Mary Parker (mother),
Benjamin Parker (paternal uncle)
History
Early life
Peter Parker was orphaned as a young child when his parents were killed in an airplane crash overseas. He went to live with his uncle and aunt, Ben and May Parker, in Queens, New York. Parker was extremely bright and became a high honors student. His shyness and scholastic interest often made him a social outcast.
Becoming Spider-Man
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Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider.
While attending a public exhibition demonstrating the safe handling of nuclear laboratory waste materials, Peter was bitten by a spider that had been irradiated by a particle accelerator used in the demonstration. Making his way home afterwards, Peter discovered he had somehow gained incredible strength, agility, and the ability to cling to walls; spider-like traits that he immediately associated with the spider bite.
Peter decided to go on television with his 'act.' Designing a costume and some wrist-mounted web-spinners, Peter called himself Spider-Man, becoming an immediate sensation. Encountering an ad offering a cash prize for a wrestling match, Peter decided this would be a good way to test his powers. Peter easily defeated his opponent.
Following the wrestling match, Peter failed to act to stop an escaping thief, claiming that it was not his responsibility. However, he returned home to find his Uncle Ben had been murdered. Learning the police had the burglar responsible holed up in a warehouse, Peter easily captured him only to discover it was the same thief he had allowed to escape earlier. Filled with remorse, he realized that with power comes responsibility.
Early in his crimefighting career, Spider-Man fought the Lizard, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Scorpion, Kraven the Hunter, Hobgoblin and the Chameleon, some of whom would later form the Insidious Six, under the command of the Kingpin.
As Peter Parker, he secured a job working as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle under J. Jonah Jameson, a man who claimed Spider-Man was a menace and a vigilante. Peter also attended Empire State University and dated both Felicia Hardy and Mary Jane Watson. Peter was also on-and-off flatmates with Harry Osborn but he often continued to live with Aunt May.
The Alien Costume
When John Jameson and Paul Stevenson's shuttle landed on a newly discovered asteroid, they picked up a "Prometheum X" isotope. However, a symbiotic life form also entered their shuttle, and caused them to crash land on the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrived at the scene to save the astronauts, but was engaged in combat by the Rhino, who stole the Prometheum X for the Kingpin. Spider-Man hoped that J.J. Jameson would be grateful that he saved his son, but instead the publisher made out that Spider-Man had stolen the Prometheum from the shuttle and harmed John. As Spider-Man left the scene, the symbiotic life form attached itself to his costume.
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Spider-Man with the Black Suit
Jameson issued a one million dollar bounty for Spider-Man's capture, which agitated Peter. While Peter was sleeping, the symbiote which was stuck to his costume moved and bonded with him. He awoke to find himself hanging upside down from a skyscraper, in a seemingly unfamiliar black costume. He discovered that the black costume enhanced his spider powers, but also that it caused him to show stronger feelings of aggression. The bounty on Spider-Man was lifted when Jameson found out that reporter Eddie Brock, someone who blamed Spider-Man for his ruined life, had left out important information regarding the Rhino at the shuttle crash site where the Prometheum was stolen.
The symbiote almost caused Spider-Man to kill the Rhino and Shocker, and whilst he was fighting the latter Eddie Brock tried to exact his revenge on the wallcrawler, but was webbed up. Spider-Man managed to refrain from finishing Shocker, and used the sound from the church bells to detach himself from the symbiote, which then bonded with Brock. Now host to the symbiote, he dubbed himself "Venom". Venom sought to destroy Spider-Man as revenge for Brock's ruined life and because Spider-Man had rejected the symbiote. Brock, now aware of his identity through the symbiote, easily gained the upper hand in a fight and threatened to expose him as Peter Parker.
As Spider-Man escaped Venom's clutches, the latter subsequently threatened to harm his loved ones including Mary Jane and Aunt May. However, Spider-Man managed to lure him to the John Jameson probe which was being launched back into space. There, the noise of the probe taking off caused Brock to detach from the symbiote, which was sent back into space along with the probe.
Mutation disease
Spider-Man began to lose his powers, and was easily defeated when faced with the Insidious Six, who concluded that he wasn't in fact Peter Parker after unmasking him because of his seemingly poor fighting skills. However, he partially regained his powers, and fooled them by managing to disappear as Peter Parker and later return to fight them again as Spider-Man, defeating them. Although he had regained his powers, Dr. Connors carried out some tests on him and told him that his DNA was continuing to mutate as a result of the spider bite.
Spider-Man sought help from Professor Charles Xavier, who told him that it was his job to help mutants accept who they are, rather than curing mutancy. However, Beast told him that Dr. Herbert Landon of the Brand Corporation was working on a cure for mutancy. However, it turned out that Landon's real intention was to create a formula which would destroy all mutants, and sought to test it out by kidnapping Beast. Wolverine initially attacked Spider-Man, blaming him for Beast's capture, but Spider-Man eventually teamed up with the X-Men to stop Landon. After this, Dr. Mariah Crawford told Spider-Man that she would try to create a serum to cure him.
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Four extra arms.
Michael Morbius, a fellow student of Peter's at E.S.U., accidentally came into contact with a sample of his mutated blood, and was bitten by a vampire bat immediately after. This caused him to mutate into a vampire himelf, feeding off plasma, but was driven into hibernation by Blade. Meanwhile, Spider-Man's mutation caused him to sprout four extra arms, and he was attacked by the Punisher because he was seen as a threat. Spider-Man eventually mutated into a humanoid spider,
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The Man-Spider.
but Mariah successfully gave him a serum to life his mutation. He was then forced to take the serum every twenty four hours to keep him from mutating again.
Spider-Man was eventually fully cured after the Vulture drained his youth and also absorbed his mutation, meaning that Spider-Man no longer had to take the serum and was free.
Training, framed and losing Mary Jane
Spider-Man was obseved by the Beyonder when he teamed up with Doctor Strange to save Mary Jane from the clutches of Baron Mordo, who attempted to have Dormammu switch dimensions. The Beyonder had Madame Webb contact Spider-Man, and train him for an ultimate battle.
Peter was offered a job by Richard Fisk at his company Fisktronics. Peter subsequently quit his job at the Daily Bugle, but it turned out that Fisk had employed him as part of a plot to frame him, in order to cover up his father the Kingpin's criminal activities. Peter was convicted of treason, despite his lawyer Matt Murdock's efforts. Peter was kidnapped from prison by Fisk, who tried to have him executed. However, he was saved by the Daredevil, with whom Spider-Man teamed up to clear Peter Parker's name. From this point, Spider-Man was aware of the Kingpin's identity as Wilson Fisk.
Spider-Man persistently rejected Madame Webb's advice, although her wisdom helped him in his battles agaist Doctor Octopus, Alistair Smythe, Tombstone and Carnage. Spider-Man also fought the Green Goblin for the first time after Norman Osborn almost perished in an explosion. The goblin kidnapped the Oscorp board members, but Spider-Man stopped him and convinced him to return to normal.
Norman Osborn managed to fight hallucinations of the Green Goblin for some time, but became insane once again when threatened by the Kingpin. Spider-Man had tried to stop the goblin after he stole time dilation portals from the Hobgoblin. The Green Goblin thus attempted to use the portals to spy on Spider-Man and discover his secret identity. After identifying him as Peter Parker, Norman hosted a dinner party at his home, inviting Peter and Mary Jane. As Norman threatened to reveal his identity in front of the dinner guests, Peter successfully created a diversion to prevent him from doing so. However, the goblin kidnapped Mary Jane and in a series of events she fell from the George Washington Bridge and through one of the goblins portals. In a fit of rage, Spider-Man defeated the goblin and Norman was trapped in limbo.
Infatuation with the Black Cat, return of Mary Jane
After losing Mary Jane, in the midst of his grief Spider-Man became bitter man, but after the Kingpin acquired the super soldier formula Felicia was transformed into the Black Cat, although Spider-Man was unaware of her identity. Having been previously infatuated with him before, the Black Cat pursued Spider-Man and offered him crimefighting partnership. He initially declined, but they shared a brief fling and she helped him in his battles with Kraven, Silvermane and later when Michael Morbius was awakened, when which she decided to go away and work with Blade and Morbius to defeat his evil vampiress mother, leaving Spider-Man devastated.
Harry Osborn later began to experience hallucinations of the Green Goblin much like his father did, and images of the goblin told him to claim the goblin mantle and become the Green Goblin. Harry, under the control of the goblin's hallucinations, tried to destroy Spider-Man to avenge the loss of his father. Around this time, Miles Warren cloned Hydro-Man, effectively reviving him after his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man. Hydro-Man had Warren clone Mary Jane, who later returned to Peter just as the Punisher uncovered the mystery of her disappearance for Anna Watson. A helpless Harry was then taken by Spider-Man to Ravencroft asylum for treatment of his insanity.
Marriage to Mary Jane, ultimate battle
After being reunited with Mary Jane, she and Peter decided to marry after Peter revealed his identity as Spider-Man to her. Harry escaped from Ravencroft to crash the wedding, and threatened to blow up the church with a pumpkin bomb if the vicar didn't marry him and Mary Jane. However, Liz Allan appeared to Harry and told him she was in love with him, and Peter and Mary Jane were married.
Peter later discovered that his parents were traitors, and travelled to Russia to find out the truth. There, he found out that his parents weren't in fact traitors, and also discovered the legend behind the Six Forgotten Warriors. Spider-Man later teamed up with Captain America and the six to stop the Red Skull and his son, who became Electro and tried to take over the world.
Spider-Man and Mary Jane later discovered that the latter wasn't the real Mary Jane, and the cloning process by Miles Warren was all revealed after Hydro-Man's clone tried to pursue her again and fought Spider-Man and the Black Cat. Warren revealed that the cloning process had proven unstable and Mary Jane's water clone perished, leaving Spider-Man devastated yet again.
Shortly after these events, Madame Webb revealed to Spider-Man why she had been training him for an ultimate battle. She told him that the Beyonder wanted to find out whether good or evil was more successful, and had him and several villains placed on a foreign planet, where Spider-Man had to assemble a team which included heroes such as the Fantastic Four. After good was successful, the Beyonder told Spider-Man that he had passed the test, and was now ready to face the ultimate battle. A group of Spider-Men, each from a different reality were assembled, all of whom had taken different paths in life. From the Scarlet Spider's reality, a clone of Spider-Man had become Spider-Carnage, a being who sought to destroy all of reality. Spider-Man successfully defeated him and he was later given the opportunity to visit a reality where Spider-Man was a fictional character, created by Stan Lee.
After, Madame Webb promised to help Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane Watson.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Spider-Man possesses the proportionate powers of a spider, including superhuman equilibrium, agility, strength, as well as the ability to scale surfaces such as walls, etc. Spider-Man also possesses an extrasensory "danger" or "spider" sense which warns him of potential immediate danger.
His superhuman strength allows him to lift relatively heavy objects. This strength level is limited, with him apparently challenged when lifting vehicles such as a vauxwagon (although is able to lift a fire truck when bonded with the Venom symbiote).
Abilities
Peter Parker seemingly possesses a keen scientific mind, with a particular interest in radiation (a curiosity based on his spider powers). Peter is also a skilled photographer, and acrobat and combatant thanks to his spider powers.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
To tie in with his newly acquired spider powers, Peter created mechanical web-shooters for use when he became Spider-Man (on both television and as a crimefighter). The twin devices worn on his wrists are able to shoot strands of a special "web fluid" at high pressure. He is able to control the nature of this web fluid by varying pressure on the web shooters. Spider-Man carries web cartridges to reload, which he carries in a utility belt.
Spider-Man uses a device which he calls a "Spider-Tracer". He seemingly carries a number of miniature spider-themed emblems which he often secretly sticks to a villain to track them down later. If he successfully does this, his radar will show when the enemy (or in occasional circumstances, the ally) is close, and the direction in which they are situated.
Transportation
Spider-Man's main form of transportation is "web-slinging" with the aid of his web shooters.
LinksEdit
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Footnotes