HISTORY OF ALL SPIDERMANS
NIGHTWING
"Peter Parker" redirects here. For other uses, see Peter Parker (disambiguation) and Spider-Man (disambiguation).
Spider-Man
From The Amazing Spider-Man #547 (Mar. 2008)
Art by Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines
Publication information
First appearanceAmazing Fantasy #15 (Aug.1962)
In-story information
Alter egoPeter Benjamin Parker
SpeciesHuman Mutate
Team affiliationsAvengers
New Avengers
Future Foundation
New Fantastic Four
Secret Defenders,[1]
Heroes for Hire[2]
Notable aliasesRicochet , Dusk ll , Prodigy ll ,Hornet ll , Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider ll
Abilities
- Superhuman strength,speed, agility, stamina, reflexes, and endurance
- Ability to cling to most surfaces
- Healing factor
- Able to shoot very strong spider-web strings from wrists via web-shooters
- Precognitive Spider-Sense
- Genius-level intellect
- Master hand-to-hand combatant
Spider-Man is a fictional character, a comic book superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (cover-dated Aug. 1962). Lee and Ditko conceived the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May andUncle Ben, and as a teenager, having to deal with the normal struggles of adolescence in addition to those of a costumed crimefighter. Spider-Man's creators gave him super strength and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, shoot spider-webs using wrist-mounted devices of his own invention (which he called "web-shooters"), and react to danger quickly with his "spider-sense", enabling him to combat his foes.
When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist. The Spider-Man series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker, the high school student behind Spider-Man's secret identity and with whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" young readers could relate.[3] Unlike previous teen heroes such as Bucky and Robin, Spider-Man had no superhero mentor like Captain America and Batman; he thus had to learn for himself that "with great power there must also come great responsibility"—a line included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man story but later retroactively attributed to his guardian, the late Uncle Ben.
Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first and longest-lasting of which is titled The Amazing Spider-Man. Over the years, the Peter Parker character has developed from shy, nerdy high school student to troubled but outgoing college student, to married high school teacher to, in the late 2000s, a single freelance photographer, his most typical adult role. In the 2010s, he joins the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, Marvel's flagship superhero teams. In a 2012–2014 storyline, Peter Parker dies while his mind is in the body of his enemyDoctor Octopus; Doctor Octopus then lives on inside of Parker's body, taking the role of Spider-Man in The Superior Spider-Man. However, Parker returned to his body in April 2014.[4] Separately, Marvel has also published books featuring alternate versions of Spider-Man, including Spider-Man 2099, which features the adventures of Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the future; Ultimate Spider-Man, which features the adventures of a teenaged Peter Parker in an alternate universe; and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, which depicts the teenager Miles Morales, who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after Ultimate Peter Parker's supposed death.
Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes.[5] As Marvel's flagship character and company mascot, he has appeared in many forms of media, including several animated and live-action television shows, syndicated newspaper comic strips, and a series of films starring Tobey Maguire as the hero in the first three movies. Andrew Garfield took over the role of Spider-Man in a reboot of the films.[6] Reeve Carney starred as Spider-Man in the 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.[7] Spider-Man placed 3rd on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time in 2011, behind DC Comics characters Superman and Batman.[8]
Contents
[hide]- 1 Publication history
- 2 Fictional character biography
- 3 Personality
- 4 Powers, skills, and equipment
- 5 Other versions
- 6 Supporting characters
- 7 Cultural influence
- 8 In other media
- 9 Awards and recognition
- 10 See also
- 11 Notes
- 12 References
- 13 External links
Publication history
Further information: List of Spider-Man titles
Creation and development
Richard Wentworth a.k.a. theSpider in the pulp magazine The Spider. Stan Lee stated that it was the name of this character that inspired him to create a character that would become Spider-Man.[9]In 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was casting about for a new superhero idea. He said 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.[10]:1 In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman pulp magazinecrime fighter the Spider (see also The Spider's Web and The Spider Returns) as a great influence,[9]:130 and in a multitude of print and video interviews, Lee stated he was further 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.[note 1] 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.[note 2] 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 was renamed Amazing Fantasy for that single issue, #15 (cover-dated August 1962, on sale June 5, 1962).[11] While this was indeed the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic continuing and that "The Spiderman [sic] ... will appear every month in Amazing."[11][12]
Regardless, Lee received Goodman's approval for the name Spider-Man and the "ordinary teen" concept, and approached artist Jack Kirby. As comics historian Greg Theakston recounts, Kirby told Lee about an unpublished character on which he had collaborated with Joe Simon in the 1950s, in which an orphaned boy living with an old couple finds a magic ring that granted him superhuman powers. Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference", Theakston writes, and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages.[13] Steve Ditko would be the inker.[note 3] When Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "Ihated the way he was doing it! Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic".[13]:12 Lee turned to Ditko, who developed a visual style Lee found satisfactory. Ditko recalled:
One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked ... before I did any breakdowns. For example: A clinging power so he wouldn't have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. ... I wasn't sure Stan would like 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....[14]
Although the interior artwork was by Ditko alone, Lee rejected Ditko's cover art and commissioned Kirby to pencil a cover that Ditko inked.[11] 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."[15]
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 the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal."[16] At the time, Ditko shared a Manhattan studio with noted fetish artistEric 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 the business about the webs coming out of his hands".[13]:14
Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962). The issue that first introduced the fictional character. It was a gateway to the commercial success to the superhero and inspired the launch of The Amazing Spider-Man comics. Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciller) andSteve Ditko (inker).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 the 1950s had developed a character called the Silver Spider for the Crestwood Publications comic Black Magic, who was subsequently not used.[note 4] Simon, in his 1990 autobiography, disputed Kirby's account, asserting that Black Magic was not a factor, and that he (Simon) devised the name "Spider-Man" (later changed to "The Silver Spider"), while Kirby outlined the character's story and powers. Simon later elaborated that his and Kirby's character conception became the basis for Simon's Archie Comics superhero the Fly. ArtistSteve Ditko stated that Lee liked the name Hawkman from DC Comics, and that "Spider-Man" was an outgrowth of that interest.[14]
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".[note 5]Writer Mark Evanier notes that Lee's reasoning that Kirby's character was too heroic seems unlikely—Kirby still drew the covers for Amazing Fantasy #15 and the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Evanier also disputes Kirby's given reason that he was "too busy" to also draw Spider-Man in addition to his other duties since Kirby was, said Evanier, "always busy".[17]:127 Neither Lee's nor Kirby's explanation explains why key story elements like the magic ring were dropped; Evanier states that the most plausible explanation for the sudden change was that Goodman, or one of his assistants, decided that Spider-Man as drawn and envisioned by Kirby was too similar to the Fly.[17]:127
Author and Ditko scholar Blake Bell writes that it was Ditko who noted the similarities to the Fly. Ditko recalled that, "Stan called Jack about the Fly", adding that "[d]ays later, Stan told me I would be penciling the story panel breakdowns from Stan's synopsis". It was at this point that the nature of the strip changed. "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, a premise Ditko would expand upon to the point he became what Bell describes as "the first work for hireartist of his generation to create and control the narrative arc of his series". On the issue of the initial creation, Ditko states, "I still don't know whose idea was Spider-Man".[18] 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".[19] Lee, while claiming credit for the initial idea, has acknowledged Ditko's role, stating, "If Steve wants to be called co-creator, I think he deserves [it]".[20] Writer Al Nickerson believes "that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the Spider-Man that we are familiar with today [but that] ultimately, Spider-Man came into existence, and prospered, through the efforts of not just one or two, but many, comic book creators".[21]
Commercial success
A few months after Spider-Man's introduction, publisher Goodman reviewed the sales figures for that issue and was shocked to find it to have been one of the nascent Marvel's highest-selling comics.[22]:97 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[3]:211 with 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."[3]:223 Following Ditko's departure after issue #38 (July 1966), John Romita, Sr. replaced him as penciler and would draw 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 only lasted for two issues, but it represented the first Spider-Man spin-off publication, aside from the original series' summer annuals that began in 1964.[23]
An early 1970s Spider-Man story led to the revision of the Comics Code. 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.[3]:239 Lee chose the top-selling The Amazing Spider-Man; issues #96–98 (May–July 1971) feature 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 the Green Goblin, 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 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.[3]:239
In 1972, a second monthly ongoing series starring Spider-Man began: Marvel Team-Up, in which Spider-Man was paired with other superheroes and villains. 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, the Spectacular Spider-Manbegan 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 the same interior content. The various versions combined sold over 3 million copies, an industry record at the time. Several limited series, one-shots, and loosely related comics have also been published, and Spider-Man makes frequent cameos and guest appearances in other comic series.[3]:279 In 1996 The Sensational Spider-Man was created to replace Web of Spider-Man.
In 1998 writer-artist John Byrne revamped 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.[24] At the same time the original The Amazing Spider-Man was ended with issue #441 (Nov. 1998), and The Amazing Spider-Man was restarted with vol. 2, #1 (Jan. 1999).[25] In 2003 Marvel reintroduced the original numbering for The Amazing Spider-Man and what would have been vol. 2, #59 became issue #500 (Dec. 2003).[25]
When primary 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 #546-549 (all Jan. 2008).[26] The three times monthly scheduling of The Amazing Spider-Man lasted until November 2010 when the comic book was increased from 22 pages to 30 pages each issue and published only twice a month, beginning with #648-649 (both Nov. 2010).[27][28]The following year, Marvel launched Avenging Spider-Man as the first spinoff ongoing series in addition to the still twice monthly The Amazing Spider-Man since the previous ones were cancelled at the end of 2007.[29] The Amazing series temporarily ended with issue #700 in December 2012, and was replaced by The Superior Spider-Man, which had Doctor Octopus serve as the new Spider-Man, having taken over Peter Parker's body. Superior was an enormous commercial success for Marvel,[30] and ran for 31-issue before the real Peter Parker returned in a newly relaunched The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in April 2014.
Fictional character biography
The spider bite that gave Peter Parker his powers. Amazing Fantasy #15, art by Steve Ditko.In Forest Hills, Queens, New York,[31] high school student Peter Parker is a science-whiz orphan living with his Uncle Ben andAunt May. As depicted in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), he is bitten by a radioactive spider (erroneously classified as aninsect in the panel) at a science exhibit and "acquires the agility and proportionate strength of an arachnid."[32] Along with super strength, Parker gains the ability to adhere to walls and ceilings. Through his native 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 a costume and, as "Spider-Man", becomes a novelty television star. However, "He 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!"[33]
Despite his superpowers, Parker struggles to help his widowed aunt pay rent, is taunted by his peers—particularly football starFlash Thompson—and, as Spider-Man, engenders the editorial wrath of newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson.[34][35] As he battles his enemies for the first time,[36] Parker finds juggling his personal life and costumed adventures difficult. In time, Peter graduates from high school,[37] and enrolls at Empire State University (a fictional institution evoking the real-life Columbia University and New York University),[38] where he meets roommate and best friend Harry Osborn, and girlfriend Gwen Stacy,[39]and Aunt May introduces him to Mary Jane Watson.[36][40][41] As Peter deals with Harry's drug problems, and Harry's father is revealed to be Spider-Man's nemesis the Green Goblin, Peter even attempts to give up his costumed identity for a while.[42][43]Gwen Stacy's father, New York City Police detective captain George Stacy is accidentally killed during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (#90, Nov. 1970).[44] In the course of his adventures Spider-Man has made a wide variety of friends and contacts within the superhero community, who often come to his aid when he faces problems that he cannot solve on his own.
In issue #121 (June 1973),[36] 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).[45][46] She dies during Spider-Man's rescue attempt; a note on the letters page of issue #125 states: "It saddens us to say that the whiplash effectshe underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her."[47] The following issue, the Goblin appears to kill himself accidentally in the ensuing battle with Spider-Man.[48]
Working through his grief, Parker eventually develops tentative feelings toward Watson, and the two "become confidants rather than lovers".[49] A romantic relationship eventually develops, with Parker proposing to her in issue #182 (July 1978), and being turned down an issue later.[50] Parker went on to graduate from college in issue #185,[36] and becomes involved with the shy Debra Whitman and the extroverted, flirtatious costumed thief Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat,[51] whom he meets in issue #194 (July 1979).[36]
From 1984 to 1988, Spider-Man wore a black costume with a white spider design on his chest. The new costume originated in the Secret Wars limited series, on an alien planet where Spider-Man participates in a battle between Earth's major superheroes and villains.[52] He continues wearing the costume when he returns from the Secret Wars, starting in The Amazing Spider-Man #252. Not unexpectedly, the change to a longstanding character's iconic design met with controversy, "with many hardcore comics fans decrying it as tantamount to sacrilege. Spider-Man's traditional red and blue costume was iconic, they argued, on par with those of his D.C. rivals Superman and Batman."[53] The creators then revealed the costume was an alien symbiote which Spider-Man is able to reject after a difficult struggle,[54] though the symbiote returns several times as Venom for revenge.[36]
Parker proposes to Watson a second time 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 a real-life mock wedding using actors (with model Tara Shannon as Watson)[55] at Shea Stadium, with Stan Lee officiating, on June 5, 1987.[56][57] However, 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."[56]
In a controversial storyline, Peter becomes convinced that Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider (a clone of Peter created by his college professor Miles Warren) is the real Peter Parker, and that he, Peter, is the clone. Peter gives up the Spider-Man identity to Reilly for a time, until Reilly is killed by the returning Green Goblin and revealed to be the clone after all.[58] In stories published in 2005 and 2006 (such as "The Other"), he develops additional spider-like abilities including biological web-shooters, toxic stingers that extend from his forearms, the ability to stick individuals to his back, enhanced Spider-sense and night vision, and increased strength and speed. Peter later becomes a member of the New Avengers, and reveals his civilian identity to the world,[59] furthering his already numerous problems. His marriage to Mary Jane and public unmasking are later erased in another controversial[60] storyline "One More Day", in a Faustian bargain with the demon Mephisto, resulting in several adjustments to the timeline, such as the resurrection of Harry Osborn, the erasure of Parker's marriage, and the return of his traditional tools and powers.[61]
That storyline came 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".[60]It caused unusual public friction between Quesada and writer J. Michael 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.[62] At issue with Straczynski's climax to 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 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....[62]
Following the "reboot", Parker's identity was no longer known to the general public; however, he revealed it to his teammates in the New Avengers[63] and his friends in the Fantastic Four, and others have deduced it. Parker's Aunt May married J. Jonah Jameson's father, Jay Jameson.[64] Jonah himself has been elected Mayor of New York City,[65] and Parker became an employee of the think-tank Horizon Labs.[66]
In issue #700, after the dying supervillain Doctor Octopus has swapped bodies with him, Parker dies.[67] However, the ending of The Superior Spider-Man #1 it shows that Parker still exists within Doctor Octopus's mind.[68] It is later revealed that the Peter Parker persona within Doctor Octopus's mind were just memories that he absorbed from Peter Parker,[69] which he later purges to be completely free to control Parker's former body.[70] However, Peter's consciousness is revealed to still exist, having somehow escaped the mind-purge from Doctor Octopus, but Peter decided to keep a low profile to prevent Doctor Octopus from attempting to erase him again.[71] Doctor Octopus found himself overwhelmed while battling the Green Goblin with few resources or allies. Realizing he had failed as the "superior" Spider-Man he claimed to be, Doctor Octopus let the consciousness of Parker reclaim his body.[72][73]
Following Peter Parker's return, The Amazing Spider-Man was re-launched in April 2014.[74][75] Parker's consciousness has returned to its body but he has no memories of what Doctor Octopus did while in his body.[76] Parker begins to deal with the fallout of Doctor Octopus' possession.[77]
Personality
"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 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[78]
As one contemporaneous journalist observed, "Spider-Man has a terrible identity problem, a markedinferiority complex, and a fear of women. He is anti-social, [sic] castration-ridden, racked with Oedipal guilt, and accident-prone ... [a] functioning neurotic".[31] Agonizing over his choices, always attempting to do right, he is nonetheless viewed with suspicion by the authorities, who seem unsure as to whether he is a helpful vigilante or a clever criminal.[79]
Notes cultural historian Bradford W. Wright,
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 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.[3]:212
The mid-1960s stories reflected the political tensions of the time, as early 1960s Marvel stories had often dealt with the Cold War and Communism.[3]:220–223 As Wright observes,
From his high-school beginnings to his entry into college life, Spider-Man remained 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 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.[3]:234–235
Powers, skills, and equipment
Main article: Spider-Man's powers and equipment
A bite from a radioactive spider on a school field trip causes a variety of changes in the body of Peter Parker and gives him superpowers.[80] In the original Lee-Ditkostories, Spider-Man has the ability to cling to walls, superhuman strength, a sixth sense ("spider-sense") that alerts him to danger, perfect balance and equilibrium, as well as superhuman speed and agility. Some of his comic series have him shooting webs from his wrists.[80] Academically brilliant, Parker has expertise in the fields ofapplied science, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, mathematics, and mechanics. The character was originally conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko as intellectually gifted, but not a genius; however, later writers have depicted the character as a genius.[81] With his talents, he sews his own costume to conceal his identity, and constructs many devices that complement his powers, most notably mechanical web-shooters.[80] This mechanism ejects an advanced adhesive, releasing web-fluid in a variety of configurations, including a single rope-like strand to swing from, a net to bind enemies, and a simple glob to foul machinery or blind an opponent. He can also weave the web material into simple forms like a shield, a spherical protection or hemispherical barrier, a club, or a hang-glider wing. Other equipment include spider-tracers (spider-shaped adhesive homing beacons keyed to his own spider-sense), a light beacon which can either be used as a flashlight or project a "Spider-Signal" design, and a specially modified camera that can take pictures automatically.
Other versions
Main article: Alternative versions of Spider-Man
Due to Spider-Man's popularity in the mainstream Marvel Universe, publishers have been able to introduce different variations of Spider-Man outside of mainstream comics as well as reimagined stories in many other multiversed spinoffs such as Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and Spider-Man: India. Marvel has also made its own parodies of Spider-Man in comics such as Not Brand Echh, which was published in the late 1960s and featured such characters as Peter Pooper alias Spidey-Man,[82] and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, who appeared in the 1980s. The fictional character has also inspired a number of deratives such as a manga version of Spider-Man drawn by Japanese artist Ryoichi Ikegami as well as Hideshi Hino's The Bug Boy, which has been cited as inspired by Spider-Man.[83] Also the French comic Télé-Junior published strips based on popular TV series. In the late 1970s, the publisher also produced original Spider-Man adventures. Artists included Gérald Forton, who later moved to America and worked for Marvel.[84]
Supporting characters
Main article: List of Spider-Man supporting characters
Spider-Man has had a large range of supporting characters introduced in the comics that are essential in the issues and storylines that star him. After his parents died, Peter Parker was raised by his loving aunt, May Parker, and his uncle and father figure, Ben Parker. After Uncle Ben is murdered by a burglar, Aunt May is virtually Peter's only family, and she and Peter are very close.[32]
J. Jonah Jameson is depicted as the publisher of the Daily Bugle and is Peter Parker's boss and as a harsh critic of Spider-Man, always saying negative things about the superhero in the newspaper. Despite his role as Jameson's publishing editor and confidant Robbie Robertson is always depicted as a supporter of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.[34]
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is commonly depicted as Parker's high school tormentor and bully, but in later comic issues he becomes a friend to Peter.[34] MeanwhileHarry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn, is most commonly recognized as Peter's best friend but has also been depicted sometimes as his rival in the comics.[36]
Peter Parker's romantic interests range between his first crush, the fellow high-school student Liz Allan,[34] to having his first date with Betty Brant,[85] the secretary to the Daily Bugle newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. After his breakup with Betty Brant, Parker eventually falls in love with his college girlfriend Gwen Stacy,[36][39]daughter of New York City Police Department detective captain George Stacy, both of whom are later killed by supervillain enemies of Spider-Man.[44][44] Mary Jane Watson eventually became Peter's best friend and then his wife.[56] Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, is a reformed cat burglar who had been Spider-Man's girlfriend and partner at one point.[51]
Enemies
Main article: List of Spider-Man enemies
Writers and artists over the years have established a rogues gallery of supervillains to face Spider-Man. As with him, the majority of these villains' powers originate with scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology, and many have animal-themed costumes or powers.[note 6] Early on Spider-Man faced such foes as theChameleon (introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #1, March 1963), the Vulture (#2, May 1963), Doctor Octopus (#3, July 1963), the Sandman (#4, Sept. 1963), theLizard (#6, Nov. 1963), Electro (#9, Feb. 1964), Mysterio (#13, June 1964), Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin (#14, July 1964), Kraven the Hunter (#15, Aug. 1964), the Scorpion (#20, Jan. 1965), the Rhino (#41, Oct. 1966)—the first original Lee/Romita Spider-Man villain[86]—, the Shocker (#46, March 1967), and the physically powerful and well-connected criminal capo Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin.[36] The Clone Saga introduces college professor Miles Warren, who becomes theJackal, the antagonist of the storyline.[39] Harry Osborn then replaces Norman as the Green Goblin and also a derivative villain called the Hobgoblin was developed to replace Norman as archenemy in #238 until Norman was revived later.[87] After Spider-Man rejected his symbiotic black costume, Eddie Brock, a bitter ex-journalist with a grudge against Spider-Man, bonded with the symbiote (which also hated Spider-Man for rejecting it), gaining Spider-Man's powers and abilities, and became the villain Venom in issue #298 (May 1988).[36] Brock briefly became an ally to Spider-Man when Carnage, another symbiote-based villain, went on a murderous spree in issue #344.[88] At times these enemies of Spider-Man have formed groups such as the Sinister Six to oppose Spider-Man.[89] Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) and Venom (Eddie Brock) are generally described or written as his archenemies.[90][91][92]
Cultural influence
Comic book writer-editor and historian Paul Kupperberg, in The Creation of Spider-Man, calls the character's superpowers "nothing too original"; what was original was that outside his secret identity, he was a "nerdy high school student".[93]:5 Going against typical superhero fare, Spider-Man included "heavy doses of soap-opera and elements of melodrama." Kupperberg feels that Lee and Ditko had created something new in the world of comics: "the flawed superhero with everyday problems." This idea spawned a "comics revolution."[93]:6 The insecurity and anxieties in Marvel's early 1960s comic books such as The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, andX-Men ushered in a new type of superhero, very different from the certain and all-powerful superheroes before them, and changed the public's perception of them.[94]Spider-Man has become one of the most recognizable fictional characters in the world, and has been used to sell toys, games, cereal, candy, soap, and many other products.[95]
Spider-Man has become Marvel's flagship character, and has often been used as the company mascot. When Marvel became the first comic book company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991, the Wall Street Journal announced "Spider-Man is coming to Wall Street"; the event was in turn promoted with an actor in a Spider-Man costume accompanying Stan Lee to the Stock Exchange.[3]:254 Since 1962, hundreds of millions of comics featuring the character have been sold around the world.[96]
Spider-Man joined the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1987 to 1998 as one of the balloon floats,[97] designed by John Romita Sr.,[98] one of the character's signature artists. A new, different Spider-Man balloon float is scheduled to appear from at least 2009 to 2011.[97]
In 1981, skyscraper-safety activist Dan Goodwin, wearing a Spider-Man suit, scaled the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, the Renaissance Tower in Dallas, Texas, and the John Hancock Center in Chicago, Illinois.[99]
U.S. President Barack Obama pretending to be caught in Spider-Man's web.When Marvel wanted to issue a story dealing with the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the company chose the December 2001 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.[100] In 2006, Spider-Man garnered major media coverage with the revelation of the character's secret identity,[101] an event detailed in a full page story in the New York Post before the issue containing the story was even released.[102]
In 2008, Marvel announced plans to release a series of educational comics the following year in partnership with the United Nations, depicting Spider-Man alongside UN Peacekeeping Forces to highlight UN peacekeeping missions.[103] ABusinessWeek article listed Spider-Man as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics.[104]
In other media
Tobey Maguire(top) and Andrew Garfield (bottom) have both portrayed Spider-Man on film.
Main article: Spider-Man in other media
Spider-Man has appeared in comics, cartoons, movies, coloring books, novels, records, and children's books.[95] On television, he first starred in the ABC animated series Spider-Man (1967-1970)[105] and the CBS live-action series The Amazing Spider-Man (1978–1979), starringNicholas Hammond. Other animated series featuring the superhero include the syndicated Spider-Man (1981–1982), Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–1983), Fox Kids' Spider-Man (1994–1998), Spider-Man Unlimited (1999–2000), Spider-Man: The New Animated Series(2003), and The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008–2009). A new animated series titled Ultimate Spider-Man, starring Drake Bell, premiered onDisney XD on April 1, 2012.[106]
A tokusatsu show featuring Spider-Man was produced by Toei and aired in Japan. It is commonly referred to by its Japanese pronunciation "Supaidā-Man".[107] Spider-Man also appeared in other print forms besides the comics, including novels, children's books, and the daily newspaper comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man, which debuted in January 1977, with the earliest installments written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita, Sr.[108] Spider-Man has been adapted to other media including games, toys, collectibles, and miscellaneous memorabilia, and has appeared as the main character in numerous computer and video games on over 15 gaming platforms.
Spider-Man was also featured in a trilogy of live-action films directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as the titular superhero. The first Spider-Man film of the trilogy was released on May 3, 2002; its sequel, Spider-Man 2, was released on June 30, 2004 and the next sequel,Spider-Man 3, was released on May 4, 2007. A third sequel was originally scheduled to be released in 2011, however Sony later decided toreboot the franchise with a new director and cast. The reboot, titled The Amazing Spider-Man, was released on July 3, 2012; directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield as the new Spider-Man.[109][110][111][112][113] A sequel titled The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released on May 2, 2014.[114][115]
A Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, began previews on November 14, 2010 at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway, with the official opening night on June 14, 2011.[116][117] The music and lyrics were written by Bono and The Edge of the rock group U2, with a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.[118] Turn Off the Dark is currently the most expensive musical in Broadway history, costing an estimated $70 million.[119] In addition, the show's unusually high running costs are reported to be about $1.2 million per week.[120]
Awards and recognition
From the character's inception, Spider-Man stories have won numerous awards, including:
- 1962 Alley Award: Best Short Story—"Origin of Spider-Man" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Amazing Fantasy #15
- 1963 Alley Award: Best Comic: Adventure Hero title—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1963 Alley Award: Top Hero—Spider-Man
- 1964 Alley Award: Best Adventure Hero Comic Book—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1964 Alley Award: Best Giant Comic - The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1
- 1964 Alley Award: Best Hero—Spider-Man
- 1965 Alley Award: Best Adventure Hero Comic Book—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1965 Alley Award: Best Hero—Spider-Man
- 1966 Alley Award: Best Comic Magazine: Adventure Book with the Main Character in the Title—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1966 Alley Award: Best Full-Length Story - "How Green was My Goblin", by Stan Lee & John Romita, Sr., The Amazing Spider-Man #39
- 1967 Alley Award: Best Comic Magazine: Adventure Book with the Main Character in the Title—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1967 Alley Award Popularity Poll: Best Costumed or Powered Hero—Spider-Man
- 1967 Alley Award Popularity Poll: Best Male Normal Supporting Character—J. Jonah Jameson, The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1967 Alley Award Popularity Poll: Best Female Normal Supporting Character—Mary Jane Watson, The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1968 Alley Award Popularity Poll: Best Adventure Hero Strip—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1968 Alley Award Popularity Poll: Best Supporting Character - J. Jonah Jameson, The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1969 Alley Award Popularity Poll: Best Adventure Hero Strip—The Amazing Spider-Man
- 1997 Eisner Award: Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team—1997 Al Williamson, Best Inker: Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17-18
- 2002 Eisner Award: Best Serialized Story—The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2, #30–35: "Coming Home", by J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita, Jr., and Scott Hanna
- 2005: Spider-Man was the #1 superhero on Bravo's Ultimate Super Heroes, Vixens, and Villains show.[121]
- No date: Empire magazine's fifth-greatest comic book character.[122]
See also
Notes
- Jump up^ Lee, Stan; Mair, George (2002). Excelsior!: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee. Fireside. ISBN 0-684-87305-2. He goes further in his biography, claiming that even while pitching the concept to publisher Martin Goodman, "I can't remember if that was literally true or not, but I thought it would lend a big color to my pitch."
- Jump up^ Detroit Free Press interview with Stan Lee, quoted in The Steve Ditko Reader by Greg Theakston (Pure Imagination, Brooklyn, NY; ISBN 1-56685-011-8), p. 12 (unnumbered). "He gave me 1,000 reasons why Spider-Man would never work. Nobody likes spiders; it sounds too much like Superman; and how could a teenager be a superhero? Then I told him I wanted the character to be a very human guy, someone who makes mistakes, who worries, who gets acne, has trouble with his girlfriend, things like that. [Goodman replied,] 'He's a hero! He's not an average man!' I said, 'No, we make him an average man who happens to have super powers, that's what will make him good.' He told me I was crazy".
- Jump up^ Ditko, Steve (2000). Roy Thomas, ed. Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection. TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 1-893905-06-3. "'Stan said a new Marvel hero would be introduced in #15 [of what became titled Amazing Fantasy]. He would be called Spider-Man. Jack would do the penciling and I was to ink the character.' At this point still, Stan said Spider-Man would be a teenager with a magic ring which could transform him into an adult hero—Spider-Man. I said it sounded like the Fly, which Joe Simon had done for Archie Comics. Stan called Jack about it but I don't know what was discussed. I never talked to Jack about Spider-Man... Later, at some point, I was given the job of drawing Spider-Man'".
- Jump up^ Jack Kirby in "Shop Talk: Jack Kirby", Will Eisner's Spirit Magazine #39 (February 1982): "Spider-Man was discussed between Joe Simon and myself. It was the last thing Joe and I had discussed. We had a strip called 'The Silver Spider.' The Silver Spider was going into a magazine called Black Magic. Black Magic folded with Crestwood (Simon & Kirby's 1950s comics company) and we were left with the script. I believe I said this could become a thing called Spider-Man, see, a superhero character. I had a lot of faith in the superhero character that they could be brought back... and I said Spider-Man would be a fine character to start with. But Joe had already moved on. So the idea was already there when I talked to Stan".
- Jump up^ Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. The Comic Book Makers (Crestwood/II, 1990) ISBN 1-887591-35-4. "There were a few holes in Jack's never-dependable memory. For instance, there was no Black Magic involved at all. ... Jack brought in the Spider-Man logo that I had loaned to him before we changed the name to The Silver Spider. Kirby laid out the story to Lee about the kid who finds a ring in a spiderweb, gets his powers from the ring, and goes forth to fight crime armed with The Silver Spider's old web-spinning pistol. Stan Lee said, 'Perfect, just what I want.' After obtaining permission from publisher Martin Goodman, Lee told Kirby to pencil-up an origin story. Kirby... using parts of an old rejected superhero named Night Fighter... revamped the old Silver Spider script, including revisions suggested by Lee. But when Kirby showed Lee the sample pages, it was Lee's turn to gripe. He had been expecting a skinny young kid who is transformed into a skinny young kid with spider powers. Kirby had him turn into... Captain America with cobwebs. He turned Spider-Man over to Steve Ditko, who... ignored Kirby's pages, tossed the character's magic ring, web-pistol and goggles... and completely redesigned Spider-Man's costume and equipment. In this life, he became high-school student Peter Parker, who gets his spider powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. ... Lastly, the Spider-Man logo was redone and a dashing hyphen added".
- Jump up^ Mondello, Salvatore (March 2004). "Spider-Man: Superhero in the Liberal Tradition". The Journal of Popular Culture X (1): 232–238. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1976.1001_232.x. ...a teenage superhero and middle-aged supervillains—an impressive rogues' gallery [that] includes such memorable knaves and grotesques as the Vulture...
References
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- Jump up^ Sacks, Ethan (12 January 2014). "Exclusive: Peter Parker to return from death in 'Amazing Spider-Man' #1 this April". New York Daily News.
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- ^ Jump up to:a b Kempton, Sally, "Spiderman's [sic] Dilemma: Super-Anti-Hero in Forest Hills",The Village Voice, April 1, 1965
- ^ Jump up to:a b Lee, Stan (w), Ditko, Steve (a). Amazing Fantasy 15 (August 1962), New York City, New York: Marvel Comics
- Jump up^ Daniels, Les. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics(Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1991) ISBN 0-8109-3821-9, p. 95.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d Saffel, Steve. Spider-Man the Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon (Titan Books, 2007) ISBN 978-1-84576-324-4, p. 21.
- Jump up^ Lee, Stan (w), Ditko, Steve (a). "Spider-Man"; "Spider-Man vs. The Chameleon"; "Duel to the Death with the Vulture; "The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!"The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2 (March, May 1963), New York, NY: Marvel Comics
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Amazing Spider-Man, The (Marvel, 1963 Series) at the Grand Comics Database
- Jump up^ Lee, Stan (w), Ditko, Steve (a). "The Menace of the Molten Man!" The Amazing Spider-Man 28 (September 1965), New York, NY: Marvel Comics
- Jump up^ Saffel, p. 51
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Sanderson, Peter (2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. New York City: Pocket Books. pp. 30–33. ISBN 1-4165-3141-6.
- Jump up^ Lee, Stan (w), Romita, John (a). "The Birth of a Super-Hero!" The Amazing Spider-Man 42 (November 1966), New York, NY: Marvel Comics
- Jump up^ Saffel, p. 27
- Jump up^ Lee, Stan (w), Romita, John (p), Mickey Demeo (i). "Spider-Man No More!" The Amazing Spider-Man 50 (July 1967), New York, NY: Marvel Comics
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- Jump up^ Saffel, p. 65, states, "In the battle that followed atop the Brooklyn Bridge (or was it the George Washington Bridge?)...." On page 66, Saffel reprints the panel of The Amazing Spider-Man #121, page 18, in which Spider-Man exclaims, "The George Washington Bridge! It figures Osborn would pick something named after his favorite president. He's got the same sort of hangup for dollar bills!" Saffel states, "The span portrayed...is the GW's more famous cousin, the Brooklyn Bridge. ... To address the contradiction in future reprints of the tale, though, Spider-Man's dialogue was altered so that he's referring to the Brooklyn Bridge. But the original snafu remains as one of the more visible errors in the history of comics."
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- Jump up^ Amazing Spider-Man #591
- Jump up^ Amazing Spider-Man #648
- Jump up^ The Amazing Spider-Man #700
- Jump up^ The Superior Spider-Man #1
- Jump up^ The Superior Spider-Man #8
- Jump up^ The Superior Spider-Man #9
- Jump up^ The Superior Spider-Man #25
- Jump up^ The Superior Spider-Man #30
- Jump up^ The Superior Spider-Man #31
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- Jump up^ Gans, Andrew. "Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano, Patrick Page to Star in Spider-Man; Performances Begin in November". Playbill.com, August 10, 2010
- Jump up^ "SpidermanBroadway.Marvel.com". Spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
- Jump up^ Hetrick, Adam. "Troubled Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark Delays Broadway Opening Again". Playbill.com. January 13, 2011. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- Jump up^ "Could Spider-Man the Musical be the 'biggest disaster in Broadway history'?".The Week. August 13, 2010 (updated November 4, 2010).
- Jump up^ "Ultimate Super Heroes, Vixens, and Villains Episode Guide 2005 - Ultimate Super Villains". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
- Jump up^ "The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters". Empire Online. Retrieved2009-02-08.
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- Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organizationThis alternative take on the Spider-Man mythos is set in 1933 – during the Great Depression. While Peter Parker still becomes the titular Spider-Man, the initial focus of the story is upon Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich. He is an experienced and respected reporter who runs a network of informants under the alias of the Spider. TheGoblin is a crime lord whose henchmen consist of the Enforcers (consisting of Ox, Fancy Dan, Montana), Kraven, the Chameleon (a master of disguise) and theVulture (a sideshow freak who had developed a taste for human meat). Urich does not use the information he has to expose the Goblin but rather to blackmail him, in order to get enough money to feed his secret drug habit.
Urich encounters Peter Parker during an oration by Peter’s aunt in Central Park. The socialist slant of May Parker’s words does not sit well with the Enforcers and Urich is forced to intervene in order to prevent serious injury to either Peter or May. Urich subsequently takes Peter under his wing and after Peter mistakenly receives a tip-off meant for the Spider, the young man ventures to a warehouse where the Goblin’s men are unloading a shipment of stolen antiques. A particular antique – a spider statue – breaks open and releases a horde of spiders. One of the spiders bites Peter, causing him to pass out and dream of a spider god. When he awakes, he is upside-down in a black web. He has gained the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, along with a spider-sense and the ability to spray organic webbing from his hands. Unlike the traditional Spider-Man, he cannot cling to walls and his webbing does not focus into web-lines that he can use for travel; instead, he uses his acrobatic agility to maneuver about the rooftops and uses his webbing as nets to both stun and capture his enemies. With his powers, Peter dons a black mask, gloves, and trench coat in order to take down Osborn in the guise of the Spider-Man. He also brings a gun.
In order to censor the Daily Bugle, Osborn kidnaps the editor J. Jonah Jameson and has the Chameleon assume his place. The Chameleon-as-Jameson then goes to Urich’s apartment and shoots him, unaware that Felicia Hardy – owner of the Black Cat club – is witness to the murder. Felicia later goes to the Daily Bugle offices and kills the Chameleon, leaving his body to be discovered by Spider-Man shortly before the arrival of the police. Spider-Man escapes the attentions of the police and confronts Osborn, having dispatched all of his henchmen in turn. During their fight, it is revealed that Osborn is a former circus freak himself who hides his goblin-like visage behind one of the Chameleon’s masks. After Spider-Man refuses to kill Osborn, the spider-infested and barely still alive body of Kraven appears and attacks the Goblin, killing him.
Later, Spider-Man visits Felicia, who reveals that she had once had a relationship with The Goblin. Spider-Man reveals himself to be Peter in front of her, and she asks why he's there. Peter hands her a photo Urich had in his files earlier of him and Felicia. Spider-Man then jumps out the window, and swings away, leaving Felicia behind.
Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face[edit]
1934, NYC: Peter Parker, Spider-Man, has a new problem: The Crime Master, a masked criminal who has taken over as the city’s crime boss. As he investigates, his relationship with Felicia Hardy, owner of The Black Cat speakeasy, develops… He returns home to find Joe and Robbie Robertson talking with Aunt May. As a struggling black reporter, Robbie asks Peter to set up a meeting with Doctor Otto Octavius who is experimenting on Ellis Island. A few days later they meet with him and learn that he is experimenting on monkeys to understand more about the human mind. Octavius himself is wheelchair bound but employs controlled robotic arms, attached to the back of his chair, to help him. After they leave, Robbie suggests the story is deeper… That night a delivery of black slaves are delivered to Ellis Island.
Spider-Man takes the fight to The Crime Master and busts up an operation of drinking, girls and drugs. In a back room he discovers a soundproof torture chamber. He goes to visit Felicia, but she is with someone else… Returning home, he is told that Robbie has disappeared. On Ellis Island, Octavius inspects the new lab rats and Robbie is among them. Octavius, working for The Friends of New Germany, intends to use them to prove that inferior races can be controlled by removing their willpower surgically. Spider-Man revisits the chamber for more information, but he is ambushed by The Crime Master and his men. With them is The Sandman who slams Spider-Man to the ground with ease.
The police, led by Jean DeWolff, arrive too late to save Spider-Man from a massive beating but in time to kill Sandman. The Crime Master escapes, but Spider-Man has managed to link him with The Friends Of New Germany. A severely injured Spider-Man goes to Felicia to recover… The following day she kicks him out as her other man calls: the unmasked Crime Master. Felicia questions him too much and he works out that she has been seeing Spider-Man. In fury, he attacks her with a shard of mirror. He gets a call from the leader of TFONG, telling him to shut Ellis Island down before they all get caught. Spider-Man goes to Ellis Island himself and finds Robbie, but was too late as Octavius had already drilled into his frontal lobe, leaving him motionless.
The Crime Master arrives and starts destroying Octavius’ work. Spider-Man drives most of Crime Master’s gang away as Octavius gets his robotic arms on The Crime Master. He slices him apart with scalpels, desperate to save his work. Spider-Man then sets on Octavius for what he has done, crushing his robotic arms. DeWolff arrives before Spider-Man kills him and tells him to thank his girlfriend for calling them in… Spider-Man sees Robbie safe and swings to see Felicia. Her guard tells him that she does not ever want to see him again after she was hurt because of him. A month later, Robbie is looked after by his parents at home, but seeing him like this makes Peter feel guilty and upset. Mary Jane Watson tries to comfort him outside, but he still feels he's losing everybody he cares. Octavius is deported to Germany, where The Nazis think that his disability renders him useless, and Felicia has recovered but wears a Cat mask to cover all the scars on her face..Universe
Marvel 2099 (Earth-928)Real Name
Miguel O'HaraAliases
S-Man, MiggyIdentity
Publicly knownCitizenship
future citizen of Nueva YorkPlace of Birth
Nueva York, circa late 21st CenturyFirst Appearance
Amazing Spider-Man #365Origin
Spider-Man 2099 #1-3 (1992)Occupation
Known Relatives
Group Affiliation
Education
Physical Attributes
Powers
Abilities
Young Miguel O’Hara was raised in the alternate universe of Earth-928, during a future time after the end of the “Heroic Age”. He grew up with his eccentric mother, Conchata, younger brother Gabriel, and the abusive man he believed to be his father, George. Brilliant and precocious, Miguel was awarded enrollment in the Alchemax School for Gifted Youngsters (formerly the X-Men’s Headquarters) in Westchester under the fair direction of headmistress Angela Daskalakis. Here he befriended Xina Kwan, who helped Miguel defend himself against the bullying of Kron Stone, son of Alchemax’s Vice President of Research and Development, Tyler Stone. With Xina’s encouragement, Miguel mustered the bravery to have Kron expelled from the school.
Years later, as young adults, Miguel and Xina dated until Miguel cheated on her with Gabriel’s girlfriend, Dana D’Angelo. In time, Miguel and Dana were engaged. Confident and smugly self-assured, Miguel became project head of the genetics program of Alchemax, performing research inspired by the Spider-Man of the Heroic Age involving alterations of animal’s genetic structure. Told he was poisoned by Tyler Stone with an addictive drug called Rapture for quitting after Alchemax fatally used a criminal as a test subject to expedite research, Miguel tried to purge his body clean on a genetic level. Once the drug was bound to his system, he would need it for the rest of his life. Since only Alchemax legally sold the drug, Miguel would have been forced to continue employment at Alchemax or buy the drug through the black market. His experiment to genetically rest his body was sabotaged by his jealous supervisor, Aaron Delgato, accidentally endowing Miguel with fantastic spider-like abilities. After an explosion in the lab, Delgato apparently fell to his death while Miguel fled, realizing his new powers as he avoided the Alchemax sponsored Public Eye security patrol. A Thor worshipper aided Miguel’s escape, deeming “Spider-Man’s” return as an omen of his god’s return. Tyler Stone hired the cyborg bounty-hunter named Venture to investigate the incident. With Venture in pursuit, Miguel returned to his Babylon Towers apartment, and concealed his identity in a full body costume acquired at a Mexican Day of the Dead festival. After a fierce assault, Spider-Man shredded Venture’s circuitry. Upon recounting the events to his quirky holo-agent (holographic assistant) Lyla, Miguel realized his uncertain future.
With Stone feigning ignorance of Miguel’s transformation, Miguel returned to work, hopeful to find a cure for his condition; but Miguel gradually discovered the importance of Spider-Man in his world, where his own employer was a major source of corruption and oppression. He helped rescue Karyn “Kasey” Nash, Gabriel’s girlfriend, after she was kidnapped by a Zaibatsu Samurai, the Specialist, for Alchemax to perform human experimentation. Spider-Man’s victory over the Specialist earned him the enmity of another major corporation, Stark-Fujikawa, and left him plummeting below the elevated city into Downtown, the realm of the forgotten and undesirables of Nueva York, independent of the major corporations’ control but ruled by gangs. Here, Spider-Man encountered the cruel Watchdogs and Fenris gangs, the hopeful Thorites, the justice seeking Throwbacks, and the largest gang, the Freakers, with their cannibalistic leader, the Vulture. Spider-Man rejected the Vulture’s offer to join his crusade against Alchemax, and after a vicious battle aided by Kasey, Gabriel and the Throwback, he retreated home. While he was away, Dana was approached by Tyler to partner with her firm, Synthia, and Alchemax. Miguel had discovered that Spider-Man had become a hero to his institutionalized mother (alone after George died at a young age) and inspiration for the Spiderite cult of costumed followers.After another battle with the Vulture, Miguel’s world was turned upside-down as he switched places with the Spider-Man (Peter Parker) of the Heroic Age of Earth-616, waking up next to Peter’s wife, Mary Jane, due to Fujikawa (in the Modern Age) and Stark-Fujikawa (in 2099) running experiments on a temporal energy generator. While Peter tackled the Vulture of 2099, Miguel faced Venom (Eddie Brock). The two Spider-Men were united to face the twisted time-traveling Hobgoblin of the year 2211 (Robin Borne) from the alternate universe of Earth-9500. Hobgoblin’s father, Spider-Man (Max Borne) deflected her Retcon bombs into the generations and the ensuing explosion sent everyone back to their respective universes.
In the weeks that followed, Miguel became more comfortable in his role as a costumed defender. He halted the attacks of the hyper-adaptable Mutagen (Gerald Bernardson), protected the city from disaster from a reawakened Cold War Russian super soldier, Chernobyl, wrestled himself free from electronically transmitted mind control by Macroware software developer Dr. Damian Fawcett, clashed with a specially trained agent heavily armed with SItuation Emergency GEar (SIEGE), and defended Dana from the monstrous Man-Spider (Antoine Tarantella). The mysterious amnesiac Net Prophet (formerly Justice, John Roger Tensen of Earth-148611) was liberated from Interspace after the Virtual Unreality experiments of Euromax transfer, the pretentious scientist Jordan Boone, lured the nigh-unstoppable Thanatos (a Destiny-Force powered megalomaniac Rick Jones of Earth-9309) to Alchemax, where he kidnapped Tyler Stone and Spider-Man, and after the two defended Dana’s sister, Father Jennifer D’Angleo, in Downtown against the Fenris gang, Tensen opted to explore the world.
Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) and a critically injured Starfox of the Heroic Age of Earth-616 were sent to 2099. After encountering Spider-Man, Captain Marvel located Miguel to act as their guide. At Alchemax they battled Thanatos, sending the three into the Dystopian alternate future of Earth-9200 ruled by evil future Hulk, Maestro, the other heroes defeated Thanatos, returning everyone back to their original timeline.
When Spider-Man battled the savage Bloodsword and the Fenris gang Downtown, back home Lyla began malfunctioning, while at Alchemax Stone made romantic advances towards Dana. Upon his return, Miguel with Dana visited Alchemax’s floating city, Valhalla, where it appeared that Thor and Heimdall had returned, though lacking the nobility of their Heroic Age counterparts. Alchemax CEO, Avatarr, had transformed ordinary people into the Aesir, loyal to the corporation, in order to eliminate the rising super heroic interferance. With help from Doom, Ravage, Punisher (Jake Gallows), the X-Men and Loki ( a transformed Jordan Boone), the Aesir were defeated.
While Miguel tried to get back to a normal life, Lyla attacked Dana out of apparent jealously. She and the rest of the city were victims of the mad cyberspace entity named Discord, trying to "ease humanity into Armageddon". After saving Stark-Fujikawa’s head, Hikaru-Sama, Miguel joined Gabriel (as “Firelight”) in Cyberspace and defeated Discord. Afterwards, Gabriel admitted to his brother that he knew his secret identity from the start, recognizing the costume from the Mexican festival. Meanwhile, Kasey was kidnapped by SIEGE for Stark-Fujikawa and, as a repayment of Hikaru-Sama’s debt, transformed into Payback, a cyborg warrior designed to be a worthy associate of Spider-Man. Fighting against Risque, Venture’s cyborg sister, Payback failed, leaving Spider-Man alone to defeat the villain. Gabriel was beaten by Alchemax’s Flyboys as they arrested Kasey. While Miguel eavesdropped, Conchatta confronted Tyler to release Kasey, Blackmailing him with evidence that he killed his ex-wife, Nancy. There, Miguel learned the truth that the Rapture he was given was only a short-lasting simulation-and that Tyler Stone was really his father. Miguel left profoundly disturbed.
Xina, Lyla’s creator, repaired the holo-agent, spitefully programming her to insult Dana. Offended, Dana accused the emotionally raw Miguel of dating Xina again; after an explosive fight, Miguel and Dana broke up. Later, Spider-Man battled the mercenary android Vlad the Impaler targeting a boy named Gedde Ohara (mistakenly believed by Miguel to be targeting his brother Gabriel O’ Hara), and after Woodstock 2099 fought against Major Jones, a dealer peddling a metamorphosis-enabling drug called Chameleon. For a vacation, Miguel and Xina visited Nightshade, an independent corporation run by their old headmistress, Angela, when Alchemax performed a literal hostile takeover via Mr. Pembert, the Corporate Headhunter, and the six Corporate Raiders. Though the monstrous genetically manipulated ex-Flyboy, Sgt. Rico Estevez (Subject 394, a.k.a Travesty), and Spider-Man defended Nightshade, the Raiders succeeded, killing Angela in the process. Packrat and his scavenger gang of Foragers descended upon the ruins of Nightshade, kidnapping Spider-Man. The gang offered Spider-Man a means of freedom if he fixed an old robot named Junior. The android, apparently the inert body of a Super-Adaptoid, recognized something in Spider-Man, and awakened as an amalgam of O’ Hara’s Spider-Man with Spider-Man and Venom from the Heroic Age. Calling itself Flipside, it behaved like an emotionally unstable psychopath. Heroically, Spider-Man saved his captors life, leaving Flipside shredded and decapitated; however, after Spider-Man departed, Filpside reassembled itself and resumed its assault on Packrat’s gang. On Miguel’s walk home through the desert, he was assaulted and exhausted, having a horrific nightmare before Xina rescued him.
Miguel and Xina attempted another vacation in Mexico City, where they ran into Gabriel and Kasey (who believed Gabe was secretly Spider-Man). There a man named Fernando Morgez performed an arcane ritual to revive his dead sister Anita, inadvertently summoning zombies from a local graveyard instead. Spider-Man, temporarily blinded by Morgez’ spell due to his sensitive eyes, teamed with the Sorceress Supreme, Strange, to end the undead invasion. Distraught over his failure to make amends for his sister’s accidental death, Morgez committed suicide. The four returned back home seeking some normalcy; instead, they found the country had been overtaken by Doom, who sent federal officers to abduct Miguel from Xina’s car. Taken to the White House, Miguel impressed President Doom with his confidence. With all megacorps nationalized under Doom’s control and Avartarr dead, Tyler Stone became Doom’s corporate Minister, while Stone offered Miguel his seat as CEO of Alchemax. Later, as Spider-Man assisted protesting Spiderites brutalized by federal Watchdogs, Doom offered him a cabinet position as Minister of Supernormal Affairs. Disgusted with Tyler and his dubious relationship with Dana, Conchatta surprised Tyler at his apartment and shot him twice.
In Neuva York, the battle cries of Blood mace (formerly Bloodsword and Bloodaxe) against “leaderless” Alchemax were abbreviated by the return of the Venom symbiote, which engulfed him in an acid-excreting ebony shroud, leaving behind only a skeleton. Venom traveled to confront the hospitalized Tyler, burning Miguel and slashing Dana. Spider-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents engaged in fierce combat to protect Stone from Venom, but the monster escaped. Miguel, accepting his promotion, decided to use his position to forge a new direction for Alchemax, and to protect his alter-ego by ordering S.H.I.E.L.D. reps to leave Spider-Man alone. Venom resurfaced and kidnapped both Dana and Xina; Venom released Xina, while Miguel severed Venom’s arm. After Venom escaped, grabbing Xina again, Miguel authorized S.H.I.E.L.D. to use lethal force. Miguel returned to find Venom had taken Dana again and fled, forcing Xina to drive her car. The battle culminated at the visually askew place called the Escher Club, where Miguel had first met Dana. Dana shoved Venom, allowing Xina to escape, but was killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. bullets passing through Venom. While Venom eluded the authorities, Dana died in Spider-Man’s arms. Miguel returned to Alchemax, demanding answers from his researchers on how to stop Venom. Studying a piece of the symbiote, Miguel realized the symbiote was averse to sound. Broadcasting high intensity sound through the public speaker system, Spider-Man tackled a weakened Venom, discovering that beneath the symbiote was his half-brother, Kron Stone. Miguel separated Kron from the symbiote and forced a confession out of him. After being left for dead by the Punisher, Kron had encountered and bonded with the mutated symbiote, which had been sitting dormant in the sewers for some time. Kron faked his own death, and upon hearing his father had survived an assassination attempt, he had sought to complete the murder.Meanwhile, Downtown, the Vulture and the mysterious Goblin attacked Kasey Nash, out to prove Spider-Man was allied with Alchemax and the corporate establishment. Summoned Downtown by Gabriel, Spider-Man battled the Goblin. Struggling against the Goblin’s hallucinogenic attack, Spider-Man barely escaped with his life. The Goblin rallied Downtown’s citizen’s against Spider-Man by projecting images of Spider-Man (taken out of context) implicating him as a corporate flunky. Spider-Man left, disgusted by the ingratitude, to find President Doom’s sovereignty at an end as evident by fragments of his Environmental Maintenance Platforms (EMPs) fallen from the sky.
After Dana’s funeral, wheelchair bound Tyler Stone attempted to return as CEO of Alchemax. Miguel refused to yield, stating his intention to run a compassionate corporation to serve people, and ejected Stone from the building. Tyler’s attempt to shock Miguel with the knowledge of his paternity had no effect. Miguel discovered that his time as Spider-Man had brought out the best in him, and it was time to become a hero out of costume as well. At Alchemax, Miguel was joined by his brazen mother as the best candidate for his personal assistant, handling even the violent Grunt Union representative, Boru.
Union problems became a minor issue for Miguel when communications with the New Atlantis project, Alchemax’s undersea research and habitation endeavor, were severed. Miguel learned that Alchemax had been exploiting the undersea mutates, using them for slave labour. The mutates, under leadership of one called Marriner, broke free; and Roman, who modeled himself after the legendary Sub-Mariner, rebelled. Torn between corporate loyalties and ethical treatment of the mutates, Miguel opted to attempt peaceful negotiations; however, Roman took the initiative to launch an offensive, flooding Nueva York and dispatching a leviathan, Giganto. Spider-Man incapacitated and captured Sub-Mariner, and sent the sea-monster home. Via holovid, Tyler confronted Conchata about her assassination attempt, telling Miguel he’s his father, and admitting he knew all along Miguel was Spider-Man. These revelations, however, actually brought Miguel and his mother closer.
Trying to reach Jennifer from the flooded Downtown, Spider-Man fought the Goblin. The Goblin revealed himself to be Gabriel, motivated by jealously for his brother. Chaos reigned in the city as the Atlanteans waged war while the Vulture set charges to demolish the Alchemax building As Tyler attempted to flee to a Martian colony, he was killed by the Atlantean, General Dagim. As Spider-Man and Fr. Jennifer made their escape, Conchatta was believed to have been killed and Alchemax was destroyed. Miguel later learned that Gabriel was innocent, since a shape-shifter took over Gabriel’s life for a time and played the role of the Goblin. Pronouncement of Conchatta’s death was premature, and she later worked to identify the shapeshifter.
After the polar ice caps melted, a massive deluge killed most of the world’s inhabitants. The remnants faced a new threat from space from the techno-organic Phalanx. Spider-Man worked together with Doom, whose foresight ended the invasion at the cost of his life. As society rebuilt itself, Miguel reopened Alchemax and married Xina, Together they reawakened Steve Rogers, offering him Thor’ hammer, Mjolnir. Jettisoned into space, Rogers passed Mjolnir back to Miguel, deemed worthy to lift the hammer. Though not physically transformed, Miguel became heir to awesome power. Secretly aided by the Cyberspace persona Zero Cochrane 2.0, Miguel ruled for the next thousand years, ushering in an unprecedented age of enlightenment. Peace, morality and progress that spread from Earth to the surrounding worlds. In 3099, Rogers was once again revived and received the hammer, leaving Miguel to retire. Miguel O’ Hara’s journey from a cowardly, arrogant youth to super-hero to galactic leader and icon was at an end.
Note: Proteus (Kevin MacTaggert) of the “House of M” reality arrived in 2099 via Jordan Boone’s Virtual Unreality portal, diverging a new reality, Earth-6375, one in which Miguel’s dual identity was made public early on. This version of Miguel O'Hara joined the Exiles to help fix damaged alternate realities.Contributors: Wbgeek
More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/universe/Spider-Man_(2099)#ixzz3LdkvDfNcThis article is about the character. For the comic book series of the same name, see Scarlet Spider (comic book).Scarlet Spider
The four versions of Scarlet Spider in the mainMarvel Universe. Counter-clockwise from top left:
Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider on the cover ofWeb of Scarlet Spider #1. Art by Steve Dutro.
Kaine as the Scarlet Spider on the variant cover ofScarlet Spider vol. 2 #1. Art by Mark Bagley.
Joe Wade as the evil cybernetic Scarlet Spider. Art by Paris Karounos.
Red team Scarlet Spiders on the cover ofAvengers: The Initiative #7. Art by Stefano Caselli.Publication information
Scarlet Spider is a fictional character who appeared in Marvel Comics series starring Spider-Man. His costume was designed by Tom Lyle and the first appearance of the hero (as the Scarlet Spider) is in Web of Spider-Man #118. The identity of the Scarlet Spider has been used by several characters: Ben Reilly, Peter Parker (while Ben posed as him in prison), Joe Wade (a villain), a group of three Michael Van Patrick clones working with the Initiative, and Kaine.
Contents
[hide]- 1 Ben Reilly
- 2 Joe Wade
- 3 Scarlet Spiders (Red Team)
- 4 Kaine
- 5 In other media
- 6 Other versions
- 7 See also
- 8 References
Ben Reilly[edit]
Main article: Ben Reilly
Ben Reilly was the first Scarlet Spider and was a clone of Spider-Man created by the Jackal, (Miles Warren). The Jackal created the clone to fight and defeat the original Spider-Man, but since the clone and Peter both shared the same memories, they confused themselves in the battle. The original Peter Parker emerged victorious and the clone was left for dead and dumped into a smoke stack of a factory.[1] The clone managed to escape and assumed the alias Ben Reilly,[2] a combination of his Uncle's first name and his Aunt's maiden name. He wandered around aimlessly for five years before returning to New York City,[3] and found himself once again wanting to be a hero. He fashioned his own costume, and became the Scarlet Spider.[4] He fought alongside his "brother" Spider-Man and proved himself to be such a great hero that Spider-Man asked him to watch over the city while he and his wife Mary Jane tried to start a family.[5] When his name was smeared by a second, evil Scarlet Spider,[6] he assumed the identity of Spider-Man,[7]until his death at the hands of Norman Osborn. His body subsequently disintegrated, proving once and for all that he was the clone.[8]
Joe Wade[edit]
Joe Wade was the second Scarlet Spider and the only one to operate as a villain while using the name. An undercover FBI agent assigned to investigate the secondDoctor Octopus (Carolyn Trainer),[9] Joe Wade is discovered and forced to undertake a virtual reality graft. Carolyn turns him into a hard-light holographic duplicate of the Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider, to ruin his name.[10]
In his Scarlet Spider guise, Joe is actually trapped in a virtual reality chamber, and his thoughts power the hologram. Despite this, Joe is unable to stop himself from committing acts of violence. When the real Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly, attacks Doctor Octopus's lair, he damages the machine while Joe is still inside.[11]
The damage to the virtual reality chamber causes the grafts to malfunction, and Joe becomes a real mechanized Scarlet Spider with amazing powers. As the new Scarlet Spider, Joe is superhumanly strong and fast, and has claws on his fingertips; he can also fire webbing from his wrists, crawl up walls, and fire laser 'stingers' from his eyes. It takes both Ben Reilly (in the guise of Spider-Man) and the New Warriors to stop the cybernetic Scarlet Spider, and the FBI put him in custody and have him undergo medical treatments to remove the technology.[12][13][14]
Scarlet Spiders (Red Team)[edit]
Main article: Michael Van Patrick
Post-Civil War, the Scarlet Spiders are a group of three unknown people of the Initiative who identify themselves as "Red Team" on the field, first appearing inAvengers: The Initiative #3.
All three of them wear an advanced version of the 'Iron Spider' Stark armor which Spider-Man wore pre-Civil War and during the event. During their first appearance, they take down the Shocker, Boomerang, and Hydro-Man. War Machine identifies them as "Scarlet Spiders" when contacting them. He also implies that they will be the successors to the Spider-Man identity once Peter Parker's powers are removed permanently. The three Scarlet Spiders are revealed to be part of another group called the Shadow Initiative under the command of Henry Gyrich.[15] They were forced to expose themselves to the public during their pursuit of three criminals wearing the Vulturions costumes, as well as dealing with an angered Peter Parker; their appearance in battle against and alongside Parker has raised public doubt over whether Parker is the original and/or only Spider-Man, despite his publicly revealing his dual identity in the early days of Civil War.[16]
However, the Scarlet Spiders, as a sign of trust, lied in public, stating that Peter Parker had always been one of them but is not the "real" Spider-Man. Afterwards, the Spiders were revealed to be clones of the deceased MVP named Michael, Van, and Patrick respectively, who treat their creator, Baron Von Blitzschlag, like a father. It was revealed that the clones learned Spider-Man's moves from Taskmaster.[17] While fighting another MVP clone who has gone rogue and calls himself "KIA", Van is beheaded.[18] After KIA is subdued, the two remaining Scarlet Spiders decide to leave the Initiative and join Justice's Counter Initiative group. The group return to the Camp to help battle a crazed Thor clone, during which Michael is killed.[19] Unable to cope with the death of his fellow clones, the last Scarlet Spider - Patrick - unmasked to the world, and eventually took up the alias Iron Spider.
Kaine[edit]
Main article: Kaine
It was revealed by editor Stephen Wacker that Kaine was the latest to take up the Scarlet Spider mantle.[20] Chris Yost is writing the Scarlet Spider series while Ryan Stegman is illustrating.
Kaine has moved to Houston as a fugitive to hide from his past crimes. Supporting cast includes Aracely (a 16 year old Mexican girl with enigmatic powers and a strange origin whose life he saved), Annabelle (a bartender/singer working at the Four Seasons Hotel where he initially lives), Dr Donald Meland (a Park Plaza Hospital resident doctor) and his husband, Wally Layton (a police officer). Kaine made an appearance in the comic book Marvel Point One and debuted in his own series Scarlet Spider on January 11, 2012.
During the run of the series, Kaine crosses paths with other heroes and villains. Such as Agent Venom,the Enigma Force, Carnage, Kraven the Hunter, the werewolf criminals of the Lobo Cartel, Wolverine, and The Superior Spider-Man. To save his new friends from a hit contract, he makes a deal with the Assassins Guild, that they would leave Houston, only if he performed one assassination for them.[21]
He crossed paths with Agent Venom (Flash Thompson), when Carnage was on the loose.[22] After fighting for a while, they teamed up to go after Carnage., who was then abducted from Earth by a group of assassins from the Microverse, a parallel dimension of minuscule size, but with futuristic means. Venom and Kaine followed, but were separated. Venom met the Enigma Force, and Kaine met an enigmatic being known as the Redeemer (a healer from the Microverse and leader of the Enigma Force). The Redeemer was also the target for Carnage's new allies. The Redeemer and Kaine unite to find the Enigma Force, but are interrupted by Carnage, who has killed the assassins, except one. Later on, Kaine and Carnage battle to the death.[23] While back in the Enigma Force the Venom symbiote has gone out of control. Kaine and Carnage continue to battle. Kaine brings down carnage and almost kills him. But The Redeemer falls of a cliff, and Kaine jumps to save him. While Kaine continues to save him, Carnage is later abducted by Marquis Radu. When Kaine saves the Redeemer, is later told that if the microverse gets destroyed, so does Kaine's universe. It turned out the person they wanted to kill was the X-Man Wolverine.
When Aracely starts to manifest weird dreams concerning the Sixth Creation, Aztlan, her missing parents, gods, a talking coyote and the Rise of Mictlan, she and Kaine are attacked by the Lobo - drug cartel leaders, the human traffickers behind Aracely's abduction and werewolves sent with the intent of killing her by the mysterious Mr. Moctezuma so "the Sixth Creation could begin". Kaine is killed by the werewolves, but in death he is visited by Ero, from "The Other" story arc, with whom he makes an agreement in order to save Aracely. Accepting the Other, Kaine bursts out of a web cocoon in the real world, reborn not as before, but as a monstrous spider-creature.[24] The spider-creature Kaine maims one of the two werewolves, forcing them to flee. He then attacks Aracely until she is able to use her mental powers to bring him back. Kaine breaks out of the husk of the spider-creature completely healed of all scars but still carrying the Other inside him. It is then that Aracely proclaims him as her "champion", a title that is not merely affective but also has a deeper meaning as hinted by her father's words and the strange portents with cryptic Aztec mythic symbolism in her dreams .[25]
Kaine went back to New York (along with Aracely) to finish their deal with the Assasins Guild: they are sent to kill Wolverine. They break into the X-Men mansion and Kaine fights Wolverine. He impales him with his stinger, but of course, Wolverine didn't die. They formed an uneasy alliance and stroked back at the guild.[26]
Fast forwarding to the arc called Sibling Rivalry, Kaine confronts his "brother",[27] though unknown to him, Peter's mind has been taken over by the super villain, Doctor Octopus. Kaine meets Peter in his apartment, when Superior recognizes him from when the were both evil. As when Kaine killed Doctor Octopus years ago. Superior attacks Kaine, while calling him a monster and an abomination. Soon after they are attacked and kidnapped by the Jackal and his spider clones.
Kaine and Superior defeat the Jackal and destroy his lab.[28] Kaine believes that Peter was right about him being a monster and an abomination. Later, he discovers that the scars he had that were killing him from earlier in his evil past. While we discover that the Jackal is alive and is making a clone of Kaine. Kaine runs from his home and is attacked by Ben Reilly.[29] Thinking he was hallucinating from the scars, he fights Ben and planned on killing him, but unable to do so. He discover that he was actually drugged by Kraven, and he wasn't dying nor was Ben Reily there. He fights Kraven and beats him, but one of his friends, Donald, was sent to the hospital in critical condition.[30]
After saving his friends once more when his hotel room is destroyed by the daughter of Roxxon's CEO with a rocket-propelled grenade while they were in the middle of an attack by the mystic entity Shathra and an arrest attempt by Wally (who is angry at him for Donald's condition), Kaine is forced to use the form of the Other once more in front of them, scaring away Annabelle. Overwhelmed by all these events occurring at the same time and his guilt over Donald, Kaine stops trying to be a hero in Houston and decides to go to Mexico with Aracely to help her find if her parents are alive and the truth of every mystery regarding her they have come across.[31]
Kaine's and Aracely's story continues in 2014's New Warriors.
In other media[edit]
Television[edit]
- Ben Reilly/The Scarlet Spider appears in the last few episodes of the Spider-Man 1994 TV series, He appears in season 5 episode 12 "I Really, Really Hate Clones" when he is introduced to the main spider-man of the series along with a group of Spider-Men from different dimensions, He is then seen in episode 13 "Farewell, Spider-Man" helping the other Spider-Men stop Spider-Carnage from opening up an inter-dimensional hole and causing an explosion that will destroy all realities and dimensions.
- He appears as Flash Thompson's wannabe superhero identity in Ultimate Spider-Man Season 3 Episode 3.
Other versions[edit]
Spider-Girl[edit]
Felicity Hardy makes her debut as Scarlet Spider. Art byPat Olliffe.Main article: Felicity Hardy
In the MC2 alternate future, Felicity Hardy takes the identity of Scarlet Spider to both be a partner to Spider-Girl, and to irritate her mother, Felicia Hardy.[32] While she has no actual powers, she uses her amazing gymnastic talent and martial arts skills, along with an array of spider-themed weaponry, to fight crime, until several near death experiences cause her to give up the identity.
See also[edit]
- The Amazing Scarlet Spider
- Scarlet Spider (Volumes one and two of series)
- The Spectacular Scarlet Spider
- Web of Scarlet Spider