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. Widely regarded as one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes, he has been featured in comic books, television shows, films, video games, novels, and plays.
Spider-Man's secret identity is Peter Benjamin Parker, who was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in Queens, New York City, after the death of his parents. Lee, Ditko, and later writers had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and young adulthood. Readers identified with his self-doubt and loneliness. Unlike previous teen heroes, Spider-Man was not a sidekick nor did he have a mentor. He would be given many supporting characters. These include his Daily Bugle boss, J. Jonah Jameson; friends Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson; romantic interests Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Cat; and enemies Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, and Venom. In his origin story, Peter gets his superhuman spider-powers and abilities after he was bitten by a radioactive spider. These powers include superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and durability; clinging to surfaces and ceilings; and detecting danger with his precognitive "spider-sense". He sews a spider-web patterned spandex costume that fully covers his body and builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webs of his own design, which he uses for both fighting and "web swinging" across the city. Peter initially used his powers for personal gain, but after his Uncle Ben was killed by a burglar that he could have stopped but chose not to, he learned that "with great power comes great responsibility", and began to use his powers to fight crime as Spider-Man.
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 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 the "Dying Wish" storyline, where Peter appears to die after Doctor Octopus orchestrates a body swap with him and becomes the Superior Spider-Man. Marvel has also published comic 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 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 the Secret Wars event, where he sometimes works alongside the mainline version of Peter.
Spider-Man has appeared in many forms of media, including several animated TV series, a live-action television series, syndicated newspaper comic strips, and multiple series of films. In live-action films, Spider-Man has been portrayed by Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007; 2021), Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man duology directed by Marc Webb (2012–2014; 2021), and Tom Holland in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2016–present). The Peter Parker version of Spider-Man was also voiced by Jake Johnson and Chris Pine in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), with the former reprising his role in the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).
Publication history
Creation and development
In 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was looking for a new superhero idea. He said the teenage demand for comic books and a character with whom they could identify led to the creation of Spider-Man. 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.
There are many conflicting stories about the inspiration and precise authorship of the various aspects of Spider-Man's appearance and character. In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman pulp magazine crime fighter the Spider as a great influence. 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". In a multitude of print and video interviews, Lee also says he was inspired by seeing a spider climb up a wall—adding in his autobiography that he has told that story so often he has become unsure of whether or not this is true.
Although at the time teenage superheroes were usually given names ending with "boy", Lee says he chose "Spider-Man" because he wanted the character to age as the series progressed, and felt the name "Spider-Boy" would have made the character sound inferior to other superheroes. Comics scholar Ben Saunders points out that this emphasis on adolescence was an important innovation for superhero comics.
Lee required Marvel publisher Martin Goodman's approval for the character. In a 1986 interview, Lee gives his arguments against Goodman's objections.Detroit Free Press interview with Stan Lee, quoted in Theakston 2002, 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, and 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 superpowers, that's what will make him good.' He told me I was crazy". 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 issue #15 (cover-dated August 1962, on sale June 5, 1962). In particular, Lee states that the decision that Amazing Fantasy would be canceled after issue #15 was the only reason Goodman allowed him to present Spider-Man. While this was the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the continuing appearances of Spider-Man in future issues.
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. Steve Ditko would be the inker.Ditko 2000: "'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 that 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'". 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:
Although the interior artwork was by Ditko alone, Lee rejected Ditko's cover art and commissioned Kirby to pencil a cover that Ditko inked. As Lee explained in 2010, "I think I had Jack sketch out a cover for it because I always had a lot of confidence in Jack's covers."
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, but the character was left unused.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". 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 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.