Spider-Man is without a doubt one of the most popular characters in the entire comic book world. He's been the shining star of Marvel for a very long time, and has been featured in many of his own video games, cartoons and movies. But the basis of the character, the elements that make him who he is -- an enduring character that audiences the world over find themselves rooting for -- have always stemmed from the comic books. Ever since his introduction by creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962, Peter was the perfect representation of any one of us.
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He had super-powers sure, but he was just trying to get by. He had a normal life to juggle with his super-heroic one, and he more often than not found himself down on his luck. In fact, the Parker Luck actually became a staple of the Spider-Man mythos where, for Peter, no matter how good (or bad) things could get, something worse was always around the corner. He's a character who's always been thrust in the middle of crazy developments, yet keeps on fighting. Today, CBR focuses on the last 10 years of Spider-Man stories, and lists the 15 craziest thing to happen to the character this past decade.
15 MIND-SWAPPED WITH DOCTOR OCTOPUS
When Otto Octavius, one of Spider-Man's longest standing and most classic villains, was dying, he decided he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory... quite literally. Under false pretences of altruism, Otto took the world hostage with his technology, which had the capacity to burn down entire civilizations. Spider-Man, the true hero that he was, went to the literal Ends of the Earth to stop this villain.
However, little did Peter know that this was all part of Octavius' devious and crowning-achievement of a plan. Now incarcerated in a dying body, Octavius was able to use his technology to transfer his mind into the young and healthy body of Peter Parker, and Peter was shockingly transferred into his enemy's old and broken body, something that would set in motion the events of The Superior Spider-Man.
14 THE OTHER WOMAN
For the longest time, Peter Parker was under the impression that the radioactive spider who had given him his spider-powers had died after biting him. And while that was true, there was one thing he didn't know: just before it died, the spider also bit a girl from his school named Cindy Moon. This was all revealed in the Original Sin event.
Created by mythology-expanding writer Dan Slott and artist Humberto Ramos, Cindy had been kept hidden most of her life by a man named Ezekiel Sims, who wished to protect her from the evils of a dangerous supervillain known as Morlun, who had the ability to track her. Hidden in a bunker for years, Cindy lived in seclusion, learning to use her powers as she watched old videos of Spider-Man's heroic deeds. Once freed by Peter, she would become a spider-based hero calling herself Silk.
13 DOWN TO BUSINESS
When Doctor Octopus was living inside Peter Parker's body as the better and Superior Spider-Man, he used his scientific genius, reach and wealth to create Parker Industries, a massive and prolific industrial tech company, a place where Octavius thrived as a demanding and quite frankly scary CEO to his own employees. But, eventually, Peter Parker managed to fight his way back, and regained control of his own body.
Although, while Peter expected to return to the normal old life he knew, he discovered that much had changed in his absence. In fact, without all of the necessary qualifications, he was now a doctor and the CEO of a company that bore his name and reputation. Not only that, he now had hundreds of employees to take care of. But leave it to Peter Parker to face any challenge that comes his way.
12 SPIDER-ISLAND
Whenever life seems too good for Peter Parker, it quickly turns around. Just when he was settling into his new position at Horizon Labs and enjoying a romantic life with his girlfriend Carlie Cooper, Carlie started to exhibit spider-powers very much like his own. In fact, it wasn't just Carlie who had these powers, but hundreds of regular New York citizens who, overnight, were now just like Spider-Man.
The island of Manhattan effectively became the grounds of a spider-power infestation in a stroyline appropriately titled Spider-Island written by Machiavellian spider-scribe Dan Slott. The outbreak had been caused by longtime Spider-Man villain The Jackal, and it would take the combined efforts of Spider-Man, the Avengers, Mister Fantastic, Venom and Anti-Venom and a lot more heroes to put a stop to this infestation.
11 GOT A SIDEKICK
Like Peter Parker before him, Andrew Maguire was a high school student who attended a science experiment while visiting Horizon Labs with his class where, incidentally, Peter Parker now worked. However, there was an accident, and it exposed Andrew to the Parker Particles, which in turn gave him various abilities like projecting blasts of energy, super-strength, speed and flight.
Created by Slott and artist Ramos, Andrew became the superhero Alpha. Spider-Man then took him under his wing as his very own sidekick, as he proceeded to try and teach Alpha the ropes of crime-fighting, as well as how to use his powers. But sadly, Andrew was no Peter Parker. He wasn't a devoted student or superhero. He grew careless and dangerous, to the point that Peter couldn't keep him around as his sidekick anymore and had to take his powers away.
10 JOINED THE FF
Peter Parker and Fantastic Four member Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, have one of the longest, most profound and legendary friendships in the history of Marvel Comics. So when Johnny Storm came to sacrifice himself in order to save the world in the pages of Fantastic Four, the superhero had one final request, and that was to have his best friend Spider-Man join the Future Foundation.
Under the guidance of writer Jonathan Hickman, the Future Foundation was a different kind of team founded by Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards to safeguard the future of humanity. As he joined the team, Spider-Man gained new allies and friends, a new white-and-black costume to fit along with the rest of the team, and took part in many adventures that were unlike any he had faced before.
9 EVERY SPIDER-MAN EVER
When Spider-Man discovered the existence of Cindy Moon, he quickly ran to free her. Little did he know that doing so would alert the villainous, alternate-reality hopping, vampire-like monster known as Morlun as to her whereabouts. Along with his Inheritors, Morlun planned to travel the Multiverse and hunt down every spider-powered character out there, who he called Spider-Totems and whose power sustained him and his kind.
But Peter and Cindy wouldn't have to face Morlun alone, as dozens of other versions of Spider-Man united to face this multiversal threat. These included Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, Spider-Ham, the Superior Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider, Spider-Woman and many others. Billed as an event that featured “every Spider-Man ever,” Spider-Verse was brought to you by multiverse-traveling visionary writer Dan Slott, and was undoubtedly one of the biggest to involve Spider-Man in the last few years.
8 HIS WORST ENEMY BECAME MAYOR OF NYC
More devious than the Green Goblin, more hateful towards Spider-Man than even Doctor Octopus, no villain can truly outmatch J. Jonah Jameson when it comes to absolutely loathing Spider-Man. It's a relationship that has been part of the Spider-Man mythos for the longest time, one that is well-known by most. But then, it seems like no one seems to like to see Spider-Man suffer more than real life spider-menace, Dan Slott.
In Slott's brilliant long-running Spider-Man saga, Jameson became not just a nuisance but an outright obstacle and dangerous foe when it was revealed that he was now the Mayor of New York City. Now able to form his very own Anti-Spider Squad and devoting a large part of the city's budget towards its "biggest menace," Jameson was out for blood when it came to Spider-Man.
7 NEW SUITS AND GADGETS
When Peter Parker started working at Horizon Labs, he had a lot more time (and funds) to develop new technologies to help him along in his crime-fighting. He created tons of new suits, going from the already famous Stealth Suit (which can glow various colors like green, red and blue) to his Ends of the Earth Avengers armor, and gadgets and weaponry like new spider-tracers, magnetic webbing and bulletproof materials.
But he didn't stop there. With his new tech company Parker Industries, Peter also designed a new version of his spider-armor to take his superhero activities worldwide, complete with glowing eyes and chest emblem, and new web-shooters. And if that wasn't enough, Peter also had a new, extremely sleek and futuristic version of his spider-mobile to drive around in.
6 ANOTHER CLONE CONSPIRACY
When it comes to Spider-Man mythology, the word “clone” has become infamous after the events of the classic '90s story The Clone Saga. But, in the pages of the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy event, the word "clone" made its comeback to haunt Peter Parker's life once more.
In this story, Spider-Man villain The Jackal returned once more, this time disguised as a masked man in a red suit, enlisting the services of many other villains with the promise of bringing their deceased loved ones to life. Little did they know that they were all actually clones, themselves. Many Spider-Man friends and villains returned in the pages of Dead No More, most notably Gwen Stacy, who was actually the Spider-Woman from Earth-65, the ever-so popular Spider-Gwen.
5 CRIME-FIGHTING WORLDWIDE
With the backing of Parker Industries, Peter made some great and wonderful new inventions that helped bring his company to a very lucrative and successful place. And so, with his own buildings all over the world, from San Francisco to New York and Shanghai to London, Peter borrowed a page from the Iron Man playbook and introduced Spider-Man as his very own bodyguard, following him wherever he went.
That way, Peter could travel from one business venture to another, not having to worry about fighting crime along the way. With Spider-Man in tow in his travels, Peter Parker was able to take his superhero career out of his New York City backyard by going "Worldwide." Once again, this great new expansion of Spider-Man's mythology was brought to us by globe-trotting Spider-Man-shepherd Dan Slott.
4 SURVIVED THE END OF MARVEL
The Marvel Universe is a place that sees a devastating, cataclysmic event strike the planet almost every week. But none were as big as the incursion of another version of Earth coming straight into collision with the Marvel heroes' world. It was a collision that effectively led to the end of the Marvel Universe as we knew it, as God (former Doctor) Doom created a new version of reality on his Battleworld in writer Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars.
But while the planet had been completely destroyed, there were a few survivors who made it out, thanks to Reed Richards and his Life Raft, a vessel that was able to travel between realities. Among those few survivors were Captain Marvel, Star-Lord and Spider-Man himself. That's right, after all he had been through, everything he had lost and sacrificed, Spider-Man would lose so much more still, yet survive and keep fighting.
3 HIS LONG LOST SISTER
This might not have been the most advertised crazy development in Spider-Man's career, nor was it the flashiest, but it still remains one of the biggest when it comes to Peter Parker's life as a whole. In the 2014 original graphic novel Spider-Man: Family Business written by Mark Waid and James Robinson and illustrated by Gabriele Dell'Otto and Werther Dell'Edera, Peter Parker discovered that he had a long lost sister.
Like her parents Richard and Mary Parker before her, Teresa Parker was a covert agent for the CIA. Only when she discovered that she had a long lost brother did she seek him out, believing both of their lives to be in danger. Together, the Parker siblings teamed-up in an adventure that took them across half the world and pitted them against the likes of Mentallo and Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin.
2 DIED IN ANOTHER MAN'S BODY
When Peter Parker found himself in the old failing body of Otto Octavius, he fought with everything he had to reclaim what was his. Using Octopus' technology against him, Peter managed to evade prison in the hopes of finding his enemy. But bound by weakness, there was only so much he could do. Unable to return to his own body, Peter came to die in Octavius' body.
Peter Parker's death came as quite a surprise to most fans, and the following saga of The Superior Spider-Man, while met with initial anger, became a fan-favorite all its own. For over two years in the last decade, Peter Parker was dead, with his greatest enemy taking his place as Spider-Man. But even Octavius could not prove himself the ultimate hero, because Peter Parker is, and always will be, the true superior Spider-Man.
1 MARRIAGE ERASED FROM REALITY
Odds are, you might have heard of this one before -- the proverbial shot heard around the Spider-world. In One More Day, by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada, Peter faced the day he decided he couldn't lose his aunt May, who was fighting within an inch of her life. So what did Peter do? He made a deal with the devil, Mephisto. Literally.
But the caveat was that, to save aunt May, much of Peter's story had to be re-written. His long and loving, supportive and inspiring marriage to Mary Jane Watson was completely undone, giving way for a new reality where Peter was now single again. It was a crazy development that is still much talked about to this day, and still the absolute craziest thing to happen to Spider-Man in the last 10 years.
What do you think has been the craziest thing to befall Spidey in the last decade? Let us know in the comments!