Beginners Guide: Spiderman

In episode 2 of our not yet award-winning podcast, we discussed the amazing Spider-man. Another well-loved character who most people remember for dealing with minor crimes, despite having dealt with some major villains.
I will say from the start that we did uncover some controversy in the origin of spider-mans creation, but to hear more about that, head over to Episode 3.

Origins

A spider, after crawling through the radioactive experiments at Oscorp laboratories bit Peter Parker, who was there on a field trip. In passing its venom into Peters blood, it also shared its radioactive DNA. This caused Peters DNA to mutate, gaining some of the traits of the spider; agility, ‘spider senses’ and the ability to climb walls due to changes in his hair structure.
After some time adjusting to his surprising new life, he started to think about how to use these powers, but Crime-fighting initially was not on his mind.
Peter decided to use his powers to make money, initially to buy Mary Jane a new car. He entered a wrestling competition and naturally won. He continued this way up to the point of becoming a television star as ‘The Spider-Man’.
One day while leaving filming he chose not to help a security guard who he saw chasing a burglar. On returning home, he found someone had killed his Uncle Ben. Angry and upset, he donned his TV outfit and chased the killer, only to find it was the same burglar he had ignored earlier.
He then decided ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.

Crime Fighting

Many people consider Spider-Man a friendly local neighbourhood hero, dealing with small-time crime. While it is true he did deal with his fair share of muggers and bank robbers, he also had some major foes to deal with:
Dr Octopus, a crazed scientist who was bent on destruction with his mechanical tentacles;
Mysterio, a special effects artist looking for fame in all the wrong place; Green Goblin, an almost batman level super villain, using money and technology to cause havoc.
These are just a few of the many villains he battled with over the years, showing he has the right to stand alongside the big boys in the superhero world.

Multi-Verse

As we’ve come to expect, our superhero hasn’t just been one person. Some storylines state the spider dimension choose a person in each universe to be its defender
In Earth 616 (the universe we live in) there have been a few at different times. Miles Morales is the best known, existing at the same time as Peter Parker. Benefiting from camouflage and ‘venom blast’ rather than spidey senses, his powers are slightly different, possibly as the spider that bit him was a different species.
We won’t explore this too much here, as quite frankly it will take a whole essay. Keep a lookout for recaps about specific storylines in the future.

I hope this has given you a very quick recap of the origins of our friend, Spidey. Remember to head over to episode 3 where we deal with the controversy over his creation, and talk about ‘The Fly’.

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