Origin

Flash Thompson, Peter's biggest nemesis and Spidey's biggest fan.

Early Life

Peter Benjamin Parker, Peter Parker for short, is the son of Richard Parker and Mary Parker. His parents were SHIELD agents who were killed during a mission against the Red Skull. This left Peter parentless and he ended up in the care of his aunt, May Reilly, and his uncle, Benjamin Parker. Peter Parker grew up living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben after the death of his parents. His uncle Ben was too old to engage in physical activities with Peter, and his aunt was always over-protective of him. This led to him taking on activities that were non-physical such as photography and chemistry. Peter attended Midtown High School. Peter was also extremely gifted in science and academics, but lacked the social skills needed to interact with his peers. He was often ridiculed by class "bullies" such as Flash Thompson, the likes of whom called him "Puny Parker."

During a science experiment dealing with radioactive isotopes, Peter was bitten by a spider bathed in the radiation. The bite gave Peter the proportional strength and agility of the spider. Peter was also able to cling to any surface and even developed a "spider sense" which warned him of danger. Peter decided to use his newfound abilities to become rich and famous. He used his scientific knowledge to create wrist-mounted "Web Shooters." Peter then designed a costume for himself; it took him a long time to complete it because he was not very good. Needing a name, he decided that "Spider-Man" was as good as any.

Ouch!

Spider-Man decided to become a TV star and wrestler, as his powers would make him impossible to defeat, and was billed as "The Amazing Spider-Man." On the evening of one performance, a criminal robbed the venue, and Spider-Man could not be bothered to stop the criminal from escaping. This same criminal would later attempt to rob the Parker household. Uncle Ben surprised the burglar but was shot and killed. Peter, as Spider-Man, tracked the killer to an abandoned warehouse. Upon apprehending the killer, Spider-Man discovered that it was the same man that he had allowed to escape. It was at this moment that Peter recalled the words of his Uncle Ben, "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility." Peter bore the burden of guilt with the death of his uncle and vowed to use his powers to fight the criminal world.

Peter later learned that his Aunt May blamed herself for Uncle Ben's death; they had had an argument the night he had died and she had taken a long walk to compose herself before the two could resolve it more calmly, but by the time she had returned to their house, he was already dead.

Spider-Man, owing to the irradiated spider venom which the spider's bite had injected into his bloodstream, possessed super-human strength, the ability to cling to almost any surface, a "spider-sense" that warned him of immediate danger, and extreme agility and speed. After his uncle’s death, Peter and his aunt become desperate for money. Peter eventually landed work at the Daily Bugle selling photos of Spider-Man to J. Jonah Jameson.

Spider-Man's early years in the 1960s were spent fighting colorful villains who were actually rather silly, like Kraven The Hunter, Mysterio, Electro, Rhino, and Sandman. But when the Green Goblin was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #14, Spider-Man began facing more powerful villains, such as Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin. The first main tragedy came in the late 1960s.

College Years

Was it the "SNAP" or not?

Spider-Man grieving over Gwendolyn Stacy's death.

After Peter graduated from High School, he enrolled in Empire State University. This was where Peter met Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy for the first time. Also, his aunt introduced Mary Jane to Peter during his college years. A surprising twist to Parker's college years was that he had attended his four-year graduation ceremonies, only he was not called for his diploma. Afterwards he learned from the Dean that because of him constantly leaving to be Spider-Man he had one credit left untaken, and of all the classes it had to be gym. Peter began dating Mary Jane for awhile but eventually settled with Gwen Stacy because he felt Mary Jane was too much of a “party girl.” Harry and Peter become best friends and eventually roommates. However, Harry’s relationship with his friends and his girlfriend Mary Jane took a turn for the worse, and Harry resorted to taking drugs. When Gwen’s father, Captain George Stacy, died after being caught in the middle of a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, it strained Peter's and Gwen’s relationship because Gwen blamed Spider-Man for her father’s death. Gwen then left the country to live with her uncle and aunt in London for awhile. It was later revealed in the story arc “Sins Past” that during her time in Europe, Gwen had had an affair with Norman Osborn. Eventually Gwen returned to America and shortly afterwards, Harry overdosed--but not fatally--on drugs.

Death of Gwen Stacy

In the story arc titled "The Death of Gwen Stacy" Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, still had amnesia that had happened prior to this story arc. He remembered nothing of his insane secret life, but he suddenly remembered everything when he was about to be declared bankrupt and the problems that Harry was going through. This reawakened his hidden Green Goblin memories, and he vowed to kill Spider-Man. He kidnapped Gwen Stacy, by then Peter's girlfriend, and fought Spider-Man as she lay unconscious on a Brooklyn Bridge. Finally, the Green Goblin was seemingly defeated by Spider-Man. But as the Goblin stood there defeated, in a spiteful, evil move, he threw Gwen Stacy off the bridge anyway. Spider-Man caught her leg with web, but there was a “snap” sound effect next to Gwen’s neck. It is still unknown whether Gwen was killed beforehand by the Green Goblin or if Peter’s attempt to rescue Gwen was the result of her death. In anger, Peter tracked the Goblin to an abandoned warehouse where the two would engage in battle. They fought long and hard before the Green Goblin was impaled against a wall with his own glider.

After Gwen’s death, Peter became anti-social again, only to find Mary Jane constantly supporting him through this traumatic incident. At first, Peter would push Mary Jane away but she would constantly come back to support him. Eventually Peter fell in love with Mary Jane again and the two begin dating. Later Peter would encounter a clone of himself and a clone of Gwen Stacy. Miles Warren, a protege of Herbert Edgar Wyndham (better known as the High Evolutionary) who called himself the Jackal, was the man who created the clones, because he blamed Spider-Man for killing Gwen. Eventually the clone Spider-Man was apparently killed. The real Spider-Man took his clone to a factory smokestack and threw the lifeless body into it. The Gwen Stacy clone vanished afterwards. Mary Jane and Peter broke up after Peter proposes to Mary Jane. In breaking up with him, she told him that she was not ready for a serious commitment. Mary Jane would leave New York for some time to pursue her acting career. Unknown to Spider-Man, Harry had secretly witnessed the battle and the death of his father. Harry swore vengeance against Spider-Man for "murdering" his father. Eventually Harry discovered a Spider-Man costume in Peter's room and knew the truth. He knew now that Peter was Spider-Man, and was convinced that Peter was to blame for his father's death. Harry became the new Green Goblin and quickly battled Spider-Man. Not wanting to hurt his best friend, Spider-Man was able to render Harry unconscious and turned him into the police, who refused to believe Harry's claims to be the Green Goblin. They sent Harry to a mental institution, where he was treated and in consequence of which his sanity seemed to return. Harry would remain amnesiac about the Green Goblin and Spider-Man. But he later regained his memory of Spider-Man's identity.

Spider-Man's Parents

While moving an old trunk into the basement, the teenager Peter Parker discovered some old newspaper clippings, which claimed that his parents were traitors who had been plotting against the government. The teenager was racked with confusion. He forced Aunt May to reveal that his parents had died in a plane crash in Algeria under mysterious circumstances. Desperate to learn the truth about his parents, Peter changed into Spider-Man and went to Algeria to find out what happened.

Arriving in Algeria, Spider-Man searched the Casbah, hunting for the contact his aunt had told him about. His search attracted the attention of the man he sought, who sent out a group of thugs to stop him. Beating them off, Spider-Man discovered the whereabouts of his enemy. Tracking down the hideout, the arachnoid was shocked to discover that his adversary was none other than Captain America's greatest enemy, the Nazi terrorist known as the Red Skull. The battle with the Red Skull resulted in the destruction of the fascist's headquarters. Spider-Man was able to save the files relating to his parents. As a result of this, he found the proof he needed to clear their names. He discovered that they had been working as double agents for the United States government and had not been traitors after all.

Many years later, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the release of political prisoners from behind the old Iron Curtain, a middle-aged couple arrived at JFK International Airport. They took a taxi to Forest Hills, Queens. May Parker almost fainted when she saw them.
Richard and Mary Parker had seemingly returned from the dead.
According to the Parkers, Russian agents had kidnapped them many years ago, taking them prisoner before they could board the plane. After spending weeks getting reacquainted with his parents, Peter Parker revealed his greatest secret to them.

Spider-Man was shocked when he found his parents with the Chameleon and the Vulture. But heartbreak loomed for Spider-Man. The "people" Peter thought were his parents were actually highly sophisticated robots. They had been programmed by the Chameleon to mimic Richard and Mary Parker. Though Richard was perfectly willing to betray Peter, Mary hesitated. She had been programmed to think of Peter as his own son and had grown to love him. When Spider-Man confronted them, Richard instantly began to metamorphose into a deadly engine of destruction. Torn between her conflicting programs, Mary stopped Richard from revealing Spider-Man's true identity and was forced to terminate her robot husband.

In return for destroying the Richard robot, the Vulture destroyed the robot that had been Mary Parker. As she lay dying, she told Peter that she loved him. Devastated and furious by the deception, Spider-Man pursued the Chameleon and eventually captured him. That was when the arachnoid learned that someone else had encouraged the Chameleon to create the Parker robots, supplying the criminal with all the necessary information. The Chameleon, the Vulture, and the robots had all been pawns of Harry Osborn, the Green Goblin.

The first encounter with the symbiote.

Secret Wars and the alien suit

When his spider-sense suddenly flared with the force of an exploding bomb, Peter Parker instantly realized that he was in intense danger. Almost blind with pain, he struggled to locate the source of this new threat. He switched to his costume and followed the tingles deep into New York's Central Park. Hidden from view by a forest of trees, Spider-Man was shocked to discover a strange-looking alien structure which rose from the ground. As he approached the unknown edifice, dazzling lights suddenly engulfed Spider-Man and he disappeared within the blinding blaze. Spider-Man found himself on a satellite in a galaxy far from Earth. Along with other super-heroes, such as Captain America, and super-villains, including Doctor Doom, Spider-Man was brought to the satellite by a near omnipotent being called the Beyonder. The Beyonder wanted heroes and villains to fight a war on a planet called Battleworld. Spider-Man fought many battles, and his costume was left in tatters. Then he found a machine that could replace ruined clothing.

Spider-Man triggered the clothing machine and a round black object sprang from it. It immediately started to spread up Spider-Man's arm and did not stop till it had covered his entire body. The alien costume seemed to know what Peter wanted, sometimes even before he did. At first Peter was surprised about his new look, but then he realized that he might have be subconsciously influenced by the design of the new Spider-Woman costume which Julia Carpenter, who later changed her alias to Arachne, was wearing. As the alien costume slithered over Spider-Man, it absorbed and dissolved away the tatters of his old costume. After defeating the villains and escaping the Beyonder, the heroes returned to Earth, and Spider-Man took his alien costume with him. He learned that his new super-costume was capable of generating a seemingly endless supply of webbing, and that it could also change its appearance at will. Peter and his alien costume were always in some kind of psychic contact, even when physically separated. If the costume was in a different room, it came at Peter's mental summons.

Each night while Peter slept, the alien costume secretly slipped over him and took the unconscious Spider-Man wall-crawling at night. Peter awoke each morning with no memory of his nocturnal adventures. All he knew was that he felt more exhausted than before he had gone to bed. As Peter's fatigue continued to grow, he slept through the entire day and began to have terrible nightmares. So Spider-Man went to Reed Richards, alias Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, for help. After an exhausting series of tests, Mr. Fantastic made a startling pronouncement. Instead of an amazing suit composed of some unknown extra-terrestrial fabric, Spidey's new costume was actually a living creature. It was a sentient Symbiote who had formed a mental and physical bond with the arachnoid. As soon as the symbiote's secret was revealed, it attempted to permanently graft itself to Spider-Man's body. Spider-Man did all he could to escape from the costume, but the symbiote tightened its grip on him, almost crushing him in the process. Luckily, Reed Richards had discovered that the symbiote was vulnerable to certain sound frequencies. Using these sound waves, Richards managed to separate Spider-Man from the costume. At last he was free and the alien was imprisoned. Later, the symbiote escaped from Richards's laboratory and pounced on the unsuspecting Spider-Man. In desperation, Spider-Man lured the alien to the bell tower of Our Lady Of Saints Church. He knew that the sound of the bells could free him from the symbiote. The alien, knowing that only one of them should have survive the ordeal, sacrificed itself to save Peter. It later turned up alive living in the bell tower, and grafted itself onto Eddie Brock to become Venom.

The Marriage

I do...

Mary Jane Watson eventually returned to New York and also showed signs of maturity. She admitted to Peter that she had known he was Spider-Man for a long time. She had known on the night of his Uncle Ben’s death that he was Spider-Man because she had seen Peter sneak out of his room in his Spider-Man costume. The couple finally decided to tie the knot and get married in the Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. They had taken into consideration that they might be too young and Peter’s alter ego might cause strain on their marriage. However, in spite of all that, the two decided to marry anyway. One of the biggest reliefs for Peter was when he gained the blessings of marrying Mary Jane from Harry (who was MJ's ex-boyfriend). The marriage was later taken away after Peter made a deal with Mephisto, in order to save his Aunt May's life in One More Day.

Kraven's Last Hunt

Here lies Spider-Man. Slain by the Hunter.

One of Spider-Man's earliest foes was Kraven The Hunter, a big game hunter who prided himself on being able to defeat and capture any living creature. He was continuously defeated by Spider-Man. Eventually Kraven became obsessed with defeating his arachnid-enemy. Kraven was finally able to get the drop on Spider-Man. After dropping a net over him, he shot him point blank with a rifle. He then proceeded to bury him on his land. Defeating Spider-Man was simply the beginning of his plan. Kraven then went out dressed as Spider-Man with his own copy of the costume, attempting to show that he was superior to him by defeating a villain, Vermin, whom Spider-Man had been unable to defeat on his own.

Time flies...when you are buried alive.

Two weeks went by and Peter found himself alive, but buried in a coffin. Kraven had never shot him with real bullets, but instead a highly concentrated tranquilizer. In a panic, Spider-Man managed to claw his way out. The first thing Peter did was go home where he was relieved to find that Mary Jane was safe. She asked him to stay with her but he felt had to go after Kraven. Spider-Man found Kraven at his estate, where Kraven seemed to have lost his fight. He had nothing left to prove. He showed a battered Vermin to Spider-Man, proving his worth and that he was "better" then Spider-Man. Rather than fight Spider-Man, he let Vermin go, taunting Spider-Man to go after him in order to save "innocent lives." Spider-Man felt he had no choice but to go after Vermin. Upon Spider-Man's departure, Kraven went upstairs and shot himself with his rifle. His life had been complete and he felt he had nothing else to live for. It was this experience, in addition to the torment from Venom, that caused Mary Jane to beg Peter to stop wearing the black costume.

A sequel was released after the success the "Kraven's Last Hunt" story arc had. In this story Spider-Man was later confronted by the soul of Kraven. Now confused, Spider-Man decided to go to Kraven's grave to find out what exactly was going on. Once Spider-Man was at Kraven's grave, he met a mysterious spiritual figure who appeared to look like Death. Spider-Man was then told that the spirit and Kraven had a spiritual bond. The spirit then revealed to Spider-Man that Kraven's soul could not find peace because he had died through suicide. Spider-Man was then dragged underneath ground by Kraven's body. At first Spider-Man appeared to have accepted this; however, he decided midway down to fight back and was able to resurface. This finally helped enable Kraven's soul to find peace.

Cosmic Spider-Man

The cosmic Spider-Man.

While Spider-Man was strong physically, he had never exactly been the strongest costumed hero on the block. Iron Man, the Mighty Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and even the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing were all much stronger. It can even be argued that super-villains such as Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, and the Scorpion possessed far greater raw power. However, that all changed when a laboratory accident exposed Peter Parker to an unknown energy source. He was transformed into the cosmic Spider-Man. While pursuing his graduate studies at Empire University, Peter Parker was bathed in unknown energies when an experimental generator exploded. The explosion also caused nearby power lines to overload dangerously. Changing into Spider-Man, Peter spotted a live wire falling toward a young couple. He instinctively caught the wire and was surprised when he wasn't harmed by the massive surge of electricity. Spider-Man discovered that he had some amazing new powers. Using his webbing, he could instantly form any complex shape that he imagined, and then manipulate the webbing in whatever way he wanted.

Spider-Man's new power included the ability to generate concussive blasts from the tips of his fingers, or combine them into a fist-sized blast powerful enough to shatter an army tank. Spider-Man's vision was also enhanced. His eyes could now see much farther than any conventional pair of binoculars, and he could look through walls. His senses had also developed to where they had become far sharper than those of Daredevil or Puma. Suddenly, he could hear a spider crossing a window pane two blocks away, and smell the fragrance of a potted plant on a distant building ledge. Quickly learning how to filter out the excess noise and smells before they overwhelmed him, Spider-Man also used his new powers to locate and defeat a professional criminal called the Trapster. Spider-Man's new powers had actually come from a mysterious extra-dimensional entity known as the Enigma Force. It bestowed its Uni-Power on various individuals, turning them into a being known as Captain Universe and giving them superhuman powers long enough to cope with a specific crisis. Spider-Man was merely the latest Captain Universe. As Spider-Man grew more comfortable with his new cosmic powers, he found himself fighting a different class of enemy. During a battle with Magneto, the greatest enemy of the uncanny X-Men, Spider-Man eventually drove the master of magnetism away when the villain realized that he could never take on the cosmically charged Spider-Man on his own.

While Spider-Man had not particularly liked being drafted by the Enigma Force, he realized that he had a responsibility to fight the menace it had foreseen. This menace proved to be in the form of three massive Sentinel robots. In an act of spite, the evil god Loki caused these robots to merge, creating one super-powered robot named the Tri-Sentinel. Loki then instructed the robot to create as much damage and mayhem as possible. The Tri-Sentinel attempted to cause a nuclear meltdown at a research facility that bordered Manhattan. The web-covered Captain Universe summoned the full power of the Enigma Force and incinerated the Tri-Sentinel in a nova like blast. After the crisis, the exhausted Spider-Man returned to normal.

Peter staying by Harry's side in his last moments.

The Death of a Best Friend

During the Inferno crossover in which many heroes, including Spider-Man, had to fight Madelyne Pryor and her demons in which one of them possessed the Hobgoblin. During this time, it broke the barriers blocking Harry's conscious and sub-conscious mind, causing him to remember his life as the Green Goblin. Harry's hatred for Peter continued to grow, and Harry began believing that Peter killed Norman because he disliked that Harry had a "stable family" and Peter did not. He then proceeded to saying that the next time he faced Spider-Man, it would be their last meeting. Harry recreated the Goblin Formula and modified it to be even stronger then his father Norman's original formula. Harry began stalking Peter and constantly taunting him, until one day Peter could take it no longer and punched Harry. Harry retaliated and punched back, showing Peter his new strength. Harry had a new plan in which he would kill all his enemies at once (Spider-Man and his father's business associates). He invited everyone to a dinner in a place he wired with bombs. Spider-Man knew that something bad was going to happen, and he dropped by. Peter and Harry engaged in a battle inside the building. Harry was able to inject Peter with a drug that immobilized him but left him conscious. Harry began taunting Peter again until he realized that Mary Jane and his son, Normie, were still inside the building. Peter was able to convince Harry to save two people that he really cared about. Upon bringing Mary Jane and Normie outside, Harry regained his sanity and realized that he had left his best friend inside to die. Harry rushed in and was able to carry Peter out before the building collapsed. As Peter was about to thank him, Harry collapsed and it was discovered that the Goblin Formula was poisoning him. Paramedics came to take Harry to a hospital, and Peter, in his Spider-Man costume, stayed by his side. Just as Harry was about to die, he confirmed to Peter that despite everything they had gone through together, they were still best friends. Harry died right afterwards in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. Harry later returned in Brand New Day with no knowledge of Peter being Spider-Man.

The Scarlet Spider and the Clone Saga

The Scarlet Spider

During the first Clone Saga which was published in 1975, the first Scarlet Spider was a clone of Spider-Man, created by the Jackal, Professor Miles Warren, Peter's biochemistry teacher during his college years at Empire State University. Miles was obsessed with Gwen Stacy and had created a clone of her. Spider-Man was forced to fight a clone of himself, both believing themselves to be the real Spider-Man. When a bomb went off, one of the Spider-Men was crushed and seemingly killed. The Gwen Stacy Clone asked the remaining one if he was the real one or the clone and he was momentarily stumped. He truly believed he was the real one but that could have been the result of the Jackal's programming. After pondering the thought and (seemingly) disposing of the body, he came to realize that he had strong feelings for Mary Jane. He comes to the conclusion that even though the clone had been given most of his memories, an emotional response is not something that could be programmed.

Spider-Man vs. Scarlet Spider

The second Clone Saga started in 1994 and lasted through 1996. The clone, still alive, left to give the real Peter his life. His adventures would be published in a miniseries entitled Spider-Man: The Lost Years. During this time he took the name of Ben Reilly out of respect of Peter Parker's uncle and his Aunt May's maiden name. He wandered around aimlessly for five years. He returned to Spider-Man's home of New York when he discovered Aunt May was deathly ill, and found himself once again wanting to be a hero. Ben fashioned his own costume, and became the Scarlet Spider and utilized web capsules instead of the web shooters. Later it was revealed that the Scarlet Spider was deceived and was the real Peter Parker, and that Spider-Man was the clone. Mary Jane found out that she was pregnant around this time, and that further complicated their lives. The Scarlet Spider 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 tried to start a family. Eventually Peter decided to retire from being Spider-Man and let Ben take over as Spider-Man. Peter and Mary Jane moved to Portland to try and raise their baby in peace and away from his alter-ego Spider-Man. But the couple eventually returned to New York because they missed their friends and families. When his name was smeared by a second, evil Scarlet Spider, Ben assumed the identity of Spider-Man. At this point the Scarlet Spider reclaimed the name of Spider-Man and resumed Spider-Man's classic costume. Eventually it was revealed that the mastermind behind this whole ordeal was in fact the Green Goblin. The Green Goblin also revealed that he really manipulated Peter into thinking he was the clone. Ben fought the Green Goblin until his death at the hands of Norman Osborn. Norman had tried to impale Peter with the Goblin glider but Ben instead took the hit. Ben’s body began to dissolve, proving that Peter was the real one and Ben was the clone. Peter muttered to Ben as the latter laid there dead, “Rest easy...brother.” Aunt May had also seemingly died during this saga. But she later returned, and it was discovered that it was a clone of Aunt May who had died.

Spider-Man’s Life after the Clone Saga

Aunt May discovering that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

It would eventually be revealed that Aunt May was in fact not dead. She was actually kidnapped by Norman Osborn and the death was a hoax to torture Peter. Peter was able to rescue Aunt May and quitted being Spider-Man for a while. Eventually, Peter returned to his life as Spider-Man behind Mary Jane’s back. Soon afterwards, Mary Jane was seemingly killed in a plane accident caused by a stalker. Spider-Man later discovered that Mary Jane was actually kidnapped by an unknown telepathic mutant who wanted to take over Peter's life. Eventually that telepath absorbed too much of Peter's personality, causing him to feel the guilt of kidnapping Mary Jane. He committed suicide soon after, and Peter and Mary Jane were able to reunite again. However, she left him after that traumatic experience and went to Los Angeles to resume her acting career. Meanwhile Aunt May tried to find her spot in Peter's life again. She tried to help comfort Peter during the time where he though Mary Jane was dead. One day Aunt May decided to pay Peter a surprise visit, but on her arrival, she discovered that Peter was badly injured, and sleeping, with a torn Spider-Man costume laying near his bed.
In this way, Aunt May finally came to know the truth about Peter--the truth he had believed he could never reveal to her because of the weakness of her heart.
When the Amazing Spider-Man went to its second volume (Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 (#442)) some of the events that happened in the clone saga were quietly Retconned. The two things that supposedly “did not happen” were Mary Jane’s baby and Aunt May’s death.

In 2001, J. Michael Straczynski took over the run on Amazing Spider-Man and he would reunite Peter and Mary Jane. However, the couple had a temporary separation while Peter became a teacher at his old high school, Midtown High. Later a wealthy CEO named Ezekiel sought Peter and warned him that the accident that gave him his powers might not have been a fluke. He also warned that Peter might have a connection to a spirit spider totem. Later, Morlun who fed off powers possessed by an animal totem, sought out Spider-Man and beat him nearly to death. Later Aunt May discovered that Peter was Spider-Man. Peter was now happy that he could be honest to his Aunt about his super-hero activities, but Aunt May still struggled to accept the life he had chosen--or rather, the life that had chosen him. Shortly afterwards, Peter and Mary Jane reconciled. Later, Spider-Man again fought Venom, who revealed to Spider-Man that he was dying of cancer.

Peter and Sarah.

Peter continued his life as Spider-Man and also worked at Midtown High School as a science teacher. Peter later discovered a letter from Gwen Stacy that was written to him. There were still missing pieces of the letter, so Peter was not able to understand the letter fully. Peter asked a friend of his to try and translate the missing words that were embedded on the paper since Gwen wrote back to back on the paper. Peter was visiting Gwen’s grave when all of a sudden he was attacked by two mysterious strangers. Peter was able to escape and later received the letter. He read it and it explained that Gwen had been pregnant with twins. Peter took a DNA sample of Gwen to do a DNA test to confirm his suspicions. Later it was revealed that the two that attacked Peter was Gwen’s twin and the father was Norman Osborn. The twins grew at an accelerated speed due to the goblin formula inside Norman. Norman had told the twins that Spider-Man was their biological father and was the one responsible for their mother’s death. They eventually came back to battle Spider-Man. Spider-Man tried to convince the twins that he had not been responsible for the deaths and was not their father. One of the twins, named Sarah Stacy, believed Spider-Man; however, the other twin, named Gabriel and later to assume the alias of the Grey Goblin, did not. The situation resolved with Sarah but it mainly stayed unresolved with Gabriel. Peter was eventually offered a membership to the New Avengers. Later Peter’s apartment and Aunt May’s house were both destroyed by a super-powered person named Charlie Weiderman, a former classmate of Peter. Tony Stark offered Peter and his family residence in Stark Tower since Peter now worked for Tony Stark anyway. Peter continued to teach at Midtown High School and also resumed his freelance photography for the Daily Bugle.

Spider-Man: The Other

Peter breaking the news to Mary Jane.

Peter had began sufffering from headaches, blackouts, and dizziness. He had also been having dreams of Morlun putting him in a morgue. Later Spider-Man fought a new villain named Tracer. Tracer was robbing a bank and Spider-Man came to stop him. The two fought, and Tracer shot a homing bullet at Spider-Man. The bullet eventually struck Spider-Man in the shoulder, and Tracer was able to escape. Mary Jane saw the battle live on television and rushed home to confront Peter about it. Peter went to Dr. Castillo, whom Captain America had recommended, to heal his wound. Dr. Castillo took a blood sample of Peter for a test. She later called Peter and told him that she had bad news. Mary Jane eventually caught Peter and confronted him, telling him that he was asking for a death wish. Peter was forced to confess to Mary Jane about the news he had received from Dr. Castillo. Later May woke up and walked to the kitchen where she ran into Peter. Peter yells at Aunt May, told her to not worry about anything, and left to help out the disastrous city. Spider-Man encountered one of Tracer’s robots and battled it in the city, then all of a sudden he lost his powers. Morlun then confronted Spider-Man and taunted him. Peter eventually returned home and found Aunt May talking to the Tracer, who had told her that he was a “reserve Avenger.” Peter fought the Tracer, but when Tracer discovered Peter’s health condition, he refused to fight Spider-Man and eventually escaped. Peter then proceeded to tell Aunt May about his current condition.

Peter sought Mr. Fantastic to find out more information about his current condition. Mr. Fantastic told Peter that his condition was not cancer or anything ordinary human beings could receive. Dr. Hank Pym then told Peter that his infection was radiation-based and recommends Dr. Robert Bruce Banner. Upon seeing him, Banner unfortunately told Peter that at the rate his poison was spreading, there was no possible way to find a cure in time. Banner then recommended that Peter seek out the Black Panther, who also could not help Peter’s condition. Now back in New York, Peter engages against The Ox but mistakenly thought it was Morlun, whom Peter would beat nearly to death before Daredevil stopped him. Peter later decided to take Mary Jane to Las Vegas since they had never been there, and hoped to use his spider-sense to win money in blackjack. But ultimately Peter decided not to go to Las Vegas because he did not want villains interrupting their intimate moment. Instead Peter and Mary Jane hid away in one of Tony Stark’s space pods. After returning to Earth, Peter resumed his nightly patrol, but Morlun watched him. Spider-Man lowered his guard, which allowed Morlun to attack Spider-Man. The fight grew extremely intense and they were flying all over New York. The fight ended up at Empire State University where Spider-Man appeared to be winning. However, Morlun revealed that he was not hurt at all and gouged Spider-Man’s left eye out. Morlun then proceeded to beating Spider-Man to a bloody pulp, leaving him unconscious and on the brink of death.

Embrace the Other and be reborn.

Morlun was about to suck the rest of Spider-Man’s life force out of him but was interrupted by police officers showing up. They took the fallen hero to the paramedics and transported him to the nearest hospital. The Avengers and Mary Jane all rushed to the hospital upon hearing the news on television. Morlun returned to Spider-Man while he was unconscious in the hospital, in an attempt to finish off the job. However, Mary Jane tried to stop Morlun but he threw her across the room. Peter woke up and transformed into a spider-like beast. He attacked Morlun and pinned him to the ground. Peter then proceeded to bite Morlun in the neck and apparently killing him. Peter reverted to normal and fell in Mary Jane’s arms, in which he told her goodbye and apparently died. Iron Man took Spider-Man’s body away to shield the public from his apparent death. His body was transported back to the Avengers Tower, where Mary Jane, Aunt May, and Jarvis were all grieving over Peter’s death. Mary Jane decided to talk to Captain America and Iron Man if they should reveal his identity to the world or not. Mary Jane later talked to Spider-Woman who reveals that something was not right with Peter. She claimed that they might have a connection somehow because their powers had originated from some kind of irradiated spider. Later they heard a crashing sound in the chamber where Peter’s body was and believed that someone might have stolen his body. However, they deduced that there was only skin left and the window had broken from the inside, leaving them with a mystery. It was later revealed that Peter was in a webbing cocoon underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Peter was currently sleeping for days in his cocoon talking to his subconscious mind. The voice in his mind claimed to be The Other part of Spider-Man. It claimed that Peter had rejected the Spider part of himself for his entire life, and that Morlun killed his human self, but the Spider lived on and killed Morlun. It then told Peter that the only way to be reborn was to accept the spider part of Peter. Peter agreed and was reborn back to his human form. He returned to the Avengers Tower to relieve Mary Jane and Aunt May. Peter then returned to the room that stored his body and took back his wedding ring.

Tony Stark began running tests on Peter and it appears that he is the real deal. Also a bonus is that every injury he has sustained in the past were repaired, even his tonsils that he lost in the forth grade. Peter then swings around the city with Mary Jane, meanwhile there were pirate spiders eating up Peter’s old body. Upon returning to the Avengers Tower, he discovers it covered completely in webbing. Peter goes inside and engages against the pirate spiders who took Peter’s form by using his old dead shell. Peter’s stingers reappear again and he continues to battle the pirate spiders and eventually chases it down to a church. Peter believed that this was the Other that his subconscious was talking about. Peter, still confused, hears an explosion nearby and rushes to it to find people trapped under debris. While Spider-Man tries to rescue the people, he discovers he has new abilities that allow him night vision, and he can feel all vibrations through his webbing. Peter now also has the ability to spin web on his own and no longer needs Web Shooters. Spider-Man is successful in rescuing all the people and Peter finally understands that he gained new abilities because he is now “embracing the Other.” Peter returns home to watch the news with Mary Jane. Later Tony would unveil a new costume for Peter. That would later be used for the Scarlet Spiders of Tony Stark's Initiative program.

Civil War

Spider-Man comes out.

Under the Civil War arc, Spider-Man plays a key role. Iron Man and Peter Parker go to Washington D.C. to try to refute the Super-Human Registration Act. Peter is there to act as Tony's eyes and ears. However, things go awry and an assassination is plotted against Tony by Titanium Man. However, it is later revealed to the reader that Stark plotted the assassination himself. His motive was to show the need for a Super-human Registration Act, so in fact he is playing both sides. Despite this, Spider-Man still side with Stark and is convinced enough to to reveal his identity, as Peter Parker, to the world. The famous line being said at a news conference: "I'm Peter Parker, and I've been Spider-Man since I was 15".

With the public revelation of his secret identity, Peter sees his world falling apart around him like never before. Old friends and old enemies alike are baffled and hurt by the years of secrecy. J. Jonah Jameson's hatred of Spider-Man flares up like never before, only this time directed at Peter. Doc Ock violently attacks Peter believing that through Peter's whole adult life he has been made a joke of, Black Cat thought that they shared a bond knowing his identity, which she described as "sexy" and Norman Osborn said that Spider-Man "broke the rules." Other enemies now knowing Parker's true identity begin to launch attacks on the friends and family that are closest to him. In order to protect those he loves, Peter with his wife and Aunt move into Stark Tower, giving them protection during the day when Peter is out with Tony.

As time passes and the Registration debate becomes more and more violent, Peter begins to secretly question Tony Stark's true motives. Tony, who had hidden equipment in the Iron Spider suit (which has the added functions of a bullet proof fiber, three robotic appendages like Dr. Octopus only with two pincers, stealth mode, and hover capability; the look is now a full crimson with an orange-yellow color four the eyes, symbol, and robot arms)to spy on Peter begins to monitor him even closer, listening in on his conversations and even letting slip that he knows about Peter's "spider-sense" (a fact that Peter never told him). Scared for his family's safety once again, Peter attempts to rush May and Mary Jane out of Stark Tower and go on the run. Iron Man, now furious at Peters double-cross attacks Peter in the tower. The battle hits the streets, and Tony uses one Peter's suit's hidden functions and incapacitates him with it. Being the computer nerd and science whiz that he is, Peter had already installed a back door in his suit allowing him to gain the upper hand through surprise and flee into the sewers. Furious, Iron Man authorizes the Thunderbolts to send several of Spider-Man's most dangerous villains after Peter. Peter is saved just in time by the Punisher, who brings Peter to Captain America's main base of operation where he can recuperate. Now on the side of the Cap's Secret Avengers, Peter rids himself of his Iron Spider suit, and dons more traditional apparel to fight with Cap against the registration.

Lookin' good

Back In Black

After the surrender of Captain America, Peter is back on the run with Aunt May and Mary Jane. May and Mary Jane believed they were safe in a motel, while Peter was still secretly fighting as Spider-Man. Their cover was soon blown as the Kingpin had discovered their hiding place and sent an assassin to kill all three of them. When he fired the first shot, Peter was able to get Mary Jane out of the way just in time. The bullet, meant for Mary Jane had instead hit his Aunt. In plainclothes Peter rushed may to the hospital, where his status as a criminal and as Spider-Man prevented him from even assisting from there. Still in street clothing, Peter goes on a rampage like never before to find the sniper. Peter is no longer in the mood to pull his punches, or joke during a fight. Instead he is going to do whatever it takes to find him. Meanwhile, Mary Jane checks May in under her maiden name, and is told by doctors that May has slipped into a coma. The only things keeping May alive are the machines that she is hooked up to.

Peter is now in a place that he has not been before. The shock and emotions caused by the tragedy have made him want to reflect his inward state by seeking out his old, black and white costume (a costume which he had originally put away because he did not like what its appearance reflected). Again donning his old suit, Peter is out for revenge against those who would threaten his family. Spider-Man begins to search for the sniper that shot Aunt May, eventually tracking him down at the train station trying to flee the city. However, before Spider-Man could catch him, the sniper was killed by another hitman. There was no trace of the hitman anywhere, so Spider-Man decides to return to the hospital. Then a surprise drops in for Peter, the sniper was taken to the same hospital as Aunt May, meaning the hitman must be there to make sure his hit is dead. Peter catches the hitman talking to someone on the phone, he takes the phone and discovers that the mastermind behind this is the Kingpin. The two exchange harsh words for a bit, then Peter takes the hitman to the sewers, where he tells him to spread the word to the criminal underworld that his family is off limits. Afterwards, Peter returns to the hospital and Mary Jane tells him that it could get suspicious that they are paying the medical bill with cash. Peter remembers that he once gave Aunt May a blood transfusion that saved her life. MJ had to grab some items from the hospital for Peter to do it. After giving the blood transfusion, he goes straight to Ryker's Island, where he confronts the Kingpin face to face. Peter arrives at Ryker's Island while the prisoners are freed from their cells and spots Kingpin leaving in his classic white suit. Peter drops down and tells Kingpin "End of the road Fisk. You. Me. RIGHT NOW." Fisk begins to taunt Peter. An enraged Spider-Man completely destroys the Kingpin and he tell him that he'll let him live with his defeat and when Aunt May dies, he's coming back to finish what they started. After this occurrence, Peter went to go check on Aunt May who was still in the hospital. Everything was falling apart on Peter, and he needed to move Aunt May, ASAP. He committed 9 felonies the night he moved Aunt May and figured something out. Peter realized that after all his years of fighting criminals, he finally became what he wanted to put away in jail... A criminal.

Other events during Back in Black
During the Back in Black series, children were being abducted and given a serum that gave the powers similar to Spider-Man. However, the serum was mutating the kids and dozens of teens were dressed in Spider-Man outfits and eventually filled the police precinct. One of the teenagers mutated to a new level and become a disfigured mess resembling "Spider-X". After convincing Doctor Curt Connors (formerly known as The Lizard) to help find a cure, Peter also was assisted by Reed Richards to cure the infected teens. Spider-Man went to track down who was responsible for the mess. The evidence eventually led to Mr. Hyde, one of Pete's villains and after a brief battle, Spider-Man subdued a blind Mr. Hyde after a soon to be infected teen tossed acid on Mr. Hyde as an act of revenge,(Hyde convinced the student that he killed his mother).

Another one of Peter's adventures was when Sandman came to Spider-Man's home and asked for help because his father was to be executed unfairly. So, being the kind person Spider-Man is, he agreed to help Sandman save his father. Peter and Sandman met up with another individual who found the dead Uncle Ben and told them about it. He accompanied them to Midtown High, (Peter's old school where he was now a chemistry teacher). An investigation led them into the school where they were confronted by the Chameleon from the year 2211 and he admitted to framing Sandman's father and killing the man Sandman's father was accused of killing. The Chameleon was killed during the battle between Peter, Sandman and himself. Later on, Sandman's father was broken out of prison and proven innocent.

Peter also continued his role on the Secret Avengers and helped them fight crime underground. When they learned one of their teammates, Maya Lopez aka Echo, was kidnapped by Elektra and The Hand in Japan, the group traveled there to rescue her. In Japan, they seek the help of the Silver Samurai, who was still bitter over the fact that Wolverine cut off one of his hand. While they were trying to get some answers from the Silver Samurai, the Hand came and attacked them. They discover that the Hand had manipulated Maya into fighting them. Eventually the Secret Avengers were able to defeat Elektra and the Hand, however, Elektra turned out to be a Skrull. Now with the realization that a Skrull was able to infiltrate the Hand, the entire team became skeptical of the Civil War and even of their own teammates. Their plane would lose power and caused them to crash land. After defeating The Hood's Gang, they were tipped off by Spider-Woman to investigate a crashed Skrull spaceship. When they got there, they came face to face with the Mighty Avengers, they almost fought if not for what the saw in the ship; it hold some of the superheroes, including an unconscious Spider-Man. It is unknown if this the true Spider-Man or a Skrull.

One More Day

Only one more day for Spidey.

In One More Day, Peter discovers that he needs money to keep his Aunt May from being put in a charity case, so he decides to invade Stark Towers to confront Iron Man. During the confrontation, Peter webs Stark up and rips Tony's mask off. Peter begins telling Tony that Aunt May needs money to stay alive in the hospital, but Tony says he won't help because he'll aiding a criminal. A felon. Stark eventually breaks out, and flies away leaving Peter infuriated and with an incredible punch, Spider-Man breaks the helmet. Shortly afterwards, Jarvis goes to the hospital with a 2 million dollar check to keep Aunt May alive in the hospital.

Doctors continued telling Peter that there was nothing they can do for May. Pete went to the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange and was also back in his red and blue costume. Strange was telling Peter that there was nothing he can do to help May because it was part of destiny, it was destined to happen. However, Spider-Man wouldn't take no for an answer and Strange allowed Peter to go through time and space to ask for answers. After asking everybody available, the wallcrawler's connection had to be cut. When Strange left the room, Parker went back to the moment of May's shooting to try and stop it, until he was attacked by odd creatures that existed on the edge of time who's soul purpose was to make sure destiny and fate wasn't thrown off. They attacked Peter, harming his "spirit form" causing the web-slinger to go weak. Strange casted a spell to help Peter heal and after a few minutes, it was successful. Dr. Strange told Spider-Man that there was nothing he can do and to just stay with May in her final hours because he would grow to regret it. Peter left the Sanctum Sanctorium until he was approached by a young girl in red.

She told him that she could help Aunt May. The girl's is later revealed to be a facet of Peter's personality. He also meets two alternate ways he could have turned out if the spider never bit him. In one scenario, he becomes a genius software designer, but he never meets Mary Jane or does anything spectacular. Another scenario is Peter making numerous inventions to prove himself, and ending up making millions of dollars. However, he is unfulfilled and feels empty, as he has nobody of significance in his life. Peter learns these altered selves are manifested by Mephisto, who makes an offer. He would save Aunt May, and revive her completely, if Peter and Mary Jane would sacrifice their marriage. He told him he would take all his memories of Mary Jane accept for one small piece in his soul so he could hear it screaming in pain for as long as he lives, knowing this would be worse than to just take his soul. Mary Jane and Peter are given only one day (thus the title) to decide.

After several hours thinking it over Peter and Mary Jane agree to Mephisto's deal, but Mary Jane make another deal with Mephisto offering him something, but it isn't revealed to the reader. Mephisto informs them that the little girl Peter saw was the possible child the two could have had together. Mephisto explains that theirs is a love that appears "but once every thousand years, and denying it to He whom I hate most" is his real goal. Mary Jane tells Peter that they will find each other again. Peter wakes up the next morning in Aunt May's house. All the events of the past twenty years are gone, Peter revealing his identity to Aunt May, him unmasking, his organic webs and his marriage to Mary Jane. Peter rushes off to a surprise birthday party for Harry Osborn ( who didn't die in this timeline). Harry is in a relation ship with a woman named Lily Hollister and it seems Mary Jane is angry with Peter about something, but the reader isn't told what. She soon leaves the party and have a toast to a "Brand New Day"

Brand New Day

The story arc with an image of Peter kissing a young woman in a club. It then flashed back to a man robbing another man in a Spider-Man mask. However, despite the Spider-Mugger street and superhuman crime had been down to a low.. A new hero named Jackpot went on record stating this to be a isolated issue when a reporter was interrupted by J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson began to rant on about Spider-Man, but the reporter reminded him that Spider-man hadn't been seen in months and that without Spider-Man his paper has lost circulation, but he gave no comment. Peter is currently living with Aunt May again and is looking for a job and an apartment. Betty Brant called him saying she had found one in his price range, but the owner wanted the money tomorrow. Peter attempted to get a job as a teacher, photographer and a lab assistant, but he was turned down by each one. He was called by Harry wanting to know if he wanted to out to a club tonight and he said yes. Meanwhile a detective was giving a suit case to a group of men working for a criminal named Mister Negative. Mister Negative appeared when his men didn't pay the detective and he killed them for giving him a bad reputation and paid the detective. He opened the case and revealed a tablet written in some ancient dialect and stated he needed some one who knows foreign languages. Peter was shown kissing the girl from earlier. Her name was Mia Flores and she was revealed to have been trying to get into Harry's group of friends. Peter left the club out the bathroom window and bumped into Lily's friend Carlie. However they are soon robbed by the Spider-Mugger. He takes Peter's wallet and one of his web shooters, but Peter tags him with a tracer and begins to follow him. He follows him in his regular clothes so no one can take any pictures of Spider-Man. He almost had him when he ran into a homeless shelter that May was working at. She stopped him wondering what happened and the man was able to escape in a taxi. He also met a man named Li who runs the shelter and gave Peter a pair of shows thinking his were stolen in the mugging (he actually took them off to wall crawl). Peter went to the Daily Bugle to receive a check he was owed, but Jameson had stopped all the checks due to a buyout. Peter demanded his check and argued with Jonah when he didn't get it. Jonah got angry, but before he could say anything collapsed from a heart attack.

The paramedics showed up and took Jonah away. Robbie told everyone to get back to work and asked Peter to get him a headline picture. Peter decided to get a picture of him capturing the Spider-Mugger. Meanwhile the Spider-Mugger was trying to fence Peter and Carlie's things. However his fence didn't want the webshooter thinking it was a stupid piece of metal. The mugger played with it and discovered how to work it. Peter tracked his spider-tracer to the bar the mugger was in, but when he landed the signal split due to the mugger placing a second tracer on Bruno Karnelli. Mr. Karnelli was them kidnapped and Spidey gave chase. Mr. Negative had kidnapped Bruno and began to drain his body of blood. However Spider-Man showed up and fought Mr. Negative's men, the Inner Demons. He revealed his tablet held the formula to a poison called the Devil's Breath. Negative left after increasing the the blood flow on the pumps. Meanwhile the mugger realized that Peter was Spider-Man and wanted to get his information back. Spidey freed Bruno and realized Mr. Negative intended to kill the other Maggia bosses and Spidey went to save them, but Negative had already set up his poison and it began to fill the room.

However Spidey realized the poison was DNA specific. An adopted member of the family told Spidey to save their children and wives who went to a circus. Spidey ran out of webbing and literally had to hope on a cab to get to the circus he arrived and battled Negatives men and stopped his second bomb. However Negative held an innocent girl by knife point and promised to kill her if Spider-Man didn't give him a sample of his blood for his poison. He did, but Mr. Negative threw her into the ocean. Spidey saved her and then left. Meanwhile Mr. Negative was revealed to be Martin Li, the man who runs May's shelter. Later Peter picked up his tracer signal and found the Spider-Mugger dead. He reclaimed his webshooter and left.

After reclaiming his webshooter, Spider-Man continued his normal day to day life until he saw a newspaper that accused him of being killer because the body of the person who stole his webshooter and who he placed a tracer on was found dead (the same guy he reclaimed his shooter from). Spider-Man swung around town like a man possessed trying to find out who the killer was and at the same time he wanted to find out who this new Goblin like threat known simply as "Menace". Menace was spotted by the wall-crawler and was instantly confronted by Spider-Man. The web-slinger landed on Menace's glider and tried pulling his mask off, but for all his efforts and spider-strength, it was all done in vain. Menace tried lashing out at Peter and succeeded. Due to some kind of substance on the spikes on his outfit, Menace was able to paralyze and incapacitate Spider-Man, dropping him about 20-30 feet into the water below. Peter, struggling to climb out of the river was once again confronted by Menace who threatened the wall-crawler and told him that if he interfered with his actions, that Spider-Man would die, something that "Norman couldn't do".

Powers

Spider-Sense

Spider-Man possesses many incredible abilities, but his most amazing power must be his uncanny spider-sense. This strange tingling sensation originates in the back of his skull, warns him of danger. The danger could be something immediate, like a gun being aimed at him. Even point blank no escape and he's already gone. It can also be a punch being thrown at the back of his head or in front of his face. Or it could be something subtle, like a slippery floor or a sandwich that contained tainted meat. While his spider-sense cannot tell Spider-Man the exact nature of a particular threat, it always lets him know when and which way to move in order to avoid the danger.

Spider-Man's spider-sense is like having a personal radar unit. He doesn't have to worry about watching where he's walking or web-slinging because it always guides him away from danger. Loose ceiling tiles or rotted rooftops don't trouble Spider-Man because his spider-sense warns him in plenty of time to avoid them. Even if he were trapped in complete darkness, his spider-sense would prevent him from bumping into anything. And Spidey's spider-sense tingles if someone can see the web-slinger out of costume, warning him that he may be spotted. Spider-mans senses can also detect radio signals he also can ignore is spider-sense. His spider-sense also doesn't go off for those he doesn't feel are threats. His spider-sense can also be used like Daredevil's radar sense. Peter's spider-sense can be used to communicate with spiders and other arthropods and is a possibly part of his spider-sense. Spider-Man can also sense air currents with his body hairs and can use his webs to sense vibrations. He is also able to see in the dark using his Spider Sense. He can also locate things he is searching for with it.

Wall Crawling

No one knows exactly how Spider-Man's wall-crawling ability works. Peter Parker has often theorized that he has a form of bio-magnetic power that allows him to increase the attraction between the molecules in his body with those of the surfaces he climbs. On a History Channel special about Spider-Man, scientists had come up with a theory that the wall clinging is technically possible for Spider-Man. They believe that Spider-Man's wall-clinging ability is similar to a certain spider that emits very thin strands of hair on it's feet, allowing it to cling on all kinds of surface including glass. All that is known for certain is that he can stick to anything. No matter how smooth or slippery a surface may be, Spidey can attach himself to the surface. He just has to keep concentrating until he bonds with it. Unlike his spider-sense, the web head's clinging power is strictly a conscious act. He can never stick to something by accident. He must deliberately press his hands against an object and choose to adhere to it. Of course, Spidey likes to show off as much as the next fellow. He occasionally runs upside down along a ceiling or strides up a wall. Peter can now stick to things throughout his whole body. He is also able to stick things onto his body, like a spider does for it's young. This was shown in the last issue of the Other.

Strength and Agility

Shortly after he was bitten by the radioactive spider that gave him his amazing powers, Peter Parker accidentally crushed a steel pipe as if it was paper. He was astonished to discover that he now possessed superhuman strength. Since then, Spider-Man has often told people that he has the proportionate strength of a spider.(Although it also should be noted the strength could come more from the radiation) Spider-man's super strength adds to his durability as strength usually does making his muscle and tissue density super durable, still not invulnerable tho. While not as strong as the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, or the Thing, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is able to lift almost 10 tons. He can bend a solid iron bar with his bare hands and shatter a concrete wall with a single punch. And in one, spider-powered spring, he has leaped the height of three stories, or the width of a highway. After the Other Spider-man's strength was increased to 20 tons.

Even more impressive than his spider-like strength is Spider-Man's amazing speed and agility. When it comes to quick-thinking, death-defying, lightning-swift acrobatic stunts, the wall-crawling wonder is truly without equal. Spider-Man moves with a fluid and casual grace that can't be equaled by trained super-humans such as Captain America or Daredevil. He dodges bullets and energy blast mid flight, runs faster then a car and web swings faster then that, leaps from rooftops, somersaults over flagpoles, tumbles off water towers, and balances on top of light poles as he routinely travels across the city in his own unique manner. Spider-Man's reflexes were originally 15 times that of a normal humans, they are now around 18 times.

Note: All of Spider-Man's new powers and increases have been erased due to Mephisto rewriting his personal history.

Webbing

Anatomy of a Web Shooter

Because of recent events Peter no longer needs his web shooters. He has evolved a pair of biological web shooters that allow him to generate his own web in his forearms and shoot it from his wrists in a similar manner to what his web shooters would do. This also eliminates the need he otherwise had when he ran out of web fluid and did not have a replacement cartridges on him. He has not demonstrated much of an upper limit to this ability yet, and is able to generate massive amounts of webbing very quickly when he focuses. He was able to produce enough webbing when he "let loose" to stop Iron Man and almost cover the alley they were in. It seems that his webs were erased from existence when Mephisto erased their marriage and he is seen wearing his webshooters.

Night vision

After the events of "the Other," Spider-Man has gained the night vision ability. He could now see in the dark using his spider sense to know where to go.

Stingers

Spider-man grew retractable stingers that appear from under his wrists. The stingers are covered in venom and can paralyze a person. Spider-Man has trouble controlling them and they only appear in serious moments of stress however Ero said they would only appear when facing someone rooted in chaos and darkness. Whether this is true is unknown. Since Brand New Day it is hard too see if Spidey still has them.

Healing

After being attacked by Rhino recently Spider-Man says that he has been healing far faster than he used to which was already super humanly fast do to his metabolism. He also entered into a state of hibernation were all old wounds were healed such as his lost eye and even his lost tonsils. Whether this will happen again is unknown.

Other

When Peter was overcome with rage when Morlun attacked Mary Jane he lost himself to the "Other" and his teeth become razor sharp, his eyes became red and his stingers first appeared. Since his other powers remained his other may still be able to control him in times of crisis. Since One More Day it is hard to tell if Peter still has these powers.

Skills

On top of his spider-given powers Peter is of genius level intelligence It has even been stated that Peter scored as high on some of the same testing scores as Reed Richards did when he was Peter's age. He is especially gifted in the sciences such as mechanics, biology and physics. He has built many devices in his career as Spider-man and is a skilled photographer and teacher. He has developed a unique style of combat through his years. Spider-man while not having been train has went toe toe with even the best marvel fighters. His spider-sense alone is like a close combat expert provided with Spider-man's reflexes and split second quickness. His spider-sense tells peter when and how to move and counter adaptively to even the best fighter's moves if peter should choose to just fight solely on those instincts. Spider-man is also use to fighting and teaming up with most of the super villains and heroes in the marvel universe and has often uses his mind to over come many battles with physics used as tactical skills, quick witted thinking, outside the box and/or ingenuity and science in sometimes short instances(think MacGyver) Peter has a great sense of right and wrong and though rarely is he ever a leader he has shown great common sense and is very inspiring and is admired by many young heroes and given the chance can prove his worth.. He has even shown some skill in Latin recently.

Equipment

Web Shooter

Web Shooters

Early in his career Peter had developed a set of wrist gauntlets that produced a chemical that when mixed with air hardened to form a web-like material. These Web Shooters are activated by a small button at the base of the palm which requires two quick taps (so that he does not hit it on accident). This webbing has several uses. First and foremost he can shoot out and spin long strands of it where one end will attach to a building, bridge or other anchor, and he will grab the other hand to swing by it. This is Spider-Man's primary means of transportation. By a succession of yanking on webs to propel himself and using his own downward momentum in his favor, Peter is able to travel quite fast and accurately in this manner. The webs that the shooters create is very strong, enabling him to swing along with a passenger.

Webbing can also be used in a more offensive manner. He can spin webs which will entangle his opponent, he has been seen to web up his hands to produce a sort of boxing gloves, and to hurl projectiles composed of webbing, and create a variety of useful objects including parachutes, clubs, wings, and other things from his webbing. There have been several enhancements on his webbing over the years, and several formulas have been created to combat specific villains such as more adhesive versions or explosive versions. Peter has even been shown to adapt the impact webbing that engulfs the target one hit from the scarlet spider(his clone)and peter has made flame retard webbing (against Human Torch), non conductive (Electro)and even acid webbing and "web bullets" The webbing that Spider-Man generates is designed to dissolve within about an hour so that New York is not blanketed in a layer of webbing and so that he does not leave a permanent trail which people can follow. Peter has currently gone back to using his web-shooters in the Brand New Day storyline.

Defensively Spider-man has used his webbing as a web shield against bullets, energy blast and to smother explosives or to block gun holes. Making the webbing used for this extra dense with lots of coil over coil tightly over the other.(webshield/explosive smothering)

Utility Belt

Spider-Man’s utility belt allows him to carry any necessary equipment he needs when he goes out on patrol. It can carry extra web cartridges, spider-tracers, and his camera. The belt also has a powerful light that is connected to the belt’s buckle. The light is also filtered through a lens that creates a picture of Spider-Man’s mask, which he uses to scare regular criminals.

Spider-Tracers

The Spider-Tracer is a typical tracker that is shaped liked a spider and is aerodynamic for flight. The tracers are very small so it will not be noticed when attached on a person. He usually uses the tracers to track objects or people. He also uses it on enemies that are escaping in order for Spider-Man to track them easier. It was originally a small signal tracer, but eventually Peter was able to modify his tracers for him to be able to track it using his spider-sense. However, he can only track it with his spider-sense within a 100 yard radius, but he also has a receiver that can trace at longer distances. Ben Reilly (Scarlet Spider) has also been shown to be able to sense the tracers with his spider-sense. Peter has made a modified version of the spider-tracer for Mary Jane to wear on her necklace. She began using this after she was kidnapped by an obsessed fan.

Camera

Since Peter became a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle, he sells pictures of Spider-Man to J. Jonah Jameson. Peter originally used his father’s camera in which he would place it near the area he is going to rescue and use the webbing to hold it up somewhere. Peter eventually got better at taking pictures of himself as he was able to utilize the timer and the motion sensors of the camera. Peter eventually upgrades his camera. Peter did not earn much at the Daily Bugle, but eventually they would publish a book that contained all his pictures, which helped him with his finances. Peter eventually won a Pulitzer Prize for his photos of the Sentry, however due to the Sentry being erased from everyone’s memory, no one, including Peter remembers about the Pulitzer Prize.

Spider-Mobile

Spider-Man would be approached by Corona Motors who offers him a nonpolluting vehicle in which they wanted him to promote. However, Peter turned it down and approaches his friend Johnny Storm to create their own vehicle. They customized a dune buggy to have web-launchers and a spider-signal. Spider-Man would put it into action but it is quickly wrecked because Peter had not yet learn how to drive, due to living in New York City. Later the Tinkerer would be able to recover the wrecked dune buggy and re-modify it to be able to drive up walls and to drive itself. The Tinkerer sent it to fight Spider-Man, in which Spider-Man would barely defeat his own car.

Costumes

Quick Description

Peter has gone through several costume changes over the years. Most of them are only superficially changed as they provide no real function. A few of the suits he has donned, however, have had special purposes. At one point he created a special armored suit which he used to fight villains. This suit was bulky and heavy, stifling his acrobatic nature so it did not last. Perhaps one of his most famous costume changes was the use of the Venom Symbiote after the Secret Wars. This alien acted as a biological costume giving him biological webbing (before he evolved his own), and enhanced several of his abilities such as his speed, strength, and reaction time. A side effect was that Venom bonded with a host's mind to a degree as well as its body. Peter did not like what he was becoming with the alien influencing his behavior so he got rid of his suit. This suit would go on to bond with Eddie Brock to become one of spider-man's greatest villains. Spider-Man has gone through the most costume changes of any comic superhero. Although most of the costume changes were due to alternate realities, some had actual abilities. This is a more in-depth look at the chronology of his suits.

The different incarnations of Spider-Man

During the Civil War Tony Stark gave Spider-Man an "Iron Spidey" suit which augmented several of Peter's abilities with some similar to Iron Man's. First of all the suit was composed of nano-robots which allowed him to retract it through his skin at will. It was also capable of chameleon-like shifts in appearance to look like any suit Peter thought of including his classic look, and the black suit look. The suit had extra spider-like appendages each of which had immense strength which could be produced and retracted through the back of his suit. He was also given an on-screen readout which produces information on opponents and situations real-time, and could glide on a set of wings it had under the arms. Finally, the suit was highly durable, able to withstand even bullets. This suit also did not last because it was used for Tony to spy on Peter, and when Peter turned on Tony by favoring Captain America's side in the Civil War, Tony used special mechanisms in the suit to incapacitate Peter.

The Original Red and Blue

Blue & Red

The red and blue costume is the original costume that Spider-Man debuted in, in Amazing Fantasy #15. The red and blue costume has lasted for over forty years in Spider-Man history. It was also originally red and black with blue shading to make the character look deeper. It also originally had the webbing under his armpits but it extended all the way to his wrists. Readers could also see the lines that showed Peter wore his civilian clothing underneath his Spider-Man costume. As Spider-Man gained different artists the webbing under his armpits kept shrinking until artist began to only draw it if they want it. The colors also eventually changed to red and blue with black shading to give the character depth. When Peter began using the symbiote costume, he basically put his red and blue costume away until he discovered the symbiote was a life organism. He returns to his original red and blue costume and used it for a long time. During the clone saga, when Ben was given the Spider-Man mantle, he revamped the blue and red costume to have a bigger spider symbol with the web-shooters on the outside of his costume. Eventually Peter would re-take the mantle and return with the original red and blue costume except without webs underneath the armpits.

Black (Symbiote Suit)

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, December 1984

During the Secret Wars, an omnipotent being that became known as the Beyonder transported several Heroes and Villains to a world he constructed. He wanted to witness the traits of good versus evil. He promised to give the winners whatever they wished for. After a battle, Spider-Man attempted to gain a new costume from a machine Reed Richards, the ability to appear as different clothing and produce its own webbing. Mr. Fantastic, had discovered. The result was an alien symbiote. It granted additional strength and protection. Upon returning to Earth, Spider-Man discovered that his new costume was in fact a living creature. It had been taking over Peter's sleeping body during the night and swinging through the city on its own. Spider-Man went to the >Fantastic Four's headquarters to seek Reed Richards advice. They managed to separate the costume from Spider-Man, which lead to the Human Torch's attempt to further humiliate Spider-Man by forcing him to leave in the Amazing Bag-Man costume. Spider-Man continued fighting crime in a Black costume that was made sewn. When the Symbiote escaped, it sought out Spider-Man. It changed its appearance as an unsuspecting Peter put it on to go out. Spider-Man was now in a battle swinging over the city as the Symbiote wanted to bond permanently with him. Spider-Man knew that sonics and loud noise was the alien's weakness so he headed for a church bell tower. The loud ringing was enough to drive the suit away but also caused Peter to pass out. In what appeared to be its dying moments, the Symbiote dragged Peter's unconscious body safely away. Meanwhile in the church was a down-ridden Eddie Brock. Having lost his job and reputation due to an event involving Spider-Man, Brock was contemplating suicide. He was at the church, asking for forgiveness when the Symbiote detected his hatred for Spider-Man. The two soon merged and became Venom.

Amazing "Bag-man"!?

Fantastic Four costume

Peter briefly wore the costume of the Fantastic Four with a paper bag to cover his identity. This happened right after Reed Richards discovers that the symbiote costume as an alien life-form, they took it off and Peter had no costume to hide his identity. Johnny Storm decides to let him use one of the Fantastic Four costumes and he decides to use a paper bag to cover his face to temporarily fight crime until he gets another costume.

Captain Universe

The Uni-Power bestow the Enigma Force on an individual to become Captain Universe. In the Acts of Vengeance storyline, Spider-Man became Captain Universe to fight Loki's creation, the Tri-Sentinel and again, with the help of Nova, finally destroying the robot. The Enigma Force boost Spider-Man base powers to astronomical levels, his spider-sense was increase to the point that the sensation has become painful, fire concussive blast from his hands, and manipulate the form of his webbing.

Daredevil's costume

Spider-Man once wore a costume of Daredevil to the public to prove that Matt Murdock (Daredevil's alter ego) and Daredevil are to different people.

Negative Zone

In one occasion, Spider-Man entered The Negative Zone to rescue three children trapped there. When he entered, his normal red-and-blue costume changed to a black-and gray colored one. The place where the part of the costume is colored red is now black and the where was the blue colored section is now gray. The webbing outline also disappeared.

Scarlet Spider costume

Scarlet Spider

The Scarlet Spider costume was never worn by Peter Parker, but it was worn by his clone Ben Reilly. Ben obtains this costume when he was forced back into action because “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Ben decides to help people with one of his extra Spider-Man tights but makes a little difference with a sweater he found at the mall that had a giant spider symbol on it. When Ben took the mantle of Spider-Man, he revamped the original costume to have a giant Spider symbol on his chest and used web-shooters on the outside like his Scarlet Spider costume.

Protective wear

Spider-Man wore a short-lived silver colored armor suit. It protected him from low-caliber bullets but it slowed his agility because of its weight. It was later destroyed by acid. Spider-Man also wore a electricity-insulated costume in a battle against Electro made out of rubber air mattress.

Identity Crisis costumes

Spider-Man had to change his costume again when the Identity Crisis story arc was happening, Norman Osborn and the Trapster frames Spider-Man of murder. Spider-Man was also caught on tape assaulting Norman Osborn, which resulted in a million dollar reward for his capture. Spider-Man did the only thing he could; he donned a new costume to until he can clear his name of murder. However, Peter realizes that it would be suspicious if Spider-Man disappears and a new hero arrives with the same powers has his, so Peter decides to don four different costumes. Peter used Hornet and Prodigy to fight crime while using Dusk and Ricochet to “pretend” to be criminals while also gaining access to the criminal underworld in order to clear his name. Hornet was one of his costumes which were designed by his wife Mary Jane. It contained weapon gauntlets which were based on the Scarlet Spider’s stingers, and it also contained wings that were controlled through the harness created by the Prowler. The Hornet became very popular with the public and the media, but during a fight with the Vulture, the Vulture figures out that Hornet was really Spider-Man and exposes him. Prodigy was also designed by Mary Jane and it was padded to make Peter look bigger then he originally is. He also wore armor that were bullet proof. His “evil” persona is Ricochet, the costume was also designed by Mary Jane. He wore a jacket with an “R” on his chest, Peter also uses weapons and relies mainly on his agility in this persona. The last persona is Dusk, Peter pretended to be a mercenary with a more serious personality unlike his usual “joker” self. While being Dusk, Peter would eventually team up with the Trapster himself and discover that he was the one that framed him. After Peter was able to clear his name, he abandons all four personas.

Iron Spider-Man

Iron Spider-Man

Recently, Tony Stark (Iron Man) gave Spider-Man a powersuit (image above), enhancing his already formidable strength and agility as well as giving him a cybernetic stinger and a set of retractable spider legs. This suit enhances Spider-Man's abilities with some that Tony Stark enjoys as Iron Man such as tracking technology, vitals monitors, wings that give him the ability to glide, and a bullet-proof exterior. This new suit is also completely comprised of nano-robots allowing him to retract the suit into himself, change its appearance, and control its functionality by thought alone. Unfortunately for Spider-Man his new suit came with some bugs, as in Tony Stark had fail safe devices installed in order to bring Spidey down if need be while he was wearing the new iron suit.

Alternate Universes

Ultimate Spider-Man and his clones

Ultimate Spider-Man (Earth-1610)

Peter Parker is a fifteen year old teenager that attends Midtown High School in Forest Hills, Qu