Spider-Man

The kid from Queens with a spider's powers and a heavy conscience.

Spider-Man is a Marvel Comics superhero created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. He debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) and became one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes, appearing in comics, television, film, video games, novels and on stage.

Quick Facts

Alter ego: Peter Parker
Creators: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
First appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)

Lore & Background

Behind the mask is Peter Parker, raised in Queens by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben after his parents died. A bite from a radioactive spider gives him superhuman strength, speed, agility and durability, the ability to cling to walls and ceilings, and a precognitive 'spider-sense' that warns him of danger. He makes his own web-patterned costume and builds wrist-mounted web-shooters.

Reader's Guide

Lee, Ditko and later writers had Peter wrestle with adolescence and early adulthood, and readers related to his self-doubt and loneliness. Unlike earlier teen heroes he was given a large supporting cast: his Daily Bugle boss J. Jonah Jameson, friends Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson, love interests Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson and the Black Cat, and enemies such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin and Venom.