Spider-Man

Marvel Comics Character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. First appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August, 1962).

Spider-Man is the quintessential Marvel character. Despite being a superhero blessed by powers and abilities he is beset by the travails and problems of ordinary life as well. His power gives him the ability to do good but does not allow him to improve his lot in life.

Orphaned in infancy when his parents were killed, timid teenager Peter Parker was loved by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May but unpopular at school. While attending a science exhibit he was bitten by a spider which had been imbued with a fantastic amount of radiation. The spider bite gave Parker an array of superpowers including the proportional speed, strength and agility of a spider, a spider-sense that warns him of impending danger, and the ability to stick to walls through what has been hypothesized to be a system of molecular adhesion. In addition to his physical powers Parker used his knowledge of the sciences to build mechanical web shooters. These web shooters allow him to spin the webs Spider-Man uses in a variety of ways most notably to travel through the cavernous chasms between the Manhattan highrises by swinging about, to ensnare criminals, and to form protective shields or nets.

Initially, Parker designed himself a costume and adopted the identity of Spider-Man in order to become a wrestler and win money. His ego grew with his initial fame and when an opportunity to stop a thief presented itself, Parker chose not to act, feeling he no longer had to look after any but himself. Later, upon learning that his beloved Uncle Ben had been killed by a burglar, Parker charged into action as Spider-Man. To his horror he learned that the burglar who had killed his Uncle Ben was the same thief he had allowed to escape. Thereafter he adopted the axiom "with great power comes great responsibility," and devoted himself to fighting injustice. Though the death of a loved one is a commonplace motive for crime-fighting in comics, Spider-Man is driven by guilt rather than revenge.

Although Spider-Man eternally tries to do the right thing he is viewed with suspicion by a number of authority figures and is often considered little more than a criminal himself. Much of this negative publicity is the result of a campaign by J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the daily newspaper the Daily Bugle. Ironically, Paker works as a freelance photographer for Jameson, selling photographs of himself as Spider-Man.

As originally conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Parker was something of an everyman character. However, as with many characters spanning a lengthy publishing history, handled by multiple creators Spider-Man's history is somewhat convoluted. He continued working as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle and living with his elderly and somewhat fragile Aunt May until he graduated from high school. He enrolled in the fictional Empire State University where he befriended Harry Osborn, who was in fact the son of his arch-enemy the Green Goblin, and Gwen Stacy, with whom he would have a lengthy romance. Stacy was eventually killed by the Green Goblin who died soon thereafter in battle with Spider-Man. Parker eventually wed long-time friend and occasional supermodel Mary Jane Watson. His marriage did not overly affect his career as a crime-fighter and the stresses of his dual identity coupled with Mary Jane's tempestuous career as a model/actress and capricious editorial mandates led to the dissolution of their marriage. He is currently, once again, single, living in a Manhattan apartment receiving the occasional visits from his Aunt May (who was at one point thought dead--but the elderly woman who died was merely an actress who impersonated her), and is currently employed as a science teacher in his old high school.

Spider-Man has been adapted to television numerous times, through a short-lived live-action TV series and several animated cartoon series (the first was produced in the late 1960s by Ralph Bakshi). The biggest increase in Spider-Man's popularity came with the release of the movie Spider-Man in 2002, directed by Sam Raimi. It was the largest-grossing movie of the year, outperforming George Lucas' Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and landing a spot on many lists of all-time biggest box office smashes.