Spider-Man Gets a Sidekick [Updated]

Spider-Man has always been a solo act. Sure he's had countless team-ups and was even the star in the MARVEL TEAM-UP series in the 70s and 80s. Recently he's also become a member of the Avengers and Future Foundation. At the end of the day, he was still just Spider-Man. All that is going to change in August.

A couple weeks ago, Marvel teased the question, "Who is Alpha?" Alpha was described as a new character created by Dan Slott that would be appearing in August's 50th Anniversary issue in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692. Now it has been revealed who exactly Alpha will be.

Fox News has reported that Spider-Man will officially be getting a sidekick. Alpha is fifteen-year-old Andy Maguire (a cross between Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield?).

The story is Andy is on a field trip to Horizon Labs. One of Peter Parker's inventions malfunctions resulting in Andy obtaining great power. Peter now feels the responsibility to guide Andy along the right path to help him avoid the mistakes he first made after gaining his superpowers.

Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso said the following on Andy/Alpha and the relationship with Spider-Man:

Part of it is that Spider-Man is grown up. He's older, more seasoned, but young at heart. He's still a young man, but he's been around. It's interesting because it flips the paradigm. Teen hero Spider-Man is now responsible for this teen hero sidekick. He's responsible because one of his inventions caused this kid to get his powers. He's directly responsible for the responsibility this kid now has with his new powers. He feels he has a responsibility to make sure this kid walks the right path, which won't prove easy.

Dan Slott went on to mention the similarities and differences between Spider-Man and Alpha and Batman and Robin. He points out that we're more like Spider-Man over Batman because Spidey messes up. He's not perfect. He's more relatable. You can probably already imagine the problems Spider-Man will have trying to mold a powerful teen into a superhero.

== TEASER ==

What's interesting is it seems they want to keep Spider-Man relatable to younger readers. That seems to have been the major reason for removing the marriage between Peter and Mary Jane. Being a mentor to a younger hero doesn't really make him more relatable. If anything, it'll make him feel older and more responsible. We'll have to wait until August to see how the story with Alpha plays out.

Update

Marvel has just sent over this massive preview!

Fans across the globe have been asking, “Who Is Alpha” and this August, in Amazing Spider-Man #692, they’ll find out! Marvel is celebrating Spider-Man’s 50 anniversary in style as the blockbuster creative team of Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos give Peter Parker his very own….sidekick?! When he’s not working with the Avengers of the Future Foundation, Spider-Man has been saving the Marvel Universe on his own for fifty years! But now, with his anniversary right around the corner, that’s all about to change!

This special event, could only be told in this oversized issue celebrating the values that made Spider-Man the world’s greatest super hero for the past five decades and many more to come. And with special variant covers by superstar artist Marcos Martin, depicting Spider-Man through the years, no fan can miss out on this! Get ready for a story about power and responsibility like you’ve never seen before in Amazing Spider-Man #692, swinging into comic shops everywhere, the Marvel Comics app and the Marvel Digital Comics Shop this August.