Hope you were watching, Uncle Ben. 'Cause I did that for you. Kept everyone safe. Kept them from being scared. And I made it fun. It doesn't matter that most of 'em wouldn't have lifted a finger for Peter Parker. That's not why you do it. You do it 'cause it's the right thing to do. Because it's what you would've done. You were more than a father to me, Ben Parker. More than a role model... You were my hero. Now it's my turn. Because from now on, I'm going to be yours! You'll see. I'm going to give it my all! We'll have fun! I'll never quit--and it's going to be amazing!
Sometimes student, sometimes scientist and sometimes photographer, Peter Parker is a full-time super hero better known as the web-slinging and wall-crawling Spider-Man. As an orphaned child, Peter was raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. At a science expo, Peter was bitten by an errant radioactive spider which granted him an array of arachnid-based powers. He initially became Spider-Man to use his powers as an entertainer, growing so conceited he did not bother stopping a passerby burglar. In a twist of fate, the same burglar wound up killing Peter's Uncle Ben, leading him to realize that he needed to use his powers responsibly.[11] From then on, Spider-Man became a crime-fighting vigilante.[142]
Recently, following the rise and fall of his start-up company, Parker Industries,[144] Peter juggled his Spider-Man activities with his return to college, while also becoming the target of torment of a demonic entity known as Kindred.[145] Following Kindred's defeat,[146] Peter was hospitalized for months due to a super-villain fight,[147] paving the way for his clone, Ben Reilly, to reassert himself as Spider-Man. Peter ultimately recovered from his injuries, but also had to come face-to-face against Ben, who had become morally corrupted due to the machinations of his corporate sponsors, the Beyond Corporation.[148]
Eventually, Peter returned to work at Oscorp and accepted the fact that Norman Osborn had reformed, but Kraven the Hunter and the Queen Goblin used a mystical spear to entrap the sins of Norman and turn Norman evil again; when they attempted to attack, Peter came in the way and took the hit, turning him into a villain akin to the Green Goblin. He committed several evil deeds, proving himself to be capable of evil. Norman managed to take the sins back into his body to keep them from influencing Peter.[149] Unfortunately, while he had the sins, he used the Winkler Device on himself to copy-paste the Green Goblin onto his mind so that if someone like the Green Goblin activated it, he would become a Goblin-type super-villain. When this time came, he became the super-villain the "Spider-Goblin" and beat down the Sinister Six mercilessly to obtain the spear. Ben Reilly came and managed to put him back to his senses; afterwards, Peter found the Green Goblin (who re-activated inside of Norman), where the latter revealed his brainwashing was to get the spear so he could transfer the sins over to Peter's body and re-purpose him as his new host. When this happened, the Goblin conspired to corrupt Peter into an evil individual while continuing his evil plans, but after a battle of minds, managed to re-take control and eliminate the Green Goblin forever.[130]
After a battle with Hellgate, Peter was transported to a planet light years away from Earth, causing Norman to take up the mantle of Spider-Man.
Peter Benjamin Parker was born in Queens to CIA agents Richard and Mary Parker,[150] who were killed by the Communist Red Skull and framed for treason during a mission.[151] Following his parents' death, a young Parker was adopted by his uncle and aunt, Ben and May Parker, moving in with them at their residence in Forest Hills, New York. After they adopted him, they became his surrogate parents and raised him as if he were their own son. Over the years of being a teenager, Parker grew to be a prodigy in multiple scholastic subjects at Midtown High School and achieved high honors among his classmates. However, his reserved nature and enthusiasm for knowledge often made him a target for bullying, primarily by football star Eugene "Flash" Thompson.
Peter as a high school student
Becoming Spider-Man[]
When Peter was 15 years old, he attended the public exhibition of a device called the Isotope Genome Accelerator. A spider on the scene was irradiated by the accelerator during its demonstration. In sudden shock, the arachnid landed on the hand of the oblivious student and bit him before dying from the exposure to radiation. Initially malaise by the incident, Peter left the venue. He was almost hit by a car until he instinctively leapt out of the way, clinging to the side of a building a couple of meters high. Peter discovered that he had somehow gained superhuman powers that he immediately associated with the bite at the demonstration: the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, as well as surface scaling, and a precognitive ability to detect and avoid danger that he dubbed his "spider-sense."[11]
The radioactive spider bite
Encountering an ad offering a cash prize for lasting three minutes in the ring with Joseph "Crusher" Hogan, Peter decided this would be a good way to test his powers. Wearing a mask to avoid humiliation in case of defeat, Peter used his powers and easily defeated his opponent. TV producer Maxwell Shiffman observed his performance and convinced him to go on television with his "act." Designing a full costume and fabricating a synthetic spider's webbing and wrist-mounted web-shooters, Peter debuted as "Spider-Man" to become an immediate sensation.
Introducing: Spider-Man!
Following his first TV appearance, Spider-Man witnessed a fleeing robber run past him, and Peter opted against stopping the thief, maintaining that it wasn't his responsibility. Weeks later, Peter returned home one day to learn from the police that his Uncle Ben had been murdered by a burglar. Also learning that the police had the murderer holed up in a warehouse, Peter changed into his Spider-Man costume and cornered the burglar, only to discover that he was the same thief he had allowed to escape days earlier. Filled with remorse and knowing that his inaction had led to tragedy, Peter realized that when someone has the power, they have an obligation to use it responsibly. From this realization of the gravity of events, he decided to become a vigilante super-hero, helping whoever he could.[11]
Taking On Great Responsibility[]
The first problem young Peter faced was the lack of money with the death of his uncle. Due to the fact that his Aunt May was too weak to work, and Peter was seen as fragile, he decided to get a job, even though Aunt May wanted him to become a scientist instead. Peter even thought about using his spider-powers for crime out of desperation, but decided against it after thinking how his aunt would react to him in jail.
Peter's early career as Spider-Man
However, it was seeming impossible to him to find a job in order to pay his growing debts. As Spider-Man, he was not able to continue his career as TV star, because of J. Jonah Jameson, owner of NOW Magazine and the newspaper the Daily Bugle, who started a smear campaign against Spider-Man. Jameson would make statements that he was a bad influence for children and a criminal for taking justice into his own hands, referring to the situation with the burglar. Protests started taking effect and turning the public perception against Spider-Man, eventually causing Spider-Man's manager to leave him, impeding his ability to earn money, even in costume.[107]
With these forced changes of events, Peter searched through the want ads, only to be rejected by all the employers. Not being able to use his super-powers as Spider-Man infuriated Peter, and his fury only intensified after seeing his Aunt May selling her jewelry to try and earn some money. Spider-Man's second heroic action was to save Jameson's astronaut son, John Jameson, from an accident in a deviated space capsule. Spider-Man hitched a ride on a small airplane and boarded the capsule during re-entry. Spider-Man then attached the missing capsule piece, allowing it to land safely. Although he had saved John, Spider-Man was still blamed by Jameson for the accident.
Later, trying to find a way to make some money, he decided to join the super-hero team the Fantastic Four. Spidey intruded into the Baxter Building, battling the Fantastic Four, as a way of showing them his power, but the team refused Spider-Man's entry after explaining to him that they did not get paid for their actions and that they were a family, not an enterprise. Later that day, the Russian criminal and master of disguise known as the Chameleon used Spider-Man's identity to steal defense missile plans. The real Spidey was used by Chameleon as a pawn to escape the scene without problems. After managing to avoid capture by the police, Spider-Man caught Chameleon in a helicopter before he could reach a Soviet submarine and handed him over to the authorities.[107] Peter finally found a way to make money when the Daily Bugle asked for photos of the winged criminal known as the Vulture. Not only did Spider-Man defeat the villain, he also found a way to take photos, which caused Jameson to hire Peter to get him pictures of Spider-Man, under the condition that the publicist would not ask Peter how he took the pictures.[152]
At one point, Aunt May's health got so bad that she suffered a heart attack. Peter heard the news while he and the Human Torch were fighting the Green Goblin, and he was forced to flee in order to get to her quickly. However, this only convinced the public-at-large that Spider-Man was a coward who had fled from a battle.[168] Die-hard Spider-Man fans like Flash Thompson continued to support him, while J. Jonah Jameson ran editions in the Bugle claiming that he himself had scared Spider-Man off. While looking after Aunt May, Spider-Man was forced to escape yet again from the Sandman in order to get home quickly. When he learned that his aunt's health had improved, he vowed to prove the world wrong about him.[169] Meanwhile, a worried Torch tried to look for Spider-Man, but only managed to get captured by the Sandman. Spider-Man rescued him and defeated his enemy, wiping the smirk off of Jameson's face and getting the world to appreciate him again.[170]
Though they got off to a bad start, Peter eventually befriended Harry, Gwen, and even his high school bully Flash Thompson. The Green Goblin came back and discovered Spider-Man's secret identity, kidnapping him and revealing his own alter ego, that of Harry's father, Norman Osborn. In a furious battle, the villain lost all memories of his time as a super villain.[173] During that time, Spider-Man fought new foes such as the Rhino,[174] the Shocker,[175] as well as teaming up with Dr. Strange to defeat the wizard known as Xandu.[176]
Peter shared a room with Brian Braddock while Braddock studied at ESU, quickly figuring out that he was Captain Britain while keeping his own identity as Spider-Man a secret.[177] Peter was instrumental in getting Braddock to take his heroic responsibilities more seriously.[178] The Avengers also tried to make him a member at one point, but Spider-Man declined the offer.[179] Peter finally met Mary Jane Watson,[66] but at that time he was interested in Gwen, so Mary Jane started dating Harry.
After finding an old newspaper clipping that identified his parents as traitors to their country in his aunt's house, Peter decided to learn the full story, traveling to Algeria with the Fantastic Four's aid. He learned that his parents were supposedly spies who worked for the Communist Red Skull and he came across their ID badges for the Skull's organization. Spider-Man also stumbled upon the original NaziRed Skull and his men, who had previously worked for the other Red Skull. In the aftermath, Peter found his father's CIA identification card, proving to Peter that his parents were secret government operatives. With evidence to clear his parents' names, Peter returned to the States.[151]
Some time later, after the return of Kraven the Hunter and battling a second Vulture who then teamed up with Kraven,[180] Peter wondered if he was better off not being Spider-Man and abandoned his alter-ego. Crime rose and a new Kingpin of Crime appeared in New York, abducting J. Jonah Jameson. Peter returned to his heroic identity, and Frederick Foswell, formerly the crime boss the Big Man, sacrificed his life to save Jameson's.[181] The newly-inspired Spider-Man refought many of his previous villains who returned with grudges, including Doctor Octopus, the first Vulture (who ignominiously defeated his imitator once and for all for betraying him), and Mysterio.[182][183] A small fragment of a mystical artifact called the Tablet of Life and Time exhibited in ESU was stolen by the Kingpin; the Tablet passed over many people who tried to get it, including Spider-Man, the Shocker (who was working for the Kingpin at the time) and Man Mountain Marko (who was working for the Maggia). Finally, the Tablet fragment made its way to the Maggia boss Silvermane, who forced Dr. Curt Connors to translate the fragment. Connors managed to create a powerful rejuvenation serum from it. Silvermane drank it and became a young man again, but the serum made Silvermane regress beyond birth. Meanwhile Connors, as the Lizard, escaped, and later was returned to normal by Spider-Man again.[184]
The Death of the Stacys and the Return of the Goblins[]
Soon after, Doctor Octopus managed to get his mechanical arms again and broke free from prison. After Spider-Man thwarted his attempt to hijack a plane, he started attacking the city's main power plant. Although Spider-Man escaped from Octopus, Spider-Man was then taken by surprise by Octopus the next day.[185]
The death of George Stacy
They battled on a rooftop and Captain George Stacy died when saving a child from falling debris from the battle. Before dying, Stacy revealed to Spider-Man that he knew his secret identity and asked him to take care of Gwen.[186] Being accused of Stacy's death, Spider-Man faced some heroes who wanted to take him to the authorities, such as the X-Man the Iceman[187] and the beginner super-hero the Prowler.[188] Peter even went to London to prevent Gwen's departure forever after her father's death.[189]
Six arms!
Things got worse; Harry became addicted to LSD, and Peter, along with Gwen and Mary Jane, took care of him. This familial stress caused Norman Osborn's Green Goblin persona to return, and he once again battled Spider-Man. During the battle, Norman was exposed to his son's declining condition in the hospital. This severed the control of the Green Goblin persona over Norman and caused Norman to have amnesia again.[190] With his secret identity making his life impossible, Peter tried to give up being Spider-Man and created a serum meant to eliminate his spider-powers that instead made him grow four extra arms.[191] With the help of Curt Connors he found a cure, fighting a new enemy, Morbius the Living Vampire, and Connors' alter ego the Lizard in the process.[192]
The Night Gwen Stacy Died
Norman Osborn's alter ego resurfaced again and the Green Goblin kidnapped Gwen Stacy. Spider-Man found them at the Brooklyn Bridge, where they fought, and Gwen fell from the bridge. She died when Spider-Man reached her with a web-line, breaking her neck while she was in a state of shock.[143] Meanwhile, the Goblin escaped. A furious Peter searched, found, and battled him again. In this battle Norman was impaled in the chest with his own Goblin Glider, apparently killing himself. Peter was extremely distraught over the death of Gwen, possibly even more so than when Uncle Ben died. An equally traumatized Mary Jane tried to comfort Peter after Gwen's death; she was initially brushed off, but they eventually got closer.[193]
After being accused of the death of both of the Stacys, and attending Gwen's funeral as Peter, Spider-Man was confronted by heroes such as Luke Cage[194] and the Punisher.[195] During this time, his roommate Harry began acting erratically around Peter, to the point of not paying their rent. A broke Peter was convinced by two members of an advertisting agency offering him money to construct and drive a gaudy car entitled the Spider-Mobile[196] (though despite getting help from his super-hero friend Johnny Storm to build it,[197][198] Peter accidentally destroyed the car later[199][200]). It was eventually discovered Harry had discerned Spider-Man's secret identity and wanted revenge for his father's death, and donning the Green Goblin costume he blew up their shared apartment and kidnapped Peter's closest friends and relatives, resulting in a climatic battle in which Spider-Man defeated Harry.[201] Harry was sent to a mental hospital while Peter found a new apartment.[202]
The Original Clone Saga[]
Peter later had to go on a work trip with Robbie Robertson, and he and Mary Jane shared their first kiss at the airport.[203] After returning from the trip to France, Peter found an alive Gwen Stacy, but could not bear to rekindle their relationship because of his kiss with MJ.
"Even if I live... I die!"
With the help of Ned Leeds, Spider-Man found out that this Gwen was a clone created by the Jackal, who, after defeating Spider-Man with the help of the Tarantula, was revealed to be Peter's science teacher, Professor Miles Warren.[204] After kidnapping Leeds and Spider-Man, Warren explained to the hero that he had loved Gwen and blamed Spider-Man for her death. After managing to clone a frog, he used a blood sample from Gwen to clone her. Later, Spider-Man was left unconscious in a stadium, where he battled a clone of himself to save Ned from a bomb.
Gwen's clone made the Jackal realize that everything was wrong, so he freed Ned and the bomb exploded, apparently killing both the Jackal and the Spider-Man clone. Spider-Man took the corpse of his clone and dumped it into an industrial chimney,[205] while the clone of Gwen Stacy left New York.[206] Unsure whether he was the real Peter Parker or the clone, he had Curt Connors run tests on him. However, he never checked the results, being convinced by his emotions for Mary Jane that he must be the original.[207]
New Friends and a Complicated Love Life[]
Over the next few months, Peter's friend group began shifting. Peter attended a party for Betty Brant and Ned Leeds' engagement[208] and ultimately was best man at their wedding, after which they moved out of the country.[209] Peter buried the hatchet and became close friends with Flash Thompson following Harry's admission to the mental institution, and when Harry was released, he re-joined Peter, Mary Jane, and Flash's friend group, along with their newly-reappeared high school counterpart Liz Allan and Peter's neighbor at his new apartment, Glory Grant[210] (with Glory also filling Betty Brant's job as secretary of the Daily Bugle). Peter's Aunt May became very politically active during this time, advocating for the rights of the elderly.[211] Throughout all of this in his life as Spider-Man, Peter found himself facing battles with many foes from his past, including the reappearances of the Man-Wolf,[212][213] the Enforcers (both after the apparent death of the first Ox[214][215] and with the first appearance of the second Ox (the first Ox's identical twin brother)),[216] the Shocker,[217] the Sandman,[215][218] both Doctor Octopus and Hammerhead,[219] the Tinkerer,[200] the Kingpin,[220] both the Tarantula and Kraven the Hunter,[221] both Stegron the Dinosaur Man and the Lizard,[222], the Vulture,[223] Morbius the Living Vampire,[224] and the Molten Man,[225][226] though he encountered some new villains for the first time as well, including the Mirage, [209]Jigsaw,[227]Lightmaster,[228] the Hitman,[229] the Will O' The Wisp,[230] and Doctor Faustus.[231] In addition to villains both old and new, Spider-Man also battled opponents who he eventually came to see as allies, such as Nightcrawler,[232]Nova,[233][234] and the White Tiger.[235]
Peter proposed marriage to Mary Jane but she did not accept, breaking up their relationship for a time.[238] Instead, Betty Brant made a surprise return to Peter's life, having run away from her husband Ned in Paris, and a conflicted Peter began spending more time seeing Betty while still occasionally trying to rekindle moments with Mary Jane.[243] To complicate matters even further, Peter tried dating Cissy Ironwood[citation needed] and encountered a new amorous villainess named the Black Cat, who had created her own romantic shrine dedicated to the Wall-Crawler.[244] Peter eventually quit seeing Cissy and was intentionally harsh to Betty in an attempt to drive her away and back to Ned.[245]
During this time Peter graduated from university (though he was required to take extra summer courses to make up for a missing gym class credit)[246] and subsequently began teaching at ESU as a student professor while starting his graduate degree program. Through his biochemistry graduate program, Peter met a new group of friends and began spending more time with them than his traditional group of friends.[247] For the first time in his career, Spider-Man's name was cleared by the police.[248] A scheme of revenge devised by Spider-Slayer creator Spencer Smythe on his deathbed led to Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson being handcuffed together with a time bomb, and the two were forced to confront their feelings about each other under extreme pressure,[249] ultimately leading to a nervous breakdown for Jameson in which he fired longtime employees Parker and Robbie Robertson and then left the Daily Bugle himself.[250] Peter began taking pictures as a staff photographer for the Bugle's competitor the Daily Globe instead.[251]
Spider-Man teamed up with the Angel in California to stop a villain after the superhero team the Champions broke up[252] and with Daredevil to fight a returned villain from their shared past, the Masked Marauder, who gave Peter temporary blindness.[253] Through a plot by Mysterio, Peter and his friends thought that Aunt May had died, but the ruse ultimately resulted in Spider-Man re-encountering the Burglar who had killed Uncle Ben years before. The Burglar died of fear upon discovering an enraged Peter Parker was Spider-Man himself after Peter unmasked in front of him while fighting him.[254]
When the Beyonder kidnapped Earth's heroes to fight in his "Secret Wars",[255] Peter Parker was with them. After his costume got damaged, Parker used an unfamiliar piece of technology to fix it.
Spider-Man's black symbiote costume
However, his costume was replaced by an alien "symbiote" which shaped itself into a black costume. Parker, unaware that he was wearing an alien as a costume, used it as his regular costume. The symbiote was also able to create its own webbing and change its appearance to look like regular clothes.[256]
The Alien Costume Saga[]
Once the Secret Wars came to an end, Parker returned to Earth along with the other abducted superhumans and continued to use the black suit.[257] He eventually noticed the costume behaved strangely, so he sought help from the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic, who discovered that the suit was a living organism.
He helped remove the costume by force and kept it at the Fantastic Four's headquarters in captivity.[258] The symbiote would later escape, plaguing the life of Parker again and ultimately merging with one of Spider-Man's critics, Eddie Brock, creating the villain Venom. In a climactic fight, Spider-Man defeated this new foe.[259]
Improving Life[]
As Spider-Man, Parker has met and fought alongside nearly every super-hero in Manhattan, if not the world. Although he fought alongside the Avengers many times,[167] he unsuccessfully (at that time) tried to join their number when he learned of the financial stipend their members received. Parker helped them stop an invasion and subsequent breakout of the energy research and villain internment facility, Project Pegasus.
Spider-Man vs. Venom
However, Spider-Man was deemed to be too disruptive to the team's cohesiveness -"perhaps due to either his loner nature, lack of experience, or annoying sense of humor"- and was denied membership, although Spider-Man later met the international mercenary Silver Sable and would often be working on her behalf.[260] Soon after a fight with a Spider-Slayer,[261] Peter and Mary Jane married.[262] Spider-Man later defeated Venom in battle again. Peter's old friend Harry Osborn leased the couple a loft in the condo that Harry and his family were also living in. Mary Jane's cousin, Kristy, also temporarily moved in with the Parkers at one point.[263] Eventually, however, the Parkers had to move into a room in Aunt May's house due to financial problems.[264]
At this time, Spider-Man once again allied with the Avengers to stop the alien Nebula from destroying reality with her Infinity Union. An increasingly unnerved Spider-Man, unaccustomed to dealing with cosmic-scale menaces, accidentally allowed Nebula to absorb the power of the Infinity Union, although the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the cosmic being the Stranger thwarted her regardless. Parker was told again that Spider-Man might not be suited for Avengers membership, although later he was inducted into the team on a provisional basis.[265]
Parker later returned to his studies and postgraduate work as a lab assistant at Empire State University.[266] During this time, Parker was briefly endowed with the powers of Captain Universe and the Enigma Force in order to stop a series of robots, including the mutant-killing Tri-Sentinel. Once the menace was defeated, the new powers he had gained left him.[267]
After being defeated once again, Kraven the Hunter's remaining sanity was destroyed. He hatched a scheme to finally defeat Spider-Man. While Spider-Man swung around the city, Kraven hit him with a tranquilizer dart. Spider-Man started hallucinating and Kraven knocked him down and captured him in a net. He then shot Spider-Man with a rifle, apparently killing him.
Kraven becoming the Spider
In reality, his drugs kept him completely immobile, so that Kraven could bury him alive. Kraven then donned a copy of Spider-Man's costume and called himself "the Spider;" trying to become a better Spider-Man than Peter. He ended up brutally attacking and beating criminals, ultimately sending 15 men to the hospital and killing one. The Spider confronted Vermin the Man-Rat, who had resurfaced and killed various people, in the sewers. During the ensuing fight, the Spider overpowered Vermin and captured him.
After two weeks, Kraven's drug eventually wore off and Spider-Man emerged from his grave. He learned from a newspaper that someone had been impersonating him for two weeks. He reunited with Mary Jane at their apartment before going to confront Kraven. However, he refused to fight, saying that by "killing" and impersonating him, he had proven his superiority. Kraven led Spider-Man to a caged Vermin and released him, goading Vermin into attacking Spider-Man. At first Spider-Man fought back, but then backed off, refusing to play Kraven's game. Vermin overwhelmed him and fled, with Spider-Man following him. Having finished his greatest hunt, Kraven left a confession saying that he had impersonated Spider-Man for the past two weeks and then committed suicide with a hunting rifle. Spider-Man took down Vermin and handed him over to the police, who found Kraven's confession.[268][269][270]
The Clone Saga[]
Aunt May supposedly suffered a debilitating heart attack. This also led to the Parkers meeting Ben Reilly, a clone of himself whom Peter had thought to be dead years earlier. Reilly created a similar spider-costume, was dubbed the Scarlet Spider by the Daily Bugle, and helped Spider-Man in his adventures. Just before their meeting, Mary Jane became pregnant, and the apparent revelation shortly afterwards that Ben was the original Peter Parker and Peter the clone prompted Peter to retire from Spider-Man and relocate to Portland, Oregon.
"Peter! I'm really Gwen... aren't I?"
After a crisis in Portland resulted in minor damage to Peter's cellular structure that prevented him from accessing his powers, Peter chose to accept retirement and focus on his new family. Back in New York, Reilly eventually assumed the identity of Spider-Man himself, since the second villain by the name of Doctor Octopus tarnished the reputation of the Scarlet Spider. After a few months in Portland, Peter and Mary Jane returned to New York, with Peter's powers returning after a strange illness was revealed to be his body "resetting" itself, although his powers were unpredictable for a while and prone to cutting out at inopportune moments.
As Peter's powers returned, however, he and Ben began to contemplate the possibility of both of them acting as Spider-Man after the recent war against Onslaught resulted in the loss of the Fantastic Four and so many of the Avengers. This plan was cut short when Mary Jane was rushed to the hospital while giving birth due to an unexpected medical emergency, later revealed to have been staged by Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin; Osborn had survived his apparent death due to an unexpected increased healing factor as part of his powers that no one had known about before.
Having stolen the body of Parker's baby, the Goblin revealed that he had manipulated the tests that confirmed that Peter was the clone and Ben the original with the goal of destroying Peter's life, angered when Peter had managed to move past that revelation to make a new life for himself. During the subsequent confrontation, Ben Reilly jumped in front of the Goblin's Goblin Glider when he sent it flying towards Peter, sacrificing himself to save Peter. Reilly's body disintegrated after his death, finally convincing Peter that he was the original. Due to this "revelation" and the fact that his daughter had died, Peter once again became Spider-Man.[271][272][273][274][275]
The Final Chapter[]
After many more months of adventuring, Norman Osborn returned to take control of the Daily Bugle, providing faked evidence that he had never been the Green Goblin and discrediting all contradicting sources. He angered Peter, which caused Spider-Man to brutally beat Norman, which was all caught on a hidden camera in his house.
Spider-Man with Mary Jane Watson and his enemies
With the staged confrontation and the apparent murder of a small-time criminal using what appeared to be Spider-Man's webbing, Osborn was able to create the fake impression that Spider-Man was a straightforward criminal, and increased pressure was placed on capturing him. In order to continue his crime-fighting career and investigate the fraudulent claims, Parker relinquished his Spider-Man identity while creating four unique and separate ones: Dusk, the Hornet, the Prodigy, and Ricochet.
As Dusk, Parker was able to investigate the Trapster - the only villain capable of creating a convincing duplicate of his webbing - and convince him to confess to the crime to hurt Osborn and publicly exonerate Spider-Man of the murder charge. He also used the Prodigy identity to present fake evidence that someone else had attacked Osborn dressed as Spider-Man, at which point he resumed his Spider-Man identity.[276][277][278][279] Later, the Golden Age hero the Black Marvel acquired the four costumes and gave them to four teenagers, forming a team that he named the Slingers.[280]
When the Avengers were attempting to reform their number after disbanding for a year after the crisis known as Onslaught, Spider-Man was contacted due to his past affiliation with them. However, by his own choice, Parker decided to dissolve ties with the Avengers.[281] Aunt May was later discovered to still be alive; the woman who seemingly died was in actuality a genetically modified actress. Parker, Mary Jane, and Aunt May moved to an apartment in Manhattan.[282][283][284]
Peter had promised Mary Jane to give up his Spider-Man identity, but he would continually sneak out at night as Spider-Man. Their marriage began to strain, in part because of Mary Jane's new modeling career and in part because she had discovered Peter's secret long ago. Before they could reconcile, however, Mary Jane was supposedly killed when her airplane exploded.[285] For a long time, Peter refused to believe her dead, but eventually grew to accept it. Peter discovered Mary Jane was alive, captured by a villain who had been stalking her prior to her airplane flight.[286] After a brief reconciliation, Mary Jane requested to leave Peter once more, saying that she needed time to adjust by herself.[287]
Totemic Adventures[]
Peter soon took a job as a teacher at his somewhat beloved Midtown High. After getting this job, he encountered a strange man named Ezekiel Sims, who possessed powers very similar to his and presented Peter with the possibility that his powers had been bestowed on him by mystical forces, effectively making Peter a "totem" that connected the animal and human realms.[288]
Spider-Man and Ezekiel
Peter soon encountered villains linked to him through his newfound nature as a Spider-Totem. The first of them was Morlun, who almost beat Spider-Man to death, and seemingly met his end after Peter injected himself with a lethal dose of radiation, which hurt Morlun whenever they made contact and weakened him enough for his servant, Dex, to take the opportunity to shoot him down. Following the exhausting encounter with Morlun, Peter let his guard down, allowing Aunt May to discover his secret identity when she entered his apartment and found him sleeping with his tattered costume on the floor.[289] After May came to grips with the fact that her nephew was Spider-Man, their relationship grew stronger than ever.[290] Mary Jane Watson also returned to Peter's life, and both lovers reunited for good.[287]
After defeating Shathra, a predator who originated from the Astral Plane,[291] Spider-Man was warned by Ezekiel about the coming of the Gatekeeper, a mystical being who allegedly saw Peter unworthy of his powers and wanted to kill him.[292] During an ensuing confrontation against Spider-Man, the Gatekeeper revealed to him the truth. Peter was chosen to become a Spider-Totem due to his nature, a prey to bullying during his teenage years whose reserving anger made him the perfect candidate to become a hunter, one who would never give in to submission again. Through visions imparted by the Gatekeeper, Peter also discovered that Ezekiel was the one Spider-Totem deemed unworthy, due to having searched for the source of the power instead of having it bestowed upon him, and that the predators that confronted Peter were actually meant for Ezekiel.[293]
As Peter was recovering from the encounter with the Gatekeeper, Ezekiel brought him to the temple where he had obtained his powers in South America and planned to use him in a sacrificial ritual to maintain his abilities. The ritual linked Peter's mind with Ezekiel's and made him realize that he had wasted his gifts, unlike Peter. When a spider monster emerged to kill Peter, Ezekiel gave his life to save him. A shaman named Miguel who had previously helped Ezekiel buried his body. When Peter asked him whether his powers came from science or magic, Miguel told him that one explanation did not necessarily contradict the other.[294]
The Queen and the Other[]
Changes came to Spider-Man's very own physical nature when he confronted a new villain known as the Queen, who invaded New York and used her powers to take control over the citizens who possessed the vestige of an insect gene. As a consequence of a mutation caused by the Queen during a confrontation against her, Peter's body began to slowly transform into that of a giant spider which fell prey to the Queen's mind control.
The Queen killing Spider-Man
The Queen planned to use Peter's mutated body to breed, but it seemingly died due to complications arising from the transformation. From the husk of his monstrous form, Peter emerged alive and well, having gained the ability to produce organic webbing, in addition to augmented strength and an augmented spider-sense. During a subsequent fight against the Queen, Spider-Man disarmed a bomb she planned to detonate, and she was seemingly killed when S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked her subterranean base.[295]
Months following the disbandment of the Avengers, Peter joined forces with a fortuitous group of heroes present in the Raft Superhuman Security Prison to help contain escaping inmates following a massive breakout. Once the situation was contained, the group remained together and became the New Avengers, without the government involvement and financial burdens common to the Avengers' history.[296]
Peter becoming something "else"
He started trusting his fellow teammates to the point of revealing his secret identity to them. He also started working for Tony Stark at Stark Industries. Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane subsequently moved to the team's headquarters in the Avengers Tower after both Peter and Aunt May's places were destroyed by a mutated former classmate of his named Charlie Weiderman.[297]
Shortly after joining the New Avengers, Peter discovered that his powers were weakening for some reason. Knowing the situation was hopeless, Morlun got into a fight with him and brutally defeated him, even ripping his left eye out and eating it. The bloodied Spider-Man was rushed to the hospital with extreme wounds. Morlun attacked him there again. MJ attempted to stop him, but Morlun threw her across the room and broke her arm. However, Peter woke up and his savage, animalistic spider-side took over, developing sharp teeth and venomous stingers in his wrists. He killed Morlun in front of Mary Jane, succumbing to his injuries and dying afterward. Iron Man took away Peter's body, but as the New Avengers mourned over his presumed death in another room, Spider-Man's body disappeared, leaving behind a shed skin. It turned out that his body had briefly sprung to life and formed a cocoon underneath the George Washington Bridge. In the cocoon, a voice told Peter he never understood what he was and is too scared to truly be a "Spider-Man," only focusing on his human part and not his spider part.
Morlun managed to kill the human, but the spider survived and killed Morlun to save them both. It told him that he would only be reborn if he accepted both parts, asking him: "Are you the man who dreamed of being a spider? Or the spider who dreamed of being a man? Are you the one...or are you the other?" Peter agreed and was resurrected with a new and completely healed body, as well as augmented spider-powers. He went to Avengers Tower and reunited with MJ and Aunt May. Shortly afterward, he encountered a being made of thousands of pirate spiders that ate his old body called Ero, who claimed that they are both parts of the same whole, that cosmic forces are vying for control of his life and that "she" is his opposite. She told him that a spider-deity known as the Great Weaver had thought that his death was premature and revived him, but that others disagreed and were being pulled in different directions as a result.
Stating that she had come to kill him and restore the natural order, after a brief fight "she" was defeated and escaped. Changes resulting from the confrontation with Morlun and the shedding of his skin caused Peter to try and reconcile "the man and the spider" within himself. While saving everyone inside a collapsing building, he discovered that he had gained greater speed; two venomous razor-sharp stingers located within his arms; night vision; increased sensory awareness via vibratory patterns transmitted through the hairs on his body and through his web lines; a greater clinging ability; and equal superhuman strength in order to carry heavy objects on his back.[298][299][300]
Despite misgivings and with the support of his family, Peter initially sided with his mentor Iron Man in support of super-hero registration, after being unsure initially, as he felt that heroes needed to get public support for their actions. Many of the heroes on that side had public identities, with him being the only major supporter without one following Iron Man's unmasking; Iron Man also said it was a positive thing to unmask if they were to gain support.
"Any questions?": Peter publicly unmasks
He planned to liquidate his assets and flee the country in case his unmasking caused any problems, but his family suggested against it, believing that Peter needed to get recognition for his actions. With Iron Man at his side, at a live press conference in Washington, D.C., Peter unmasked and said: "My name is Peter Parker, and I have been Spider-Man since I was 15 years old." His siding with the pro-registration heroes also saw him gaining the "Iron Spider" armor, which Stark had been building since Peter's death and resurrection.[301]
Reaction to the unmasking was diverse. Among the negative supporters were Jameson, who fainted upon watching the broadcast and came to "disown" Peter, having seen him as a son over the years;[302]Deb Whitman, who wrote and published a scathing memoir titled Two-Faced: How Spider-Man Ruined My Life, albeit under duress from Jameson;[303] the Black Cat, who briefly went berserk for being left out of the loop, though she and Peter managed to work it out; Liz Allan, who blamed Peter for causing so much suffering in her life; and the Molten Man, who joined the Chameleon in order to avenge the grief and misery heaped upon his step-sister.[304] Besides Mary Jane and Aunt May, Peter had others who were more understanding and stood up for him, such as Betty Brant and Flash Thompson.[305]
Spider-Man in the Iron Spider Armor
However, fighting against the fugitive heroes and the existence of the Thor clone and a prison for the unregistered in the Negative Zone created by Iron Man left a poor taste in his mouth, and he even found out that Iron Man was tracking him with the Iron Spider Armor. This caused him to get Aunt May and MJ out of the Tower and into hiding.[306][307] He confronted Stark, who quickly overrode his armor; however, Peter then overrode Stark's command and escaped.[308] In retaliation, Maria Hill sent the pro-registration Thunderbolts, a group of registered and reformed villains, after him.[309]
While running through the sewers, he was attacked by the Jester and Jack O'Lantern. They beat up Spider-Man, but before they could capture him, the Punisher killed them and brought Spider-Man to the Secret Avengers' headquarters.[310] After joining the team and reuniting with his wife and aunt, Spider-Man interrupted a news broadcast, announcing his mistake of registering and giving both his allegiance to the anti-registered heroes and a description of the Negative Zone prison.
Spider-Man was one of the few heroes who did not accept the general amnesty after the arrest and death of Captain America, continuing to work with the underground New Avengers.[311][98] Peter took Cap's death hard, even blaming himself for it despite not being present at the shooting. After an encounter with the Rhino and receiving condolences from Wolverine, Spider-Man watched Captain America's funeral on TV with the New Avengers; when the team discussed why they did not go, he said that they could not risk getting arrested by Tony Stark on the spot.[312]
Back in Black[]
Peter's now-public identity allowed the Kingpin to put a hit on Parker's family. His sniper shot at him at his apartment. Peter saved Mary Jane, but the bullet hit Aunt May.[311] He took his aunt to a hospital, where she fell into a coma.
Back in Black
Tracking the sniper's gun to a warehouse full of arms dealers, Spider-Man viciously beat up every one of them and got the names of the dealers who trafficked the guns. Peter donned a cloth version of his black suit to find those who were responsible for hurting his family. Getting the sniper's name from the gun dealers, he tracked him down and beat him up, but he was killed by another assassin. He found the gunman talking to Fisk on his cell phone. Peter took him to a sewer pipe, beat him up, and told him to tell everyone to stay away from his family. He arrived at Ryker's Island during a prison riot that was led by the Kingpin and confronted him. Spider-Man savagely beat up the crime-lord and taunted him on his lack of real powers.
Spider-Man told Fisk that after his aunt died, he would kill him; he then threatened the other inmates with a slow and painful death if they ever harmed his family before leaving the prison.[313] Spider-Man also confronted Ero, who had been posing as a nurse in Midtown High, "Miss Arrow", and captured Flash Thompson to use him to hatch her eggs. They began to fight using their stingers, but Ero managed to hit him in the shoulder, paralyzing him. She decided to place her eggs inside of him instead of Flash. Spider-Man was saved by Betty Brant, who shot the egg sac with a shotgun. Ero tried to escape, but Spider-Man lured her into an aviary, where she was devoured by hundreds of birds. Spider-Man then stepped on the last spider remaining, killing it.[314]
Realizing that he could not afford his identity to be public knowledge, Peter agreed to aid the Scarlet Spiders in return for their help in re-establishing his secret identity. Telling the media that Parker was part of their team but was discharged and drawing confusion as to if Parker was the first and only Spider-Man.[315] Towards the end of his search, Peter even had an encounter with the One Above All, who asked Peter to let his aunt go, saying that death is a natural part of life.[316]
Peter grew increasingly desperate to save the life of his Aunt May. He sought the help of Doctor Strange, finding that even magic could not help him save Aunt May's life. After appealing to Tony Stark, Jarvis was sent with 2 million dollars to pay the hospital fees and give her the best care possible.
The missing piece of Peter and Mary Jane's life
At one point, Eddie Brock was found in Aunt May's room; where he attempted to commit suicide by jumping out of the window. The inter-dimensional demonMephisto offered to save Aunt May in exchange for Peter and MJ's marriage. As part of Mephisto's deal, everyone would forget Peter's identity as Spider-Man. Because of this decision, the daughter they would have had never existed.[317] Then, Mephisto re-arranged history to make it so that Peter unwittingly would not show up to his wedding day, but stayed with Mary Jane as a long-time couple. But this re-arrangement also caused it to be Doctor Strange who erased people's memories about Parker's secret identity (except Mary Jane and some others) and protected Peter with a "psychic blindspot," preventing people from being able to consciously deduce that Peter Parker and Spider-Man were the same people unless anyone actually, physically saw him take his mask off.
Spider-Man starting a Brand New Day
But Mary Jane was bitterly hurt from having knowledge of a time of great emotional pain that no one else on the planet remembered. She and Peter agreed that they were still in love with each other, but they had to accept that their relationship put everyone they cared about in danger and that it was best for them to remain as friends.[318] Back from years in a European rehab center was Harry Osborn.[317] While searching for a job, Peter joined the Daily Bugle again, which was now bought out by Dexter Bennett, and began to work as a paparazzi reporter, which was something that neither his Aunt May nor Harry approved of.[319]
However, after his photographs of the celebrity Bobby Carr resulted in the deaths of women by a crazed super-villain stalker who was obsessed with him, Peter decided to destroy the new photos he took, resulting in Bennett firing him.[320] Peter soon learned that Bennett had blacklisted him to nearly every news source in town, preventing Peter from finding work. However, Harry suggested that Peter find a job at a news source that was Bennett's enemy, which he did by joining the Front Line, as it was not under Bennett's influence.[321]
Dark Reign and the American Son[]
After the Skrull invasion, Norman Osborn, who had killed the Skrull Queen who posed as Spider-Woman in the final battle, was given Stark's position as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Initiative. He donned a altered Iron Man armor with Captain America's color set and became known as the "Iron Patriot."
Spider-Man fighting Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers
He dissolved S.H.I.E.L.D. and created H.A.M.M.E.R. and his personal "Avengers," composed mainly of super-villains who had served in the Thunderbolts posing as heroes. Since Osborn had transformed Venom into a more Spider-Man-like appearance to join his Dark Avengers,[322] Peter had to reveal his secret identity to the New Avengers in order to implicitly earn the team's trust. Upon doing so, Jessica Jones fled the place, as she had gone to high school with Peter and had had a crush on him at the time.[323]
During a trip to the Macroverse, Spider-Man re-revealed to the Fantastic Four his secret identity and, after coming back, he discovered two months had passed in standard time. Jameson had become the new Mayor of New York, Aunt May and Jameson's father, Jay, were in a relationship, Harry had taken to drink and Michele Gonzales had moved into his apartment. Then, Spider-Man knew he must act against Norman Osborn and his Dark Reign.[324] With the help of the FF's Unstable Molecules, Spider-Man infiltrated Osborn's Avengers as Venom and discovered how Osborn wanted to make his son a new hero called the American Son and have him killed in action in order to increase his Dark Avengers' popularity. After Spider-Man was captured by Norman Osborn, Harry confronted his father, using the American Son Armor, with the truth about his father's relationship with Lily Hollister (Harry's girlfriend). Spider-Man prevented Harry from killing Norman.[325]
The Grim Hunt[]
After the wedding of Aunt May and Jay, Jameson's father, Spider-Man saved Jameson from Doctor Octopus with the help of the Human Torch.[150] Around this time Mary Jane returned to New York, and Peter renewed his relationship with the Black Cat.[326] He later battled a man who wanted to kill Ben Reilly and saw the return of Peter's living clone, Kaine. Despite his problems, Spider-Man helped the original Jackpot start fighting crime[327] and overcame the corrupting control of Mister Negative's energy.[328]
Peter with his old flames
The Kravinoff family started a vengeance scheme against Spider-Man, kidnapping Madame Web and Mattie Franklin, one of the Spider-Women.[329] In addition, Spider-Man managed to get a videotape of Osborn practicing illegal experiments in order to damage his reputation and leaked it to the public.[330] Later, Spider-Man faced re-powered villains such as Electro, who destroyed the DB! Building;[331] the Sandman, who became obsessed with taking care of his "daughter", Keemia;[332] the Rhino, who left reformation in order to kill a new Rhino who had murdered his wife;[333] Mysterio, starting a gang war;[334] a fourth Vulture who tried to kill Jameson;[335] and the Lizard, who evolved and "killed" both his alter ego and his son, Billy.[336]
Many of them were helped by Kraven's wife, Sasha, who wanted revenge on Spider-Man, arranging most of these attacks so that Peter would be a potent sacrifice.[337] The Kravinoffs killed Mattie Franklin to resurrect the Grim Hunter, and finally hunted Spider-Man and killed him to resurrect Kraven the Hunter. However, it was revealed that the corpse was Kaine's, who had earlier knocked out Peter and switched places to save him. After a battle with the Kravinoff family, Madame Web died, and Julia Carpenter took up her identity. The surviving Kravinoffs left New York. Later, Kaine was resurrected from his grave and mutated into a more spider-like creature by the Jackal.[338]
Big Time[]
After Osborn's fall and the Registration Act's abolition following the Siege of Asgard, Mary Jane invited Peter over so that the two of them could gain closure over the marriage that did not happen and the break-up.[339]
The world of Spider-Man
Later, a massive war ensued between Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man to get Lily Hollister and Norman Osborn's son. Spidey found that the child was actually Harry's,[340] who later left town to raise him. Peter then finally started a relationship with Police Officer Carlie Cooper.[341]
Spider-Man, the Wraith, and Anti-Venom vs. Mister Negative's henchman
Spider-Man's heroic career rose up again; he joined the reassembled Avengers and also stayed with the New Avengers, who were outlaws no more. He learned that Michele was moving, and he could not maintain his apartment anymore. However, Peter found a dream job, thanks to Jameson's wife, Dr. Marla Madison, as compensation for Jameson firing him, as a scientist at Horizon Labs where he had access to much technology and resources while also giving him the freedom to come and go as he liked, so long as he delivered good results. Spider-Man assisted the Avengers in defeating Doctor Octopus' army of macro-Octobots. He then faced a new Hobgoblin and the Kingpin, but days later, he lamentably lost Marla in a fight between Alistaire Alphonso Smythe's Spider-Slayers.[342]
Spider-Man with the rest of the Future Foundation
After Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) died preventing an invasion from the Negative Zone, Peter joined the Fantastic Four, now known as the Future Foundation, as Johnny's last request to him and helped them to fight an interdimensional version of Reed Richards, and the Sinister Six, who managed to steal tech from the Baxter Building. Their third mission was in the Caribbean, on Earth. There, Reed located the epicenter of the dimensional anomalies that the Future Foundation had been fixing. As the team explored the island, they were attacked by zombie pirates. It was revealed it was all a fake created by the Sinister Six, with only Mysterio and the Chameleon really present; the other four members were robots. Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus and the others infiltrated the Baxter Building, stealing technology for Doc Ock's further plans.[343]
Spider-Island[]
After helping Anti-Venom (Eddie Brock) to reveal Mr. Negative's identity[344] (as well as learning that Aunt May was moving to Boston with Jay) Spider-Man found himself with a new problem: the Jackal had returned and given the majority of New Yorkers spider-powers.[345] The Queen was revealed as the true mastermind: she wanted to turn the whole human race into spiders. Mr. Fantastic created a cure using the Anti-Venom symbiote, and after battling Peter (under the Jackal's influence), Peter's clone Kaine was accidentally cured of his mutations, turning him into a perfect clone.
Spiders, spiders everywhere...
While he and the Avengers battled the Spider-Queen in Central Park, Kaine killed her, and Peter managed to get the cure to every citizen via Doc Ock's (mentally controlled) Octobots. He met with Jay and May while they were leaving for Boston. Peter then ran into Kaine, who told Peter that he was leaving New York and wore Peter's stealth suit, since Madame Web had told Kaine that he may need it. Also, because of revealing he had spider-powers during the Spider-Island incident, Peter's psychic blind spot was weakened, letting Carlie know he was Spider-Man, which caused her to break up with him. Before giving the last cure sample to MJ, who briefly attempted to keep some spider-powers, Spider-Man met with Madame Web on the roof of Horizon Labs. She told him that he could de-power himself with the cured sample and someone else will step in to take his place.
Peter refused, saying that throwing away his gift would be the most irresponsible thing that he had ever done. Madame Web warned that he was to suffer a loss. He then cured MJ and they looked at the Empire State Building, lit in red and blue in his honor.[346]
After fighting some old foes like the Vulture and his Vulture henchmen,[347] teaming up with Daredevil and the Black Cat,[348][349] and the now-alive Human Torch, Spider-Man faced the return of a menace.[350] Before his death, Doctor Octopus wanted to be remembered as the man who saved Earth by stopping the greenhouse effect.[351] Equipped with a new suit, Spider-Man joined the Avengers to stop Octavius and his Sinister Six.[352]
The Anti-Sinister Six suit
After every Avenger was eventually subdued by Octavius,[353] Silver Sable, who followed Spider-Man to his battle, saved him and the Black Widow. Doctor Octopus asked for help from all nations to capture Spider-Man.[354] Octopus called on many villains to hunt down Spider-Man and his allies. To counter this, Spider-Man called on the heroes that were still on Earth to destroy the facilities of Octopus.[355] After most of the Sinister Six were defeated, Mysterio was convinced by Spider-Man to help him catch Octopus in his base in Guatemala, but Octopus used the mind-controlled Avengers as his new Sinister Six.[356]
Spider-Man, Sable, and the Widow managed to defeat the Avengers, then he and Sable headed to Doctor Octopus's underwater base. They were faced by the Rhino while the base started to flood, he trapped Sable and left Spider-Man with two choices, to continue to fight him in order to save Sable from drowning, but Octopus would activate the lenses or let him drown himself and Sable to stop Octopus. After leaving Sable to her death at her request, Spider-Man managed to destroy Octopus's arms and equipment before taking his foe away to a doctor, thus finally saving the world.[357] Peter again was distraught over the death of Silver Sable, as he felt that he could have saved her.[358] Julia Carpenter, however, later told him that Sable was still alive.[359]
Spider-Men: Heroes of Two Worlds[]
While fighting Mysterio, Spider-Man was accidentally sent through a dimensional rift in the villain's possession into Earth-1610, the Ultimate Universe, where he encountered the Spider-Man of that world, Miles Morales, who had taken up the mantle of the late Peter Parker from his universe.[360]
Spider-Man and the Ultimates
Once Miles and S.H.I.E.L.D. made sense of Spider-Man's appearance, they joined forces to fight Mysterio and the robotic avatar that he had used to operate on Earth-1610.[361] Peter eventually could not resist learning more about the life of his counterpart, and visited the home of the May Parker and Gwen Stacy from this reality.[362]
May had a particularly tearful reunion with the image of what her nephew could have been, which was cut short when both Spider-Men were called by S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with Mysterio. Once Mysterio's base was located, the Spider-Men attacked him with assistance from the Ultimates and S.H.I.E.L.D.[363]
Before Mysterio's portal closed permanently due to malfunctions, Peter gave Miles his blessing as the new Spider-Man and returned to his reality. Later, Peter went online to search to see if his world had a Miles Morales counterpart and was shocked by what he discovered.[364]
The Superior Spider-Man[]
In the middle of a fight against the Hobgoblin while his spider-sense was overloaded, Spider-Man was unsuspectedly pinched by one of Doctor Octopus's Octobots programmed to swap consciousnesses between the two, causing Peter to become trapped in the dying body of his foe while Octopus claimed Peter's life for himself. In an attempt to take back his life with the little time he had left, Peter broke out of Octopus's cell in the Raft[365] leading to a final confrontation between the two in the Avengers Tower.
The apparent death of Peter in Doctor Octopus's body
Though Peter failed to reverse the change, he managed to establish a weak link with Doctor Octopus's mind using an Octobot. In his final moments, Peter forced Octopus to relive all of his memories. Having experienced in a flash all of Peter's trials and tribulations, Octopus learned his lesson of power and responsibility and swore to carry on with Peter's life with dignity as a superior Spider-Man.[128]
Since Peter was mentally connected to Doctor Octopus when his body perished, a portion of himself survived in his original body, but in the form of a subconsciousness; thus, he was not able to control the actions of his body entirely.[366] Even though Octopus attempted to rid himself of this remnant of Parker,[367] he decided to seek its help sometime later after being overwhelmed by the returned Green Goblin and his Goblin Nation. Realizing that he had failed in his role as the "superior" Spider-Man, having pushed his allies aside and lost his resources in the process, Octopus willingly allowed Peter to reclaim his body in order to defeat Osborn once and for all and save Anna Maria Marconi, Octopus's love.[368]
In the aftermath of Otto's possession of his body, Peter began to amend the relationships damaged by Otto's arrogance and negligence, both as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He additionally took up the reins of Parker Industries, a small company founded by Octavius after leaving Horizon Labs.[369]
The Spider-Verse[]
While adjusting to his new status quo, especially his position as the CEO of his very own company,[370] Peter learned of the existence of Cindy Moon, a second person to have been bit by the same radioactive spider which granted Peter his powers. Spider-Man tracked her down and freed her from a bunker owned by the late Ezekiel Simms, where Cindy had spent over 10 years in voluntary confinement shortly after getting her powers in order to avoid drawing attention. While Peter notified Cindy that Morlun was dead, he had, in fact, survived his last encounter against Spider-Man.[371]
Not long after rescuing Cindy, who went on to adopt her own super-heroic identity as Silk,[372] Spider-Man was approached by a contingent of spider-people from all over the Multiverse that banded together to fight the Inheritors, a group of psychic vampires and the family of Morlun that had begun to hunt down the spider-totems of other realities.[373] During a mission to gather more recruits in A.D. 2099, the Spider-Army stumbled upon another party of spider-people led by Otto Octavius, or rather a version of him from the recent past who had been plucked out of time.[374]
Peter leading the Spider-Army
The combined Spider-Army were forced to retreat to Earth-3145 after their safe zone in Earth-13 had been compromised by the Inheritors, namely Morlun, his brother Jennix, and his father and the leader of the Inheritors, Solus.[375] With the help of Spider-Woman, who had previously infiltrated the Inheritors' base on Earth-001, the Spider-Army learned of a prophecy in which the Inheritors planned to sacrifice three key spiders: the Other, the Bride, and the Scion. These individuals were Kaine Parker, Cindy Moon, and Benjy Parker of Earth-982, respectively.[376]
With the help of even more recruits from other realities and even a deviant Inheritor named Karn, the Spider-Army, including a version of Gwen Stacy with spider-powers known as "Spider-Gwen," launched one final attack on the Inheritors' home of Earth-001. The ritual was stopped, and the Inheritors were exiled with no means to return home to the radioactive wasteland that had become the world of Earth-3145.[377] With the Inheritors neutralized, most of the spider-totems were sent home. Spider-Man and a few others stayed on Earth-001 for a little while longer to defeat the time-displaced Octavius, who had gone rogue after learning that Parker would eventually regain control of his body. Octavius was defeated and returned to the time he had come from, losing the memory of the recent events in the process. With no more problems to confront, Spider-Man and the rest of the spider-totems were sent home.[142]
The Rise and Fall of Parker Industries[]
Unbeknownst to anyone, Doctor Octopus had created a digital back-up of his own mind, which ended up inhabiting the metallic body of Parker Industries' robot assistant, the Living Brain.[378] Over the course of the following months, Octopus routinely hacked into the systems of the market share to manipulate its numbers in favor of Parker Industries.[379] As a consequence of this, the company managed to expand into a global conglomerate with numerous bases in different countries, with the company's trademark invention being a mobile device called the Webware. This change in Peter's life impacted his super-heroic alter ego as well. Spider-Man officially became the mascot of Parker Industries under the guise of being Peter's bodyguard.[380]
Spider-Man gone global
One of Peter's biggest challenges during his tenure as a billionaire C.E.O. was the emergence of a mysterious biotech company operating out of the Transamerica Pyramid called New U. Peter discovered it was a front for the operations of the Jackal, who claimed to have found a way to bring people back from the dead using cloning technology. In an attempt to persuade Peter to put Parker Industries' resources to help out his plan, the Jackal resurrected several of his late friends and foes, including Gwen Stacy.[381] In a turn of events, the Jackal was revealed to be Ben Reilly,[382] who had been brought to life by the original Jackal before taking his place.[383]
The Jackal's plan eventually fell apart following the triggering of cellular decay in the clones created by New U, which led to the release of the Carrion Virus worldwide.[384] The crisis was averted when Spider-Man had his Webware transmit an audio frequency in a global scale which halted the cellular degeneration, but not before most of the clones had died.[385] The Jackal, a clone himself, was left for dead, though he secretly escaped and returned to the mantle of the Scarlet Spider.[386][387] Afterward, Peter teamed up again with Teresa Durand, a CIA agent with whom Peter had already joined forces in a mission at least one year ago, during which she was seemingly brainwashed by the Kingpin and Mentallo to believe she was Peter's long-lost sister.[69] Teresa sought Peter's help when on the run from a government organization called the Gray Blade.[388]
Spider-Man vs. the duplicate of Doctor Octopus
Hydra's takeover of the United States of America temporarily put a halt to Peter and Teresa's escapades. Numerous headquarters of Parker Industries around the globe were then targeted by the forces of the terrorist organization,[379] namely a unit led by one of Hydra's latest additions, the duplicate of Doctor Octopus, who had gained a physical body through the Jackal's cloning technology.[389] In a last-ditch effort to prevent the resources of Parker Industries from falling in the hands of Octavius and Hydra, Parker had his employees obliterate all systems of the company, running Parker Industries into the ground.[144] Afterward, Peter fought alongside the rest of America's super-heroes during the Underground's assault on Washington, D.C., which ultimately ended with Hydra's defeat and the restoration of the United States.[390]
Despite having his civilian reputation smeared due to his company's collapse, Peter eventually got back on his feet. After beginning a short-lived relationship with Parker Industries' former S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison the Mockingbird, Peter was hired by Robbie Robertson as the editor for the Daily Bugle's science section.[391] Before Peter recovered himself, however, his adventure with Teresa continued, who discovered that she truly was Richard and Mary Parker's daughter,[392] and shared this information with Peter.[393]
The rise of the Red Goblin
Not long after Peter had decided to reveal his secret identity to Jameson,[394] Jonah was kidnapped by Norman Osborn, and accidentally let it slip that Peter was Spider-Man.[395] In addition to having regained his powers, Osborn had bonded with the Carnage symbiote, giving birth to the Red Goblin.[396] Peter failed to take down Osborn despite help from his allies,[397] and was overpowered in battle even after Eddie Brock had lent him his symbiote. Peter only managed to defeat Osborn in a fight after tricking him into rejecting the symbiote, having claimed that any credit for his defeat would go to the Carnage symbiote and not Osborn himself. Unfortunately, the process of defeating Osborn cost the life of Spider-Man's biggest fan, Flash Thompson, who had recently become the super-hero Agent Anti-Venom.[398]
The Kindred Saga and Beyond[]
Peter's public reputation was further damaged after being accused of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation from Doctor Octopus. Unable to defend himself without exposing his secret identity, Peter was stripped of his credentials, and he was fired from the Daily Bugle again as well.[399] Receiving a re-enrollment recommendation by Dr. Connors at Empire State University to earn his college degree, Peter also started sharing an apartment with Randy Robertson again. They were joined by a third roommate in the form of Frederick Myers, alias the super-villain Boomerang,[400] who struck up a tenuous friendship with Peter.[401][402] As these events unfolded, Peter was unaware of becoming the target of fixation of a demonic entity dubbed "Kindred,"[145] consumed by the belief that Peter had to repent for his sins and the misery that he had brought on his loved ones. Although Peter had rekindled his relationship with Mary Jane, Kindred would later use Mysterio to give her an acting opportunity out West for several months,[403] while appearing in nebulous nightmares to psychologically torture Peter.[404][405]
Spider-Man vs. the Sin-Eater
With Kraven's return for a Great Hunt, Spider-Man was trapped by the Hunter in Central Park alongside several animal-themed villains.[406] Visions of Mary Jane's death spurred Peter on to save all of the remaining captives with aid from the Black Cat, returning home to find Mary Jane safe.[407] As Morlun returned, seeking to finish Peter off, J. Jonah Jameson enlisted the NYPD to help in the Inheritor's capture,[408] before aiding the Spider-Army against the returned Inheritors.[409] Peter subsequently became tangled helping Venom against the resurgent Carnage, herald of the symbiotes' god, Knull. Peter's involvement was protecting Brock's son, Dylan, and Normie Osborn from the released Norman Osborn, who still believed himself to be Cletus Kasady and was bonded to a copy of the Carnage symbiote by the real Kasady as a pawn.[410] While Spider-Man was victorious in defeating Norman, he was unaware that Kindred gave him the opening shot to win by tampering with Osborn's mind.[411] After Kindred resurrected Stanley Carter, alias the Sin-Eater, the demon sent him on a campaign of vicious vigilantism, with the new ability to strip both the powers and wickedness from super-villains, leaving them deeply repentant.[412]
Kindred pretending to be Harry
As Carter targeted the restored Norman Osborn, who had made director of Ravencroft Institute, a conflicted Peter chose to save Norman, who became the Green Goblin again to fight alongside him against the Sin-Eater. Norman attempted to kill Peter at the last moment, but the Order of the Web intervened and helped them escape. With Norman further acting out of line, Peter finally snapped and left him behind at the Sin-Eater's mercy, who purified Osborn.[413] Kindred transferred the collected sins and thrust them into the Order, turning them into rampaging monsters. Seeking Doctor Strange's aid, Spider-Man used a magical item to find Kindred's base, where the demon revealed himself as Harry Osborn. Kindred tortured Peter, who traded his life for the Order's freedom, with repeated killing and resurrections,[414] then had a returned Mary Jane join their reunion. Norman, purged of his wickedness, disclosed Kindred's identity to her, and she managed to distract Kindred long enough for Norman and the Kingpin to successfully enact a plan that restrained Kindred in a cage of Darkforce.[415]
Spider-Man and the Sinister War
For a brief time, Spider-Man accepted a work offer[416] at Jameson's news outlet Threats and Menaces, gaining a new suit that enhanced his abilities and broadcast his crime-fighting activities. With it, Spider-Man and Boomerang finished a long-running quest to reassemble the Lifeline Tablet fragments.[402] However, Myers eventually revealed his friendship with Peter to have been a long con to get Spider-Man's help, and delivered the Tablet to Mayor Wilson Fisk to resurrect his son, the Rose.[114] Shortly afterward, Kindred orchestrated Spider-Man's kidnapping[417] to force him into a battle royale against various super-villain teams vying to kill him. But Boomerang sacrificed himself to save Spider-Man from Morlun's grasp, and the conflict ended with the villains all incapacitated by Doctor Octopus in a bid to free himself from Kindred's influence.[418][419] During his subsequent final confrontation against Kindred, Peter learned the villain was a shared mantle between Sarah and Gabriel Stacy, both secretly twisted into pawns of Mephisto, and also revealed as hybrid clones of Gwen and Norman and not their actual offspring. In truth, the alleged affair was a fabrication orchestrated by an A.I. copy of Harry's evil mind from his Green Goblin days. The real Harry was revealed to be a clone of the late real Harry Osborn, who came and assisted Peter before he died at Kindred's hands. After the Kindred twins proved unsuccessful in killing Spider-Man, Mephisto killed them behind the scenes, thus freeing Peter from their haunting.[146]
Spider-Man vs. Spider-Man
When the Beyond Corporation bought the Spider-Man trademark and recruited Ben Reilly to become their corporate-sponsored Spider-Man, Peter was ill-disposed to him taking up the mantle.[147] He was left with no choice after Beyond secretly orchestrated for an encounter with the U-Foes to leave with Peter hospitalized with acute radiation poisoning.[147] Peter was in a coma for weeks until Doctor Octopus anonymously sent his doctors the research necessary to cure him for Aunt May's sake.[420] Afterward, the Black Cat and Captain America helped Peter as he slowly got back into shape.[421] While still recovering, Peter was propelled into action after Beyond unleashed a new villainess named the Queen Goblin.[2] By this time, Reilly had turned against Beyond for their sleazy machinations, namely their use of memory-erasing technology on Ben, which robbed him of many of the formative memories that he had inherited from Peter.[56] With his moral code compromised, Ben ultimately turned against Peter and attempted to use this technology on him to retrieve the memories from their original source. Peter managed to fend off his clone, but Ben was left for dead after Beyond destroyed a portion of their headquarters to cover their tracks.[148]
Marked[]
When Mary Jane invited Peter to move in,[148]Benjamin Rabin returned newly empowered and sought to use the two in a ritual to summon his god, Wayeb', as he had tried before.[422] After Rabin marked the two, he sent both to an alternate Earth devastated by Wayeb',[113] where they were rescued by Paul, working on a device to escape back to their Earth. But when Wayeb' attacked, intent on killing Spider-Man, Mary Jane activated the device to rescue Peter and killed Wayeb', trapping her with Paul.[423] Peter discovered a time dilation upon his return and frantically searched for a lab to repair the device, brushing off his heroic connections for not helping immediately. With the FBI after Spider-Man due to his explosive re-entry and his heroic friends attempting intervention due to his abnormal behavior, a desperate Peter sought Norman's help.[424] Compromised and irrational, Peter robbed several heroes for the materials Norman needed to construct a suit that reached Mary Jane, distant from him after so long.[425] Returning to New York six months later, Peter was once more alienated from his heroic and personal connections for his behavior, including Mary Jane, who stayed with Paul for the sake of their adopted children.[426] After doing a background check, Peter confronted Paul, who revealed he was Rabin's son from the dead Earth. While upset at the bombshell, Mary Jane revealed that she knew this during her time with him, stating there were similarities with guilt and pain between Paul and Peter.[427]
Spider-Man and the Sinister Six
After Peter resumed his personal life, Spider-Man's interloping triggered a gang war between Tombstone's gang and the Rose.[428] So Tombstone misled that he would cause a massacre to compel super-hero action,[429][430] and Spider-Man realized too late the deception in subduing the Rose for Tombstone.[431] With motivation by the Black Cat, Spider-Man led Digger to find Tombstone's secret cache of goods, earning the latter's respect and calling things even.[432] On his birthday, Spider-Man rescued a captive Doctor Octopus and Sinister Six from the Ultra Living Brain. But when he opposed their plan to destroy the Ultra Living Brain, this swayed the synthezoid to send away his arch-foes and shockingly wished "Peter" a happy birthday before being shut down.[35] Offered backing by Oscorp, Peter initially refused after Norman's organizing a well-meaning encounter with Mary Jane,[433] but later accepted after using a new Spider-Man suit that Norman made to defeat the Vulture.[434]
Invited to the Hellfire Gala by Wolverine, Spider-Man was alerted by Cypher to Mary Jane's covert SOS, finding Moira X holding her hostage via a disguised necklace trap. While Greycrow stealthily followed her,[435] Wolverine led an emotional Spider-Man on the rescue mission to Saint-Chappelle Cathedral. After returning to New York, Peter's attempted reconnection was denied as Mary Jane could not simply leave Paul due to a sense of responsibility - something she hoped that he would have understood.[436] While the Progenitor began judgement, it observed Peter as a memory projection of Gwen Stacy. After Peter explained needing Norman's help to save Mary Jane even if the outcome was not as planned, Peter still gave him a fresh start to prevent possible relapsing. Judged worthy, Gwen was momentarily revived as a gift to say good-bye and open Peter’s heart.[437] Learning Ned was investigating Norman on suspected collusion with Roderick Kingsley,[438] Spider-Man discovered that Ned was brainwashed into thinking himself to be the Hobgoblin by the Winkler Device again, partnered with Kingsley.[439] An overwhelmed Spider-Man was saved by Norman's timely arrival, but learned from Betty that the Winkler Device was missing yet again.[440]
While remembering the departed Harry on his birthday with friends, hiding that it was his clone that had died recently,[146] Peter's spider-sense was overwhelmed by demons invading New York again,[441] instigated by a mentally-warped Ben, now dubbed Chasm, with the Goblin Queen's involvement,[442] as Ben blamed Peter for nearly killing him.[148] Learning Robbie and Jonah were trapped in Limbo, Peter was baited into going to Limbo per Chasm's trap[443] and made to live a demonic parody of his Bugle years with them. When Jonah tricked the demons into swarming the exit portal to lead them to an escape, they met a new ally, Rek-Rap,[29] just as Ben became King Chasm after Hallow's Eve stole the Goblin Queen's Scythe of Sorrows.[444] Spider-Man partnered with the X-Men and the Goblin Queen to escape Limbo, save New York, and de-power Ben for Madelyne to imprison.[43]
Once more dating, Peter accompanied Felicia to an upstate spa retreat to open up about his split with Mary Jane. There, they found the White Rabbit and Kareem renting out villain tech to rich start-up geniuses the Synergists whose leader, Mychal was found dead, sparking a battle.[64] The heroic and criminal duos subdued the Synergists while destroying their tech, exposing that Mychal had faked his death with Mysterio tech to test the group's loyalty. After leaving them for the authorities, Peter opened up to Felicia about his love for Mary Jane likely changing from romantic to cordial.[445] Sometime later, Felicia and Peter took a trip to attend a wedding in Omaha, Nebraska. Just as he was about to join Felicia for a dance, he saw a thief stealing the wedding gifts. By the time he got back after stopping the thief, the last dance had finished and Felicia was annoyed with him. However, Peter then invited Felicia to stargaze with him all night, which led her to forgive him. Six months after their accursed last encounter, Benjamin Rabin returned, mystically empowered again as the Emissary, prompting Mary Jane to end her distancing and call Peter.[113] Partnered with the Gold Goblin and Ms. Marvel to battle Rabin, the Fantastic Four came to help Spider-Man by defeating a dragon. When Rabin seemingly killed Mary Jane, Peter was shocked to find it was Ms. Marvel in disguise, revealing herself as Kamala Khan. With Rabin dead from an improper ceremony, Peter and his allies mourned Kamala's sacrifice.[427]
After Peter was met by Morlun, Miles, Cindy and Jess came to his aid. However, Morlun was actually sent to help as Spider-Man "Noir" killed Jess with the Totem Dagger, severing her from the Great Web. Peter and his allies were met by wasp-turned former allies sent from the Great Nest to assimilate them as wasp totems.[87] During a brief battle, Araña saved them by exfiltrating Peter and allies to Earth-616 Beta, where they met their only remaining allies and learned of Morlun's family's massacre. Sadly, Miles began turning from his wasp sting, not immune like the 616 spiders, guiding Shathra to their location.[117] After Miles left to save the others, Peter wanted a way to revive the erased spiders, including Jessica Drew, so Peter led a retrieval team to a special temple. However, despite their success acquiring the artifact, Shathra found them and sent her swarm, where Wasp-Gwen used the Totem Dagger to kill Peter and sever him from the Great Web.[37]
As a result, his story and connection with the Great Web was severely altered. Peter was not bitten by the radioactive spider and instead lived his life normally. When the burglar invaded Peter's house, he tried to intervene but was shot in the leg, handicapping him, though his Uncle Ben managed to stop him. However, things worked fine for him since then, as not only his Uncle Ben lived, he also became friends with his former bully Flash Thompson and the popular kids, became an "I.T. guy" for the spider-powered hero Silk (who was bitten in his place) as well, and also earned a job at Oscorp after he graduated high school. Testing telepods at Oscorp, he eventually intercepted a fragment of the Great Web.[446]
Contacting Silk, she sent Spider-UK and the Sun-Spider to protect him from Shathra's Spider-Wasps as he built a device to cleanse the Web of Life. Once the Web was cleansed by Silk stabbing Morlun with the Totem Dagger, Shathra returned to destroy them, but they gained the upper hand and immobilized her, and Peter used the Web-of-Life-Shooter device to both cleanse and erase her. Upon the return of Neith, the original spider-goddess, she gave them the Talisman they were looking for and they reconnected Peter back to the Web of Life, alongside Jessica Drew, Kaine, and Spider-Boy. With Silk revealed to be the true champion of the Web, Peter left her and the other Spiders with their activities as he resumed patrolling as Spider-Man.[447]
The Sins of Norman Osborn[]
A Goblin-possessed Peter
Resuming work at Oscorp, Peter was finally able to accept that Norman had truly reformed and was genuinely remorseful for everything he had done under his Green Goblin persona's influence. However, the Queen Goblin and Kraven the Hunter plotted to restore Norman's evil self by mystically imbuing a spear with the disembodied evil of Norman's sins. But Spider-Man shielded Norman from being struck by the spear, horrifying Kraven upon realizing his would-be prey was now a vicious and remorseless predator.[448] As the influence of Norman's evil began to take hold, Peter remembered being buried alive for a week during the events of Kraven's Last Hunt, and no longer wished to take the moral high ground. His evil infected mind now drawn to revenge against all those that he felt had wronged him, Peter donned his fabric black suit once more, embracing his darkness. Yet while Kraven was really the clone and "son" of his desired target, Peter felt this iteration was close enough to his deceased "father," and made quick work of him. In cruel irony, Spider-Man buried Kraven alive and left him with a loaded hunting rifle if he wanted to skip to the end of the story that they were having.[449]
Hunting Kraven the Hunter
He then sneaked into the hospital where Tombstone was recovering after a near-fatal shooting,[450] deactivating his ventilator in spite at the crime lord's using him as a pawn, sending him into critical condition as he laughed maniacally in the dark. The present Randy Robertson questioned who was in the shadows, not able to recognize this figure as Spider-Man. But as Peter targeted Mary Jane and Paul Rabin next, he instead found Norman having deduced Peter's vengeful mindset sending him after all who he felt had wronged him. Despite Norman's pleas, the corrupted Peter brutalized him and spouted how he was enjoying hurting others, landing another blow to Norman before resuming his search for Mary Jane and Paul. Once he intercepted them, the Queen Goblin appeared and told Spider-Man that the path he was on was not his destiny, concurrent to Norman rescuing Kraven from the grave with the spear to put things right and help restore the good in Peter.[451] As the Queen Goblin and Kraven distracted the sin-possessed Peter, Norman was able to ambush him with the mystical spear and re-assimilate his evil self to save Peter.[149]
The return of the Green Goblin
Unknown to all, though, the Goblin Sin-possessed Peter used the Winkler Device to store a copy of his/Norman's corrupted mind to later be reactivated. When Norman was exposed of having returned to being the Green Goblin by Peter, the two engaged in a brutal fight. After Peter used a trap to spray the Goblin with a gas to neutralize his powers, Norman revealed his trump card: because Norman's evil side possessed Peter, he had a perfect recollection of everything during the possession, including the Winkler Device programming, which Peter finally remembered to his horror. Norman said the code phrase and, as Peter began to feel excruciating pain, he then began to laugh maniacally, to Norman's sadistic delight.[452]
The Spider-Goblin
Norman then gave Peter a hybrid Goblin Armor/Spider-Suit and dispatched the new "Spider-Goblin" to take down the Sinister Six. Peter brutalized all of them and he prepared to deal a fatal blow to Kraven before Chasm joined the fight.[14] Reilly used his psycho-reactive goo to re-seal the Winkler Device's programming and give Peter back control of himself.[453]
Having reclaimed the mystical spear from Kraven, Peter began modifying it with components from the Winkler Device to transfer the programming into its source template, Norman's mind. Meanwhile, Norman began arranging things so that if he died, Peter would become the successor of his new corporate empire. When Peter returned for the final confrontation, the Goblin had the upper hand at first. When Spider-Man impaled him with the spear, the Goblin instead used it to transfer himself and the sins back into Peter's body[454] with the Winkler Device, giving the Goblin complete control of Peter's body.
The Goblin in Peter's body mocked the now re-cleansed Norman as he lay wounded, gloating that Norman should have willingly accepted his evil self back, because he never would have become addicted to Peter's pure nature and the joy of corrupting and twisting his will into something wicked and sinister. He also cited that Peter was even smarter, to which Norman agreed and activated a switch that caused the Goblin to go back and forth between possessing Norman and Peter. After re-entering Peter, the Walking Brain intervened and trapped the Goblin personality in Peter's mindscape. Norman was reassured that Peter's strength of character and constant perseverance would trump the Goblin. To the Goblin's horror, he was overwhelmed by Peter's "light" and tried in vain to re-possess Norman before disintegrating into nothingness.[455]
Otherworldly Quests[]
Once Doctor Doom gained the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, he inherited the task to maintain the Covenant of Cyttorak, but refused to do it and instead gave the task to Spider-Man. As the Covenant required the champion to fight the Scions of Cyttorak to keep the Blight from being unleashed,[456] Doom gave Spider-Man an enchanted armor and eight Reeds of Raggadorr which would resurrect him.[134] Spider-Man defeated the first five Scions,[457] but after being confronted with the inevitability of death by Cyra, he was overcome with desperation and had no drive to maintain the Covenant, despite both Doctor Strange and Phil Coulson trying to convince him to keep going.[458] Because of this the Blight infected Cyra's brother Callix, who proceeded to spread the sickness, forcing Spider-Man to re-enter the fight.[456] However, Callix again killed him,[138] leaving Cyra to give up her immortal life to resurrect Spider-Man and give him enough power to defeat the Blight-infected Scion.[95] Spider-Man then taught Cyttorak himself responsibility, which caused the demon lord to reinvent the Covenant by dedicating his life to keep the Blight imprisoned, finally relieving the hero of his task.[459]
The peace did not last for long as, some time later, Spider-Man was confronted by Hellgate.[460] Spider-Man fought a long, tiring battle against Hellgate and, seeing that he was too weak to fight him,[461] his adversary teleported the hero to a unknown desolate planet light-years away from Earth, telling him to get stronger. After passing weeks in the deserted environment, Peter was finally rescued by extreme biologist Dr. Xanto Starblood, who was unable to return him to Earth due to the Imperial War happening at the time. Peter befriended the alien researcher, but soon turned on him after seeing that he had imprisoned several other alien test subjects, such as Rocket Raccoon, Raelith, Nial and Symbie.[462] Stealing Xanto's Technarchsuit, Spider-Man convinced the freed aliens to spare the evil scientist and instead force him to help them return his prisoners back to their respective homes.[32]
Personality
Whether a law is right or wrong, moral or immoral, is an idea, a personal philosophy... but it always seems that fights over ideas skip over the barrier into the real world and become battles of real violence.
Before receiving his powers, Peter was a typical high school nerd: shy, smart, awkward, unlucky with girls, and a constant target of bullying. Growing up, Peter's favorite hero was the famous Captain America who he idolized and inspired him to be a hero.[463][464][462] After gaining his powers and becoming a celebrity, all of a sudden fame made Peter become an arrogant, selfish, and proud man, avoiding preventing a theft simply because he thought it was not his problem. However, after discovering that his selfishness and lack of responsibility made him indirectly responsible for his Uncle Ben's death, Peter dedicated himself to becoming a righteous, brave, and selfless hero with a strong sense of justice and responsibility. Adopting his Uncle Ben's last words that "with great power comes great responsibility," As his main belief, Spider-Man dedicated himself to heroic and humanitarian service to society. There are times when Spider-Man's sense of responsibility can be almost overbearing; this was evidently noted by Luke Cage when he felt embarrassed about Electro causing the Raft breakout, even though he had nothing to do with it.[465] This, combined with his strong moral compass in the face of adversity and his sharp wit, makes him one of the most iconic and enduring heroes in the Marvel Universe.
One of Spider-Man's most prominent traits is his sense of humor. He is at times seen as the class clown in every group he is in. Even in the face of certain death, Spider-Man invariably cracks a joke, to the annoyance of both friends and foes. His reasons for this vary: either he wants to relieve the stress of a situation, or simply because he wants to hide how scared he really is during a crisis. Also, he does this to get on the nerves of his opponents, since he knows that if they are angry, they would normally lose control of themselves and be vulnerable to a more skilled opponent. It is generally agreed, however, that whenever a life is in danger, he will stop telling jokes and take the current situation with the utmost seriousness.[466]
Behind this humorous facade, however, is a wounded soul that has gone through much suffering. While Spider-Man is in combat, occasionally another person dies, leaving him depressed for having failed in his responsibility. Guilt over the loss of his Uncle Ben continues to be the primary motivating factor in his super-heroics and his life in general. Peter is quick to assume guilt and responsibility for anything bad that happens in his presence or that can, in some way, relate back to him; for instance, he assumed responsibility for Electro's mass breakout at the Raft[467] and Norman Osborn's Initiative[468] because they were "his" villains.
Death, in particular, is difficult for Peter to reconcile with, leading him to make dramatic and unrealistic proclamations, such as his "Nobody dies!" credo after Dr. Marla Madison's death.[469] Peter has developed post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly related to Norman Osborn's murder of Gwen Stacy and Flash Thompson,[470] which was exacerbated by Kindred repeatedly killing and resurrecting him.[471] Peter also deeply hates symbiotes and blames himself for everyone who has died at the hands of Venom, Carnage, and other symbiotes due to having brought the Venom symbiote to Earth in the first place.[472]
Spider-Man is also traditionally a loner. Due to his individualistic style, having been a social outcast in his youth, Spider-Man finds it hard to work in teams. However, this has gradually lessened over the years, to the point Spider-Man has worked actively with the Avengers.[473]
Peter is also a strong-willed hero; whatever obstacles come his way, whether it is relationships, being misunderstood, or someone dying on his watch, he always gets back up. His indomitable will and never-give-up attitude usually push him to do amazing feats, like supporting the weight of a jet,[474] and beating up Firelord.[475] Despite being a hero, Spider-Man is nerdy, awkward, and shy. These traits have faded through the years as Parker grew up and gained confidence, but elements of the awkward teenage nerd still remain in his personality.[476]
Despite his strong-will, Peter can easily be influenced if underhanded methods are used. If so, he can become one of the most evil and dangerous in the world. When Peter received Norman’s sins, he became a villain bent on getting revenge on those who had hurt him, sadistically fantasising about killing them ruthlessly, while also adopting many of the Green Goblin’s traits (such as maniacal laughter). This was the first time ever that Peter had become evil, proving both that he was capable of doing so and that he was a legitimate threat. He was also brainwashed with the Winkler Device, re-transforming him into a super-villain, this time a Goblin-type one, the Spider-Goblin, dubbed as the most dangerous superhuman in the world. His main objective was to obtain the spear so the Green Goblin could use it to transfer the sins over to Peter; combined with the brainwashing, would grant the Goblin ultimate control of Peter’s body. He planned to use his body to continue his evil deeds, while also corrupting his pure nature, dark as night. But eventually, when reminded of who he was, Peter was free of any influence, eliminating the Green Goblin for good.
Spider-Man's righteousness complimented Daredevil's maturity as a crime-fighter during The Death of Jean DeWolff storyline, leading to an enduring friendship.[477] Peter also made close ties with the Fantastic Four at the very start of his career, which stands greater than ever today, like a family rendering aid to each other unconditionally.[478] Spider-Man has bonded with the New Avengers, of whom he is a founding member, trusting them so much that he revealed his secret identity to them.[323] Of the two previously mentioned teams' members, Spider-Man is closest to the Human Torch and Wolverine, with the two of them playing pranks on one another or seeking solace, respectively,[479][480] Peter is also quite close to the X-Men, able to sympathize with the public scorn that mutants often face,[481] and even once joining their faculty - though he was quick to call them out on being prejudicial against non-mutants.[63] Spider-Man has also developed a strong friendship with Deadpool,[482] despite both of them more often than not annoying each other with their opposing morals and corny jokes.
Reputation[]
Jonah only goes after me because he loves this city. He genuinely believes Spider-Man is a menace to society. Always has. Look, I'm not saying you have to like everybody you meet. Or that you can't get mad at people when they screw up. Just that it might be worth a minute to try and see things from the other guy's side. Turns out most people--even the grumpy ones who yell--probably don't deserve blunt force trauma on the head.
Seen by some as the heart of New York, Peter has gained quite a reputation with not only the super-hero community, but those of super-villains and civilians as well: his Aunt May searched the Internet and found that Spider-Man had saved roughly 10,000 lives directly, excluding all of his team-ups with other heroes and all the bombs or devices that he has deactivated.[483] In the Bar with No Name, the villains present initially felt discouraged to bet money against the Wall-Crawler as he fought Overdrive since "He always beats the new guys."[23]
When the Hood began his criminal career and was almost killed by the Constrictor, the Constrictor noted how new he was to villainy and that he "didn't even get to fight Spider-Man."[484] Despite all the grudges Spider-Man has accumulated, he has made peace with some former enemies, such as the Punisher (now an uneasy ally), Venom, the Molten Man, the Rocket Racer, Kaine (now known as the Scarlet Spider), and even checked up on the less-than-lethal Frog-Man after his incarceration ended to make sure that things were fine.[485]
Despite his many heroics, Spider-Man is infamous for numerous smear campaigns against him, especially at the hands of the Daily Bugle. The reason for this bad-mouthing upon him is because of the Bugle's publisher and main editor, J. Jonah Jameson, strongly dislikes Spider-Man, due to him supposedly being a costumed vigilante with no affiliation to the law and taking the spotlight from "true" heroes like public servants.
It was also revealed that Spider-Man is disliked by a good deal of the police in New York because, even though he comes to turn in captured super-villains, the police mistrust him due to his vigilantism, and they are also embarrassed over their dependency on him to defeat the threats that they could not handle on their own. However, it is also shown, however, that some of the NYPD do support him, such as his late good friends Jean DeWolfe and Captain George Stacy, and in later years, Lieutenant William Lamont.
In some cops, this dislike grew into hatred, and they tried to incriminate Spider-Man by putting some of his Spider-Tracers on recent corpses to turn public opinion against him. However, Vin Gonzales (one of the involved cops) revealed the scheme for a lighter sentence, and they earned the anger of the general public that the police ironically tried to frame Spider-Man with the crime.
During a fight with Cable, the time-travelling mutant noted that Spider-Man is seen in the future as the greatest hero of them all.[486] This is further backed by Spider-Man 2099 when, during a trip to the present, he berated Jameson for his slander of Spider-Man, arguing that he is revered as a hero in his future, and is seen as a great chapter in history.[487] Also, after Spider-Man helped the villain Loki to save his daughter, Tess Black, from Morwen, he earned Loki's grudging but genuine respect.[488] His reputation extended outside of Earth and into the wider galaxy, becoming known even to countless aliens.[31]
When Doctor Octopus tried to become a better Spider-Man than Parker after switching bodies,[128] he failed to stop the Green Goblin's takeover of Manhattan and admitted that Parker was the actual "Superior Spider-Man."[65]
Peter Parker was recruited by the Goddess as a member of her group of religious heroes,[489] and has expressed Protestant Christian beliefs in the past,[490] and allegedly attended sermons.[491] This may in part be attributed to his Aunt May, who has always been a devout Protestant Christian.[492][493] Shortly after discovering that he was a clone of Spider-Man, Ben Reilly attempted to commit suicide but discarded the idea because the memories of the original Peter Parker considered the act as "sinful."[494] After an intense fight with Morlun that he barely won, Peter sat on a rooftop to calm himself down and jokingly asked God to not put him through something like that again for a couple of years, knowing that it was unlikely.[490] Peter once thanked God for having him be together with Mary Jane.[495] When May Parker was grievously shot by a hitman due to his identity being revealed during Civil War Peter was later met in an alleyway by a homeless man who was revealed to be the One Above All. Peter seemed to know who he supposedly was and even made Biblical references, asking him if his aunt dying was actually part of his "grander plan," and after a lengthy conversation explaining to Parker how much good he did as Spider-Man, he asked Peter to "have faith."[316] Once, at the suggestion of Ethan Edwards, he prayed to God in order to feel better after a rough day.[496] He has since shown to hold firm atheist beliefs after renouncing his religion at an unknown time.[497] Why he disregarded his conversation with "God" is unknown; however, things culminated in the appearance of the apparition of his Uncle Ben from the afterlife, and subsequently the Santerians urged Peter to resolve his crisis of faith, the first step of which was a visit to the confessional at Saint Patrick's Cathedral.[498]
Spider-Physiology: Spider-Man possesses the proportionate powers of a spider, granted to him by the bite of an irradiated common house spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum) that was apparently already mutated from prior exposure to certain frequencies of radiation and received a final, lethal dose during Peter's attendance of the exhibition.[11] The radioactive complex mutagenic enzymes in the spider's blood that were transferred at the time of the bite triggered numerous body-wide mutagenic changes within him, granting Peter numerous superhuman spider-powers and abilities, including superhuman strength, speed, agility, jumping, reflexes, stamina and durability, a trademark ability to cling to almost any surface, and precognition ability to sense danger that he called his "spider-sense".[11] That mutation granted him an "enhanced chromosome pattern."[499]Ezekiel Sims has posited to Peter that his powers were not of scientific origin, but a sign that he had become a totemic avatar of the Web of Life and Destiny.[288] While Peter initially struggled to accept this, he later concluded that both were plausible,[294] and has had his powers mystically augmented on a number of occasions. Spider-Man's powers include:
Superhuman Strength: Spider-Man possesses superhuman strength with the ability to lift up to 20 tons. He was shown to easily swing a 3-ton wrecking ball on a steel chain.[500] Spider-Man's physical strength is sufficient enough to enable him to lift and throw objects as heavy as a big rig semi-truck with ease.[501] He must also pull his punches and kicks unless fighting someone of similar or greater physical durability; otherwise, his blows would prove fatal to a normal human being.[502] He has demonstrated that he is strong enough to knock out people with normal durability with as little as a tap to the head. As such, he rarely lets himself use all of his strength; after Doctor Octopus had taken over Spider-Man's body, he easily punched off the Scorpion's (a foe normally regarded as twice as strong as Spider-Man) jaw, as he had not known of Spider-Man's true strength.[128] Spider-Man's physical strength also extends into his legs, enabling him to be able to jump to a height of several stories in a single bound.[503] Spider-Man demonstrated this when he leaped over 30 feet vertically into the air when he first leaped out of the way of an oncoming car; it should also be noted that when he first discovered his powers as a teenager, they had not developed to that of his prime.[citation needed] After spending weeks with Dr. Xanto Starblood, Peter's physical strength improved beyond his normal limits. Starblood states that Peter is now a hundred times stronger than 99.9999% of his species.[462] Peter's new strength is shown as he was able to make Doctor Starblood bleed twice in their fight, as well as kicking Starblood hard enough to crack the floor of his ship.[462]
Superhuman Speed: Spider-Man possesses superhuman speed, making him capable of running and moving at speeds that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[3] Spider-Man is fast enough to catch up to an accelerating car while on foot, but prefers to travel by his webs.[504] Spider-Man moves faster than the eye can follow;[246][505][506] he has even moved so fast he appears as a blur.[507] Spider-Man was able to easily outrun multiple Goblin masqueraders on Goblin Gliders, and outmaneuver their ranged attacks at the same time.[508] In close combat, he was even able to dodge an all-out assault from Blur (Jeff Walters) for an extended period of time.[509]
Spider-Man's superhuman agility, balance, and bodily coordination are all enhanced to levels that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. Spider-Man is extraordinarily limber, and his tendons and connective tissues are twice as elastic as the average human being's are, despite their physical strength. He has the combined agility and acrobatic prowess of the most accomplished circus aerialists and acrobats. He can also perform any complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts such as flips, rolls, and springs. He can easily match or top any Olympic record at gymnastics apparatus such as flying rings, climbing ropes, horizontal bars and trampolines, and his agility is even comparable to the likes of Daredevil.[510][511]
Superhuman Reflexes: Spider-Man's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are currently about 40 times greater than those of an ordinary human.[503] In combination with his spider-sense, the speed of his reflexes allows him to dodge almost any attack, or even gunfire, given sufficient distance.[512][513][69] Spider-Man has even been shown, in some cases, to be able to dodge gunfire using just his reflexes without his spider-sense.[514]
Superhuman Stamina: Spider-Man's advanced musculature produces fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity than an ordinary human. This allows him to exert himself physically for much longer periods of time before fatigue begins to impair him. At his peak, Spider-Man can physically exert himself at his peak capacity for several hours before the build-up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him. Several accounts depict Spider-Man as able to hold his breath for eight minutes or more.[156][162][515][516]
Superhuman Durability: Spider-Man's body is physically tougher and more resistant to some types of injury than the body of a normal human. His body is more resistant to impact forces than anything else. He can withstand great impacts, such as falling from a height of several stories or being struck by an opponent with superhuman strength. Events that would severely injure or kill a normal human leave him with little to no discomfort. In the past, he has survived multiple blows from the likes of the Hulk, as well as surviving a point-blank missile explosion.[517] Spider-Man's body is durable to the point where tensing his super-strong muscles while being punched in the torso by a trained heavyweight boxer caused the attacker's wrists to break. Spider-Man has stated that he must roll with punches thrown by people without similar strength or durability in order to avoid breaking their wrists. Spider-Man is durable enough to even survive getting beaten down by Colossus and Magik when they were powered up by the Phoenix Force.[518] His arm was strong enough to block Quicksilver while the speedster was in motion.[519]
Superhuman Equilibrium: Spider-Man possesses the ability to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium in any position imaginable. He seems able to adjust his position by instinct, which enables him to balance himself on virtually any object, no matter how small or narrow.[162]
Regeneration: Spider-Man is able to rapidly heal and regenerate from harm faster and more extensively than normal humans are capable of.[3] After getting his spider-powers, he soon found that his eyesight was repaired, enabling him to discard his glasses.[72] During a battle with a villain called the Masked Marauder, Spider-Man was rendered completely blind. However, after about two hours, his sight was perfect, albeit sensitive for nearly one hour afterward.[520] He also healed a broken arm,[521] in just one night,[465][467] and in an encounter with Firebrand, Spider-Man suffered severe third-degree burns, but completely recovered in a little over two days, although he privately admitted that he cannot heal "Wolverine-quick."[522][523] Despite all these feats, Spider-Man does not consider himself to have a healing factor.[524]
Contaminant Immunity: Due to his accelerated metabolism, Spider-Man has a higher tolerance for drugs and diseases than normal humans, and he can recover from the effects of larger doses rapidly.[525] During an encounter with Swarm, Spider-Man was incapacitated by thousands of bee stings, but recovered in less than 24 hours.[526] His resistance and recovery time to other toxins and diseases varies, but is typically significantly higher than normal.[527] Spider-Man's unique physiology even allowed him to recover from the effects of vampirism; as stated by Blade the Vampire-Slayer, his radioactive blood would kill the enzymes responsible for his transformation and revert him back to normal.[528] Spider-Man was able to recover completely from acid being spat into his eyes by the fourth Vulture, although the extent of the damage may have been restricted due to his superhuman durability;[324] however, Spider-Man has the normal human tolerance for alcoholic beverages.[529]
Wall-Crawling: Spider-Man's exposure to the mutated spider venom induced a mutagenic, cerebellum-wide alteration of his engrams, resulting in the ability to mentally control the flux of interatomic attraction (electrostatic force) between molecular boundary layers. This overcomes the outer electron shell's normal behavior of mutual repulsion with other outer electron shells and permits the tremendous potential for electron attraction to prevail. The mentally controlled sub-atomic particle responsible for this has yet to be identified. This ability to affect the attraction between surfaces is so far limited to Spider-Man's body (especially concentrated in his hands and feet) and another object,[503] with an upper limit of several tons per finger. At one point, Spider-Man was able to prevent Anti-Venom from taking his mask off by making it stick to his face.[530]
The Mark of Kaine:Kaine, the relatively amoral clone of Spider-Man, has shown the ability to use his wall-crawling abilities more offensively, burning distinctive scars, known as the Mark of Kaine into the faces of his victims. Later, Spider-Man himself used a variation of the same ability to escape from the Norman Osborn by making his fingertips cling to his face and tearing them away, digging five deep wounds in Norman's face.[531] Despite the obvious offensive potential of such an ability, Peter claims that it is unlikely that he will use it again, as it was a move born out of anger and desperation.[531] In later events during the Grim Hunt story arc, due to Peter's rage at Sasha Kravinoff over everything she put him and his "spider family" through, he used his version of the Mark of Kaine on her, ripping the skin off her face in the shape of a handprint, proclaiming "My brother wanted to give you this."[532] He has also been able to use the Mark of Kaine to rip Iron Man's armor off piece by piece.[533] Limits to this ability seem to be psychosomatic, and the full nature of this ability has yet to be established.
Spider-Sense: Spider-Man possesses a precognitive danger, or "spider-sense," which warns him of potential or immediate danger by the manifestation of a tingling sensation in the back of his skull, and links with his superhuman kinesthetics, enabling him to evade most any injuries unless he cognitively overrides his automatic reflexes. The precise nature of this sense is unknown, though the Master Weaver states that it is enabled by his connection to the Web of Life and Destiny.[142] Tony Stark once said that he is unable to explain how it works.[534] It appears to be a simultaneous clairvoyant response to a wide variety of phenomena (everything from falling safes to speeding bullets to thrown punches), which has given several hundredths of a second warning, which is sufficient time for his reflexes to allow him to avoid injury.[535] The sense can also create a general response on the order of several minutes; he cannot discern the nature of the threat by the sensation. He can, however, discern the severity of the danger by the strength of his response to it. Spider-Man's spider-sense is directional and can guide him to or away from hidden weapons and enemies. Sudden and extreme threats can cause his spider-sense to react with painful intensity. Spider-Man can also sense and dodge attacks directed randomly or by artificial intelligence. Using his spider-sense to time his enhanced reflexes, Spider-Man can casually dodge attacks up to, and including, automatic-weapons fire, provided there is sufficient distance. His spider-sense is sufficiently well-linked to his reflexes to the point that a threat can trigger them even when Spider-Man is asleep or stunned. His spider-sense has helped him preserve his secret identity since it alerts him to observers or cameras when changing into or out of his costume. The spider-sense does not react to those whom Peter does not consider to be a threat, such as Aunt May, or when a fellow hero makes a bluff while playing poker. Spider-Man can choose to ignore his spider-sense, and distraction or fatigue diminishes its effectiveness. Spider-Man's fighting style incorporates the advantage that his spider-sense provides him. His body begins to produce more adrenaline after the sense is triggered, an extension of the "fight or flight syndrome." Even when he does not have the use of his eyes, Spider-Man can still use his spider-sense similarly to Daredevil's radar senses to help him see by sensing the direction the danger is coming from and by listening on the loudest noise around him. This was first used after Spider-Man was temporarily blinded by a device,[536] but was recently used again to help locate the fourth Vulture after his acidic breath blinded him.[537] As a result of the Venom symbiote bonding to Spider-Man, it and its offspring do not trigger his spider-sense, a trait that has sometimes been attributed to symbiotes in general.[119]Mysterium also does not trigger his spider-sense.[534]
Radio Frequency Detection: Spider-Man's spider-sense also enables him to track certain radio frequencies, which he has used to his advantage via his spider-tracers.[538][539]
Former Powers
Upgrades: Spider-Man has received several upgrades in recent years as a result of two different adventures, the first via the genetic manipulations of the Queen, and subsequently during the Other's evolution. These powers were later presumably removed following the One More Day incident.
The Queen's Mutation: Following an encounter with an enemy known as the Queen, and her genetic manipulations of Peter's body, his spider-powers were augmented to varying degrees.
Enhanced Superhuman Strength: Originally able to lift 10 tons, he could now lift about 15 tons.
Psychic Alignment with Arthropods: Peter's spider-sense improved, creating a psychic alignment with his environment, specifically a more empathic and sympathetic relationship with both spiders and insects. While connected to the varying populations of spiders, he was unable to communicate with them directly or command them.
Biological/Organic Webbing Generation: Spider-Man was also gifted with the ability to organically produce his own silk webbing from glands within his forearms, limited by his body's health and nutrition. These organic webs had many of the same properties as Spider-Man's artificial webbing, so he had no trouble utilizing them, though they required a week to decay rather than two hours. The silk was released through a spinneret near each wrist containing a central web spigot orifice used for web-slinging and draglines, supplemented by several radial minor spigots for other types of webs connected to specialized glands.
The Other Evolution:After a near-death experience fighting Morlun, Spider-Man became the receptacle of a powerful Spider-Totem called the Other, causing his body to undergo a metamorphosis that granted him greater power than ever before after literally shedding his skin. Following his bargain with Mephisto, Peter no longer possessed the Other's powers, which were later bestowed upon his clone, Kaine.
Enhanced Wall-Crawling: Spider-Man's wall-crawling abilities were heightened even further, allowing him to stick to a surface with any part of his body, for example, his back.
Enhanced Superhuman Strength: Spider-Man's superhuman strength was enhanced as a result of his evolution by the Other, allowing him to lift up to 20 tons.
Enhanced Superhuman Durability, Speed, Agility, and Reflexes: Spider-Man's durability, speed, agility, and reflexes were all enhanced even further as a result of his evolution, allowing him to run fast enough to chase an automobile, perform even greater feats of agility, and react much quicker than ever before.
Psychological Awareness of Environment: Perhaps as an upgrade to his spider-sense and his psychic alignment with arthropods, Spider-Man received psychological awareness of his environment as a whole, allowing him to traverse across any environment without fear, even when blinded or in extremely dark conditions. Spider-Man could ascertain non-threatening information, such as detecting the concealed presence of loved ones.
Night Vision: Spider-Man received enhanced night vision as a part of his evolution by the Other, allowing him to see in pitch-black conditions.
Vibration and Air Current Sense via Hair and Webbing: Along with night vision, Spider-Man gained superhuman sensitivity via touch, allowing the hairs on his body to sense air currents around him and vibrations via his webbing.
Augmented Regenerative Healing Factor: Spider-Man had his healing factor enhanced, and thereby gained the ability to almost instantaneously recover from severe injuries such as broken bones and large amounts of tissue damage in a matter of minutes. Ambushed by the Rhino, he received heavy bodily damage, only to heal minutes later without medical attention. Peter was heavily beaten and drugged, suffering multiple fractures and blood loss in a battle with Jack O' Lantern and the Jester during the Superhuman Civil War, yet was completely healed a few hours later.
Hibernation Healing: Only used once. Peter was able to come back from near-death due to making a cocoon with his webbing and hibernating within it. He also shed his skin to heal, as most spiders do once in their lifetimes.
Stingers: Spider-Man developed retractable razor-sharp stingers that were located within his arms beneath his wrists. They released a polyamine venom, causing direct trauma and/or flaccid paralysis via interference with nerve impulse transmission. While a typical injection could paralyze a normal adult human for several hours, the impalement proved fatal to the nigh-invulnerable Morlun. While Ero, later revealed to be the Other's manifestation, initially stated that the stingers could only be used against supernatural threats, Spider-Man was able to subconsciously extend his stingers in response to stress later on.
Fangs: Spider-Man grew a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs that he used to land the fatal blow to Morlun.
Mindwipe after Brand New Day: Although not technically a power, the worldwide mindwipe of Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker was part of Mephisto's deal with Peter to save his Aunt May's life in One More Day and Doctor Strange's spell in One Moment in Time. Spider-Man is aware that the whole world has forgotten his secret identity and described it to Mister Fantastic as a "psychic blind spot" where if anyone gained any evidence which could lead to Spider-Man being Peter Parker, they would not be able to connect the dots, or they would come up with the wrong solution but would accept it as the right one regardless. Not only were people's memories affected, but also every electronic and paper file was modified to have "inexplicable" gaps wherever any data useful to identifying him or his family members would otherwise be. If Spider-Man were to unmask himself - or be unmasked, then any related people witnessing the incident would have their memories returned. Mister Fantastic claims to be able to duplicate the "firewalls" for himself and the Fantastic Four, allowing Spider-Man to safely tell them his identity without fear of compromising his secret. Due to the events of the Spider-Island story arc, (when Peter put a video of him having spider-powers on the Internet in hopes of inspiring other spider-powered New Yorkers to better use their powers) while Spider-Man's identity is still kept secret due to the mindwipe, the effects of the psychic blind spot supplied by Doctor Strange have been weakened, making it possible for someone to correctly suspect that Peter Parker is Spider-Man if they are able to, even if the world as a whole does not remember. As a result, Carlie Cooper broke up with Peter after she realized his secret identity,[540] and later Norman Osborn figured out his secret identity when Jameson said that even throwing "his girl" off a bridge did not stop the Wall-Crawler from defeating him.[395] The Hulk later revealed that he still remembered Peter's identity, although apparently the Hulk's human form, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, did not retain the same knowledge.[17] According to Doctor Strange, the spell can only be conjured once.
The Spider-Lizard: After being exposed to a self-created portable version of Dr. Curt Connors' Enervator during his fight against the Lizard and the Iguana,[541] Peter was later briefly transformed into the Spider-Lizard, who had both the form and the powers of the Lizard, but none of the Lizard's intelligence or his ability to speak.[18]
A-Plus Picotech Mutation: Exposed to the A-Plus picotech mutagen by members of the Immaculatum, Peter's suppressed spider-side was awakened when he suffered fatal injuries after being air-dropped onto the Island of the Damned. With his feral inner spider in control, Peter mutated into a monstrous form with the lower body of a giant spider, four extra arms (again) and the ability to produce red organic webbing connecting his mind to those he cocooned in it. Set ablaze by Baron Zemo, Peter's human side reasserted itself and — much as with the Man-Spider metamorphosis induced by the Queen and the Other — he moulted in human form, albeit with residual affects from the mutagen: retaining the use of the red webbing, but disabling his ability to feel empathy and emotions, leaving him willing to use lethal force and sacrifice innocent lives for the greater good. In an ethical debate with the Mainframe, Peter decided to restore himself to his original mental state and dismantle the A-Plus picosystem, reverting those mutated by it to their original forms.[542]
Symbiotes: On at least four occasions, Spider-Man has bonded to symbiotes from the planet Klyntar - three of them have taken on the appearance of a black costume with white eyes, white patches on the hands, and large stylized spider emblems on the chest and back.
The first symbiote that Peter bonded to while on Battleworld and brought with him to Earth, not realizing it was alive and sentient.[256][257] Horrified and disgusted by the notion of permanently sharing his body with it, he rejected and tried to kill it.[543][544] The symbiote survived - replicating Spider-Man's powers as a result of being bonded to him - and took on the name "Venom." Developing an intense love/hate obsession with Peter, it bonded to a series of subsequent hosts - most notably Eddie Brock - in order to either kill or re-bond to him.[259] Peter was briefly infected by a virus engineered from the Venom symbiote's bio-mass, which transformed him into a slender doppelgänger of Venom.[545] When Norman Osborn was bonded to the Carnage symbiote, Eddie loaned the Venom symbiote to Spider-Man so that he could defeat the Red Goblin.[398] During the Venom War, Peter bonded to the Venom symbiote again before giving it back to the Brocks.[546]
While teaching at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Spider-Man and his class investigated an attack on the S.W.O.R.D. space station by a group of symbiote-possessed Brood. In order to take on the symbiote-controlled Deathbird, Spider-Man temporarily bonded to one of the symbiotes, controlling it with help from No-Girl. The symbiote managed to overcome No-Girl and take over Spider-Man, transforming him into a monster similar to Venom, but immediately afterward, it was separated from him and jettisoned into space.[119]
Peter eventually bonded to a symbiote again. When Lee Price was using the Mania symbiote to control criminals, he infected Spider-Man as well. However, the hero was freed from his control by Agent Anti-Venom.[120]
When the Poisons attacked Earth, Spider-Man was bonded to a symbiote by a Poisoned version of the Punisher. After failing to remove it in the same manner that he had originally expunged the Venom symbiote, Peter deduced that it had been altered to augment the bonding process and set out to find who had done this to them.[547] In the end, the symbiote was removed from him and returned to Klyntar with the rest of its abducted brethren.[548]
Enhanced Superhuman Strength: Spider-Man's superhuman strength was enhanced as a result of the Enigma Force, allowing him to send the Hulk all the way into outer space with only one punch.
Enhanced Superhuman Durability, Speed, Agility, and Reflexes: Spider-Man's durability, speed, agility, and reflexes were all enhanced even further as a result of becoming Captain Universe.
Flight: Spider-Man gained the ability to fly. His speed was so fast, he was able to get the Hulk back from outer space in a few minutes.
Energy Blasts: Spider-Man gained the ability to shoot concentrated energy blasts from his hands.
Enhanced Spider-Sense: Spider-Man's spider-sense was enhanced to the extent that it allowed him to sense everything around him.
Superhuman Sight and Hearing: Spider-Man was able to hear and see danger from far away.
Molecular Change: Spider-Man could use this ability to make his webbing as hard as Adamantium or simply change its shape.
The Spider-Hulk: During a fight with the Hulk, a device called the Biokinetic Energy Absorber had absorbed the Hulk's gamma radiation and struck Spider-Man. This turned Spider-Man into the Spider-Hulk, seemingly possessing the Hulk's powers for a short time.[15] Spider-Man would turn back into the Spider-Hulk after being exposed to the gamma energy of the Red Hulk and be able to hold his own when fighting Hulked-Out Thor and other people who had also been turned into Red Hulks.[16] Spider-Man briefly transformed into the Spider-Hulk again when Loki attempted to expel Banner's gamma radiation from his body in an attempt to help him, only for the radiation to be absorbed by Spider-Man's also-mutated physiology. With the aid of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man was able to devise a means of transferring the energy back to Banner, with the Hulk later thanking Peter for choosing to stay with Banner as he transformed back into the Hulk.[17]
Enhanced Spider-Sense: In an attempt to cripple Spider-Man's spider-sense through the use of a spider-jammer, Tiberius Stone unintentionally augmented the spider-sense to an overwhelming degree.[550] Spider-Man was able to sense both any and every potential threat, no matter how large or small, ranging from a tiny paper cut to a static shock; however, the effect was only temporary, as Tiberius managed to perfect his spider-jammer.[551]
Doctor Octopus: After having his body and mind temporarily swapped with those of Doctor Octopus,[552] Peter acquired the same equipment which gave the original Doctor Octopus his abilities:
Tentacles: Doctor Octopus's superhuman abilities derive from the four mentally controlled, electronically powered, telescoping, prehensile titanium-steel tentacles attached to a stainless-steel harness encircling his body from his lower chest to his waist. Each tentacle, approximately five inches in diameter, terminates in three single-jointed pincers. The pincers are able to rotate in relation to the arm for 360 degrees in a screwdriver-like twisting motion. Each tentacle segment contains four high-efficiency electric motors equipped with a clutched helical-gear train, independently mounted on frictionless gimbals and housed in four thin overlapping layers of titanium-niobium steel. The titanium-steel alloy is light, has high tensile strength, a high melting point, and high thin-wall rigidity. The motors get their power from a small nuclear-powered thermo-electric generator, which can provide several hundred watts per hour for up to five years before needing to replace its U-239 core. The tentacles have been modified since the time of the original accident to include high-efficiency battery packs (enabling movement when they are cut off from the central power source) and individual micro-circuit control modules (enabling each arm to perform certain pre-programmed actions if Octopus loses conscious control). In the event that Octopus loses consciousness, the control module of each arm has enough pre-programmed conditional responses in its memory chip to enable it to perform a relatively complex sequence of actions, such as saving his life. The trauma of any or all of his arms being separated from the harness causes a period of disorientation in which his arms flail about uncontrollably until the pre-programming takes over.
Telepathic Control over Tentacles: Doctor Octopus can control the actions of his artificial arms psionically, even when they have been removed or severed from his body and are separated from him by vast distances (a distance of 900 miles has been recorded).
Telescoping: Each tentacle is approximately six feet long at full contraction, but can extend to a maximum of 24 feet in length.
Superhuman Striking Force: Each tentacle is capable of moving at a speed of 90 feet per second and striking with the force of a jackhammer.
High-Wind Generation The tentacles can generate 50 miles per hour winds if spun like a giant fan.
Wall-Climbing and Traveling: By combining the intrinsic strength of both his tentacles and the pincers, Doctor Octopus can scale stone, brick, or concrete walls by rending "handholds" in the surface of the wall. Octopus is able to use his tentacles for traversing horizontal distances as well. At full extension, he can travel high above the ground as if on stilts, either using two tentacles or, for maximum speed (approximately 50 miles per hour), all four tentacles.
Sensation Feeling: Although there are no nerve endings throughout the length of his artificial arms, Doctor Octopus can "feel" basic sensations with them. As a result of the mutagenic changes from exposure to atomic radiation during the accident, electrical connections have been made from his chest harness to his spine. Thus, Octopus can mentally perceive "tactile" sensations by feeling the amount of electrical resistance that the pincers' electric motors feel when the pincers grasp an object.
Magician: After the Hobgoblin and Baron Mordo used the Word of God to change reality, a powerless Doctor Strange trained Spider-Man in the Mystic Arts inside Kamar-Taj for one year, while in the outside world only a few weeks had passed. However, those new powers were not enough to defeat Baron Mordo, along with the Hobgoblin.[553]
Magic Spells and Phrases: Peter would pick up magic again as he needed to in order to fight the Scions of Cyttorak when Sorcerer Supreme Doom made him the champion of Earth.[134] His knowledge of spells would further increase under the tutelage of Doctor Strange's ghost.[135]
Wicked Webs of Wundagore: Spider-Man fires a mystical green beam of webs at his opponent. This was the first spell he used against Cyntros, who would tell Peter that he did not need to say his spells out loud.[134]
Luminescence of Limitless Langolin: A spell Peter used to overload the black hole in Cyntros' mouth.[134]
Sempiternal Shield of Stryk'Un'Mohr: A mystic shield conjured to protect Peter from a demon. Doctor Strange claims that Peter was doing it incorrectly due to the shield coming out as green instead of gold.[135]
Benevolent Battering of Balduran: A spell that multiplies the amount of punches Peter threw against Cyperion.[135]
Tenacious Thread of the Tetradium: A simple yet effective spell that conjures a thread that keeps the caster and their target for a limited time. Peter used this against Cyperion to keep them together while he was falling through Cyperion's portals.[135]
Kaleidoscopic Cage of K'un-Lun: A spell that creates a limited domain infinitely, enlarging and shrinking objects within it. Cyperion states that Doctor Strange used this spell against him three or four challenges ago. Peter used it to defeat Cyperion by moving infinitely within it until he returned to the point of origin, but enlarged to a size greater than the planet Earth. Peter became "the smallest and the biggest thing" at the same time.[135]
Balm of Bathsheba: A spell capable of purging the essence of Callix's Crimson Canines from a person, healing them in the process.[554]
Unraveling of Urowol: A spell Peter used under the alias, "Binding of Arceus". It is a restraining spell Peter used to contain one of Callix's Crimson Canines. Once restrained, the spell sent the Crimson Canine back to the Crimson Cosmos.[554]
Goodwin's Golden Vow: A spell Peter uses in tandem with the Flames of Farrador in preparation for any possibility of Cyra's challenge.[137]
Flames of Farrador:A spell Peter uses in tandem with the Goodwin's Golden Vow in preparation for any possibility of Cyra's challenge.[137]
Infernal Spear of Ferical: A "last-ditch-effort" spell capable of decimating anyone, even a Scion. Peter used it against Callix, only for it not to kill him due to him being empowered by the Blight.[138]
Terrible Trebuchet of Th'Ogoth: A spell that increases the leaping ability of the user. Peter used it as Spider-Naut to leap out of Earth's atmosphere to attack the Blight.[459]
Crimson Casket of Cyttorak: Peter attempted to use the Crimson Casket of Cyttorak to seal away the Blight; however, Cyttorak took his place to use the spell.[459]
Demonic Empowerment: After Peter's final death at the hands of a Blight-empowered Callix,[138] he would be resurrected and imbued with the power of Cyra,[95] transforming him into a Juggernaut, an Avatar of Cyttorak through his daughter. As a "Spider-Naut", Peter gained the following abilities:
Immense Strength: Peter's physical strength increased to where it rivals that of the Juggernaut (Cain Marko). After he used the Terrible Trebuchet of Th'Ogoth to leap out of Earth’s atmosphere, he punched the Blight hard enough for it and its hosts to feel it.[459]
Invulnerability
Irresistible Force Embodiment: Like Marko, Peter was nearly impossible to stop once he starts moving, as Cain had Peter do the "Fastball Special" and none of the Blight's infected forces could stop him.[459]
Immortality: Upon his death by Callix, who was empowered by the Blight, [138]Cyra would make a deal with Death to resurrect Peter by transferring her immortality to him in exchange for his life force, making him immortal.[95] As stated by Cyttorak, Peter can now live for thousands of years.[459]
Self-Sustenance: Like other Juggernauts, Peter no longer needs to eat, sleep, or breathe while in his Spider-Naut armor. He also seems to be able to have this power outside of the armor, as when he cast the spell of the Crimson Casket of Cyttorak, his armor separated from him while performing the spell, while he was outside of Earth's atmosphere.[459] However, that might have been Cyttorak letting him breathe outside the armor as he was talking to Spider-Man, asking him why he was protecting Earth from the Blight.[459]
Abilities
Indomitable Will: Spider-Man has a strong force of will, completely free of evil and temptation. For years, he has struggled to balance his life as a student and his super-hero duties. He is able to emerge from defeat even stronger. His mental strength is also shown when he successfully wrestled control of nanobots from Doctor Octopus.[150] Through the psychological profiles conducted by Maria Hill, she has stated that nobody has as strong an ingrained identity as Spider-Man, further demonstrating the extent of his willpower.[533] His willpower is so strong that he has been considered as the greatest of all the Spider-Totems in the Multiverse by Ben Reilly of Earth-94.[373] Despite this, he has been taken over by symbiotes on numerous occasions,[545][119] and there have been times where he has seriously considered killing, and even attempted to kill, his opponents.[313][555] During Cyra's challenge to hold her sphere and endure witnessing as many deaths as it took before he dropped the sphere,[137]Doctor Strange, who went through the same challenge, was said to have endured witnessing 809,000 deaths. Peter, on the other hand endured witnessing 3,000,000 deaths and still held onto the sphere, even after Callix attacked and killed him after his turn was over.[137][556]
Gifted Intellect: Peter Parker possesses a natural talent for science, standing out as a top student in high school and college. He developed inventions such as his web-shooters, his signature web formula,[11] and the Spider-Tracers when he was still in high school.[538] Peter's intellect has earned him a place among the think tank Horizon Labs,[557] as well as an acknowledgement by some of Earth's most brilliant minds, such as Hank Pym.[558] In addition, Peter's college IQ scores were the same as those posted by Reed Richards at the same age.[559] Peter was also able to hack into Stark Industries system to override Tony Stark's control command over the Iron Spider Armor,[307] and discover Parker Particles, a force of energy tied into the continuous expansion of the universe that offers greater power than the Phoenix Force, according to Reed Richards.[560]
Expert Inventor/Engineer: With his knowledge and expertise in mechanics, robotics and engineering Peter has been able to use his amazing intellect and resources at Horizon Labs to create many inventions such as the four Spider-Armors, the Spidey Stealth Suit, his famous Web-Shooters, the Cryo-Cube 3000 and the noise reduction headphones. At Parker Industries he invented a magnitude of devices including, but not limited to, the Anti-Electro Netting which successfully de-powered Electro,[561] an antidote for the Zodiac poison,[380] and easy to apply holographic plating.[562]
Skilled Photographer: Peter is a very skilled photographer and has worked for the Daily Bugle, the Daily Globe, and the Front Line as a photographer.[563]
Talented Teacher: Peter is a naturally talented teacher and has taught science at Midtown High School.[288]
Master Acrobat: Thanks to his great strength and phenomenal equilibrium, Parker is an excellent athlete, excelling in all gymnastic fields and being able to perform every acrobatic stunt ever performed, including others that can never be performed by even an Olympic acrobat.[564]
Master Martial Artist:
Spider-Man defeating Spider-Woman
After his years of crime-fighting, Spider-Man became an excellent martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant, having utilized his fighting style that directly complements his superhuman spider-powers and abilities. His methods are volatile, enabling him to rival practically all types of combatants. In addition to this, Peter has been trained by Captain America in unarmed combat.[102] After temporarily losing his spider-sense, Peter received formal combat training from Shang-Chi and together created a new martial art style dubbed "the Way of the Spider." [565][566][567] However, since the return of his spider-sense, Peter let his training lapse.[568][569] Spider-Man's feats include defeating Firelord, Daken, Wolverine, the Sinister Six single-handedly, Quicksilver,[519] the X-Men single-handedly,[570] Spider-Man (Otto Octavius),[571]Spider-Woman,[565][357] both the Black Panther and Hawkeye,[572] and Morlun.[490][377] He has stalemated Captain America,[573] Julia Carpenter, and Shang-Chi.[574][567]
Bilingual: In addition to speaking English, Peter has also learned Mandarin.[380]
Unlike many super-heroes, Spider-Man does not have a weakness he is automatically vulnerable to, but in recent years, methods have been created to render him vulnerable.
Spider-Sense Disruption: Spider-Man's spider-sense can lose its effectiveness if it is blocked or temporarily weakened by specialized equipment or certain drugs.[575][576][577][578][579][580] It also would not trigger if it detects something that is not registered as a threat like the Spider-Man clones,[581][582] the Venom symbiote,[259] its offspring,[583] the Anti-Venom symbiote,[584] the Skrulls,[585] or Spider-Boy.[586] When deprived of his spider-sense, Spider-Man becomes vulnerable to surveillance and attack, and web-slinging requires most of his concentration.[587]
Ethyl Chloride: Perhaps as a side effect of gaining his powers, Spider-Man is susceptible to the pesticide ethyl chloride. This chemical is frequently used as a weapon by the Spider-Slayers.[588][261]
Bad Luck: Not exactly a flaw or a disadvantage in his crime-fighting, Peter Parker's life is generally a complicated one. Peter has been forced on numerous occasions to lie to people close to him, be late to his commitments, get away from people, and so on, for the sake of his secret identity. This inherent difficulty in keeping his super-hero life secret, matched with the number of superhuman events and beings in New York, and simply coincidence, has, in turn, led Peter to aggravate people around himself, even ones close to himself, and to, more often than not, run into trouble and embarrassment. Peter often remarks whenever he misses an opportunity to better his social life, improve his finances, or even get to work on time (due to his superheroics), "Typical Parker luck."
Former Weaknesses
No Driving Skill: Due to having his web-shooters since he was a teenager and being busy fighting crime, Peter never learned how to drive. This is one of the reasons that made the Spider-Mobile a terrible idea. Peter can neither fly a helicopter nor the Avengers' Quinjet.[589]
Memory Loss: Peter does not remember certain events in his life due to Doctor Octopus's mindwipe when Peter tried to take his body back after Octavius switched their minds.[367] He currently possesses 31 pieces of his memories left from the mindwipe.[590]
Anti-Venom's Proximity: Anti-Venom's failed attempt to cure Spider-Man of his radioactive blood resulted in Spider-Man's powers slowly cancelling out whenever Anti-Venom was too close to him. Also, if Anti-Venom bound him with his own webbing abilities, it would also negate Spider-Man's powers until Spider-Man could get it off of his body. This weakness no longer applies due to Eddie Brock sacrificing the Anti-Venom symbiote to cure the population of New York. However, a duplicate of the Anti-Venom symbiote was created in a failed attempt by Spider-Man to kill the Venom symbiote with a vat of an Anti-Venom serum.[591] However, the duplicate did not appear to adversely affect Spider-Man's powers and later met its death along with Flash Thompson.[398] A third iteration of the Anti-Venom symbiote was created from the second one when Flash returned to life during Knull's invasion, but it is unknown if Spider-Man is vulnerable to it.[592]
Spider-Man's main trademark equipment are his web-shooters. Thanks to Peter Parker's brilliance at physical science, his scientific knowledge allowed him to create the web-shooters for use when Peter first became Spider-Man.[593] The twin devices worn on his wrists are able to shoot thin strands of a special web fluid at high pressure and speeds.
Spider-Man's Suit: When Peter Parker became Spider-Man, he created himself the original red and blue Spider-Man costume and a mask that he could wear to hide his face. Spider-Man mainly wears this classic spider-themed costume suit throughout his super-hero career and while he has worn several other suits that are still the same as the original, he always finds himself returning to wearing this costume.
Black Cloth Suit:
The black suit
After Spider-Man removed the Venom symbiote, his girlfriend, the Black Cat, made him a non-living duplicate, as she thought it was "sexier" than his red and blue suit.[594] While the two suits were used interchangeably initially, the black suit eventually became Spider-Man's primary suit after his red and blue suit was destroyed. However, after Venom's attack on Mary Jane Watson, she forced him to abandon the black suit for good. Thereafter, he only occasionally wore the black suit as a last resort, when his red and blue suit was out of commission. He returned to wearing the black suit for a brief period of time after his Aunt May was dying in a hospital due to an attempt on Peter's life by the Kingpin. With Kraven's resurrection during The Gauntlet story arc, Spider-Man uncovered a copy of the suit left as a taunt by Kraven while searching for his clone, Kaine, and wore it while defeating the Kravinoff family. The black suit, in every sense of the word, represents Spider-Man's dark and grim persona. This suit is the only costume aside from Spider-Man's original red and blue one to have the most longevity.
Utility Belt: Upon first entering the super-hero world, Peter created a utility belt that held extra clips of webbing, Spider-Tracers, and his Spider-Signal.[152] Recently, he upgraded his utility belt to hold cartridges of different types of webbing, freeze capsules, and new Spider-Tracers, as well as a newly upgraded Spider-Signal that has a UV light setting for forensic analysis.[595]
Spider-Tracers: Spider-Man uses small electronic "Spider-Tracers" of his own design that allows him to track objects or individuals. Typically, Spider-Man plants or throws one on a departing enemy and follows the target to their hideout. He also uses a launching device in his web-shooters for better range and accuracy. He originally used an electronic receiver to follow the signals of the tracers but later modified their signal so he can follow it with his spider-sense. He can follow the signal within a 100-yard radius. After he temporarily lost his spider-sense, he used Horizon Lab's resources to make new and improved Spider-Tracers with listening devices, G.P.S. and camouflage. Other modifications include Tracers made of Anti-Metal Antarctic Vibranium which melts metals on contact and a cryogenic Spider-Tracer used to freeze Hydro-Man.
Spider-Signal: A powerful light emitted from Spider-Man's utility belt to announce his arrival to criminals.[153] Peter later updated his Spider-Signal with a UV light setting for forensic analysis.[595]
Avengers Identicard: A credit card-sized gadget designed by Tony Stark for the identification of all Avengers. It was used by Spider-Man when the police interrogated the Metropolitan Museum of Art after a fight between Mister Negative and Anti-Venom,[596] and he has since used it on other occasions.[359][597]
Former Suits and Equipment
Black Symbiote Suit:
Black symbiote Spider-Man costume
Spider-Man first acquired the black symbiote costume during the first Secret Wars. When his traditional red-and-blue suit was damaged, Thor and the Hulk informed him of a machine that could repair it. However, the machine released a black sphere that, when Spider-Man touched it, covered his body and, possibly reacting to his thoughts about the new costume worn by the second Spider-Woman, created a new one to him, dissolving the old ragged one in the process.[256] After Reed Richards informed him that it was an alien symbiote, Spider-Man tried to get rid of it.[257] Eventually, the suit bonded with Eddie Brock and they became Venom, one of the deadliest of Spider-Man's foes.[259] On other occasions, Spider-Man temporarily recovered the black costume: in the second time, a group of symbiote-possessed Brood attacked the S.W.O.R.D space station and Spider-Man and the X-Men investigated. During the attack, Spider-Man bonded with one of the symbiotes that was being controlled with the help of No-Girl in order to take on the symbiote-controlled Deathbird, though he was separated from it afterward so that he was not possessed by it;[119] in the third time, a Poison Punisher forcibly bonded Spider-Man to another symbiote so he could be assimilated by the Hive, though after the Poisons' defeat, he was separated from it and it was returned to the planet Klyntar.[121] Spider-Man bonded with Venom again when Norman Osborn used the Carnage symbiote to become the Red Goblin. Their re-bonding made Spider-Man actually care for the Venom symbiote, at least to some extent - this could be evident when they both got separated, with Spider-Man saying to it to avoid the fire around them.[398]
When Iron Man first had to make a quick escape, he made this armor out of anything he could get his hands on - and it showed. After Peter Parker was resurrected from a battle to the death against Morlun, his friend and teammate Tony Stark built him a new suit using Stark tech and obviously influenced by the colors of Stark's Iron Man Armor. Peter Parker abandoned this armor when he changed sides during the Civil War from the pro-Registration side (led by Iron Man) to the anti-Registration side, the Secret Avengers (led by Captain America). Peter would later create a duplicate of the suit and store it at Parker Industries.[598]
Spider-Man created this suit to combat the Hobgoblin's' sonic screams; the suit warps light and sound around it, rendering it invisible.[599] It was later used by Kaine to defeat the Spider-Queen. The costume's new color was a consequence of the suit being locked in that design, which was made on purpose by Madame Web, who wanted it changed for what the Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) meant in Kaine's past.
When the New Enforcers attacked New York using high caliber firearms, Spider-Man created a suite of "Spider-Armor." Composed of a pseudo-metallic compound that he developed at Empire State University, the suit slowed him down and made him less agile, but allowed him to be bulletproof. During the battle, the suit was destroyed by acid.[600]
This suit was created by Spider-Man in order to protect himself from the villain Electro and his electricity powers in a battle alongside the X-Men against the villain.[601]
The Anti-Magnetic Inverter was a device built by Peter Parker/Spider-Man to counteract the magnetic power that the Vulture uses for flight.[152]
Anti-Sonic Inverter: The Anti-Sonic Inverter was a device inspired by the Anti-Magnetic Inverter and was used during his fight with Clash to erase his recording list and stop his attack.[377]
When Norman Osborn and the Trapster framed Spider-Man for murder, Peter Parker created four separate costumed identities to clear his name. The first was the Ricochet suit, which showcased his agility and had bouncing discs which were used as weapons.
The second identity used by Spider-Man to clear his name was the Hornet suit. It provided additional protection and utilized a jet pack designed by Hobie Brown, as well as sedative darts.
The third identity used by Spider-Man to clear his name was the Dusk suit, which he had acquired from the Negative Zone. The suit allowed Spider-Man to blend into the shadows and fly.
The fourth and final identity used by Spider-Man to clear his name was the Prodigy suit. It had a bulletproof vest with golden-like armor, making him appear even stronger. Due to his partially exposed face, make-up and a fake nose had to be used in order to fool people.
Created by Peter Parker with Parker Industries' best resources, this suit was far beyond most of his usual suits. The suit was lightweight enough that Peter could still wall-crawl with incredible ease, yet was strong enough to deflect laser shots at close range. The eyes-and-spider insignia on his chest glowed, though it is unknown if it was just for show or if it had any other purpose.[562] As of current events, Peter made this his primary suit for his missions. However, some time later, during the Secret Empire, Doctor Octopus tried to take over Parker Industries and, as part of his plan, he used a device to destroy the Spider-Armor MK IV, revealing Peter's traditional suit underneath.
The Clairvoyant: A device created by a student named Jamie,[602] after being exposed by the energies released by Spider-Man 2099 and being inhabited by Lyla,[603]this allowed Spider-Man to see possible probabilities of the future.[604]
Peter created version 2.0 of his Spider-Armor to compensate for the loss of his spider-sense due to the fact that, without this ability, he could be easily wounded by bullets.[587] This suit has since been placed back in storage in Peter's office at Horizon Labs.[79] It was most likely destroyed alongside Horizon itself.[605] A replica of the suit was later stored at Parker Industries.[370]
Created by Peter Parker with Horizon Labs' vast resources to fight the Sinister Six if needed in a last resort. When Doctor Octopus started his last master plan before dying, Spider-Man knew that he would have to use it to stop Octopus's attempt to speed up the greenhouse effect.[352] This suit has since been repaired and placed back in storage in Peter's office at Horizon Labs.[79] After Horizon Labs was destroyed,[605] Spider-Man kept the suit in his lab at Parker Industries.[370]
After his mind swap with Doctor Octopus, Peter returned to his body, got rid of Doctor Octopus's costume, and returned to his classic red and blue costume and, even further, the Mark IV Spider-Armor; yet he still could use it any time he wanted, but he chose not to. After being driven to kill by Itsy-Bitsy, and under the influence of Mephisto, he upgraded this costume even further in order to kill her. Deadpool even mentioned that he looked "kinda superiorly Doc Ock-y." Some upgrades included Spider-Arms, Laser Beams, Web Wings, and Nerve Hacking Technology. Spider-Man, however, fought against Mephisto's influence and did not kill her. Like the black costume, this one also shows Peter's dark side, which was the intention of Doctor Octopus when he created it, the costume making him appear more like a threat, which better suited him as a "hero."[555]
Transportation
Web-Swinging: Spider-Man uses his web-shooters to travel by swinging on web-lines. Combined with his spider-abilities, he can move at amazing speeds throughout the urban chasms of Manhattan. Spider-Man was able to keep pace with Captain Marvel at his best speed, surprising the Kree warrior, although Spider-Man mentioned it was mostly due to his practice with web-swinging over his career.[606]
Spider-Glider: Through his resources at Horizon Labs, Spider-Man created his own version of the Goblin Glider that is used for faster travel across the city. He first used it during a fight with Equinox.[352]
Spider-Mobile: With his resources from Parker Industries, Peter co-created a second version of the Spider-Mobile with Lian Tang. He first used it during a fight with the Zodiac in Shanghai.[380]
Hydro-Spider: With his resources from Parker Industries, Peter also designed a submarine-like ship capable of going deep sea. He outfitted it with a holographic plating for stealth purposes.[562]
Notes
Peter became Spider-Man when he was 15 years old.[608] Since the Prime Marvel Universe operates in a sliding timescale, the period between the beginning of the Marvel Age (Fantastic Four #1, close to Spider-Man's debut in Amazing Fantasy #15) and the present is a fixed window of time of roughly 15 years. Although editor Tom Brevoort stated in 2018 that Peter was 28 years old,[609] comics such as Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #14 have described him as being in his mid-20s instead. Brevoort has acknowledged that Peter is in the same age range as other characters who have been consistently portrayed as his peers, including Jessica Jones, the Human Torch, and Cyclops.[610]
It should be noted that Johnny Storm and Cyclops are actually a year or two older than Peter, as Peter was 15 during the time of Amazing Fantasy #15 and his first few issues, Johnny Storm was said to be 16 at the time of his first appearance,[611] which is set before Peter became Spider-Man, and Cyclops was approximately 17 during his own.[612]
The only person killed by Spider-Man is Charlemagne. Even though it was unintentional, this accident continued to haunt him later on in his life.[469]
Peter was married to Mary Jane Watson prior to the alteration of his personal history by Mephisto, who did this in order to prevent the couple's daughter from being born and threaten to overthrow his inevitable rule on Earth.[317][146] However, despite this, Peter and Mary Jane rekindled their relationship,[399] and he was planning to propose to her again.[613] They even moved back in together after the fall of the Beyond Corporation,[148] but their relationship was again broken, as Peter had been alienated from everyone he cared about. Despite this, he has shown that he wants to get back with her, but cannot for now because Mary Jane is in another relationship.
This list does not count all the refugees from the Ultimate Universe who may or may not also know his secret identity, such as Ganke Lee and Miles' parents, Rio and Jeff.[640][641]
While Miguel O'Hara and various other members of the Multiversal Spider-Army know that Peter Parker is the original Spider-Man,[642] they are not included since they are neither from, nor currently residing in, the Prime Marvel Universe.
This list also does not include beings with inherent abilities that would tell them who Spider-Man is, such as Lady Sif.[632]
Peter seems to be unaware of the fact that Thor knows his secret identity.[643]
The Stonethrower was able to discern Peter's civilian alter-ego from Spider-Man, but is not actually acquainted with Peter Parker nor knows his name.[644]
Robbie Thompson, the writer of Spider-Man/Deadpool, wanted Deadpool to learn Spider-Man's secret identity; however, Marvel Comics would not allow that. So, in the final story arc of the series, Thompson created an "event," with himself as the main villain, the Manipulator, in order for Marvel to allow Deadpool to learn Spider-Man's identity. In the end that did not happen, as Spider-Man and Deadpool put the Manipulator in jail.[646]
During Absolute Carnage, when Cletus Kasady was impersonating Eddie Brock and talking to an unsuspecting Spider-Man, the actual Eddie tried to warn Peter, but unintentionally revealed to Kasady Spider-Man's first name as "Pete."[647]
It has been shown that those with telepathic abilities, such as Chamber, can sense Peter's spider-sense when it is activated by danger and that (with some difficulty) by linking their minds together, his spider-sense can be telepathically broadcasted to those around him in order to allow them to sense the same danger that he does.[648]
Allegedly, Peter had heard that his school's dance team were throwing out old bodysuits, so he sneaked into school after dark, found one that fit him, obtained two two-way mirrors from the Drama Department's prop closet (for his mask's eye lenses) and spent an hour silk screening the web pattern onto the bodysuit in the art room. With this, he created his first Spider-Man costume.[511]
Despite Peter being officially and consistently classified with gifted intelligence,[53][4][3] he once claimed to possess an IQ north of 250.[649] For reference, in the real world, the person with the highest recorded IQ score is allegedly Ainan Celeste Cawley (263),[650] and in the Ultimate Universe, Reed Richards has an IQ of 267.[651]
Regarding his ability to climb walls, Peter normally needs to take off his shoes or any kind of thick footwear; however, he is sometimes drawn being able to climb with his shoes on. According to Marvel editor Tom Brevoort: "Shoes off is correct. Shoes on is a mistake made so often it became faux-right."[652]
This may tie in to an alleged "cover-up" which stated that Steve Ditko, when designing Spider-Man, was partially inspired by Ben Cooper Halloween Costume's Spiderman costume, which predates Spider-Man,[654] and according to some alleged sources, Jack Kirby used to work for the Ben Cooper company, designing their costumes.[655]
Steve Ditko originally envisioned Spider-Man's costume as orange and purple. Ditko has assumed that it was changed to red and blue either due to the printing limitations of the era or because Marvel thought red and blue was more striking.[656]
During Steve Ditko's time on the series The Amazing Spider-Man, when shooting webs Spider-Man only stuck out his thumb and pointing finger minus the pinky finger. Because Steve Ditko used to draw the characters with their pinky finger sticking out, this caused Spider-Man to also stick out his pinky fingers when shooting webs.[657]
Spider-Man shares this hand gesture with Doctor Strange, who was also co-created by Steve Ditko; this was also acknowledged by the characters themselves in Spider-Man: Fever #3.
It is revealed in Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee, that Spider-Man was based on the Spider (Richard Wentworth), despite Lee stating that he was inspired by a fly walking on a wall.[658]
When Stan Lee first pitched the idea of Spider-Man, his publisher, Martin Goodman, was at first against it, since people hated spiders. This is why Spider-Man made his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, since the Amazing Adult Fantasy series was planned to be cancelled anyway.[658]
This may actually tie to the fact that Spider-Man was allegedly going to be portrayed as a horror comic, since according to Horror Comics: The Illustrated History, Steve Ditko was famous for drawing horror comics, and this can be witnessed in Spider-Man's first appearance as he was drawn with a horror atmosphere, which Stan Lee liked.[659] The connection was also acknowledged in Gerry Conway's book Webslinger: Unauthorized Essays on Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"[]
Spider-Man's famous mantra "with great power comes great responsibility" is often attributed as a quote from Uncle Ben; however, it was originally the concluding lines of narration to his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, the anonymous narrator explaining the moral of the story, not advice from his beloved uncle. As this was the lesson he had learned from his uncle's death, it slowly became associated with Uncle Ben, and the 2002 film chose to have the famous phrase come directly from Ben Parker as advice to the newly-powered Peter, and this is how the origin of the phrase is commonly understood now.
After years of busting thieves and cat burglars, Peter has picked up on how to pick locks. He was also given a set of lock picks from the Black Cat.[670]
In his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, the spider that bit Parker was mistakenly called an insect.
S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to reverse-engineer Spider-Man's web formula many years ago according to Buck Lime, the Moon Knight's assistant, who built web-shooters for him.[671]
Several times, Spider-Man has been mistaken as a mutant. At one point, J. Jonah Jameson actually sent him to X-Factor for confirmation,[672] and at another, he was hunted down by Magneto until the misunderstanding was corrected.[673]
It has been implied that Peter has trademarked the Spider-Man motif after mobilizing Parker Industries.[674][675] This was later revealed to be true, as the Beyond Corporation had bought the trademark of Spider-Man off of the now-defunct company.[147]
Peter has both a Twitter[676] and a Facebook account.[677] While the Superior Spider-Man used a Skype account under Peter's name, it is unknown if Peter himself has ever used the account.[590]
Peter is a Libra, making his birthday sometime between September 23 and October 22.[380]
Spider-Man considers Five Guys to have the best hamburgers in New York.[678]
Peter's locker combination in middle school was 06-18-28.[624]
Spider-Man has visited Tim Harrison,[506] and Nathan,[681] two of his biggest young fans who were suffering from cancer. He was also saddened when he found out that Fusion's son had died when trying to emulate him.[682]
Norman Osborn sees Peter as his ideal son, and even deemed him worthy to be the heir to the identity of the Green Goblin.[683]
Peter believes that if Gwen had survived, he never would have ended up with Mary Jane, and has been haunted by this belief ever since.[684] However, Mary Jane has a firm belief that she and Peter are destined to be together.[317] This would later be confirmed at the end of the Kindred Saga, where after Doctor Strange freed Peter's soul from Mephisto's influence and discovered his motivations in wanting to separate him from MJ, he reiterated that the devil's actions ended up only making the couple's connection unbreakable.[317][146]
Since Doctor Strange died before he managed to reveal to Peter about Mephisto's interference in his life, both he and Mary Jane are still unaware of their deal with the devil.[685] Ironically, just when Doctor Strange was finally resurrected, Peter ended up being killed and erased from reality, once again preventing him from finding out about his deal with the devil.
Peter has stated that purchasing the chemicals he uses to manufacture his web-fluid costs around 2,000 dollars.[105]
Peter finds Miles Morales' black and red costume cooler than his own.[361]
Spider-Man once met the Joker, a super-villain from New Earth in the DC Universe.[689] Later Ben Reilly, who had assumed the identity of Spider-Man at that time, met the Joker as well, with the latter saying to him "Spider-Man, I presume, but you've changed costumes since last we fought.", not knowing at all that this Spider-Man was a clone of the original one. Ben started to tell the Joker that he did not know what he was talking about before the Joker interrupted him.[690]
Spider-Man's favorite TV show is the real-life talk show Comedy Bang! Bang!,[691] and one of his favorite films ever is the fictional Fast Car Family Five.[692]
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