Marvel Noir is a 2009–2010 Marvel Comics alternative continuity combining elements of film noir and pulp fiction with the Marvel Universe . The central premise of the mini-series replaces superpowers with driven, noir-flavored characterization. The reality of Marvel Noir is Earth-90214 .
192-663: The idea for Marvel Noir began when Fabrice Sapolsky, editor of the French magazine Comic Box , pitched the idea of a 1930s pulp version of Spider-Man to David Hine in December 2006. This led to the announcement of Marvel Noir which would feature four mini-series, beginning in December 2008 with Spider-Man Noir and X-Men Noir , later followed by Daredevil Noir and Wolverine Noir . Five more series followed, with Luke Cage Noir and Punisher Noir beginning in August 2009,
384-650: A freelance photographer by Mr. Jameson to take pictures of Spider-Man, with him being unaware that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. 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 —but Peter finds juggling his personal and superhero life difficult. In time, Peter graduates from high school and enrolls at Empire State University (a fictional institution evoking
576-605: A healing factor that allows him to recover from injuries sustained during battle. 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. War Machine War Machine is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by David Michelinie , John Byrne , and Bob Layton as
768-545: A story arc depicting the negative effects of drug use. In the story, Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn becomes addicted to pills. When Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, Harry's father), Spider-Man defeats him by revealing Harry's drug addiction. While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless published
960-482: A "Superior" Spider-Man. A portion of Peter survived in his original body in the form of a subconsciousness. Later, realizing that he failed in his role as the "Superior" Spider-Man, Otto willingly allows Peter to reclaim his body in order to defeat Osborn and save Anna Maria Marconi, Otto's love. In the aftermath of these events, Peter began to amend the relationships damaged by Otto's arrogance and negligence, both as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He additionally took up
1152-399: A "sixth sense", which warns him of danger, the inspiration for Spider-Man's "spider-sense". Although at the time teenage superheroes were usually given names ending with "boy", Lee says he chose "Spider-Man" because he wanted the character to age as the series progressed, and felt the name "Spider-Boy" would have made the character sound inferior to other superheroes. He also decided to insert
1344-414: A Spider-Man tryout in what Lee, in numerous interviews, recalled as what would be the final issue of the science-fiction and supernatural anthology series Amazing Adult Fantasy , which was renamed Amazing Fantasy for issue #15 ( cover-dated August 1962, on sale June 5, 1962). In particular, Lee stated that the fact that it had already been decided that Amazing Fantasy would be canceled after issue #15
1536-647: A black costume with a white spider design on his chest. The new costume originated in the Secret Wars miniseries on an alien planet where Spider-Man participates in a battle between Earth's major superheroes and supervillains. He continues wearing the costume when he returns, starting in The Amazing Spider-Man #252. The change to a longstanding character's design met with controversy, "with many hardcore comics fans decrying it as tantamount to sacrilege. Spider-Man's traditional red and blue costume
1728-438: A book, I know it's going to look absolutely magnificent..." Wolverine Noir was given mostly mixed to negative reviews, however critics praised both the story and the artwork. Adam Chapman from Comixtreme.com gave the third issue an overall 4 out of 5, the fourth issue an overall 5 out of 5. Luke Cage Noir was given a Glyph Comics Award for "Fan Award for Best Comic" in 2010. Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson Noir as well as
1920-503: A brutal fight which takes Frank and the Russian onto the roof of the train, Frank manages to defeat the Russian by slipping a live grenade down his pants and kicking him off the train. In 1928, Frank's wife has died of cancer, and he is left to raise their son on his own. Frank teaches his son much of his combat knowledge, teaching the boy to shoot a gun and explaining the ins and outs of combat. Frank also refuses to pay protection money to
2112-463: A building where the Kingpin is expecting him. The two confront each other and discuss what has happened in the past week involving Orville Halloran. In his childhood, Matt Murdock was blinded by his father's assassin who brutally slammed his head into a brick wall, leaving him blind. Though he did wish to become a lawyer, his impoverished lifestyle denied it, leaving him to be a performer instead, under
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#17327811035532304-520: A cavern with a mysterious emerald mask in it. However, his attempts to claim the mask are interrupted when Gialetta reveals that she has betrayed him to aid the Nazis , in the form of the mysterious " Baron Zemo " and the ruthless Baron Strucker , the Nazis killing Virgil before Tony and Rhodes escape by starting a fire. Returning to America, where they meet their new chronicler Pepper Potts , who writes under
2496-421: A chair contraption is revealed from under a blanket and the prince is invited to sit in it by both Kurt and Jimaine but he refuses, so Kurt straps himself in instead. While Kurt is lifted up into the air, a gun is fired and Wyn'Garde is shot and murdered. Kurt is locked away in a black tower to be interrogated and as punishment for the prince's murder. Wyn'Garde's cousin is leading the assault on Kurt until one of
2688-436: A coma. Peter, desperate to save her, exhausts all possibilities and makes a pact with the demon-lord Mephisto , who saves May's life in exchange for Peter and Mary Jane agreeing to have their marriage and all memory of it disappear. In this changed reality, Spider-Man's identity is secret once again, and in #545 (Jan. 2008), Mary Jane returns and is cold toward him. The controversial storyline "One More Day" rolled back much of
2880-408: 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!" In
3072-540: A development had not occurred in Iron Man until Rhodes's introduction. One African American character, Eddie March , was introduced as Iron Man's successor in Iron Man #21 (1970), but this character was severely injured and written out of the series before being elevated as Iron Man's partner. Shortly after his first appearance, Rhodes assisted Iron Man in defeating Justin Hammer throughout issues published in 1979. He
3264-423: A distance-dependent interaction between his body and surfaces, known as the van der Waals force , 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. Spider-Man has
3456-464: A farm in Maryland and cash. When asked why, Strykers says simply because Cage should be dead, but instead he is seen as a hero who could not be shot and killed. Stryker offers to take Cage out to buy new clothes, but Cage escapes by setting fire to the building. He finds Jackie at a train station. He throws her onto the rails to make her talk. She reveals that Tombstone moved up in power for protecting
3648-567: A fellow military veteran, has been the primary romantic interest for Rhodes. The two had a relationship leading up to the Civil War II event and Rhodes's death. They reunited following his resurrection and Danvers's return to Earth, with a brief interruption when Danvers went to the future and realized that Rhodes's daughter was not hers. He has also had relationships with other characters, such as Stark Enterprises public relations director Marcy Pearson and Stark's ex-girlfriend Rae LaCoste. In
3840-598: A friend-turned-enemy of Rhodes, acquired War Machine armor and used it as a mercenary. He returned as a supporting character in volume two of War Machine when Rhodes called on him as an ally, given his experience with the War Machine armor. The title of War Machine has also been used by the Punisher , who acquired the armor in the limited series Punisher: War Machine . Carol Danvers , the superhero Captain Marvel and
4032-513: A high school student from the Queens borough of New York City, as Spider-Man's secret identity, whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" were issues to which young readers could relate. 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
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#17327811035534224-514: 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. Marvel has also published comic books featuring alternate versions of Spider-Man , including Spider-Man 2099 , which features
4416-487: A hoax. Shortly afterward, in The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13 (#454, Jan. 2000), Mary Jane is killed in an airplane explosion. She is revealed to be alive in volume 2, issue #28 (#469, April 2001), but she and Peter are completely separated in the following issue. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski began writing The Amazing Spider-Man , illustrated by John Romita Jr. , beginning with volume 2, #30 (#471, June 2001). Two issues later, Peter, now employed as
4608-543: A hyphen in the name, as he felt it looked too similar to Superman, another superhero with a red and blue costume that starts with an "S" and ends with "man" (although artist Steve Ditko intended the character to have an orange and purple costume). At that time, Lee had to get only the consent of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman for the character's approval. In a 1986 interview, Lee described in detail his arguments to overcome Goodman's objections. Goodman eventually agreed to
4800-531: A job to him as a photographer in the Daily Bugle , despite some conflicts between them, Peter has some kind of a father-son relationship with him. Eyes Without a Face is a direct sequel to Spider-Man Noir and take place roughly eight months after the events in that series. Franklin D. Roosevelt has been elected president and the U.S. economy is improving after the Great Depression. This along with
4992-457: A major player in New York's underworld through bootlegging and other rackets. He goes to Stryker's nightclub seeking information on his pre-incarceration girlfriend Josephine Hall. Stryker tells him that Josephine died in an apartment fire, but Cage is quietly suspicious. Stryker offers Cage a job and is further impressed by Cage's handling of a vengeful pimp . After leaving the nightclub, he
5184-503: A metal said to enhance power — to use it to repair his heart. While they recover a trident-head made of orichalcum from an underwater cavern, the Dorma is subsequently attacked by Zemo's forces — Gialetta now wearing the mask to hide the scars she received in the initial escape — Zemo escaping with Pepper as a hostage, forcing Tony, Rhodes and Namor to retreat to the ship's submarine, subsequently being picked up by Jarvis in an airship. Despite
5376-405: A military contractor that tortures and experiments on prisoners. Rhodes takes action without authorization, and he is put on trial for committing war crimes . His cybernetic body is destroyed in the subsequent jailbreak, but a cloned version of his healthy body had been made and his mind is transferred into it. Rhodes later takes on a new title, Iron Patriot, wearing armor in the national colors of
5568-457: A more equal ground to Stark, portraying Rhodes as a capable CEO and hero in his own right. When Rhodes became the main character of Iron Man , he faced many of the same obstacles as Stark, and many of the same themes were explored. Rhodes allowed these issues to be explored from a different perspective, of a character who diverged from the realism associated with Stark's Iron Man and whose views were influenced by his African American identity. In
5760-461: A multitude of print and video interviews, Lee stated he was inspired by seeing a spider climb up a wall—adding in his autobiography that he has told that story so often he has become unsure of whether or not this is true. Besides the name, the Spider was wanted by both the law and the criminal underworld (a defining theme of Spider-Man's early years) and had through years of ceaseless struggle developed
5952-502: 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." The following issue, Spider-Man vengefully attacks and overpowers the Green Goblin, who kills himself accidentally in the ensuing battle with Spider-Man. Working through his grief, Peter eventually develops tentative feelings toward Mary Jane, and
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6144-535: A plane crash. Lee, Ditko, and later creators had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and young adulthood 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 Doctor Octopus , the Green Goblin , and Venom . In his origin story , Peter gets his superhuman spider powers and abilities after being bitten by
6336-475: A possessed Silk, agrees to help Spider-Man. However, Peter dies when fighting Kindred. While dead, Peter's consciousness remembers the fateful day of the start of One More Day ; Kindred is willing to resurrect Peter. "People often say glibly that Marvel succeeded by blending super hero adventure stories with soap opera. What Lee and Ditko actually did in The Amazing Spider-Man was to make
6528-401: A publicity stunt to gain favor with the cops. Tombstone was sent to kill Josephine but ends up disfiguring her instead. Cage is outraged and kills Tombstone. Rachman is waiting in a car outside. Cage, pretending to be Tombstone, drives the car and Rachman over a bridge to his death. Cage goes to the church and finds out from Josephine that Stryker is holding Cage Jr. hostage as a shield. He puts
6720-448: A racial component, as Stark, the man in control of Rhodes's destiny, is white. Despite this, any possible racial conflict between the two is not addressed explicitly. War Machine writer Len Kaminski intentionally challenged the violent imagery of a heavily-armed character named War Machine by focusing on themes related to global human rights and liberal internationalism . He described the decision saying that "it could subvert some of
6912-474: A radio broadcast airs detailing a lone vigilante, all the while the still unnamed man gets dressed, which includes preparing a couple grenades, knives, brass knuckles, and two pistols with the Punisher skull on them. Just as the man dons a mask with the same skull, the radio broadcast identifies the lone vigilante as the Punisher. Flashbacks detail Frank Castle's actions during the first World War, and provide
7104-429: 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 travel, or "web swinging" across
7296-498: A real-life mock wedding using actors at Shea Stadium , with Stan Lee officiating, on June 5, 1987. David Michelinie , who scripted based on a plot by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter , said in 2007, "I didn't think they actually should [have gotten] married. ... I had actually planned another version, one that wasn't used." Peter publishes a book of Spider-Man photographs called Webs , and returns to his Empire State University graduate studies in biochemistry in #310 (Dec. 1988). In
7488-531: A separate creation to the one he saw in the five pencilled pages that Kirby had completed. To support this, Ditko used the analogy of the Kirby/Marvel Thor, which was based on a name or idea of a character in Norse mythology: "If Marvel's Thor is a valid created work by Jack, his creation, then why isn't Spider-Man by Stan and me valid created work, our creation?" Kirby noted in a 1971 interview that it
7680-417: A shotgun to Cage's head, and Cage tells him that she has been with Banticoff. He is knocked out and wakes up to find a messy apartment, a lease to the apartment under his name, and the cops banging on the door. He realizes he was being set up. He escapes to the rooftop but is confronted by Tombstone, officer Rachman, and other cops. Rachman tries to arrest Cage for Daisy's murder. Cage rebuttals by saying that it
7872-619: A significant presence in the comic series The Invincible Iron Man , which began the same year and ran until 2012. In this series, writer Matt Fraction had Rhodes join the military as War Machine. Rhodes's next solo series was Iron Man 2.0 (2011). Following this, Rhodes was reintroduced as the Iron Patriot , reflecting changes made to the film adaptation of the character. The political thriller series Iron Patriot ran in 2014, written by Ales Kot and drawn by Garry Brown. As part of Marvel's 2016 Civil War II event, Rhodes's character
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8064-457: A story arc in which Stark relapsed into alcoholism and Rhodes reluctantly took up the armor and the title of Iron Man. The change saw mixed reactions from readers, as Rhodes's tenure as Iron Man emphasized his lack of experience or expertise regarding the Iron Man armor. For the duration of the story arc, the Iron Man series focused primarily on Rhodes, with Stark's recovery being relegated to
8256-436: A subplot. It also included the Secret Wars crossover event, which featured Rhodes as Iron Man rather than Stark. Stark resumed the role of Iron Man in Iron Man #200 (1985). During Iron Man's 1988 Armor Wars story arc, Rhodes accompanies Iron Man in his mission to fight those who had acquired the Iron Man armor technology. Rhodes again served as a replacement for Stark beginning in Iron Man #284 (1992), while Stark
8448-466: A supporting character for Iron Man , he first appeared in Iron Man #118 (1979) and became a superhero with the Iron Man armor in issue #169 (1983). War Machine has since been established as an independent superhero and appeared in multiple standalone series in addition to his appearances in Iron Man comics. War Machine is the title adopted by James Rupert " Rhodey " Rhodes after he acquired
8640-575: A teacher at his old high school, meets the enigmatic Ezekiel Sims , who possesses similar spider powers and suggests that Peter, having gained such abilities, might not have been a fluke—that Parker has a connection to a totemic spider spirit. In vol. 2, #37 (#478, Jan. 2002), Aunt May discovers her nephew is Spider-Man. Peter and Mary Jane reconcile in (vol. 2) #50 (#491, April 2003), and in #512 (Nov. 2004)—the original issue numbering having returned with #500—Parker learns his late girlfriend Gwen Stacy had had two children with Norman Osborn . He joins
8832-468: A title passed down to subjects who have been brainwashed by a unique chemical formula that leaves them loyal to the Nazis. Despite facing an army equipped with similar armors, Tony manages to destroy the Nazi army by supercharging the trident with the last dregs of his repulsor's energy, triggering an electric burst that destroys the air fleet. Returning home, Tony decides to abandon adventure and focus on making
9024-404: A twist, Daisy announces she is pregnant, despite Banticoff becoming sterile due to an accident during the war. He is fearful that the child would bring to light his identity and decides to kill her before she can give birth. He needs someone to pin it on, someone like Cage. Banticoff is flustered and shoots Cage, who's seemingly unharmed. Cage then throws Banticoff out the window to his death. Cage
9216-468: Is Robert Halloway, Tommy's twin brother, and pushes them both off the roof. Cyclops and Tommy commiserate before getting on Logan's boat and heading to Madripoor . A back-up text story, "The Sentinels", by Bolivar Trask , is a pastiche of period science fiction , presented as though published in a pulp magazine called Scienti-Fiction . In it, Nimrod , one of a society of genetic supermen called Sentinels , must try and save his beloved, Rachel , from
9408-539: Is Harry, who leaves town to raise him. One of Doctor Octopus' Octobots swaps his and Spider-Man's personality, causing Peter to become trapped in the Doctor's dying body, while he in turn claimed Peter's life for himself. Though Peter failed to reverse the change, he manages to establish a weak link with the Doctor's mind, forcing him to relive all of his memories; Otto understands Peter's ideals of power and responsibility and swears to carry on with Peter's life with dignity as
9600-500: Is a direct sequel to X-Men Noir. Professor X has been released from jail. The story finds him and his beloved X-Men and everyone scrambling to locate the Gem of Cyttorak. In the dark and steamy jungles of Madripoor, the flashing claws of Logan, the blazing bullets of Cyclops, and the dashing fists of the Angel met with wave after wave of berserk headhunters, all willing to protect the secrets of
9792-432: Is a helpful vigilante or a clever criminal. Cultural historian Bradford W. Wright notes: Spider-Man's plight was to be misunderstood and persecuted by the very public that he swore to protect. In the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man , J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle , launches an editorial campaign against the "Spider-Man menace". The resulting negative publicity exacerbates popular suspicions about
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#17327811035539984-540: Is accidentally killed during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (issue #90, November 1970). In issue #121 (June 1973), 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). She dies during Spider-Man's rescue attempt, and Spider-Man swears revenge against his nemesis;
10176-404: Is an African American superhero in a genre that historically presented white characters as the default without meaningfully portraying the lives or worldviews of racial minorities. Rhodes's origin, a black boy who left the ghetto to enlist in the military, reflected conservative sentiments in the late 1970s that African Americans should seek betterment through individual agency and that the military
10368-579: Is approached by Norman with the offer of a job within the Dark Avengers. It is later revealed that it is a ruse to coerce Harry into taking the American Son armor, whom Norman had planned to kill, in order to increase public sympathy. When Harry has the option of killing Norman, Spider-Man says to decapitate him, since Norman's healing factor may repair a blow to the head. Spider-Man also cautions Harry that killing Norman will cause Harry to "become
10560-490: 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 ". 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
10752-477: Is invited into a limousine by a wealthy white man named Randall Banticoff. He also offers Cage a job, in this case the investigation of his wife's (Daisy Banticoff) murder in Harlem. Cage accepts in exchange for the clearing of his criminal record . He gains admission to the city morgue and sees through bloating that the wife has been dead longer than has been reported. Still bothered by Stryker's story, Cage goes to
10944-417: Is not actually bulletproof in this reality. He dies from his bullet wound from Banticoff, but remains a legend in his community for taking multiple gunshots and escaping seemingly unscathed. The story begins in 1935 Manhattan with an unknown man, later to be identified as Frank Castle, waking up and turning on his radio, during which he is seen with several bullet marks across his back. In the following scenes,
11136-594: Is seen. Set in 1932, New York is dealing with the Great Depression, and most people do not have jobs. The city is practically ruled by Norman Osborn , who has some known faces in his crew such as the Vulture , Kraven and the Enforcers . Peter Parker , unlike from his counterpart from Earth-616, was bitten by a mystical spider that was being transported by Osborn's crew with a bunch of others, these being said to be some kind of voodoo and being deadly. Differently, Peter
11328-465: Is that Eliza was there, who was surprised that she can lie to him, but what surprised Matt is that Halloran revealed that Eliza is the Bullseye Killer. Surprised by the news, Matt figured out that she is one of Fisk's employers, which Halloran refused to believe until Eliza killed him. With Halloran dead and Eliza killing the rest of Halloran's men, the two fought constantly, with Eliza gaining
11520-610: Is the Chief of Detectives in the NYPD Homicide Department, a firm believer in eugenics , and the leader of the secret society that rules over most of the organized crime in the city, the Brotherhood . His son, Peter , a former track star, has just joined Homicide, partnered with Fred Dukes , and his daughter, Wanda , is a spoiled socialite who started a relationship with reporter Thomas Halloway , also known as
11712-480: Is the original and Peter is the clone. Complicating matters, Mary Jane announces in The Spectacular Spider-Man #220 (Jan. 1995) that she is pregnant with Peter's baby. Later, however, a resurrected Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) has Mary Jane poisoned, causing premature labor and the death of her and Peter's unborn daughter. It is later revealed that The Green Goblin switched the results of
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#173278110355311904-434: Is the son of one of the maintenance men on his father's property and he would constantly bully and torment young James and he fell in love with Rose. To escape from his father, he learns to fight with knives from the gardener, Smitty, until he is caught after trying to stab Dog in a fight, getting Smitty fired. It does not stop Logan from training with him until he dies from alcoholism. After deciding to marry Rose, James goes to
12096-413: Is willing to give the benefit of the doubt to other characters as opposed to Stark's brasher approach. This aspect of his character was emphasized in the 2014 series Iron Patriot , which contrasted his sense of moral duty with his responsibility to his family. Writer Christos Gage described War Machine as someone prefers to lead soldiers into battle rather than deploy them. When Rhodes first experienced
12288-517: Is with Halloran in a restaurant discussing about the identity of Daredevil being Jack Murdock's son. However, one night, a police officer sees three cars, two being police cars and one being the gangster's car, and witnesses five men being killed by the Bullseye Killer and believe that he is one of Halloran's men. Back in the office, both Foggy and Matt discuss Halloran making his move against Fisk, and Matt worries that Eliza will be caught in
12480-475: The Village Voice opined in 1965 that "Spider-Man has a terrible identity problem, a marked inferiority complex , and a fear of women. He is antisocial , castration-ridden , racked with Oedipal guilt , and accident-prone ... [a] functioning neurotic ". 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
12672-615: The Daily Bugle . Subsequently, Peter became romantically involved with Mary Jane. Briefly, Peter Parker and Spider-Man split into separate beings due to an accident involving the reverse-engineered Isotope Genome Accelerator. Peter eventually manages to reverse the process, and merges his two halves back together before the side-effects worsen and result in their death. Kindred uses the resurrected Sin-Eater 's sins to possess Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, Anya Corazon, and Julia Carpenter. Doctor Strange, who manages to restrain
12864-548: The Mandarin . Rhodes retires from superhero work, and he briefly runs a salvage business until he finds himself investigating the death of his sister. He then works as a combat instructor for the Sentinel Squad. When Rhodes is injured in a terrorist attack, he is augmented with cybernetic body parts, permanently turning him into War Machine. He travels to the fictional Middle Eastern country Aqiria where he encounters
13056-624: The Marvel Cinematic Universe , portrayed by Terrence Howard in Iron Man (2008) and by Don Cheadle in subsequent appearances. James Rhodes was created by writer David Michelinie with artists John Byrne and Bob Layton . Rhodes first appeared in a single panel of Iron Man #118 (1979), introduced as a friend of Tony Stark, and he saw a recurring role as Stark's personal helicopter pilot. Many comic books and other works in popular culture had begun introducing duos of one white character and one black character. Such
13248-552: The Marvel Universe , Parker returns to work at the Daily Bugle , which has been renamed The DB under a new publisher. He soon switches to the alternative press paper The Front Line . J. Jonah Jameson becomes the Mayor of New York City in issue #591 (June 2008). Jonah's estranged father, J. Jonah Jameson Sr., marries May in issue #600 (Sept. 2009). During the " Secret Invasion " by shape-shifting extraterrestrials,
13440-584: The Multiverse that banded together to fight the Inheritors, a group of psychic vampires who had begun to hunt down the spider-totems of other realities. During a mission to gather more recruits in 2099, the Spider-Army stumbled upon another party of spider-people led by an alternate version of Otto Octavius. Together, they neutralize the Inheritors. Peter then stops a nefarious plan put forward by
13632-535: 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. 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
13824-640: The Skrulls , Norman Osborn shoots and kills the Skrull queen Veranke . He leverages this widely publicized success, positioning himself as the new director of the S.H.I.E.L.D.-like paramilitary force H.A.M.M.E.R. to advance his agenda, while using his public image to start his own Dark Avengers . Norman, by himself, leads the Dark Avengers as the Iron Patriot, a suit of armor fashioned by himself after Iron Man's armor with Captain America's colors. Harry
14016-589: The West Coast Avengers and then becomes a solo superhero after the team is disbanded. When human rights activist Vincent Cetewayo is kidnapped by his corrupt government in the fictional African country of Imaya, War Machine partners with Deathlok to stage an extralegal intervention and topple the government, despite protest from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. In response, Stark disables the War Machine armor until he needs Rhodes's assistance to defeat
14208-635: 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 . Spider-Man has the secret identity of 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
14400-522: The " All-New, All-Different Marvel " event. Among them, The Amazing Spider-Man was relaunched and primarily focuses on Peter Parker continuing to run Parker Industries and becomes a successful businessman who is operating worldwide. In Forest Hills , Queens , New York City, 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
14592-552: The "Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters" in Westchester, New York in 1937. There, he took in juvenile delinquents and instead of reforming them, he further trained them in various criminal talents due to his belief that sociopathy was in fact the next state in human behavioral evolution. The paper in which he stated this led to his expulsion from the American Psychological Association and as of
14784-513: The "muties" who live in the tunnels beneath New New New York. However, Rachel claims not to want to be saved, as the muties have shown her the truth. Nimrod discovers that Dr. Steven Lang , the eugenic engineer who created the Sentinels, was not killed by the muties, but left for dead by the Breeders' Council when he protested that their policies were oppressive and saved by Callisto , Queen of
14976-441: The 1950s, in which an orphaned boy living with an old couple finds a magic ring that granted him superhuman powers. Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference," Theakston writes, and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. Steve Ditko would be the inker. When Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I hated the way he was doing it! Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't
15168-411: The 1990s, Rhodes was one of several African American characters whose comics incorporated imagery associated with African American culture . Unlike other black Marvel heroes such as Falcon and Cloak , Rhodes's race is not explicitly invoked as a defining aspect of his character or a common source of conflict. Rhodes's relationship with Stark evokes ideas of control and agency. Stark has control over
15360-598: The 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark . 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 . In 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four , Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was casting for a new superhero idea. He said
15552-426: The 2014 Iron Patriot series, Rhodes's father Terrence and his niece Lila are major supporting characters. The death of his sister Jeanette is a plot point in the 2003 series The Crew . Rhodes has historically taken a secondary role to Iron Man, though War Machine maintained independent popularity among comic book readers at times when Stark's Iron Man was relatively forgotten. War Machine's design fit closely with
15744-608: The Angel, a costumed vigilante. At the same time, she is also involved with Remy LeBeau , a casino owner with connections to Unus the Untouchable , a local crime boss and enemy of Magnus. Also involved is Irish heroin dealer Sean Cassidy , a former inmate of the Welfare Pen and one of Tom's childhood mentors. The rest of the X-Men, made up by Scott "Cyclops" Summers , Bobby "Iceman" Drake , and Hank "Beast" McCoy , are on
15936-570: The Bullseye Killer was here before dying. With no sign of Eliza and Hell's Kitchen being threatened, Matt went throughout the city to find the whereabouts of Halloran from his men. He went back to Foggy's office to reveal that he knows where Halloran is and plans to get Eliza back, but Foggy has doubts about if Matt ever had her. Matt went to the harbor and found Halloran there, who was expecting him to arrive. Matt figured out that Halloran killed his father and told Fisk, who then told him about it, which would lead Matt coming to him. However, what shocked him
16128-578: The Demon and the Red Rose, respectively, are engaged and working for a traveling circus . One of their stops takes place in Transia . In attendance of the show is Prince Wyn'Garde , who along with his cousin, plans to steal Jimaine from Kurt. Before the show commences, Wyn'Garde steps forward and speaks through a megaphone to the audience, as part of his attempt to woe over Jimaine. After he is done speaking,
16320-544: The Fly. Author and Ditko scholar Blake Bell writes that it was Ditko who noted the similarities to the Fly. Ditko recalled that "Stan called Jack about the Fly", adding that "[d]ays later, Stan told me I would be penciling the story panel breakdowns from Stan's synopsis." It was at this point that the entire concept of the strip went through a major overhaul. "Out went the magic ring, adult Spider-Man and whatever legend ideas that Spider-Man story would have contained." Lee gave Ditko
16512-510: The Jackal. After the events of " Go Down Swinging ", Peter's life was plagued with problems on both sides. As Spider-Man, Mayor Fisk publicly supports him, condemning all other vigilantes in order to isolate him from his superhero peers. As Peter Parker, his academic credentials were revoked after accusations of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation from Octavius, resulting in Peter being fired from
16704-622: The Marvel Noir reality appear in Ultimate Spider-Man . Additionally, Noir incarnations of Hammerhead , Joe Fixit , Mister Negative , Rick Jones , and Thunderbolt Ross appear as well. Marvel Noir serves as inspiration for an expansion to Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game . Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko , he first appeared in
16896-464: The Muties. More Sentinels led by Bastion invade the tunnels, and Rachel and Lang are killed. Nimrod uses a Phoenix Bomb built by the mad Egyptian En Sabah Nur to destroy the Breeders' Council, but also destroys the whole of New New York, and the muties' tunnels. He and Callisto are the only survivors, and conclude they will have to combine Sentinel and mutie genes "the old fashioned way". Mark of Cain
17088-512: The Russian at the Bronx Zoo. After a long fight, the Punisher finally kills the Russian. Throwing his mask onto the Russian's corpse (framing the Russian for the murders), Frank guns down Dutch Schultz, before retiring into the night. Detective Martin Soap (who in this incarnation is much more competent than his mainstream counterpart), deduces that the Russian was not the Punisher, because Schultz
17280-476: The Spectacular Spider-Man , began running parallel to the main series. A third series featuring Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man , launched in 1985 to replace Marvel Team-Up . The launch of a fourth monthly title in 1990, the "adjectiveless" Spider-Man (with the storyline " Torment "), written and drawn by popular artist Todd McFarlane , debuted with several different covers , all with
17472-611: The Temple-Tomb of Cyttorak with their lives. The ancient treasure map of mercenary Cain Marko, with its siren-song of the priceless gigantic ruby of the fabled god-king, had lured them only into the icy claws of death. Daredevil Noir gained positive reviews by fans and critics. The fourth issue was highly praised for both the story and the artwork as Comixtreme.com gave an overall 5 out of 5. Spider-Man Noir gained mixed to positive reception from critics and fans, but they still found
17664-522: The United States. In this new role, he goes to New Orleans , where he assesses the environmental risk posed against the city. He also rejects any further alignment with the military, unless it is purely in the capacity of domestic action or rescue operations. Rhodes is killed in a fight against Thanos , triggering a schism within the superhero community. He is later resurrected by Stark, who had discovered that their bodies could be restored due to
17856-533: The War Machine armor permanently, but editor Nel Yomtov insisted after it was well received. War Machine was one of several characters to serve as grittier and more violent anti-hero versions of established characters during the 1990s. The character received his own series with the release of War Machine #1 (1994), written by Kaminski and Scott Benson and penciled by Gabriel Gecko. This series featured Deathlok and Cable as supporting characters, and it ran for twenty-five issues across two years. War Machine
18048-458: The War Machine armor. He is a military veteran and pilot who began working for Tony Stark, eventually discovering that he was Iron Man and then taking Stark's place when he was incapacitated. Stark subsequently gave Rhodes the War Machine armor. The character is among the earliest African American superheroes in mainstream comics. His race, his military experience, and his sense of morality are often used to contrast him with Tony Stark and to analyze
18240-402: The War Machine armor. His first version of this armor, the "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit", was equipped with heavy weapons for more direct combat than the standard Iron Man armor. The armor uses a black and gray color scheme; it was originally going to be changed to blue and gold after its debut appearance, but the black and silver design was popular enough that it was retained. Following
18432-501: 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
18624-401: The aesthetic adopted by comic books in the 1990s. Portrayals of the character have been criticized for the subservient nature of Rhodes's black character to Stark's white character. War Machine has been featured as a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . This version of Rhodes begins as the military liaison to Stark Industries as well as Tony Stark 's best friend, and he serves as
18816-498: The alias of 'Frank Finlay', Tony reveals that his father, Howard Stark , vanished years ago, and that he is suffering from a weak heart due to unspecified damage, requiring an electrical support. Investigating Gialetta's desk, Tony discovers a journal hinting at the location of Atlantis , setting out on a trip with Captain Namor in his ship, the Dorma , in the hopes that he will discover Atlantis's mythical power source, orichalcum —
19008-510: The arc, Quesada said, was ...that we didn't receive the story and methodology to the resolution that we were all expecting. What made that very problematic is that we had four writers and artists well underway on [the sequel arc] "Brand New Day" that were expecting and needed "One More Day" to end in the way that we had all agreed it would. ... The fact that we had to ask for the story to move back to its original intent understandably made Joe upset and caused some major delays and page increases in
19200-482: The armor that Rhodes wears, and this becomes even more apparent when Stark installs the armor through cybernetics as part of Rhodes's body. During Rhodes's earliest outings in the Iron Man armor, he was pretending to be Stark's Iron Man rather than acting independently with his own identity. This was somewhat addressed when Rhodes received his own standalone series, but the nature of the character inherently ties his identity to that of Iron Man. Their relationship also has
19392-414: The cemetery and digs up Josephine's grave. He opens her coffin and finds it empty. He also sees a man named Tombstone standing over him with a shotgun and a pack of dogs. There is a flashback to a club where Cage sees a man acting inappropriately toward a dancer. Cage throws him out of the club and beats him, only to find that he was a cop. Tombstone is shown holding a gun to Cage to protect the cop. Back in
19584-408: The change was short-lived. The series ended during a larger reorganization of Marvel amid financial problems. In the years following the end of War Machine , Rhodes became a minor character with only limited appearances. The short-lived 2003 series The Crew by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett featured War Machine as a main character. This role saw him entirely separate from Iron Man for
19776-454: The character I wanted; it was too heroic". Lee turned to Ditko, who developed an art style Lee found satisfactory. Ditko recalled: One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked ... before I did any breakdowns. For example: A clinging power so he wouldn't have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. ... I wasn't sure Stan would like
19968-564: The character swiftly becoming a cultural icon ; a 1965 Esquire poll of college campuses found that college students ranked Spider-Man and fellow Marvel hero the Hulk alongside Bob Dylan and Che Guevara as their favorite revolutionary icons. One interviewee selected Spider-Man because he was "beset by woes, money problems, and the question of existence. In short, he is one of us." Following Ditko's departure after issue #38 (July 1966), John Romita Sr. replaced him as penciller and would draw
20160-502: The character's creation, Ditko described his and Lee's contributions in a mail interview with Gary Martin published in Comic Fan #2 (Summer 1965): "Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal." At the time, Ditko shared a Manhattan studio with noted fetish artist Eric Stanton , an art-school classmate who, in a 1988 interview with Theakston, recalled that although his contribution to Spider-Man
20352-567: The city's underworld. Also tied up in this tangled web of deceit is Captain Logan, a bootlegger and former flame of Jean, who operates out of Chinatown with his first mate Eugene . Magnus confronts Anne-Marie on the roof of the police station, but she kills him. The Angel realizes that she is really Jean Grey, who killed the real Anne-Marie Rankin and took her place, because she wanted to avoid being studied by Xavier or exploited by Magnus. She says she knows Tommy cannot kill, but Angel reveals that he
20544-431: The city. Peter Parker initially used his powers for his 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. Before Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the protagonist's sidekick role. The Spider-Man comic series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker,
20736-545: The clone test in an attempt to destroy Peter's life by making him believe himself to be the clone. Ben is killed while saving Peter, in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75 (Dec. 1996), and his body immediately crumbles into dust, confirming Ben was the clone. In issue #97 (Nov. 1998) of the second series titled Peter Parker: Spider-Man , Parker learns his Norman Osborn kidnapped Aunt May and her apparent death in The Amazing Spider-Man #400 (April 1995) had been
20928-509: The comic Civil War #2 (June 2006), part of the company-wide crossover arc of that title, the U.S. government's Superhuman Registration Act leads Spider-Man to reveal his true identity publicly. A growing unease about the Registration Act prompts him to escape with May and Mary Jane and joins the anti-registration underground. In issue #537 (Dec. 2006), Aunt May is critically wounded from Wilson Fisk 's sniper, and enters into
21120-452: The comic book expanded from 22 pages to 30 pages for each issue. Later on, The Amazing Spider-Man was published twice a month, beginning with #648–649 (both November 2010). The following year, Marvel launched Avenging Spider-Man as the first spin-off ongoing series in addition to The Amazing Spider-Man , since the previous ones were canceled at the end of 2007. The Amazing series temporarily ended with issue #700 in December 2012 and
21312-463: The controversial 1990s storyline the " Clone Saga ", a clone of Parker, created in 1970s comics by insane scientist Miles Warren , a.k.a. the Jackal, returns to New York City upon hearing of Aunt May 's health worsening. The clone had lived incognito as Ben Reilly , but now assumes the superhero guise the Scarlet Spider and allies with Parker. To the surprise of both, new tests indicate Ben
21504-401: The cop Cage attacked. Using that power and financial backing from someone downtown, he ran hooch , heroin, and prostitution rings in Harlem. Jackie goes on to reveal that Rachman went after Josephine when she rejected his advances, and Stryker aided in helping her disappear. Cage tries to save Jackie, but she gets hit by the train. Cage goes back to Jackie's apartment to find photos of Daisy on
21696-420: The costume and thus easily identify with the character. A few months after Spider-Man's introduction, publisher Goodman reviewed the sales figures for that issue and was shocked to find it was one of the nascent Marvel's highest-selling comics. A solo ongoing series followed, beginning with The Amazing Spider-Man #1 ( cover-dated March 1963). The title eventually became Marvel's top-selling series with
21888-541: The destruction of the War Machine armor during a 1995 issue of War Machine , he adopts an extraterrestrial biological armor, the Eidolon Warwear. Stark builds a new War Machine armor directly into Rhodes's body after he sustains serious injuries. This was eventually replaced when Rhodes inhabited a healthy cloned body. As of 2010, Marvel Comics described his armor as giving him the power to lift 100 tons and to fly at Mach 2 . Besides his armor, Rhodes's history in
22080-523: The fact that Norman Osborn is no longer in the picture has Peter Parker feeling optimistic about the future of his city. Twilight in Babylon takes place a month after Peter Parker teamed up with Miles Morales during the Spider-Verse event. Weapon X Noir follows the exploits of Kurt Wagner in his circus days, prior to his meeting up with Charles Xavier. Kurt and Jimaine Szardos , also known as
22272-453: The fetus. Tombstone followed Cage to the morgue and they fight. Tombstone reveals that Cage's incarceration was an elaborate set-up: Tombstone needed a cop on his side to run his illegal rackets. He tells Rachman that a dancer at the club, revealed to be Josephine, was interested in white men like Rachman. Recalling the previous flashback, it is revealed that Cage actually attacks Rachman for hitting on Josephine so that Tombstone could save him as
22464-413: The fictional continuity at the behest of editor-in-chief Joe Quesada , who said, "Peter being single is an intrinsic part of the very foundation of the world of Spider-Man". It caused unusual public friction between Quesada and writer Straczynski, who "told Joe that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the [story] arc", but was talked out of doing so. At issue with Straczynski's climax to
22656-462: The fight. Stark's alcoholism grows worse, and Rhodes takes the armor to become Iron Man. As Iron Man, he resigns from the Avengers and destroys the other Iron Man armors to keep them from being taken by Obadiah Stane . As Stark begins to recover, Rhodes accompanies him in a new business venture, and they begin sharing the role of Iron Man. Since the armor was not designed for Rhodes, he begins experiencing headaches and mood swings, eventually returning
22848-476: 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
23040-488: The first issue, he is interned at Ryker's Island , awaiting charges after the truth about his reform school was made public. Jean Grey is depicted as the grifter of the X-Men; adept at running scams, she gained a reputation as being able to control the minds of men. In the opening of the series, her body is found washed up near Welfare Island in the East River , covered in slash marks grouped in threes. Eric Magnus
23232-741: The first time, as he pawns off parts from his armor. He subsequently appeared in the Sentinel Squad ONE miniseries. As anti-terrorism became a prominent theme in fiction after the September 11 attacks , War Machine slowly became a more significant supporting character. Stark's central role in the Marvel Universe elevated War Machine, as did Rhodes's own military backstory. During the 2008 Secret Invasion event, writer Christos Gage wrote issues #33–35 of Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. , in which War Machine replaced Iron Man as
23424-404: The garden to profess his love for her. Arriving early, however, he sees that she is having an affair with none other than Dog. Enraged, Logan takes out his knives left to him by Smitty and blacks out, waking up covered in blood and Dog scared and in a childlike state. The X-Men of this reality are a group of sociopathic teenagers recruited by discredited psychiatrist Charles Xavier , who ran
23616-415: The hotel owned by a man named Creed. Dog, thinking it will be no problem, takes it from Logan and leaves for Creed's hotel. Last we see of Dog, he is fighting two men asking them where Creed is. Logan begins to think of his childhood as Dog leaves. His father is a devout and strict preacher who punishes him often. The only people in Logan's peer group whom he has any kind of relationship are Dog and Rose. Dog
23808-455: The idea for Spider-Man arose from a surge in teenage demand for comic books and the desire to create a character with whom teens could identify. As with Fantastic Four, Lee saw Spider-Man as an opportunity to "get out of his system" what he felt was missing in comic books. In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman pulp magazine crime fighter the Spider as a great influence, and in
24000-499: The idea of covering the character's face but I did it because it hid an obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character.... Although the interior artwork was by Ditko alone, Lee rejected Ditko's cover art and commissioned Kirby to pencil a cover that Ditko inked. As Lee explained in 2010, "I think I had Jack sketch out a cover for it because I always had a lot of confidence in Jack's covers." In an early recollection of
24192-408: The increased damage to his heart, Tony decides to attempt to rescue Pepper using suits of armour he has developed based on some of his father's old sketches and ideas, attacking the Nazis in their castle base. However, their rescue attempt takes a shocking turn when they find themselves facing an identical suit of armour, with Zemo unmasking to reveal his true identity of Howard Stark; "Zemo" is merely
24384-411: The king's men, Fenris shows up to help with the interrogation. The story takes place in New York's Bowery in 1937, where private detective James Logan has to solve a mysterious case in which he has to face his own dark past as well. Logan and his partner Dog are sitting in their office as an attractive mysterious woman named Mariko comes in. She hires them to find out who is following her out of
24576-581: The leader of the Hellfire Club who holds nearly the entire city of New York in the palm of his hand, including the mayor, the D.A., and the police department. Magnus (whose last name is revealed to be Magnisky, which the Ellis Island immigration agent misheard as Magnus), is seeking out Anna-Marie , one of Xavier's students with a talent for mimicry , on behalf of Shaw so that they may use her against Unus in their quest to take complete control of
24768-442: 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
24960-476: The local crime boss ( Dutch Schultz ), earning the crime boss' wrath. Frank falls in with a gang of bullies, but eventually leaves the gang after refusing to rob a Church. Frank, however, is killed by a trio of hitmen hired by Dutch: Noir's version of Jigsaw , Barracuda , and a mystery assassin referred to as "She." Upon learning of his father's murder, Frank Jr. swears revenge on all those responsible. Returning to 1935, Frank (this version's Punisher, as opposed to
25152-679: The main character. A second War Machine series ran for one year from 2009 to 2010, following a similar plot to the African story arc of his first series but instead taking place in the Middle East, reflecting American interest in the region during the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War . War Machine became more well known after the character was adapted to film, beginning in 2008. He had
25344-419: The mainstream's continuity where the father is), is shown systematically hunting down those responsible for his father's death. He first ambushes Barracuda at a carnival after-hours. After failing to learn the identity of "She" from Barracuda, he executes him. Frank Jr. then allows himself to be subdued by Jigsaw. Jigsaw tortures Frank Jr., carving the image of the skull into his chest with a knife (which resembles
25536-404: The middle of it. When Foggy said that Eliza mentioned Halloran putting money on Matt's father throwing the fight on the night he was killed, Matt left the office to find out. Matt went to a bar called Dilooly and met with Eliza there to confirm what Eliza said to Foggy was true about his father, which she did confirm and told Matt not to do anything that would get him killed. When Matt was walking on
25728-821: The military includes combat training and experience, as both a soldier and a pilot. Rhodes was initially created as a supporting character for Tony Stark. They began as friends, but their relationship became more acrimonious as they adjusted to Rhodes's status as a superhero. After Rhodes was acclimated to using the War Machine armor, their shared experiences created a sense of trust between them, and Rhodes became one of Stark's closest allies. Rhodes has fought many of Stark's enemies, including Mandarin , Radioactive Man , and Thunderball . War Machine has adopted several of Stark's allies as his own supporting characters, including Suzi Endo and Bethany Cabe . He has also formed alliances with new partners, including Parnell Jacobs, Glenda Jacobs, and Jake Oh . Parnell Jacobs, established as
25920-554: The mysterious Spider-Man and makes it impossible for him to earn any more money by performing. Eventually, the bad press leads the authorities to brand him an outlaw. Ironically, Peter finally lands a job as a photographer for Jameson's Daily Bugle . The mid-1960s stories reflect the political tensions of the time; early 1960s Marvel stories often deal with the Cold War and communism . Wright writes: From his high-school beginnings to his entry into college life, Spider-Man remained
26112-434: The name Daredevil. Later he took to the streets as a vigilante, killing criminals to avenge those they killed. Matt now works with Foggy Nelson and was in his office until one afternoon a woman named Eliza entered the room and offered a way to bring down Halloran. When she left the office, Foggy has doubts and turns to Matt, but Matt convinced him that she is telling the truth and left the office to investigate. Meanwhile, Fisk
26304-471: The officer, but the bullets had hit a metal flask in his jacket, and he was able to survive. Back in the present, it is revealed that Stryker and Tombstone are holding Lucas Cage Jr., Luke Cage's son, hostage. Randall Banticoff is shown being kidnapped but escapes to a police station. Cage goes back to the morgue to get another look at Daisy's body to confirm his suspicion that the swelling was actually from her being pregnant. Someone had cut into her and removed
26496-464: The origin of Spider-Man in the 13-issue limited series Spider-Man: Chapter One (Dec. 1998–Oct. 1999), similar to Byrne's adding details and some revisions to Superman's origin in DC Comics ' The Man of Steel . During that time, the original The Amazing Spider-Man ended with issue #441 (Nov. 1998), and The Amazing Spider-Man started with volume 2, #1 (Jan. 1999). In 2003, Marvel reintroduced
26688-512: The original Spider-Man version to Lee, who liked the idea and assigned Kirby to draw sample pages of the new character, but disliked the results—in Simon's description, " Captain America with cobwebs". Writer Mark Evanier notes that Lee's reasoning that Kirby's character was too heroic seems unlikely—Kirby still drew the covers for Amazing Fantasy #15 and the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man . Evanier also disputes Kirby's given reason that he
26880-442: The original numbering for The Amazing Spider-Man and what would have been volume 2, #59, became issue #500 (Dec. 2003). When the main series The Amazing Spider-Man reached issue #545 (Dec. 2007), Marvel dropped its spin-off ongoing series and instead began publishing The Amazing Spider-Man three times monthly, beginning with #546–548 (all January 2008). The scheduling of The Amazing Spider-Man lasted until November 2010, when
27072-405: The people who might be attracted to it for all the wrong reasons, and maybe [the writers will] get them thinking". Rhodes is contrasted with Stark in his sense of responsibility. His backstory as a soldier became relevant in the 2000s when the United States engaged in the controversial Iraq War, and the character was used to explore ideas relating to such wars. Rhodes becomes a superhero by using
27264-524: The power of the Iron Man armor, he developed an addiction to it that mirrored Stark's addiction to alcohol that necessitated his replacement. As a superhero, Rhodes pledged to help anyone without regard for race, nationality, or beliefs. His opposition to discrimination also included discrimination against mutants . He believes that the role of superheroes goes beyond fighting supervillains and that they should also take action against global problems such as world hunger and oppressive governments. War Machine
27456-416: The premise of a teenager bitten by a spider and developing powers, where Ditko would expand upon to the point he became what Bell describes as "the first work for hire artist of his generation to create and control the narrative arc of his series". On the issue of the initial creation, Ditko stated, "I still don't know whose idea was Spider-Man". Ditko did, however, view the published version of Spider-Man as
27648-456: The present, Cage finds a booklet from a church in the tombstone, gets knocked out by Tombstone and is told to leave town. Cage goes out to investigate further but runs into Banticoff who gives him more money to continue the investigation. Cage sees officer Rachman get into a car across the street and follows him to a jazz lounge and sees money being given to a flapper named Jackie. Cage follows Jackie and ends up at her apartment. Jackie's man holds
27840-520: The real-life Columbia University and New York University ), where he meets roommate and best friend Harry Osborn and girlfriend Gwen Stacy , and Aunt May introduces him to Mary Jane Watson . 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. Gwen Stacy's father, New York City Police detective Captain George Stacy ,
28032-429: The reins of Parker Industries, a small company founded by Otto after leaving Horizon Labs. Peter soon learns a second person had been bitten by the radioactive spider, Cindy Moon . Spider-Man tracks her down and frees her from a bunker owned by the late Ezekiel Simms. Not long after rescuing Cindy, who went on to adopt her own heroine identity as Silk, Spider-Man encounters a contingent of spider-people from all over
28224-512: The responsible character who acts as a foil to Stark's impulsiveness. He first appeared in the franchise's inaugural film, Iron Man (2008), played by Terrence Howard . Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle , who played the character in Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Falcon and
28416-581: The revision of the Comics Code Authority . Previously, the Code forbade the depiction of the use of illegal drugs, even negatively. However, in 1970, the Nixon administration's Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked Stan Lee to publish an anti-drug message in one of Marvel's top-selling titles. Lee chose the top-selling The Amazing Spider-Man; issues #96–98 (May–July 1971) feature
28608-433: The role entirely in favor of Rhodes. Rhodes was first portrayed using Iron Man armor in Iron Man #169 (1983), when he had to fight a villain in the stead of a drunk and defeated Tony Stark. A black superhero replacing a white one was almost unprecedented at the time, with DC Comics having only recently attempted a similar change with its character John Stewart , who was created by O'Neil. From this change, O'Neil created
28800-450: The role to Stark in its entirety. When Stark is believed to be dying, he appoints Rhodes as his successor. Rhodes becomes the CEO of Stark Industries , and he becomes the new Iron Man using the War Machine armor. He gives up the role when he discovers that Stark faked his death, but he keeps the War Machine armor on Stark's insistence. Becoming a new superhero, War Machine, Rhodes briefly joins
28992-493: The run following the arrest of their mentor. Xavier, who refused to ally his students with Lensherr's Brotherhood, was arrested after one of the X-Men, Warren Worthington III , apparently committed suicide by jumping off the roof thinking he could fly. It is revealed by Iceman that Warren was really thrown off the roof by the Brotherhood when Xavier refused. Magnus, as it turns out, owes most of his success to Sebastian Shaw ,
29184-436: The same interior content. All four versions combined sold over three million copies, an industry record at the time. Several miniseries , one-shot issues, and loosely related comics have also been published, and Spider-Man makes frequent cameos and guest appearances in other comic book series. In 1996, The Sensational Spider-Man was created to replace Web of Spider-Man . In 1998, writer-artist John Byrne revamped
29376-518: The sequel series Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face and X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain beginning in December 2009, and the final series Iron Man Noir beginning in April 2010. Additionally, a Weapon X Noir one-shot was published in March 2010. In 2020, Spider-Man Noir returned with a five-issue limited series later collected as Spider-Man Noir: Twilight In Babylon . One night, Daredevil infiltrates
29568-456: 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 Sally Kempton for
29760-483: The series enjoyable; IGN rate the first issue 6.1 out of 10, with the second issue rated 6.9 out of 10. Timothy Callahan from ComicBookResources.com gave a positive review commented "Hine, Sapolsky and Di Giandomenico's Spider-Man Noir has been a violent, action-packed romp since the first issue". Adam Chapman from Comixtreme.com praised the artwork and also gave a positive review commented "Di Giandomenico once again provides some truly outstanding artwork...Whenever he's on
29952-431: The series for the next several years. In 1968, Romita would also draw the character's extra-length stories in the comics magazine The Spectacular Spider-Man , a proto- graphic novel designed to appeal to older readers. It lasted for two issues and represented the first Spider-Man spin-off publication, aside from the original series' summer Annual s that began in 1964. An early 1970s Spider-Man story ultimately led to
30144-401: The series. Also, the science that Joe was going to apply to the retcon of the marriage would have made over 30 years of Spider-Man books worthless, because they never would have had happened. ...[I]t would have reset way too many things outside of the Spider-Man titles. We just couldn't go there.... In this new continuity, designed to have very limited repercussions throughout the remainder of
30336-463: The son Norman always wanted". Harry instead backs down, and turns away from his father forever. At Loki 's suggestion, Norman Osborn creates a rationale to invade Asgard , claiming the world poses a national security threat. He is defeated, and ends up incarcerated in the Raft penitentiary. A conflict between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus over Osborn's son ends when it is revealed the child's father
30528-550: The story and claimed Lee had minimal involvement in the character's creation. According to Kirby, the idea for Spider-Man had originated with Kirby and Joe Simon , who in the 1950s had developed a character called the Silver Spider for the Crestwood Publications comic Black Magic , but the character was left unused. Simon, in his 1990 autobiography, disputed Kirby's account, asserting that Black Magic
30720-468: The story behind the Punisher's famous logo. The logo was Frank's way of 'taking the piss' out of his wife's fear that he would be claimed by the angel of death. Frank Sr. is shown to be a skilled soldier, taking out an entire trench of Germans with a pair of pistols (the same pistols his son is seen using). After the war, he is traveling on a train, when he is ambushed by Noir's version of the Russian . After
30912-470: The story out straight: one of the soldiers in the picture is revealed to be Banticoff. He was a buffalo soldier who saw freedom in Paris after the war but goes back home and is afraid of losing that freedom and respect. He reinvents himself as light-skinned, passing for white, and is accepted into upper-class society. He marries a wealthy socialite, using her money to finance Tombstone and his gang in Harlem. In
31104-414: The street he heard a woman scream, which he quickly dressed up in his Daredevil uniform and apprehended the assailant, however it was revealed to be a setup by Wilson Fisk who wanted to meet him and revealed that Halloran was the one who killed his father. The next night, Matt followed Eliza around the city to look over her, but suddenly a fight broke out in the "Landmark Inn" where a bartender revealed that
31296-443: The students with his assumed obligation to combat lawlessness as Spider-Man. As a law-upholding liberal, he finds himself caught between militant leftism and angry conservatives. Peter Parker has superhuman spider-powers and abilities derived from mutations resulting from the bite of a radioactive spider. Since the original Lee - Ditko stories, Spider-Man has had the ability to cling to walls. This has been speculated to be based on
31488-399: The superhero most relevant to the world of young people. Fittingly, then, his comic book also contained some of the earliest references to the politics of young people. In 1968, in the wake of actual militant student demonstrations at Columbia University, Peter Parker finds himself in the midst of similar unrest at his Empire State University.... Peter has to reconcile his natural sympathy for
31680-501: The superhero team The New Avengers in New Avengers #1–2. After a deranged, superpowered former high-school classmate destroys their respective homes, Peter, Mary Jane, and May move into Stark Tower , and Peter begins working as Tony Stark 's assistant while freelancing for The Daily Bugle and continuing his teacher career. In the 12-part 2005 story arc " The Other ", Peter undergoes a transformation that evolves his powers. In
31872-399: The tattoo that his father had received during the war). In a moment of hubris, Jigsaw reveals the identity of "She." Frank Jr. then reveals he had freed himself of his restraints hours ago, and proceeds to strangle Jigsaw. "She" is in fact the Russian. The grenade's explosion had in fact castrated him, but taking this in stride, the Russian began wearing a wig and dress. The Punisher confronts
32064-468: The themes of Iron Man stories through a different perspective. War Machine is the primary romantic interest of Carol Danvers , while many of his other supporting characters and villains overlap with those of Iron Man. War Machine has been the main character of two War Machine volumes (1994–1996 and 2009–2010), as well as other stories including The Crew (2003), Iron Man 2.0 (2011), and Iron Patriot (2014). An adaptation of War Machine appears in
32256-498: The three issues without the Comics Code Authority's approval or seal. The issues sold so well that the industry's self-censorship was undercut, and the Code was subsequently revised. In 1972, a second monthly ongoing series starring Spider-Man began: Marvel Team-Up , in which Spider-Man was paired with other superheroes and supervillains. From that point on, there have generally been at least two ongoing Spider-Man series at any time. In 1976, his second solo series, Peter Parker,
32448-462: The two "become confidants rather than lovers". A romantic relationship eventually develops, with Parker proposing to her in issue #182 (July 1978), and being turned down an issue later. Peter went on to graduate from college in issue #185, and becomes involved with the shy Debra Whitman and the extroverted, flirtatious costumed thief Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. the Black Cat , whom he meets in issue #194 (July 1979). From 1984 to 1988, Spider-Man wore
32640-538: The two work together to reach safety at the U.S. embassy. As time went on and the Vietnam War no longer corresponded with Rhodes's age, the conflict was retroactively changed to a war in the fictional nation of Siancong. He eventually began working for Stark as a pilot, and the two became friends. When Stark's alcoholism prevents him from fighting the supervillain Magma , Rhodes takes the Iron Man armor and continues
32832-483: The upper hand, but Matt eagerly charged into her, but both landed into the sea. This made Eliza unable to throw well, which gave Matt an advantage as he began to strangle her to death with a chain and Eliza trying to fight back until she was unconscious, but Matt could not finish her off because he still loved her and dragged her back to the surface. The Police arrived and Matt left, leaving Eliza in police custody. Matt returned to Foggy's office and revealed to him that Eliza
33024-433: The various augmentations that they had undergone while using the Iron Man armor. Rhodes is moralistic relative to Stark, divesting Stark Industries from nuclear technology as CEO over objections from the board and taking action against foreign nations without regard for legalities. He takes actions that he believes to be right even when others believe it to be ill-advised, and he believes in ideals of "freedom and love". He
33216-417: The wall. He links them to a particular photographer and tracks him down. He finds out Rachman is somehow linked to the photos of Daisy. Cage goes to Stryker's nightclub for answers but does not find what he is looking for. He takes the money then sets fire to the place and is later shown putting the money in a safety deposit box. In a flashback, it is revealed that Cage was shot by Tombstone the night he attacked
33408-461: The word out to Stryker to arrange a meeting. They end up at barbershop they both used to frequent. Stryker is there holding a sharp object to Cage Jr. Cage and Stryker engage in a fight, but the barber helps out, giving Cage a chance to finish off Stryker. A picture of several soldiers falls off the wall, and Cage pieces together the pieces to this case. He gives the key to the safety deposit box to his son before leaving. He confronts Banticoff and lays
33600-433: The world safer by eliminating real threats. Luke Cage is a Harlem man who gains a reputation for being the bulletproof "Power Man" after attacking a corrupt police officer and being shot without any apparent injuries. After serving ten years behind bars for the fight, he returns home to a changed Harlem in a very segregated America during Prohibition . Cage finds that an old friend of his, Willis Stryker , has become
33792-439: Was "almost nil", he and Ditko had "worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own ... I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands." Ditko claimed in a rare interview with Jonathan Ross that the costume was initially envisioned with an orange and purple color scheme, rather than the recognizable red and blue. Kirby disputed Lee's version of
33984-413: Was "too busy" to draw Spider-Man in addition to his other duties, since Kirby was, said Evanier, "always busy". Neither Lee's nor Kirby's explanation explains why key story elements like the magic ring were dropped; Evanier states that the most plausible explanation for the sudden change was that Goodman, or one of his assistants, decided that Spider-Man, as drawn and envisioned by Kirby, was too similar to
34176-446: Was Ditko who "got Spider-Man to roll, and the thing caught on because of what he did". Lee, while claiming credit for the initial idea, had acknowledged Ditko's role, stating, "If Steve wants to be called co-creator, I think he deserves [it]". He has further commented that Ditko's costume design was key to the character's success; since the costume completely covers Spider-Man's body, people of all races could visualize themselves inside
34368-418: Was a place where success was based on merit rather than race. His unsuccessful tenure as Iron Man similarly reflected the conservative belief that racial minorities were harmed by sudden increases in power. Conversely, his tenure as CEO of Stark Industries and his second tenure as Iron Man in 1992 reflected the increased acceptance of African Americans being depicted in popular culture. This depiction put him on
34560-510: Was established as a more prominent supporting character in Iron Man #144 (1981), which described his connection to Tony Stark and how they met during the Vietnam War . This depiction of Rhodes made him a central character in Iron Man's history and origin, elevating his importance beyond what had been written for Marvel's black characters to that point. When Denny O'Neil was the writer for Iron Man comics, he chose to write Stark out of
34752-560: Was first portrayed in live-action by Danny Seagren in Spidey Super Stories , a recurring skit on The Electric Company from 1974 to 1977. 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 , and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tom Holland . Reeve Carney originally starred as Spider-Man in
34944-556: Was iconic, they argued, on par with those of his D.C. rivals Superman and Batman ." The creators then revealed the costume was an alien symbiote , which Spider-Man rejects after a difficult struggle, though the symbiote returns several times as Venom for revenge. Peter proposes to Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man #290 (July 1987), and she accepts two issues later, with the wedding taking place in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987)—promoted with
35136-504: Was impossible because she was murdered before he was released from Prison, but Rachman holds forged release papers. Cage creates a distraction which ends up in a fist fight with Tombstone, whose gun is stolen and used to shoot a supporting leg of a water tower, allowing Cage to escape. He goes to the church on the booklet he found in Josephine's tombstone and finds her there, disfigured. He immediately seeks out Stryker. Stryker offers Cage
35328-498: Was in suspended animation. He began using the War Machine armor at this time, continuing as Iron Man until Stark returned the following year in issue #289. Keeping the War Machine armor, Rhodes was established as a new superhero, War Machine. He subsequently appeared in Avengers West Coast beginning in issue #94 (1993), but the series ended shortly afterward. Iron Man writer Len Kaminski did not intend to give Rhodes
35520-457: Was introduced with a story relating to Africa and the continent's politics, reflecting Western interest in the subject following widespread reporting of the Somali , Rwandan , and Liberian civil wars. By issue #15 (1995), the focus shifted to speculative fiction involving aliens and time travel. Rhodes was given an alien symbiote armor during this series to differentiate him from Iron Man, but
35712-609: Was killed off to emphasize the story's stakes. The choice was controversial, both for the lack of narrative payoff and for the choice of killing one of Marvel's main non-white characters. The character was resurrected in Invincible Iron Man #600 (2018). James Rhodes grew up in South Philadelphia until he enlisted in the military. While serving in the Vietnam War, Rhodes encounters Iron Man, who had just built his first armor and escaped from his captors, and
35904-427: Was killed several hours after the Russian's body was discovered. This leaves the Punisher's identity a mystery to the police. Frank, left without purpose after exacting his revenge, walks the streets. In a conversation with his father's tombstone, he asks if he should move on to " Luciano " or " Capone ", if he should continue to "punish". Frank receives his answer from a newspaper article, where Adolf Hitler 's picture
36096-514: Was not a factor and that Simon devised the name "Spider-Man" (later changed to "The Silver Spider"), while Kirby outlined the character's story and powers. Simon later elaborated that his and Kirby's character conception became the basis for Simon's Archie Comics superhero, the Fly . Artist Steve Ditko stated that Lee liked the name Hawkman from DC Comics , and that "Spider-Man" was an outgrowth of that interest. Simon concurred that Kirby had shown
36288-459: Was replaced by The Superior Spider-Man , which had Doctor Octopus serve as the new Spider-Man by taking over Peter Parker's body. Superior was an enormous commercial success for Marvel, and ran for 31 issues before the real Peter Parker returned in a newly relaunched The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in April 2014. Following the 2015 Secret Wars crossover event , a number of Spider-Man-related titles were either relaunched or created as part of
36480-453: Was said to be good and deserved to be cursed with some powers, that includes shooting some dark webs, superhuman agility, superstrength, healing powers and a spider sense. Another important point is that Aunt May was an activist and defended others, Uncle Ben fought in the first world war and unfortunately, was brutally killed before the comic events. In the beginning of the story, Peter started being guided by journalist Ben Urich , who gives
36672-546: Was the Bullseye Killer, which surprised him, but also revealed that he could not kill her because he still has feelings for her. Foggy comforts him until Matt decides to go after Fisk. Returning to the present, Matt and Fisk end their discussion and the series ends with the two beginning to fight each other. During his latest expedition — accompanied by his aide James Rhodes , his assistant and lover Dr. Gialetta Nefaria , and Virgil Munsey, his chronicler for Marvels: A Magazine of Men's Adventure — adventurer Tony Stark discovers
36864-549: Was the only reason Goodman allowed him to use Spider-Man. While this was the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic continuing and that "The Spider-Man ... will appear every month in Amazing ." Regardless, Lee received Goodman's approval for the name Spider-Man and the "ordinary teen" concept and approached artist Jack Kirby . As comics historian Greg Theakston recounts, Kirby told Lee about an unpublished character on which he had collaborated with Joe Simon in
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