Team "Mint Condition" selects...
HOW THE HELL IS HE STILL AVAILABLE???
In 1962, with the success of the
Fantastic Four and other stars, Marvel Comics editor and head writer
Stan Lee was casting about for a new superhero idea. He said that the idea for Spider-Man arose from a surge in teenage demand for comic books, and the desire to create a character with whom teens could identify. In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman
pulp magazine crime fighter
The Spider as an influence, and in a multitude of print and video interviews Lee stated he was further inspired by seeing a
fly climb up a wall—adding in his autobiography that he has told that story so often he has become unsure of whether or not this is true.
[note 1] Looking back on the creation of Spider-Man,
Tom DeFalco stated he did not believe that Spider-Man would have been given a chance in today's comics world, where new characters are vetted with test audiences and marketers. At that time, however, Lee had to get only the consent of Marvel publisher
Martin Goodman for the character's approval. In a 1986 interview, Lee described in detail his arguments to overcome Goodman's objections. Goodman eventually agreed to let Lee try out Spider-Man in the upcoming final issue of the canceled science-fiction and supernatural anthology series
Amazing Adult Fantasy, which was renamed
Amazing Fantasy for that single issue, #15 (Aug. 1962).
A bite from an irradiated spider causes a variety of changes in the body of Peter Parker, giving him superpowers. In the original
Lee-
Ditko stories, Spider-Man has the ability to cling to walls, superhuman strength, a sixth sense ("spider-sense") that alerts him to danger, perfect balance and equilibrium, as well as superhuman speed and agility. Brilliant, Parker excels in applied science, chemistry and physics. The character was originally conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko as intellectually gifted, but not a genius. However, later writers have depicted the character as a genius. With his talents, he sews his own costume to conceal his identity, and constructs many devices that complement his powers, most notably mechanical web-shooters. (This mechanism ejects an advanced adhesive, releasing web-fluid in a variety of configurations, including a single rope-like strand to swing from, a net to bind enemies, a single strand for yanking opponents into objects, strands for whipping foreign objects at enemies, and a simple glob to foul machinery or blind an opponent. He can also weave the web material into simple forms like a shield, a spherical protection or hemispherical barrier, a club, or a hang-glider wing.) Other equipment include spider-tracers (spider-shaped adhesive homing beacons keyed to his own spider-sense), a light beacon which can either be used as a flashlight or project a "Spider-Signal" design, and a specially modified camera that can take pictures automatically.
Spider-Man has become Marvel's flagship character, and has often been used as the company mascot. When Marvel became the first comic book company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991, the
Wall Street Journal announced "Spider-Man is coming to
Wall Street"; the event was in turn promoted with an actor in a Spider-Man costume accompanying Stan Lee to the Stock Exchange. Since 1962, hundreds of millions of comics featuring the character have been sold around the world. When Marvel wanted to issue a story dealing with the immediate aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, the company settled on the December 2001 issue of
The Amazing Spider-Man. In 2006, Spider-Man garnered major media coverage with the revelation of the character's secret identity, an event detailed in a full page story in the
New York Post before the issue containing the story was even released.
Spider-Man has appeared in comics, cartoons, movies, coloring books, novels, records, and children's books. He appeared as the main character in the animated series
Spider-Man which aired from 1967–1970 on
ABC, the live-action television series
The Amazing Spider-Man from
1978-
1979 and three TV movies starting
Nicholas Hammond, the 1981
syndicated cartoon series
Spider-Man, the
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon from 1981-1983, the
Spider-Man cartoon series 1994-1998 (continued as
Spider-Man Unlimited the following year), and
The Spectacular Spider-Man which premiered on March 8, 2008.
Spider-Man also appeared in other print forms besides the comics, including novels, children's books, and his own daily newspaper
The Amazing Spiderman comic strip which debuted in January 1977, with the earliest installments written by Stan Lee and drawn by
John Romita, Sr. Spider-Man has been adapted to other media including games, toys, collectibles, and miscellaneous memorabilia, and has appeared as the main character in numerous
computer and video games on over 15 gaming platforms. Spider-Man was also the subject of a
series of films directed by
Sam Raimi and starring actor
Tobey Maguire as the character. The first
Spider-Man film was released on May 3, 2002, its first sequel,
Spider-Man 2 premiered on June 30, 2004, and the next sequel,
Spider-Man 3, premiered May 4, 2007.