 15 tons, finally, after the Other evolution, he can lift 20 tons. Spider-Man's physical strength is sufficient enough to enable him to lift and throw objects as heavy as a big rig semi truck with ease. He must also pull his punches and kicks unless fighting someone of similar or greater physical durability. Otherwise, his blows would prove fatal to a normal human being.[93] He has demonstrated that he is strong enough to enable him to knock out people with normal durability with as little as a tap to the head. Also during the Secret Invasion, Spider-Man was shown to be able to knock a Tyrannosaurus Rex into unconsciousness in one punch. Spider-Man's physical strength also extends into his legs, enabling him to be able to jump to a height of several stories in a single bound.[94] Spider-Man demonstrated this when he leaped over thirty feet vertically into the air when he first leaped out of the way of an oncoming car; it should also be noted that when he first discovered his powers as a teenager, they had not developed to that of his prime.
- Superhuman Speed: Spider-Man is capable of running and moving at speeds that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[95] Spider-Man has showed to be fast enough to catch up to an accelerating car while on foot, but prefers to travel by webs.[96]
- Superhuman Stamina: Spider-Man's advanced musculature produces less fatigue toxins during physical activity than an ordinary human. This allows him to exert himself physically for much longer periods of time before fatigue begins to impair him. At his peak, Spider-Man can physically exert himself at his peak capacity for several hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him. Several accounts depict Spider-Man as able to hold his breath for eight minutes or more.
- Superhuman Durability: Spider-Man's body is physically tougher and more resistant to some types of injury than the body of a normal human. His body is more resistant to impact forces than anything else. He can withstand great impacts, such as falling from a height of several stories or being struck by an opponent with super strength, that would severely injure or kill a normal human with little to no discomfort. Spider-Man's body is durable to the point where tensing his super-strong muscles while being punched in the torso by a trained heavyweight boxer caused the attacker's wrists to break; also, Spider-Man has stated that he must roll with punches thrown by people without similar strength or durability to avoid breaking their wrists.
- Superhuman Agility: Spider-Man's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are all enhanced to levels that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. Spider-Man is extraordinarily limber and his tendons and connective tissues are twice as elastic as the average human being's, despite their enhanced strength. He has the combined agility and acrobatic prowess of the most accomplished circus aerialists and acrobats. He can also perform any complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts such as flips, rolls, and springs. He can easily match or top any Olympic record at gymnastics apparatus such as flying rings, climbing ropes, horizontal bars, trampolines.
- Superhuman Equilibrium: Spider-Man possesses the ability to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium in any position imaginable. He seems able to adjust his position by instinct, which enables him to balance himself on virtually any object, no matter how small or narrow.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Spider-Man's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are currently about 40 times greater than those of an ordinary human. In combination with his spider-sense, the speed of his reflexes allows him to dodge almost any attack, or even gunfire,[97] if he is far enough away. Spider-Man has even been shown in some cases, to be able to dodge gunfire using just his reflexes without his Spider-Sense.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: Spider-Man has a limited healing factor. While not on Wolverine's level, it is sufficiently powerful enough to recover from severe injuries from broken bones and large amounts of tissue damage in a matter of days. After getting his powers, he soon found that his eyesight was repaired, discarding his glasses. During a battle with a villain called the Masked Marauder, Spider-Man is rendered completely blind, however after about 2 days his sight was perfect, albeit sensitive for about a day after.
- Foreign Chemical Resistance: Due to his accelerated metabolism, Spider-Man has a higher tolerance for drugs and diseases than normal humans, and he can recover from the effects of larger doses rapidly. During an encounter with the Swarm, Spider-Man was incapacitated by thousands of bee stings, but recovered in less than 24 pours. His resistance and recovery time to other toxins and diseases varies, but is typically significantly higher than normal. Spider-Man's unique physiology even allowed him to recover from the effects of vampirism as stated by Blade, his radioactive blood will kill the enzymes responsable for his transformation and revert him to normal. [98] Spider-Man was able to recover completely from acid being spat into his eyes by the new Vulture although the extent of the damage may have been restricted due to his superhuman durability. However, Spider-Man has the normal human tolerance for alcoholic beverages.
Spider-Sense in action
- Spider-Sense: Spider-Man possesses an extrasensory "danger" or "spider" sense which warns him of potential immediate danger by the manifestation of a tingling sensation in the back of his skull, and links with his superhuman kinesthetics, enabling him to evade most any injuries, unless he cognitively overrides his automatic reflexes. The precise nature of this sense is unknown. It appears to be a simultaneous clairvoyant response to a wide variety of phenomena (everything from falling safes to speeding bullets to thrown punches), which has given several hundredths of a second warning, which is sufficient time for his reflexes to allow him to avoid injury. The sense also can create a general response on the order of several minutes: he cannot discern the nature of the threat by the sensation. He can, however, discern the severity of the danger by the strength of his response to it. Spider-Man's spider-sense is directional and can guide him to or away from hidden weapons and enemies.Sudden and extreme threats can cause his spider-sense to react with painful intensity. Spider-Man can also sense and dodge attacks directed randomly or by an artificial intelligence. Using his spider-sense to time his enhanced reflexes, Spider-Man can casually dodge attacks up to and including automatic-weapons fire, provided there is sufficient distance. His spider-sense is sufficiently well-linked to his reflexes to the point that a threat can trigger them even when Spider-Man is asleep or stunned. His spider-sense has helped him preserve his secret identity since it alerts him to observers or cameras when changing into or out of his costume. The spider-sense does react to those who Peter does not consider to be a threat, such as Aunt May. Spider-Man can choose to ignore his spider-sense, and distraction or fatigue diminish its effectiveness. Spider-Man's fighting style incorporates the advantage that his "spider-sense" provides him. His body begins to produce more adrenaline after the sense is triggered, an extension of the 'fight or flight syndrome.' Even when he does not have the use of his eyes Spider-Man can still use his Spider Sense in a similar fashion to Daredevil's Radar Sense to help him see by sensing the direction the danger is coming from by listening on the loudest noise around him. This was first used after Spider-Man was temporarily blinded by a device [99] but was recently used again to help see the new Vulture after his acidic breath blinded him.[100]While he temporarily lost it during his battle with the Spider-Slayers, it was restored during the Spider-Island story-line.
- Radio Frequency Detection: Peter's spider-sense also enables him to track certain radio frequencies, which he has used to his advantage via his Spider-Tracers.
Abilities
- Indomitable Will: Spider-Man has a strong Force of Will, completely free of evil and temptation. For years, he has struggled to balance his life as a student and his superhero duties. He is able to emerge from defeat even stronger. His mental strength is also shown when he successfully wrestles control of nanobots from Doctor Octopus.
- Genius Intellect: Academically gifted, Peter displays an uncanny affinity for science that is nothing short of genius. According to Parker his IQ is north of 250.[103] Some of the Earth's most brilliant minds such as Reed Richards and Hank Pym [104] have acknowledged Peter's intellect.
- Science Major: He is a brilliant individual, with exceptional skill in practically every field of science, and is an excellent inventor.[105] He is an accomplished chemist and physicist.[106]
- Skilled Photographer: Peter is a very skilled photographer [107].
- Master Acrobat: Thanks to his great strength and phenomenal equilibrium, Parker is an excellent athlete, excelling in all gymnastic fields and being able to perform every acrobatic stunt ever performed, including others that can never be performed by even an Olympic acrobat.
- Skilled Combatant: Due to his life being bullied and pranked as a young teenager to acquiring amazing superhuman capabilities and combining them with his scientifically adept and creative mind, Parker has through time become an excellent hand-to-hand combatant utilizing a fighting style that directly complements his superhuman abilities. His methods are volatile, enabling him to rival practically all types of combatants. He has been trained by Captain America. As a means to compensate for the temporary loss of his spider-sense, Parker also received formal combat training from Shang-Chi through the recommendation of the new Madame Web (Julia Carpenter). Together, they created a new martial art style, the 'Way of the Spider' and Peter's skill with it has substantially increased following the return and amplification of his Spider-Sense. He is very skilled in his fighting style. His feats are defeating Firelord, Daken, Wolverine, Sinister Six, and Morlun. He has stalemated Captain America, Iron Man, and Shang Chi. Iron Fist stated that Spider Man is untouchable because of his spider sense.
Weaknesses
Unlike many superheroes, Spider-Man does not have a weakness he is automatically vulnerable to, but in recent years methods have been created to render him vulnerable.
- Spider-Sense Disruption: Spider-Man's Spider Sense can lose its effectiveness if it is blocked or temporarily weakened by specialized equipment or certain drugs. It also would not trigger if it detects something that is not registered as a threat like the Spider-Man clones or the Venom symbiote and its offspring and Anti-Venom. When deprived of his spider-sense, Spider-Man becomes vulnerable to surveillance and attack, and web-slinging requires most of his concentration.
- Anti-Venom's Proximity: Anti-Venom's failed attempt to cure Spider-Man of his radioactive blood resulted in Spider-Man's powers slowly canceling out whenever Anti-Venom is too close to him. Also if Anti-Venom binds him with his own webbing abilities it will also negate Spider-Man's powers until Spider-Man can get it off his body. This weakness no longer applies due to Eddie Brock sacrificing the Anti-Venom Symbiote to cure the population of New York during the Spider-Island story-line.
- Ethyl Chloride: Perhaps as a side effect of gaining his powers, Spider-Man is susceptible to the pesticide ethyl chloride. This chemical is frequently used as a weapon by the Spider-Slayers.
- Bad Luck: Not exactly a flaw or a disadvantage in his crime-fighting, Peter Parker's life is generally a complicated one. Peter has been forced in numerous occasions to lie to people close to him, be late in his commitments, get away from people and so on for the sake of his secret identity. This inherent difficulty to get his superhero life a secrecy, matched with the number of superhuman events and beings in New York and simply coincidence has in turn, lead Peter to aggravate people around himself, even ones close to himself, and to, more often than not, run into trouble and embarrassment. As Peter often remarks whenever he misses an opportunity to better his social life, improve his finances, or even get to work on time, (due to his super-heroics), "Typical Parker Luck."
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Spider-Man's Webs
- Web-Shooters: Parker's brilliance at physical science allowed him to create web-shooters for use when he became Spider-Man. [108] The twin devices worn on his wrists are able to shoot thin strands of a special "web fluid" at high pressure.
- Utility Belt: Spider-Man keeps a utility belt holding web cartridges, spider-tracers, and his signature Spider-Signal.
Transportation
- Web-Swinging: Spider-Man uses his web-shooters to travel by swinging on web-lines. Combined with his spider abilities, he can move at amazing speeds throughout the urban chasms of Manhattan. Spider-Man was able to keep pace with Captain Marvel at his best speed, surprising the Kree warrior, although Spidey mentioned it was mostly due to his practice with web swinging over his career.[109]
- Spider-Glider: Spider-Man's own version of the Goblin Glider that is used for faster travel across the city.
Notes
- Voiced by Neil Patrick Harris in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Josh Keaton In Ds Version Of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions And Spider-Man: Edge of Time. Both have previously voiced alternate versions of the character.
- Spider Man has been parodied as the character Spider-Ham in the Marvel Tales and What the-?! series.
- Spider-Man is one of the few people to have become Captain Universe, chosen by the Uni-Power. Although it was only for a short time, Cosmic Spider-Man could manipulate his webbing into different shapes, generate energy blasts, fly and had all of his 5 senses superhumanly enhanced. Before he defeated the Tri-Sentinel, he even managed to take on the likes of Magneto, Dr. Doom and Hulk.[110]
- Spider-Man is a possible Protestant.[111]
- According to the book Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide by Tom DeFalco, Peter had heard that his school's dance team were throwing out old bodysuits, snuck into school after dark, found one that fit him, obtained two one-way mirrors from the Drama Department's prop closet (for his mask lenses) and spent an hour silkscreening the web pattern onto the bodysuit in the art room. With this, he created his first Spider-Man costume.
- Peter is currently approximately 28 years old; he got bitten by the spider 13 years ago, when he was 15 years old.[80]
- Spidey and Wolverine became blood brothers during a time travel adventure. [112]
Trivia
- Peter Parker is able to hack Tony Stark's technology, as he once managed to hack a failsafe program Tony Stark put into a suit he gave to Peter.[113]
- After being attached to Ms. Marvel, Venom stated that she had feelings for Spider-Man.[114] And before her supposed death, Silver Sable also appeared to have feelings for Spider-Man.[115]
- Spider-Man played World of Warcraft and is a Level 27 rogue.[116]
- Peter is a fan of the Mets.
- Spider-Man's famous mantra "with great power, comes great responsibility" is often attributed as a quote from Uncle Ben, however it was originally the concluding lines of narration to his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, the anonymous narrator explaining the moral of the story, not advice from from his beloved uncle. As this was the lesson he learned from his uncle's death, it slowly became associated with Uncle Ben, and the 2002 film chose to have the famous phrase come directly from Ben Parker as advice to the newly powered Peter and this is how the origin of the phrase is commonly understood now.
- The quote “With great power comes great responsibility” was first used by Peter in a comic book in 1987, in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine #1. It’s mentioned as a saying of Uncle Ben’s in that issue, though not spoken by him. The first time Ben actually said it in a comic was in February 2002, in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 38.
- S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to reverse-engineer Spider-Man's web formula many years ago according to Buck Lime, Moon Knight's new assistant, who built web-shooters for him.
- Several times, Spider-Man has been mistaken as a mutant. At one point, J. Jonah Jameson actually sent him to the X-Factor for confirmation,[117] and another, he was hunted down by the Hellfire Club until the misunderstanding was corrected. If he was a mutant, Spider-Man would likely have belonged to the mutant sub-species homo insectus (that of the Spider-Queen) or a sub-sub species), homo arachnis. In an alternate reality where mutants were the dominant species culturally and demographically, Peter Parker posed as a legitimate mutant to achieve fame.
- Peter has become publicly known as an ally and supporter of Spider-Man as well as the one responsible for his equipment to explain his connection to him, though this "revelation" was made possible by Octavius in his body. Immediately since his revival, Peter "severed" any connection with Spider-Man in order to protect his family and friends.[80]
- Spider-Man was ranked third on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011 and 2012 (and unknown number of years before that), the highest ranking of all Marvel characters.
See Also
- 4575 appearance(s) of Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 57 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 676 minor appearance(s) of Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 894 mention(s) of Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 40 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 8720 image(s) of Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 913 quotation(s) by or about Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 14 victim(s) killed by Peter Parker (Earth-616)
- 48 item(s) used/owned by Peter Parker (Earth-616)
Links and References
- (Peter Parker) Peter Parker on Marvel.com
- Peter Parker on Wikipedia.org
- amazing-spider-man.com
- Spider-Man Crawlspace.com
- Spider-Man supporting characters
- Spider-Man's powers, abilities and equipment
- Amazing Spider-Man.Info
- Spider-Fan
- The Best Spider-Man Stories
- Spider-Man at the Guide to the Mythological Universe
References
- ↑ Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide, page 15
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Amazing Fantasy #15
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Amazing Spider-Man #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Amazing Spider-Man #2
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #4
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #5
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #6
- ↑ Strange Tales Annual #2
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #8
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #9
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #10
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #13
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #3
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #11–12
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #14
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #23
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #16
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #22
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #20
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #21
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #24
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #25
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #26–27
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Amazing Spider-Man #28
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Avengers #11
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #31
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #39–40
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #30
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #50–52
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #68–76
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #90
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #95
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #96–99
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #100
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #114
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #119
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #121–122
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #129
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #136
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #148
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #149
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #150
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #151–152
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #153–154
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #155
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #156
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #157–159
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #160
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #161–162
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #176–180
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #176
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #192
- ↑ The Other storyline
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #7
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #545
- ↑ Dark Avengers #1
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 New Avengers #51
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #594
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #599
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot #1–3
- ↑ Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1–3
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #611
- ↑ Dark Reign: The List - Spider-Man #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #654
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #673
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #682
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #698
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #700
- ↑ Avenging Spider-Man #15.1
- ↑ Superior Spider-Man #1
- ↑ Superior Spider-Man #9
- ↑ Superior Spider-Man #26
- ↑ Superior Spider-Man #27.NOW
- ↑ Superior Spider-Man #30
- ↑ Superior Spider-Man #31
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ New Avengers #3
- ↑ Spectacular Spider-Man #107 -110
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #590
- ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #12
- ↑ Free Comic Book Day (Vol. 2007) #Spider-Man
- ↑ The Hood #5
- ↑ Spider-Man's Tangled Web #12
- ↑ Avengers: X-Sanction #4
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #504
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #598
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #637
- ↑ Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Annual
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 5) #Spider-Man: Back in Black
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #267
- ↑ Spider-Man #28
- ↑ Blade: The Vampire Hunter (Vol. 6) #1
- ↑ Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #27
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #593–594
- ↑ Spider-Man #25
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #697
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #588
- ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #15
- ↑ DC Versus Marvel Comics Profile
- ↑ Smartest Superheroes
- ↑ DC versus Marvel Comics Profile
- ↑ Smartest Superheroes
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up #16
- ↑ Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide, pages 18-19
- ↑ http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/SpiderMan.html
- ↑ Astonishing Spider-Man / Wolverine #6
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #535
- ↑ Siege: Spider-Man #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man 679
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 4) #12.1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #282
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z hardcover Vol. 11
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2004 Vol 1 1
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