Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider as a teenager, granting him spider-like powers. After the death of his Uncle Ben, which he could have prevented, Peter learned that "with great power comes great responsibility". Swearing to always protect the innocent from harm, Peter Parker became the Amazing Spider-Man!
OCCUPATION: Freelance photographer, former assistant high school coach, former science teacher, scientific researcher
BASE OF OPERATIONS: New York City, NY
BIRTHPLACE: Forest Hills, New York
MARITAL STATUS: Married (Mary Jane Parker)
HEIGHT: 5'10
WEIGHT: 167 lbs.
EYES: Hazel
HAIR: Brown
EDUCATION: Unknown
FIRST APPEARANCE: Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962)
ORIGIN:
Peter Benjamin Parker was born to C.I.A. agents Richard and Mary Parker, who were killed when Peter was very young. After the death of his parents, Peter was raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May in amodest house in Forest Hills, New York. While still in High School, Peter attended a science exhibition about radiology where he was bitten by a radioactive spider, granting him the proportionate strength and agility of a spider as well as a " Spider-Sense" that warns him of nearby danger. In order to test his new abilities – and earn some cash, Peter participated in a wrestling challenge against Crusher Hogan. He easily won the challenge and also gained the attention of the media. Afterwards while backstage, Peter saw a burglar run past him but did nothing to stop him as it wasn’t his problem. Later that night when Peter arrived home, he was told by a policeman that his Uncle Ben had been murdered by someone who broke into their house. The cop mentioned they had tracked the killer to a warehouse. In his anger Peter put on his wrestling costume and went after the murderer himself. After arriving at the warehouse and easily defeating Uncle Ben’s killer, Peter saw that it was the same burglar he didn’t stop at the arena…thus learning that “ with great power comes great responsibility".
POWERS and ABILITIES:
Spider-Man possesses the proportionate powers of a spider, granted to him from an irradiated Common House Spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum) which bit Peter Parker that was apparently already mutated from prior exposure to certain frequencies of radiation and received a final, lethal dose during Parker's attendance of the exhibition.
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 Parker, granting him superhuman strength, speed, toughened flesh, and numerous arachnid-like abilities. Like many superhuman powers, the effectiveness of Spider-Man's abilities varies based on the author and the needs of the story.
Spider-Sense
Spider-Man has many abilities but the most amazing of all is his uncanny Spider-Sense. It is a tingling sensation on the back of his skull that acts as a "sixth sense" and it manifests when he is around or targeted by incoming dangers. It's a precognition ability that is pheromone based and is similar to Daredevil's radar sense, increasing his reaction time and awareness. The spider-sense can manifest when Peter's secret identity is about to be compromised. It also manifests when he encounters someone who might pose a threat to him or to someone he cares about. For example, when Peter saw his roommate Michele Gonzales with one of her clients, his spider-sense warned him that the client was actually a thug who was participating in a super-villain gladiatorial contest. While the spider-sense cannot discern the specific nature of the impending threat, he can identify which direction it is coming from and the severity of the danger by the intensity of the spider-sense. Sometimes it becomes strong enough to be painful. When Spider-Man is blinded, the Spider-Sense works as another set of eyes to avoid bumping into objects. When Daken used his pheromones on Spider-Man, Peter closed his eyes and relied only on his spider-sense to defeat his foe because the pheromones corrupted his sight. A similar situation happened when Peter fought the new Vulture who blinded him with acid in the eyes. Spider-Man relied on this ability to survive this fight. Of course his Spider-Sense is a great help when he faces people in the dark. This has been proven in his fight with Iron Fist. The spider-sense can lose its effectiveness when Peter is too distracted, tired or when he chooses to ignore it although its difficult to do so because it is heavily linked to his reflexes. There are also times that his spider-sense cannot be very effective due to the fact that Spidey's lack of skills and proper training, make him unfocused while he is fighting. That affects the way that his spider-sense is being used. Under extreme circumstances, while fighting in the dark or against powerful characters, Spidey tries to use his spectacular spider-sense in a more effective and better way.
The Spider-Sense gives him his own free-style of combat, allowing him to go head-to-head with the best martial artists in the Marvel Universe. Also, the Spider-Sense allows Spider-Man to detect certain radio frequencies on which his spider tracers' signals are based upon. During Spider-Man's first encounter with the Chameleon, the villain used a certain radio frequency to send a message to Spider-Man via his spider-sense. The Spider-Sense, combined with his agility and reflexes allows Spider-Man to dodge just about any attack, even speeding bullets. Due to the similar nature of their powers, Spider-Man is unable to sense other "Spyders", such as Ben Reilly, Ezekiel, and Kaine. During the Big Time story, Spider-Man used a device to block Alistair Smythe's minions' enhanced senses but also disabled his own Spider-Sense. After the events of Spider-Island, Peter regained this ability.
Super Strength
Spider-Man has the proportionate strength of a spider, thus allowing him to press lift well over 10 tons and even much more when under stress. His attacks are so strong; they could kill a normal person. Spidey has to pull his punches or kicks when not fighting foes with similar or higher strength level to avoid fatalities. His strength also extends to his feet, allowing him to leap great lengths and attain a height of three stories with one powerful jump. His strength also gives him incredible durability as his body is much tougher than that of a normal person. He can withstand damage and punishment that would most likely kill non-super powered individuals. Spidey's strength has made him capable of going toe-to-toe with stronger opponents including Doctor Octopus, Venom and Rhino. He has even held his own against powerful heroes such as Iron Man and the Hulk. Spidey's strength and durability also give him incredible stamina allowing him to exert himself beyond the limits of ordinary men as his body produces less fatigue toxins. After his encounter with the Queen, Spider-Man's strength had been increased to the point where he has become able to lift over 15 tons and after the Other story arc he had become able to lift at least 20 tons. He wore an Iron Spider costume designed for him by Tony Stark which increased his strength further allowing him to lift well over 25 tons. He has stopped wearing the Iron Spider costume after the Civil War and his enhanced strength was erased by Mephisto after the One More Day storyline.
Super Speed
Spider-Man possesses the uncanny speed, agility and reflexes of a spider. He can move at a speed that surpasses that of the finest human athletes. He can easily catch up with speeding cars on foot. Spider-Man can easily perform the most complicated acrobatic moves as his body is extremely flexible, giving him agility, balance and bodily coordination that surpass those of the finest human athletes. Spider-Man is considered the best when it comes to balance in the Marvel Universe, as he possesses excellent equilibrium allowing him to balance himself on any object. Even the most agile heroes like Captain America, Daredevil and Wolverine are nowhere near Spider-Man's level of speed and agility. Spider-Man's reflexes are almost forty times greater than those of the finest athletes, enabling him to dodge bullets at point blank range, or even sometimes after they are fired by instincts only without his Spider-Sense.
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 inter-atomic 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, with an upper limit of several tons per finger. Limits to this ability seem to be psychosomatic, and the full nature of this ability has yet to be established.
Organic Webbing
There are different areas in different comic book universes where Spider-Man has organic webbing. Spider Man has organic webbing from the movies (of course), 616 (end of civil war, back in black, etc.). Spider Man also always has organic webbing in the 2099 universe.
Super Stamina
Spider-Man's advanced musculature produces less 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.
Regenerative Healing Factor
Spider-Man has a limited healing factor. While not on Wolverine's level, it is sufficiently powerful enough to recover from severe injuries from broken bones and large amounts of tissue damage in a matter of days. After getting his powers, he soon found that his eyesight was repaired, discarding his glasses. During a battle with a villain called the Masked Marauder, Spider-Man is rendered completely blind, however after about 2 days his sight was perfect, albeit sensitive for about a day after.
Foreign Chemical Resistance
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. During an encounter with the Swarm, Spider-Man was incapacitated by thousands of bee stings, but recovered in less than 24 hours. His resistance and recovery time to other toxins and diseases varies, but is typically significantly higher than normal. Spider-Man's unique physiology even allowed him to recover from the effects of vampirism. Spider-Man was able to recover completely from acid being spat into his eyes by the new Vulture; Jimmy Natale, although the extent of the damage may have been restricted due to his superhuman durability. However, Spider-Man has the normal human tolerance for alcoholic beverages.
Skills
On top of his spider-given powers Peter is of gifted-level intelligence. It has even been stated that Peter scored as high on some of the same testing scores as Reed Richards did when he was Peter's age. He is especially gifted in the sciences such as mechanics, biology and physics. He has built many devices in his career as Spider-Man and is a skilled photographer and teacher. He has developed a unique style of combat through the years. Spider-Man, while not having been trained, has gone toe to toe with even the best marvel fighters. His spider-sense alone is like a close combat expert provided with Spider-Man's reflexes and split second quickness.
Upon approaching the Spider-Island arc, Peter has felt vulnerable with the lack of his spider sense. He begins training under Shang Chi to create his own unique martial arts style to make up for his lack of spider sense called "Way of the Spider". It is then revealed that Shang Chi was instructed by the new Madam Web (Julia Carpenter the former Arachne and Spider-Woman) to secretly prepare Peter for a future threat (Spider-Island). This style consists hitting pressure points with Spider Strength, and striking with Spider Speed.
WEAPONS and EQUIPMENT:
Web-Shooters
Perhaps, Spider-Man's most famous piece of equipment is his self built web-shooters which allow him to shoot sticky ropes of webbing which he uses to swing from building to building. They are a pair of special wrist devices of Peter's own design that contain a material that mixes with air to web-like material. They can be used in many different ways by varying the pressure and adjusting the nozzles of the spinnerets. They can take the form of strong thin lines, as fine quick spreading lines, or as a thick adhesive liquid. Spider-Man can either use the webbing as web-gloves to protect his hands, as a Web-Parachute, an air-proof Web-Dome, a Web-Shield that offers protection from bullets and energy blasts, as small "web-bullets" that bounce off opponents, use the webbing to ensnare an opponent, tie foes up with a rope and hang them upside down from vertical poles, pulling his foes towards him, or shoot them in any direction he chooses Spider-Man's primary means of transportation is by the use of his webbing to swing around the city. He shoots a strand of webbing to a high location, like the edge of a building, and pushes his body towards any direction he chooses while holding on to the web, allowing him to traverse at an accelerated speed. This artificial webbing lasts for an hour before fading away. More recently he has evolved biological web shooters that spray webbing from his forearms but this power has been erased by Mephisto after the One More Day storyline.
Utility Belt
Spider-Man wears a belt under his costume that contains a built-in Spider-Signal. He uses it as either an unconventional light source or as a way to intimidate lesser villains. The belt also contains spare web cartridges, tracers, the camera and his mask when not in costume.
MARITAL STATUS: Married (Mary Jane Parker)
HEIGHT: 5'10
WEIGHT: 167 lbs.
EYES: Hazel
HAIR: Brown
EDUCATION: Unknown
KNOWN RELATIVES: College graduate (biophysics major), doctorate studies in biochemistry (incomplete)
FIRST APPEARANCE: Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962)
ORIGIN:
POWERS and ABILITIES:
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 Parker, granting him superhuman strength, speed, toughened flesh, and numerous arachnid-like abilities. Like many superhuman powers, the effectiveness of Spider-Man's abilities varies based on the author and the needs of the story.
Spider-Sense
Spider-Man has the proportionate strength of a spider, thus allowing him to press lift well over 10 tons and even much more when under stress. His attacks are so strong; they could kill a normal person. Spidey has to pull his punches or kicks when not fighting foes with similar or higher strength level to avoid fatalities. His strength also extends to his feet, allowing him to leap great lengths and attain a height of three stories with one powerful jump. His strength also gives him incredible durability as his body is much tougher than that of a normal person. He can withstand damage and punishment that would most likely kill non-super powered individuals. Spidey's strength has made him capable of going toe-to-toe with stronger opponents including Doctor Octopus, Venom and Rhino. He has even held his own against powerful heroes such as Iron Man and the Hulk. Spidey's strength and durability also give him incredible stamina allowing him to exert himself beyond the limits of ordinary men as his body produces less fatigue toxins. After his encounter with the Queen, Spider-Man's strength had been increased to the point where he has become able to lift over 15 tons and after the Other story arc he had become able to lift at least 20 tons. He wore an Iron Spider costume designed for him by Tony Stark which increased his strength further allowing him to lift well over 25 tons. He has stopped wearing the Iron Spider costume after the Civil War and his enhanced strength was erased by Mephisto after the One More Day storyline.
Super Speed
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 inter-atomic 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, with an upper limit of several tons per finger. Limits to this ability seem to be psychosomatic, and the full nature of this ability has yet to be established.
Organic Webbing
There are different areas in different comic book universes where Spider-Man has organic webbing. Spider Man has organic webbing from the movies (of course), 616 (end of civil war, back in black, etc.). Spider Man also always has organic webbing in the 2099 universe.
Super Stamina
Regenerative Healing Factor
Spider-Man has a limited healing factor. While not on Wolverine's level, it is sufficiently powerful enough to recover from severe injuries from broken bones and large amounts of tissue damage in a matter of days. After getting his powers, he soon found that his eyesight was repaired, discarding his glasses. During a battle with a villain called the Masked Marauder, Spider-Man is rendered completely blind, however after about 2 days his sight was perfect, albeit sensitive for about a day after.
Foreign Chemical Resistance
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. During an encounter with the Swarm, Spider-Man was incapacitated by thousands of bee stings, but recovered in less than 24 hours. His resistance and recovery time to other toxins and diseases varies, but is typically significantly higher than normal. Spider-Man's unique physiology even allowed him to recover from the effects of vampirism. Spider-Man was able to recover completely from acid being spat into his eyes by the new Vulture; Jimmy Natale, although the extent of the damage may have been restricted due to his superhuman durability. However, Spider-Man has the normal human tolerance for alcoholic beverages.
Skills
Upon approaching the Spider-Island arc, Peter has felt vulnerable with the lack of his spider sense. He begins training under Shang Chi to create his own unique martial arts style to make up for his lack of spider sense called "Way of the Spider". It is then revealed that Shang Chi was instructed by the new Madam Web (Julia Carpenter the former Arachne and Spider-Woman) to secretly prepare Peter for a future threat (Spider-Island). This style consists hitting pressure points with Spider Strength, and striking with Spider Speed.
WEAPONS and EQUIPMENT:Web-Shooters
Perhaps, Spider-Man's most famous piece of equipment is his self built web-shooters which allow him to shoot sticky ropes of webbing which he uses to swing from building to building. They are a pair of special wrist devices of Peter's own design that contain a material that mixes with air to web-like material. They can be used in many different ways by varying the pressure and adjusting the nozzles of the spinnerets. They can take the form of strong thin lines, as fine quick spreading lines, or as a thick adhesive liquid. Spider-Man can either use the webbing as web-gloves to protect his hands, as a Web-Parachute, an air-proof Web-Dome, a Web-Shield that offers protection from bullets and energy blasts, as small "web-bullets" that bounce off opponents, use the webbing to ensnare an opponent, tie foes up with a rope and hang them upside down from vertical poles, pulling his foes towards him, or shoot them in any direction he chooses Spider-Man's primary means of transportation is by the use of his webbing to swing around the city. He shoots a strand of webbing to a high location, like the edge of a building, and pushes his body towards any direction he chooses while holding on to the web, allowing him to traverse at an accelerated speed. This artificial webbing lasts for an hour before fading away. More recently he has evolved biological web shooters that spray webbing from his forearms but this power has been erased by Mephisto after the One More Day storyline.
Spider-Man wears a belt under his costume that contains a built-in Spider-Signal. He uses it as either an unconventional light source or as a way to intimidate lesser villains. The belt also contains spare web cartridges, tracers, the camera and his mask when not in costume.
Camera
Spider-Tracer
The Spider-Tracer is a typical tracker that is shaped liked a spider and is aerodynamic for flight. The tracers are very small so it will not be noticed when attached to a person. The tracers contain a special radio frequency that his Spider-Sense can detect. He usually uses the tracers to track objects or people via his Spider-Sense within a 100 mile radius. Spider-Man fires the tracers at high velocity using his web-shooters and he has them coated with webbing in order for them to be firmly attached to their target. Since Peter lost his Spider-Sense, the use of the Spider-Tracers is rendered obsolete since he can only track them using his enhanced senses.
Mask
The white areas in Spider-Mans eye cut-outs on his mask are really clever plastic lenses of the two-way mirror type. He can see out very clearly, but no one can see in. Therefore, he can never be recognized by the color of his eyes. These ingenious plastic lenses also protect his eyes from dust, dirt, and the glare of the sun. Spider-Man's colorful head-mask conceals his facial features and expressions and also effectively muffles his voice, making it unrecognizable. When using the Iron Spider-Man suit, it changed his voice in many ways. When Spider-Man became an Avenger, a special comm-link was outfitted into his mask allowing him to communicate with his fellow Avengers as well as others.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:
J. Jonah Jameson is depicted as the publisher of the Daily Bugle and is Peter Parker's boss and as a harsh critic of Spider-Man, always saying negative things about the superhero in the newspaper, although his publishing editor and confidant Robbie Robertson is always depicted as a supporter of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is commonly depicted as Parker's high school tormentor and bully but in some comic issues as a friend as well. Meanwhile Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn, is most commonly recognized as Peter's best friend but has also been depicted sometimes as his rival in the comics.
ROGUE GALLERY:
Writers and artists over the years have established a rogues gallery of supervillains to face Spider-Man. As with him, the majority of these villains' powers originate with scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology, and many have animal-themed costumes or powers. Early on Spider-Man faced such foes as the Chameleon(introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #1, March 1963), the Vulture (#2, May 1963), Doctor Octopus (#3, July 1963), the Sandman (#4, Sept. 1963), the Lizard (#6, Nov. 1963), Electro (#9, Feb. 1964), Mysterio (#13, June 1964), the Green Goblin (#14, July 1964), Kraven the Hunter (#15, Aug. 1964),the Scorpion (#20, Jan. 1965), the Rhino(#41, Oct. 1966)—the first original Lee/Romita Spider-Man villain the Shocker (#46, March 1967), and the physically powerful and well-connected criminal capo Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin. The Clone Saga introduces college professor Miles Warren, who becomes the Jackal, the antagonist of the storyline. After the Green Goblin was killed, a derivative villain called the Hobgoblin was developed to replace him in #238 until Norman was revived later. After Spider-Man rejected his symbiotic black costume, Eddie Brock, a bitter ex-journalist with a grudge against Spider-Man, bonded with the symbiote (which also hated Spider-Man for rejecting it), gaining Spider-Man's powers and abilities, and became the villain Venom in issue #298 (May 1988). Brock briefly became an ally to Spider-Man when Carnage, another symbiote-based villain, went on a murderous spree in issue #344. At times these enemies of Spider-Man have formed groups such as the Sinister Six to oppose Spider-Man. The Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Venom are generally described or written as his archenemies. -Brian Lansangan
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