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213-624: 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 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

426-646: 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

639-525: 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. Superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses superpowers or abilities beyond those of ordinary people,

852-545: 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

1065-595: A successful franchise which pioneered the Kyodai Hero subgenre where the superheroes would be as big as giant monsters ( kaiju ) that they fought. The kaiju monster Godzilla , originally a villain, began being portrayed as a radioactive superhero in the Godzilla films , starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with

1278-478: 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

1491-528: A "relaunch" by the company, 1999, where it deviates and provides an alternative ending to the Final Chapter storyline. Peter's wayward daughter May is revealed to be alive and well, and is returned to both Parkers by Peter's first clone, the redeemed Kaine. Despite now being a father, Peter continues to fight crime as Spider-Man, and begins to cope with the new responsibilities brought by his baby daughter. Two years later, during his final battle against

1704-646: 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

1917-705: A book entitled Business Zero to Superhero . In 2014, he received a cease and desist from DC and Marvel who claimed that his use of the term superhero would cause confusion and dilute their brands. He was offered a few thousand dollars in settlement to change the name of his book, but he did not concede. A few days prior to the scheduled hearing at the Intellectual Property Office in London, the companies backed down. A similar scenario occurred when comic book creator Ray Felix attempted to register his comic book series A World Without Superheroes with

2130-933: A bystander picks up some of Peter's webbing, which eventually served as the basis for the Super Soldier Serum and created Captain America in World War II in this universe. While in the Globe Theatre, he is attacked and killed by the supervillain Morlun . Spider-Man 1602 appears in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions as an alternative costume for Spider-Man Noir, and in Edge of Time as a costume for Miguel O'Hara. A geneticist named Miguel O'Hara gained his spider-powers from

2343-513: A career as Spider-Girl behind his back, a decision Peter begrudgingly is forced to accept and deal with, made difficult by his love for May. Regardless of his handicap, Peter returned to the role of Spider-Man several times. Once was to aid his daughter and Darkdevil , the son of Ben Reilly , against Kaine, another to convince the latest Spider-Man (the son of Jessica Drew ) to cease risking his life, and in Spider-Girl #100 to save May from

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2556-435: 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

2769-683: A company-owned version of Spider-Man he became the opposite, a Spider-Man to fight Alchemax and the other large corporations ruling the world in 2099. He now fights crime as the Spider-Man of 2099. As a spider does, Miguel has fangs which give him the ability to inject poison through his enemies, paralyzing them. Spider-Man ( Max Borne ), also known as Spider-Man 2211 , is a superhero who appears in comics published by Marvel Comics . Created by Peter David and Rick Leonardi , he first appeared in Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man (Nov. 1995). Within

2982-407: 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

3195-682: A cure for his blood disease. A spider monkey -themed Spider-Man appearing in Marvel Apes . The character was later killed by Jennix in the " Spider-Verse " event. In the Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects series, set on Earth-50701 , Spider-Man was abducted by an alien scientist named Doctor Niles Van Roekel . The Thing , Wolverine , Elektra , the Human Torch , and Storm are also abducted and injected with

3408-656: A daughter of Peter Parker named Mayday Parker in the MC2 universe , a different take on Peter Parker in the Great Depression era, a universe where Peter's supporting character , Gwen Stacy , becomes Spider-Woman instead of Parker, along with talking animal parodies like Spider-Ham . Originally, these characters were depicted as separate from each other, but they have crossed over together in storylines like " Spider-Verse ", "Web Warriors", and Spider-Geddon , in teams such as Spider-Army and Web-Warriors , where

3621-693: A decorated officer in the United States Air Force who would become a costumed superheroine herself years later. In 1975 Shotaro Ishinomori 's Himitsu Sentai Gorenger debuted on what is now TV Asahi, it brought the concepts of multi-colored teams and supporting vehicles that debuted in Gatchaman into live-action, and began the Super Sentai franchise (later adapted into the American Power Rangers series in

3834-583: A desire to kill Magneto, whom he mistakenly believes was behind the events of the House of M, and the Scarlet Witch, whose powers were responsible for the altered reality. This version is later killed by Karn during the "Spider-Verse" event, but was resurrected when Morlun was stabbed with the Totem Dagger. Spider-Man: The Manga is a Japanese manga illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami which retold

4047-421: 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

4260-480: A drug in an attempt to corrupt them. Once infected, Spider-Man's costume is brown-and-bronze with a blue spider mark in his chest. Spider-Man and the other heroes are eventually able to fight off the corrupting infection and defeat Van Roekel. In the aftermath of the invasion, Paragon and the Imperfects join to share the Earth with the heroes. The Marvel Zombies universe features a Spider-Man who has been turned into

4473-454: A flesh-eating zombie after being infected by Colonel America (alternative reality of Zombified Captain America). Although Spider-Man is just as ravenous as the other zombies when hungry, when he has eaten, Spider-Man is racked with guilt at what he has done, especially for having eaten Mary Jane and Aunt May, but unable to change his nature. At the conclusion of the original series, Spider-Man

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4686-455: A gene splicing incident, when the company he was about to quit injected him with a dangerous drug called Rapture. He tried to rid himself of the drug by using the gene splicer he helped to invent but, unbeknownst to him, a jealous co-worker had set it to repeat the previous experiment of a spider. The last time they had tried this experiment, it killed the test subject (the main reason Miguel O'Hara quit), but this time it worked. Instead of becoming

4899-457: 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

5112-513: 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

5325-537: A larger one. Another important event was the debut of Mazinger Z by Go Nagai, creating the Super Robot genre. Go Nagai also wrote the manga Cutey Honey in 1973; although the Magical Girl genre already existed, Nagai's manga introduced Transformation sequences that would become a staple of Magical Girl media. The 1970s would see more anti-heroes introduced into Superhero fiction such examples included

5538-449: A letter column of the pulp magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories , the word superhero was used to define the title character of the comic strip Zarnak , by Max Plaisted. In the 1930s, the trends converged in some of the earliest superpowered costumed heroes, such as Japan's Ōgon Bat (1931) and Prince of Gamma (early 1930s), who first appeared in kamishibai (a kind of hybrid media combining pictures with live storytelling), Mandrake

5751-518: A miniseries called Powerless in 2004, which describes a Marvel Universe without superpowers. In this series, Peter Parker appears as a young man nicknamed Spider-Man on the Internet. This version had also been bitten by a radioactive spider, but instead of gaining spider-powers, his hand became atrophic. In this continuity, Peter is in love with Gwen Stacy; Mary Jane is not featured. Warren Ellis ' parody of Kurt Busiek 's Marvels , Ruins ,

5964-523: A multimedia franchise that used footage from Super Sentai . Internationally, the Japanese comic book character , Sailor Moon , is recognized as one of the most important and popular female superheroes ever created. The first use of the word "super hero" dates back to 1917. At the time, the word was merely used to describe a "public figure of great accomplishments." However, in 1967, Ben Cooper, Inc., an American Halloween costume manufacturer, became

6177-474: 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

6390-423: A profound effect on Japanese television . 1958 saw the debut of superhero Moonlight Mask on Japanese television. It was the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up the tokusatsu superhero genre. Created by Kōhan Kawauchi , he followed up its success with the tokusatsu superhero shows Seven Color Mask (1959) and Messenger of Allah (1960), both starring a young Sonny Chiba . It

6603-505: A promiscuous manner. Through the overdeveloped bodies of the heroes or the seductive mannerisms of the villains, women in comic books are used as subordinates to their male counterparts, regardless of their strength or power. Wonder Woman has been subject to a long history of suppression as a result of her strength and power, including American culture's undoing of the Lynda Carter television series. In 2017's Wonder Woman , she had

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6816-577: A publishing agreement with DC Comics that allowed them to introduce a line of comics that included characters of many ethnic minorities. Milestone's initial run lasted four years, during which it introduced Static , a character adapted into the WB Network animated series Static Shock . In addition to the creation of new minority heroes, publishers have filled the identities and roles of once-Caucasian heroes with new characters from minority backgrounds. The African-American John Stewart appeared in

7029-494: 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

7242-757: A secondary character of the Green Hornet media franchise series since its inception in the 1930s. ). Kitty Pryde , a member of the X-Men, was an openly Jewish superhero in mainstream American comic books as early as 1978. Comic-book companies were in the early stages of cultural expansion and many of these characters played to specific stereotypes ; Cage and many of his contemporaries often employed lingo similar to that of blaxploitation films, Native Americans were often associated with shamanism and wild animals , and Asian Americans were often portrayed as kung fu martial artists . Subsequent minority heroes, such as

7455-406: A single source." DC and Marvel have continued to expand their commercialization of the "superhero" mark to categories beyond comic books. Now, the two publishers jointly own numerous trademarks for figurines (see Spider-Man, Batman), movies, TV shows, magazines, merchandise, cardboard stand-up figures, playing cards , erasers , pencils , notebooks , cartoons , and many more. For instance,

7668-513: A skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in Fiction House 's Jungle Comic #2 (Feb. 1940), credited to the pseudonymous "Barclay Flagg". The Invisible Scarlet O'Neil , a non-costumed character who fought crime and wartime saboteurs using the superpower of invisibility created by Russell Stamm, would debut in the eponymous syndicated newspaper comic strip a few months later on June 3, 1940. In 1940, Maximo

7881-524: A smell that repels the monsters on the Thing's side. Using these webs, Spider-Man surrounded a section of Hell's Kitchen to act as his territory for him and his gang (consisting of Daredevil, Hawkeye, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, Colleen Wing, and Misty Knight). The Dark Avengers had to make their way through Spider-Man's territory in order to rescue Moonstone and Skaar from Strangetown, which resulted in them running into Spider-Man's gang. After Spider-Man's gang subdues

8094-481: A struggling photographer constantly facing down the abuse of his less-than-satisfied boss J. Jonah Jameson, whilst battling crime in his disguise as Spider-Man. In addition to opposing classic enemies, much of the strip sees Peter battle new enemies. He has also teamed up with various heroes through the strip's run, such as Daredevil and Wolverine . He is married to Mary Jane in this continuity, and has often been aided by her in his battles with his enemies. This universe

8307-406: A suit not unlike the swimsuits in the T.V. show Baywatch . The sexualization of women in comic books can be explained mainly by the fact that the majority of writers are male. Not only are the writers mostly male, but the audience is mostly male as well. Therefore, writers are designing characters to appeal to a mostly male audience. The super hero characters illustrate a sociological idea called

8520-721: A version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man that began his superhero career in his debut date of 1962 and ages in real time, witnessing key events such as the Vietnam War (which lasted longer in this reality), the Russian War (a fictional World War III -esque conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union ) and 9/11 , as well as marrying Mary Jane Watson and this reality's versions of Secret Wars , Kraven's Last Hunt , The Clone Saga and Civil War . By

8733-476: A wide array of different backgrounds and origins. Some superheroes (such as Spider-Man and Superman ) possess non-human or superhuman biology or use and practice magic to achieve their abilities (such as Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel ) while others (for example, Iron Man and Batman ) derive their status from advanced technology they create and use. The Dictionary.com definition of "superhero"

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8946-665: Is Nick Fury , who is reinterpreted as African-American both in the Ultimate Marvel as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuities. Alternative versions of Spider-Man Outside of the mainstream universe, there are different incarnations of Spider-Man in alternate universes. Popular examples include characters such as the Ultimate version of Peter Parker and his successor, Miles Morales , an alternate future version named Miguel O'Hara ,

9159-512: Is "a figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon , endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime", and the Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the definition as "a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also: an exceptionally skillful or successful person." Terms such as masked crime fighters, costumed adventurers or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to characters such as

9372-538: 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

9585-489: 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

9798-421: Is a motorcycle-riding hero in an insect-like costume, who shouts Henshin (Metamorphosis) to don his costume and gain superhuman powers. The ideas of second-wave feminism , which spread through the 1960s into the 1970s, greatly influenced the way comic book companies would depict as well as market their female characters: Wonder Woman was for a time revamped as a mod-dressing martial artist directly inspired by

10011-429: Is a supporting character in Spider-Girl . Within the context of the stories, Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman, had retired from superheroics and gotten married. She gives birth to a baby boy, Gerry, who was diagnosed with a strange blood-borne disorder due to radiation exposure in the womb. With doctors and medicines unable to help her son, Jessica recreates the experiment that cured her of her radiation poisoning,

10224-465: 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 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

10437-544: Is a website satirizing the sexualized portrayal of women in comics by recreating the same poses using male superheroes, especially Marvel's Hawkeye . In 1966, Marvel introduced the Black Panther , an African monarch who became the first non- caricatured black superhero. The first African-American superhero, the Falcon , followed in 1969, and three years later, Luke Cage , a self-styled "hero-for-hire" , became

10650-607: 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; a note on

10863-557: Is affected by the serum within much like Osborn was...and begins to develop erratic behavior. He ultimately overcomes an attempt by Norman Osborn to control his mind and defeats him with the aid of his daughter, her clone, and the spirit of his Aunt May. In the same MC2 continuity as Spider-Girl, Gerald "Gerry" Drew, the son of Jessica Drew , inherits spider-powers and poses as Spider-Man. Created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz , he first appeared in Spider-Girl #32 (May 2001), and

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11076-737: Is an honorary member of the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099 (an amalgamation of DC's Legion of Super-Heroes and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy plus the Marvel 2099 timeline). In the Spider-Verse miniseries, he is seen in the background during a fight with the Inheritors. In Bullet Points , Peter Parker is the Hulk and Bruce Banner is Spider-Man. Peter is killed by Galactus . Bruce

11289-579: 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

11502-477: Is arguable that the Marvel Comics teams of the early 1960s brought the biggest assortment of superheroes ever at one time into permanent publication, the likes of Spider-Man (1962), The Hulk , Iron Man , Daredevil , Nick Fury , The Mighty Thor , The Avengers (featuring a rebooted Captain America , Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man , Quicksilver ), and many others were given their own monthly titles. Typically

11715-489: 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

11928-686: Is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero ; typically using their powers to help the world become a better place , or dedicating themselves to protecting the public and fighting crime . Superhero fiction is the genre of fiction that is centered on such characters, especially, since the 1930s, in American comic books (and later in Hollywood films , film serials, television and video games ), as well as in Japanese media (including kamishibai , tokusatsu , manga , anime and video games). Superheroes come from

12141-529: Is generally more concerned with combating street-level crime and focuses heavily on taking down the Torinos, a powerful New York City Mafia family. An alternative version of Peter Parker also exists on Earth-982 aka the Marvel Comics 2 ( MC2 ) universe, appearing as a supporting character in Spider-Girl . The title follows almost the entire 616 timeline of the character up until the first attempt at

12354-507: Is his dangerous job as a photographer that keeps him away from dates and other activities. A look into the future reveals Peter and MJ ultimately get married in this continuity and have a daughter, May, who is active as Spider-Girl. At some point in this future, Peter loses his leg, which forces him to retire as Spider-Man. In the Old Man Logan universe, the granddaughter of Peter Parker and daughter of Clint Barton and Tonya Parker,

12567-634: Is killed by Tigra as Doctor Strange stated that his two creatures were sacrificed so that Spider-Man can be brought down. In the series Exiles , which involves inter-dimensional travel, several alternative versions appear: In the Heroes Reborn event, a change in the timeline results in a continuity in which the Squadron Supreme are Earth's mightiest heroes while the Avengers never came to be. In this continuity, Peter isn't bitten by

12780-425: 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 a teacher at his old high school, meets

12993-489: Is later killed by Daemos during the " Spider-Verse " event while trying to extract Kaine from Earth-616. He was later resurrected when Silk cut open Morlun with the Totem Dagger. Peter Parquagh is a counterpart to Peter in the miniseries Marvel 1602 , albeit without spider-powers. In the series he acts as an apprentice to the royal spymaster Sir Nicholas Fury. A running gag involves Peter repeatedly almost getting bitten by unusual spiders, something that finally occurs at

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13206-517: Is one of the heroes who become the Galacti , having consumed the original Galactus and subsequently acquiring his cosmic powers. In Marvel Zombies 2 , he notices that his hunger is starting to fade and, as a result, is the first of the Galacti to turn against his fellow zombies. Eventually with the aid of Forge, Malcom, and the Acolytes, the zombies retaining their hunger are defeated. Spider-Man

13419-527: Is one of the zombies that remain and continues work to rebuild New Wakanda and bury the dead. In Marvel Zombies Return , Spider-Man is teleported to a new world, where he consumes and infects the Sinister Six (except for the Sandman). As his cosmic abilities did not come with him, and his web-shooters have dried up, the zombified superhero is forced to make do with his own veins and arteries. Following

13632-452: Is revealed and he is no longer a superhero. In time, he becomes overweight and resembles his late uncle as he ages. After the death of his wife, his daughter bonds to the Venom symbiote and fights crime, much to his dismay. During the course of the series, he becomes a police officer. Three other related characters appear. In the same universe, an African American homeless man was mutated from

13845-840: Is similar to his mainstream counterpart, but his supporting cast is significantly different. Although Gwen Stacy exists in this universe, she and Peter are not dating — instead Peter is dating a brand-new character named Sophia "Chat" Sanduval , who is a mutant with the ability to talk to animals. Peter's relationship with Gwen's father, Captain George Stacy, also differs from the original version — here, Captain Stacy discovers Peter's secret identity early on, yet rather than hide this information from Peter (as his mainstream counterpart did), he confides in Peter and becomes Spider-Man's unofficial police contact. While this Spider-Man battles supervillains, he

14058-484: Is the clone of researcher Peter Parker , created during an explosion in the Project Cadmus Labs. Adopted by Cadmus director General Thunderbolt Ross , he is given the name " Pete Ross ". Spider-Boy's power is the ability to redirect his own personal gravity, giving him the ability to climb walls, and to increase his strength. He is able to shoot webs using a special "web gun" developed by Cadmus. Spider-Boy

14271-566: 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 the clone test in an attempt to destroy Peter's life by making him believe himself to be

14484-506: Is uncommon, the USPTO will grant joint ownership in a mark. For example, in the case Arrow Trading Co., Inc. v. Victorinox A.G. and Wegner S.A. , Opposition No. 103315 (TTAB June 27, 2003), the TTAB held that when "two entities have a long-standing relationship and rely on each other for quality control, it may be found, in appropriate circumstances, that the parties, as joint owners, do represent

14697-434: Is widely known. He is rich, famous and married to Gwen Stacy, and they have a young son named Ritchie. Aunt May and Uncle Ben are alive and in good health, and J. Jonah Jameson is Peter's often-abused publicist. Unfortunately, his life unravels when Jameson reveals to the world that Spider-Man is not a born mutant. After the world is restored to normal, Peter suffers terribly with the memory of the life he left behind, expressing

14910-401: The Daily Bugle beforehand and infected fellow photographer Phil Sheldon, who set off to figure out how his world took a wrong turn, but succumbed to the disease before he could write his book. The United Kingdom -based Panini Comics publication Spectacular Spider-Man Adventures was loosely based on the continuity of the 1994 animated TV series . In this series, Peter Parker deals with

15123-494: The Terrigen Mist and his skin mutated into red reptilian skin with black lines. He can use his Energy Web to trap his victims in a trap of illusions. He went by the alias "Spiders Man". On this Earth, Spider-Man underwent a further mutation that turned his skin blue, caused him to develop a spider-like language, and enabled him to make webs that have an effect on Iron Man's armors and Doctor Strange's magic, while emitting

15336-474: 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

15549-668: The Black Canary , introduced in Flash Comics #86 (Aug. 1947) as a supporting character. The most iconic comic book superheroine, who debuted during the Golden Age, is Wonder Woman . Modeled from the myth of the Amazons of Greek mythology , she was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston , with help and inspiration from his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. Wonder Woman's first appearance

15762-676: 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 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

15975-613: 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

16188-535: The Emma Peel character from the British television series The Avengers (no relation to the superhero team of the same name), but later reverted to Marston's original concept after the editors of Ms. magazine publicly disapproved of the character being depowered and without her traditional costume; Supergirl was moved from being a secondary feature on Action Comics to headline Adventure Comics in 1969;

16401-527: The Lady Liberators appeared in an issue of The Avengers as a group of mind-controlled superheroines led by Valkyrie (actually a disguised supervillainess ) and were meant to be a caricatured parody of feminist activists; and Jean Grey became the embodiment of a cosmic being known as the Phoenix Force with seemingly unlimited power in the late 1970s, a stark contrast from her depiction as

16614-547: 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,

16827-523: 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

17040-706: The New York Times and The Colbert Report , and embraced by anti- Islamophobia campaigners in San Francisco who plastered over anti-Muslim bus adverts with Kamala stickers. Other such successor-heroes of color include James "Rhodey" Rhodes as Iron Man and to a lesser extent Riri "Ironheart" Williams , Ryan Choi as the Atom , Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle and Amadeus Cho as Hulk . Certain established characters have had their ethnicity changed when adapted to another continuity or media. A notable example

17253-608: The Sandman , now infused with nanites, who wipes out every zombie hero and villain with the exception of an infected Sentry who was teleported to Earth 2149. Zombie Spider-Man himself became exposed to the nanite-infused Sandman and dies as a result. The Mutant X version of Spider-Man diverges from his mainstream counterpart in Amazing Spider-Man #102 , in that he was unable or unwilling to cure himself of having six arms. For unexplained reasons, he reverses his name to

17466-534: 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

17679-637: 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

17892-671: The X-Men 's Storm and the Teen Titans ' Cyborg avoided such conventions; they were both part of ensemble teams, which became increasingly diverse in subsequent years. The X-Men, in particular, were revived in 1975 with a line-up of characters drawn from several nations, including the Kenyan Storm, German Nightcrawler , Soviet / Russian Colossus , Irish Banshee , and Japanese Sunfire . In 1993, Milestone Comics , an African-American-owned media/publishing company entered into

18105-520: 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

18318-540: The " Spider-Verse " event with the Marvel Mangaverse version and The Manga version. This version of Spider-Man appeared in a four-issue miniseries (February–May 2009) set in the Great Depression Era of New York in the 1930s. Aunt May is a speaker for equality and spends time standing on a soap box shouting out her beliefs. Uncle Ben was killed by a crime syndicate run by Norman Osborn, a.k.a.

18531-399: The " male gaze " which is media created from the viewpoint of a normative heterosexual male. The female characters in comic books are used to satisfy male desire for the "ideal" woman (small waist, large breasts, toned, athletic body). These characters have god-like power, but the most easily identifiable feature is their hyper sexualized bodies: they are designed to be sexually pleasing to

18744-606: 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 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

18957-568: The 1970s as an alternate for Earth's Green Lantern Hal Jordan , and would become a regular member of the Green Lantern Corps from the 1980s onward. The creators of the 2000s-era Justice League animated series selected Stewart as the show's Green Lantern. In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Miles Morales , a youth of Puerto Rican and African-American ancestry who was also bitten by a genetically-altered spider, debuted as

19170-458: The 1980s, superhero fiction centered on cultural, ethnic, national, racial and language minority groups (from the perspective of US demographics ) began to be produced. This began with depiction of black superheroes in the 1960s, followed in the 1970s with a number of other ethnic-minority superheroes. In keeping with the political mood of the time, cultural diversity and inclusivism would be an important part of superhero groups starting from

19383-409: The 1980s. In the 1990s, this was further augmented by the first depictions of superheroes as homosexual. In 2017, Sign Gene emerged, the first group of deaf superheroes with superpowers through the use of sign language . Female super heroes—and villains—have been around since the early years of comic books dating back to the 1940s. The representation of women in comic books has been questioned in

19596-561: The 1990s). In 1978, Toei adapted Spider-Man into a live-action Japanese television series . In this continuity, Spider-Man had a vehicle called Marveller that could transform into a giant and powerful robot called Leopardon, this idea would be carried over to Toei's Battle Fever J (also co-produced with Marvel) and now multi-colored teams not only had support vehicles but giant robots to fight giant monsters with. In subsequent decades, popular characters like Dazzler , She-Hulk , Elektra , Catwoman , Witchblade , Spider-Girl , Batgirl and

19809-597: 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

20022-604: The Amazing Superman debut in Big Little Book series , by Russell R. Winterbotham (text), Henry E. Vallely and Erwin L. Hess (art). Captain America also appeared for the first time in print in December 1940, a year prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese government, when America was still in isolationism . Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby , the superhero was the physical embodiment of

20235-856: The American spirit during World War II. One superpowered character was portrayed as an antiheroine , a rarity for its time: the Black Widow , a costumed emissary of Satan who killed evildoers in order to send them to Hell —debuted in Mystic Comics #4 (Aug. 1940), from Timely Comics , the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics . Most of the other female costumed crime fighters during this era lacked superpowers. Notable characters include The Woman in Red , introduced in Standard Comics ' Thrilling Comics #2 (March 1940); Lady Luck , debuting in

20448-478: The Avengers) with her brother, Quicksilver. In 1963, Astro Boy was adapted into a highly influential anime television series. Phantom Agents in 1964 focused on ninjas working for the Japanese government and would be the foundation for Sentai -type series. 1966 saw the debut of the sci-fi/horror series Ultra Q created by Eiji Tsuburaya this would eventually lead to the sequel Ultraman , spawning

20661-423: The Avengers. Before leaving for Japan, Deadpool announces his departures to Spider-Man, who agrees grant him a request before he leaves. Deadpool requests to go web-slinging with Spider-Man, and so Spider-Man allows Deadpool to hold onto him as he swings through New York City. In the series Earth X and its sequels, in which its universe's Earth is designated as Earth-9997 , Peter Parker's identity as Spider-Man

20874-639: The Birds of Prey became stars of long-running eponymous titles. Female characters began assuming leadership roles in many ensemble superhero teams; the Uncanny X-Men series and its related spin-off titles in particular have included many female characters in pivotal roles since the 1970s. Volume 4 of the X-Men comic book series featured an all-female team as part of the Marvel NOW! branding initiative in 2013. Superpowered female characters like Buffy

21087-516: The Bugle and destroy the remaining bug, but is bitten and transforms into a spider-like creature. In House of M , a Marvel crossover event , the Scarlet Witch alters reality to make mutants the ruling class over humans. This world is ruled by mutants and their leader, Magneto . In the miniseries Spider-Man: House of M , Peter Parker is believed to be a mutant, and Spider-Man's identity

21300-593: The Dark Avengers while thinking that they are knockoffs of the originals, Ai Apaec speaks with Spider-Man in their spider-like language, stating that they are good guys. Spider-Man releases them from their webs. The Dark Avengers and Spider-Man's gang arrive in Strangetown, where they fought the All-Seeing Eye and the Soulsnake that are on Doctor Strange's side. After the two creatures are killed, Spider-Man

21513-454: The Goblin. Shortly afterward, Peter is bitten by a strange spider and endowed with mystical spider-powers. He has a wall-crawling ability, increased agility, strength, and a form of spider-sense, and can spray nets of webbing from his hand. He dons a black mask, gloves, and a trench coat, and sets out to stop Norman and his gang. In Spider-Geddon , he is killed by Morlun only to be resurrected by

21726-492: The Green Goblin, rather than survive unscathed, Peter loses a leg to his arch-enemy and Osborn is killed. Peter finally realizes the price he has paid for being Spider-Man, and ends his career to raise a family with Mary Jane and May. Over the years, he overcomes his physical handicap and ultimately joins the NYPD in a scientific capacity. However, after saving him from an insane Normie Osborn , his daughter May "Mayday" Parker begins

21939-489: The Green Goblin, which cost him a leg. Peter has settled down to family life and works for the New York City Police Department as a forensic scientist . His teen daughter May follows in his footsteps against his wishes, but Peter eventually helps her train for her calling. Peter appears in costume several times in Spider-Girl , either to restrain and protect May, or to assist her. Peter is among

22152-515: The Hobgoblin. Peter and MJ ultimately have a second child, Benjamin "Benjy" Parker Jr. , who is temporarily rendered deaf after possession by the Carnage symbiote and being blasted with high-frequency sonics. Benjy later develops powers of his own at an infant age. Peter was killed by Daemos, the brother of Morlun , during the " Spider-Verse " event while trying to protect Benjy and Mayday. Near

22365-530: The Hunter. In the vision, Peter is kicked out of the Avengers for his killing of the Kravinoffs. He develops a much colder and harsher personality and attacks Harry Osborn. He then appears in a new red leather costume and starts killing all of the supervillains, beginning with Doctor Octopus, and reveals his identity to his Aunt May, who is shocked and in tears. The 2019 six-issue miniseries Spider-Man: Life Story , written by Steve Murray/Chip Zdarsky, features

22578-457: 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

22791-529: The Magician (1934), Olga Mesmer (1937) and then Superman (1938) and Captain Marvel (1939) at the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic Books , whose span, though disputed, is generally agreed to have started with Superman's launch. Superman has remained one of the most recognizable superheroes, and his success spawned a new archetype of characters with secret identities and superhuman powers. At

23004-484: The Man-Spider. A third divergence occurs when he and his clone continue to co-exist after the end of the original Clone Saga . The two keep this a secret by taking care to never appear in public at the same time, but the Man-Spider is forced to admit the truth after his clone is killed by Madelyne Pryor . He himself is later killed. The Peter Parker of the daily Spider-Man newspaper strip continues his career as

23217-474: 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

23430-400: The Spider-Man of Earth-616 , is the original variation of the character and appears in nearly every single piece of other media surrounding Spider-Man. Other related characters exist in alternative versions of the Marvel Universe called the Multiverse . These characters originally appeared in their own continuity but later on crossed over with the mainstream Spider-Man family. In 2015 all

23643-514: The Spirit , who may not be explicitly referred to as superheroes but nevertheless share similar traits. Some superheroes use their powers to help fight daily crime while also combating threats against humanity from supervillains , who are their criminal counterparts. Often at least one of these supervillains will be the superhero's archenemy or nemesis . Some popular supervillains become recurring characters in their own right. Antecedents of

23856-771: The Sunday- newspaper comic-book insert The Spirit Section June 2, 1940; the comedic character Red Tornado , debuting in All-American Comics #20 (Nov 1940); Miss Fury , debuting in the eponymous comic strip by female cartoonist Tarpé Mills on April 6, 1941; the Phantom Lady , introduced in Quality Comics Police Comics #1 (Aug. 1941); the Black Cat , introduced in Harvey Comics ' Pocket Comics #1 (also Aug. 1941); and

24069-408: The USPTO. Felix is one of many who argue that the term "superhero" has become generic (see discussion below). Felix's mark is currently abandoned, but he has stated that he intends to fight against DC and Marvel for use of the term. In 2024, Superbabies Limited managed to obtain a default judgement and cancel the "super heroes" trademarks as genericized, except for the animation pictures mark. This

24282-540: The Vampire Slayer and Darna have a tremendous influence on popular culture in their respective countries of origin. With more and more anime , manga and tokusatsu being translated or adapted, Western audiences were beginning to experience the Japanese styles of superhero fiction more than they were able to before. Saban 's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , an adaptation of Zyuranger , created

24495-471: The West as Astro Boy , was published. The series focused upon a robot boy built by a scientist to replace his deceased son. Being built from an incomplete robot originally intended for military purposes, Astro Boy possessed amazing powers such as flight through thrusters in his feet and the incredible mechanical strength of his limbs. The 1950s saw the Silver Age of Comics . During this era DC introduced

24708-442: 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

24921-455: The alternate comic book universes were destroyed and only a few characters joined with Earth-616 characters in its own universe including various Spider-Men. In some intercompany crossovers with DC Comics, Spider-Man has worked alongside Superman twice, once to defeat Doctor Octopus and Lex Luthor and the other to stop Doctor Doom from providing the Parasite with long-term access to

25134-510: 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

25347-512: The archetype include mythological characters such as Gilgamesh , Hanuman , Perseus , Odysseus , David , and demigods like Heracles , all of whom were blessed with extraordinary abilities, which later inspired the superpowers that became a fundamental aspect of modern-day superheroes. The distinct clothing and costumes of individuals from English folklore , like Robin Hood and Spring-Heeled Jack , also became inspirations. The dark costume of

25560-482: The archetypical hero stock character in 1930s American comics, superheroes are predominantly depicted as White American middle- or upper-class young adult males and females who are typically tall, athletic, educated, physically attractive and in perfect health. Beginning in the 1960s with the civil rights movement in the United States, and increasingly with the rising concern over political correctness in

25773-611: 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 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

25986-440: 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 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

26199-411: 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 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

26412-512: 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

26625-529: 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 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

26838-413: 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 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

27051-431: 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,

27264-551: 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 a hoax. Shortly afterward, in The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13 (#454, Jan. 2000), Mary Jane

27477-509: 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

27690-449: 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

27903-413: The comic-strip characters Patoruzú (1928) and Popeye (1929) and novelist Philip Wylie 's character Hugo Danner (1930). Another early example was Sarutobi Sasuke , a Japanese superhero ninja from children's novels in the 1910s; by 1914, he had a number of superhuman powers and abilities. The French character L'Oiselle , created in 1909, can be classed as a superheroine. In August 1937, in

28116-534: The companies filed a trademark application as joint owners for the mark "SUPER HEROES" for a series of animated motion pictures in 2009 (Reg. No. 5613972). Both DC and Marvel also individually owned trademarks involving the "super hero" mark. Notably, DC owns the mark " Legion of Super-Heroes " for comic magazines and Marvel owns the mark "Marvel Super Hero Island" for story books, fiction books, and children’s activity books. DC and Marvel have become known for aggressively protecting their registered marks. In 2019,

28329-552: The companies pursued a British law student named Graham Jules who was attempting to publish a self-help book titled Business Zero to Superhero . Much academic debate exists about whether the "super hero" mark has become generic and whether DC and Marvel have created a duopoly over the "super hero" mark. Conversely, DC and Marvel hold that they are merely exercising their right and duty to protect their registered marks. The following trademarks were or are registered jointly with MARVEL CHARACTERS, INC. and DC COMICS: As mentioned,

28542-575: The context of the stories, Dr. Max Borne is from the year 2211, the Spider-Man of that year. In his first appearance he aids two other Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miguel O'Hara , in defeating the Hobgoblin 2211 , his main enemy. This version of the Hobgoblin is Robin Borne, his daughter, driven insane when she was infected by a nanovirus. Spider-Man 2211 is later shot and killed by the Chameleon of

28755-462: 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

28968-463: The day-to-day headaches of balancing a social life with his superheroics. He has a close circle of friends such as Liz Allen, Harry Osborn, and Flash Thompson, and he is involved in a relationship with Mary Jane. However, in this continuity, Mary Jane does not possess an existing knowledge of his dual identity, and thus Peter finds juggling his life with her and his crime-fighting career difficult. Despite this, Mary Jane loyally supports Peter, believing it

29181-572: The death of the Spider-Man of this universe (killed by the Sandman in revenge for the deaths of the other members of this universe's Sinister Six) the zombie Spider-Man works on developing a cure for the plague with the aid of the Kitty Pryde of this universe, using nanites and the blood of this world's Wolverine. With the zombie Giant-Man having followed Spider-Man to this new reality, Spider-Man resolves to stop Giant-Man. Spider-Man releases

29394-477: The debut of Shotaro Ishinomori 's Skull Man (the basis for his later Kamen Rider ) in 1970, Go Nagai's Devilman in 1972 and Gerry Conway and John Romita's Punisher in 1974. The dark Skull Man manga would later get a television adaptation and underwent drastic changes. The character was redesigned to resemble a grasshopper, becoming the renowned first masked hero of the Kamen Rider series. Kamen Rider

29607-496: The end of Spider-Geddon , the Other appears to resurrect him. The Spider-Girl comic book series, originally published under the MC2 imprint , features May "Mayday" Parker, Peter's daughter in an alternative continuity . This timeline diverged from the regular continuity when Peter and Mary Jane's daughter is returned to them by Kaine . In Spider-Girl , Peter has been retired from crime fighting since his final battle with

29820-401: The end of the decade, in 1939, Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger . During the 1940s there were many superheroes: The Flash , Green Lantern and Blue Beetle debuted in this era. This era saw the debut of one of the earliest female superheroes, writer-artist Fletcher Hanks 's character Fantomah , an ageless ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into

30033-532: 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

30246-608: The experiment that made her Spider-Woman. The experiment imbues Gerry with spider-powers, but did not cure him. Gerry's illness strains his parents' marriage and leads to their divorce. Feeling responsible for the break-up, Gerry becomes withdrawn. Jessica tries to alleviate his pain by telling him stories from her past, his favorites involving Spider-Man. Determined to make his short time on Earth count, Gerry designs his own Spider-Man costume and equipment based from his idol's, and convinces his mother to train him in how to use his powers. Calling himself Spider-Man, he meets Spider-Girl, and

30459-411: 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

30672-428: The final issue, Spider-Man sacrifices himself to stop Doctor Doom . Spider-Man: Reign depicts an older Spider-Man in the future who, having given up on crime-fighting, is driven back into action by the return of some of his old enemies, exposing a conspiracy by Venom to take control of the city with a mass of symbiotes. The character is later killed by Daemos with his head smashed on Mary Jane Watson's tombstone in

30885-515: The first black superhero to star in his own series . In 1989, the Monica Rambeau incarnation of Captain Marvel was the first female black superhero from a major publisher to get her own title in a special one-shot issue. In 1971, Red Wolf became the first Native American in the superheroic tradition to headline a series. In 1973, Shang-Chi became the first prominent Asian superhero to star in an American comic book ( Kato had been

31098-454: The first entity to commercialize the phrase "super hero" when it registered the mark in connection with Halloween costumes. In 1972, Mego Corporation , an American toy company, attempted to register the mark "World's Greatest Superheroes" in connection with its line of action figures. Mego Corporation’s attempted registration led Ben Cooper, Inc. to sue Mego Corporation for trademark infringement. Due to its financial struggles, Mego Corporation

31311-476: 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

31524-479: The hypothetical heteronormative male audience. Villains, such as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy , use their sexuality to take advantage of their male victims. In the film versions of these characters, their sexuality and seductive methods are highlighted. Poison Ivy uses seduction through poison to take over the minds of her victims as seen in the 1997 film Batman and Robin . Harley Quinn in 2016's Suicide Squad uses her sexuality to her advantage, acting in

31737-506: 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 a multitude of print and video interviews, Lee stated he

31950-470: The idea of a masked avenger and the superhero trope of a secret identity . Over the next few decades, masked and costumed pulp fiction characters such as Jimmie Dale/The Grey Seal (1914), Zorro (1919), Buck Rogers (1928), The Shadow (1930), and Flash Gordon (1934), and comic strip heroes such as the Phantom (1936), began appearing, as did non-costumed characters with super strength , including

32163-467: The latter, complete with a domino mask and a cape, became influential for the myriad of masked rogues in penny dreadfuls and dime novels . The vigilantes of the American Old West also became an influence to the superhero. Several vigilantes during this time period hid their identities using masks. In frontier communities where de jure law was not yet matured, people sometimes took

32376-606: The law into their own hands with makeshift masks made out of sacks . Vigilante mobs and gangs like the San Diego Vigilantes and the Bald Knobbers became infamous throughout that Old West era. Such masked vigilantism later inspired fictional masked crimefighters in American story-telling, beginning with the character Deadwood Dick in 1877. The word superhero dates back to 1899. The 1903 British play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs popularized

32589-442: 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

32802-429: 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

33015-478: The likes of Batwoman in 1956, Supergirl , Miss Arrowette , and Bat-Girl ; all female derivatives of established male superheroes. In 1957 Japan, Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant , signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture towards tokusatsu masked superheroes over kaiju giant monsters. Along with Astro Boy , the Super Giant serials had

33228-764: The magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s." In 1971, Kamen Rider launched the "Henshin Boom" on Japanese television in the early 1970s, greatly impacting the tokusatsu superhero genre in Japan. In 1972, the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman anime debuted, which built upon the superhero team idea of the live-action Phantom Agents as well as introducing different colors for team members and special vehicles to support them, said vehicles could also combine into

33441-469: The many different versions of Spider-themed characters are the major protagonists of the storyline. Some of these characters appeared in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel . Some of these characters were temporarily merged in the same universe in the 2015 comic book series Secret Wars as a part of the Spider-Man family. There have been different version characters in other media that have crossed over in comics as well. Peter Parker,

33654-399: The mark in connection with comic books, and were granted the mark by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 1981. In the years leading up to the assignment of the mark, both DC and Marvel battled to register various trademarks involving the phrase “superhero.” However, DC and Marvel quickly discovered that they could only register marks involving the phrase "superhero" if

33867-400: 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 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

34080-495: 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

34293-473: 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 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

34506-446: 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 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

34719-442: 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 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

34932-432: The new Spider-Man after the apparent death of the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker . Kamala Khan , a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager who is revealed to have Inhuman lineage after her shapeshifting powers manifested, takes on the identity of Ms. Marvel in 2014 after Carol Danvers had become Captain Marvel. Her self-titled comic book series became a cultural phenomenon, with extensive media coverage by CNN ,

35145-406: 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

35358-440: 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

35571-425: The pages of several popular superhero titles from the late 1950s onward: Hal Jordan 's love interest Carol Ferris was introduced as the Vice-President of Ferris Aircraft and later took over the company from her father; Medusa , who was first introduced in the Fantastic Four series, is a member of the Inhuman Royal Family and a prominent statesperson within her people's quasi-feudal society; and Carol Danvers ,

35784-420: The past decade following the rise of comic book characters in the film industry (Marvel/DC movies). Women are presented differently than their male counterparts, typically wearing revealing clothing that showcases their curves and cleavage and showing a lot of skin in some cases. Heroes like Power Girl and Wonder Woman are portrayed wearing little clothing and showing cleavage. Power Girl is portrayed as wearing

35997-406: The phrase referenced their own company or a character associated with their company. As a result, DC and Marvel decided to become joint owners of the "superhero" trademark. Although many consumers likely see DC and Marvel as competitors, the two comic book publishing giants are allies when it comes to protecting the trademark "superhero" and variants thereof. Although joint ownership in a trademark

36210-419: The power of a god, but was still drawn to a much weaker, mortal male character. This can be explained by the sociological concept "feminine apologetic," which reinforces a woman's femininity to account for her masculine attributes (strength, individualism, toughness, aggressiveness, bravery). Women in comic books are considered to be misrepresented due to being created by men, for men. The Hawkeye Initiative

36423-406: The powers of both the Hulk and Wonder Woman . He also worked alongside Batman to defeat Carnage and the Joker , the two later collaborating to defeat the Kingpin and Ra's al Ghul , with Fisk eventually aiding the heroes in the end. In the alternate universe Deadpool Samurai manga series, which takes place on Earth-346, Deadpool receives an offer to join Samurai Squad, the Japanese division of

36636-520: The public, and policing unauthorized uses. However, misuse by the public alone does not necessarily cause a trademark to become generic if the primary significance of the term is still to indicate a particular source. Some legal experts argue that, like the once-trademarked terms "aspirin" and "yo-yo," the term "superhero" now primarily refers to a general type of character with extraordinary abilities, rather than characters originating from specific publishers. In keeping with their origins as representing

36849-537: The radioactive spider due to Flash Thompson pushing him out of the way right before it happens. He achieves valedictorian in high school and later attends Empire University, but drops out after Aunt May dies in the crossfire of one of Hyperion 's battles. He is hired by Robbie Robertson to take pictures of heroes and act as a friend to Hyperion (in a similar fashion to Jimmy Olsen 's relationship with Superman in DC Comics). When Hyperion fails to eliminate all of General Annihhilus's hive, Peter successfully manages to evacuate

37062-453: 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 ,

37275-424: 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

37488-405: 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

37701-433: 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

37914-455: 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

38127-430: 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

38340-400: 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

38553-409: 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

38766-484: The story of Spider-Man in a Japanese setting. It was originally published in Japan from January 1970 to September 1971 in Monthly Shōnen Magazine . The main character is named Yu Komori ( 小森ユウ , Komori Yū ) to maintain the Japanese adaptation. This version of Spider-Man first appeared in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53-61 before appearing in the re-titled Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures comic book series. A modern-day high school student, this Spider-Man's origin

38979-485: 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 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

39192-440: 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

39405-399: 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

39618-435: The superhero supergroups featured at least one (and often the only) female member, much like DC's flagship superhero team the Justice League of America (whose initial roster included Wonder Woman as the token female ); examples include the Fantastic Four 's Invisible Girl , the X-Men 's Jean Grey (originally known as Marvel Girl ), the Avengers ' Wasp , and the Brotherhood of Mutants ' Scarlet Witch (who later joined

39831-441: 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

40044-421: The superheroes kidnapped by Loki in the spin-off series Last Hero Standing . In the recent Spider-Girl storyline "Brand New May", Peter has uncovered a lab, within it is a stasis tank containing an exact physical symbiote duplicate of Mayday Parker, with notes left behind by Norman Osborn suggesting she is the real Mayday, and not a clone. When protecting his nephew Normie from an exploding test tube, Peter

40257-501: The supervillain known as Spider-Bitch was born as simply Ashley (later referred to in overview text, though never in dialogue, as Ashley Barton), lacking spider-powers yet using her intuition and combat training to conquer a portion of the Wastelands as the new Kingpin . In the Amalgam Comics universe, Spider-Man was combined with DC's Superboy to create Spider-Boy . He is featured in Spider-Boy #1 (April 1996) and Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 (June 1997). In this continuity, Spider-Boy

40470-410: The term "SUPER HERO" trademark is at risk of becoming generic. Courts have noted that determining whether a term has become generic is a highly factual inquiry not suitable for resolution without considering evidence like dictionary definitions, media usage, and consumer surveys. Trademark owners can take steps to prevent genericide , such as using the trademark with the generic product name, educating

40683-495: 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,

40896-490: 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 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

41109-507: The totem that gave him his powers later in the story. Other interpretations of this version of Spider-Man appears in the game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and have made further appearances in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, and the animated films Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel . In issue #500 of The Amazing Spider-Man , Julia Carpenter, now possessing Madame Web 's powers, shows what would happen if Spider-Man were to have proceeded in killing Kraven

41322-457: 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

41535-421: The two companies also own a variety of other superhero-related marks. For instance, DC owns "Legion of Super-Heroes" and " DC Super Hero Girls " and Marvel owns “Marvel Super Hero Island" and "Marvel Super Hero Adventures." DC and Marvel have garnered a reputation for zealously protecting their superhero marks. As noted above, one of these instances included a man by the name of Graham Jules, who sought to publish

41748-440: The two initially clash. During a fight between several villains, a bullet intended for Spider-Man kills one of the villains when Spider-Girl shoves him out of its way. Upset that he was responsible for a death, Gerry runs into Darkdevil , who trains him to be a more effective crime-fighter. At the request of Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, Gerry decides to retire from superheroic adventuring, while Reed Richards searches for

41961-412: The very end. In the sequel miniseries, 1602: New World , he takes the identity of the Spider. Later, Peter's dual identity is revealed, and with the death of his beloved Virginia Dare at the hands of Norman Osborne , he returns to Europe and falls in love with Marion Jane Watson and joins her family of theater performers. During a battle with Baron Octavius, Norman Osborn, and Curtis Connors in Venice,

42174-498: The weakest member of her team a decade ago. Both major American publishers began introducing new superheroines with a more distinct feminist theme as part of their origin stories or character development. Examples include Big Barda , Power Girl , and the Huntress by DC comics; and from Marvel, the second Black Widow , Shanna the She-Devil , and The Cat . Female supporting characters who were successful professionals or hold positions of authority in their own right also debuted in

42387-449: The year 2211 posing as Uncle Ben . In other media The miniseries Spider-Man: Chapter One was John Byrne 's attempt to re-imagine Spider-Man's early years (similar to the revamp given to Superman ), giving him a new but similar origin. The series is no longer considered canon within the Earth-616 universe, but is instead set in its own. This is one of many manga-related Spider-Man series. The character later crossed over into

42600-403: Was a two-part miniseries set in an alternative universe where the situations that led to the heroes of the Marvel Universe gaining superpowers led to horrific deformities and deaths instead. In this world, when Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, instead of gaining spider-powers, he broke out into an infectious rash that covered his body before his painful death. He had visited the offices of

42813-438: 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 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

43026-462: Was depicted as a teenage high-school student and an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents, Richard and Mary Parker , died in a plane crash. Lee, 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

43239-432: 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

43452-470: 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

43665-494: Was in All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941), published by All-American Publications , one of two companies that would merge to form DC Comics in 1944. Pérák was an urban legend originating from the city of Prague during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in the midst of World War II . In the decades following the war, Pérák has also been portrayed as the only Czech superhero in film and comics. In 1952, Osamu Tezuka 's manga Tetsuwan Atom , more popularly known in

43878-455: 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 a "sixth sense", which warns him of danger, the inspiration for Spider-Man's "spider-sense". Although at

44091-560: Was key to the character's success; since the costume completely covers Spider-Man's body, people of all races could visualize themselves inside 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

44304-487: 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 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

44517-457: 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

44730-420: 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 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

44943-404: Was unexpected as Marvel and DC had filed a motion to extend time to answer. There is an ongoing debate among legal scholars and in the courts about whether the term "superhero" has become genericized due to its widespread use in popular culture, similar to terms like "aspirin" or "escalator" which lost their trademark protection and became generic terms for their respective products. Some argue

45156-467: Was unwilling to defend itself against Ben Cooper Inc.'s suit. As a result, in 1977, Mego Corporation jointly assigned its interest in the trademark to DC Comics , Inc. ("DC") and Marvel Comics ("Marvel"). Due to the financial prowess of DC and Marvel, Ben Cooper, Inc. decided to withdraw its trademark opposition and jointly assigned its interest in the "World's Greatest Super Heroes" mark to DC and Marvel. Two years later in 1979, DC and Marvel applied for

45369-441: Was visited by Morlun during the " Spider-Verse " event, but due to time distortions constantly resetting things so that the simplest actions take weeks to progress, Morlun finds his efforts to consume this version of Peter fruitless. The Master Weaver of the Inheritors elects to rebel against his masters for once and seals this universe away in a pocket dimension, where it will remain safe from any further attacks. Marvel published

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