Summary

• Spider-Man has surprising super strength moments, like launching the Hulk into orbit or lifting heavy objects to save lives.
• Peter Parker's strength often shines when protecting loved ones, like preventing the Daily Bugle from crashing down or saving Aunt May.
• Despite his challenges, Spider-Man consistently showcases incredible strength feats to overcome various foes and challenges.

Peter Parker is well-known as the Marvel Comics universe's chief web-slinger, the Amazing Spider-Man, partly thanks to his incredible powers. Derived from the bite of a radioactive spider when Peter was in high school, his abilities include having the proportional speed, agility, and strength of a spider.

While Spider-Man isn't as powerful as some of Marvel's strongest brutes, such as the Hulk or the Thing, he's proven capable of throwing his weight around a few times in Marvel Comics history. His physical might isn't quite as famous as his wall-crawling or web-spinning, but Spider-Man has demonstrated remarkable feats of strength in the past.

Updated on March 11, 2024, by Guillermo Kurten: As Marvel Comics' flagship superhero, Spider-Man has shown off the extent of his strength across countless storylines in his decades of publication history. The hero has more often than not risen to the occasion to save lives in a job that can sometimes be thankless. This list is being updated to streamline the publication information of each comic book issue and detail the story arcs and crossover events they were part of.

10 Spidey Launches the Hulk Into Orbit

Under normal circumstances, Spider-Man's strength would allow him to hold his own against the might of the Hulk. When wielding the power of Captain Universe, though, Spidey could dominate the Grey Goliath one-on-one.

When battling around the Roosevelt Bridge in New York City, Spider-Man landed a punch on the Hulk, which launched the Hulk into low Earth orbit. This was a demonstration of Spidey using his new powers to a tactical advantage and a display of his newfound strength.

9 Ultimate Spider-Man Pulled Out All the Stops

"The Death of Spider-Man" was the culmination of Peter Parker's life in the Ultimate Universe. With the Green Goblin causing chaos throughout New York City and the Ultimates barely able to keep up, Spider-Man used all his remaining energy to thwart the Goblin.

In one of Spider-Man's last-ditch efforts to halt the Goblin's momentum, Peter lifted a truck over his head and smashed the Goblin with it. It's easy to forget that Ultimate Peter was only 16 years old. But great power (and strength) comes in small packages, as Spidey demonstrates.

8 Peter Holds the Daily Bugle on His Shoulders

Many of Spider-Man's greatest acts of strength come when the safety of his loved ones is on the line. The aftermath of a battle with the Green Goblin saw the Daily Bugle on the verge of collapse. Although Reed Richards was able to help save Aunt May, one final pumpkin bomb detonated, threatening to bring the Bugle crashing down.

With Mary Jane on the street nearby, Spider-Man summoned his strength to keep the Bugle from collapsing. Even after the Wall-Crawler saved the day, publisher J. Jonah Jameson called for the hero's arrest. Despite his display of strength, Spidey can't catch a break.

7 Spidey Lifts Penn Station

The Lizard is one of the strongest and most fearsome villains in Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Dr. Curt Connors planned to use a machine in New York's sewers to cure his mutation into the Lizard permanently. However, Peter knew the machine underneath Penn Station had been rigged to kill the doctor.

The Lizard wouldn't listen to reason and brought Penn Station crashing down on top of the wall-crawler. With the weight collapsing on him, Peter noted that even Thor would struggle to lift that much weight. However, Spidey found the strength to hoist the collapsed station and free himself.

6 Peter Parker is Army Strong

Lifting and smashing military hardware is usually the Hulk's modus operandi, but Peter Parker can flex that muscle in his guise as Spider-Man. When trying to rescue an international diplomat from the Paladin, the Wall-Crawler was assaulted by mercenaries with tanks. Not only did Spidey lift a tank above his head, he slammed it into the ground and destroyed it.

The phrase "mini-tank" might suggest lifting it would be an everyday feat for Spidey. A small military tank weighs roughly 50 tons. Spider-Man typically objects in the 20-ton range, but Peter Parker can up his strength game when lives are at stake.

5 Peter Parker Shows Off For His Colleagues

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 is famous for introducing the Sinister Six, a team of Spider-Man's deadliest foes. The issue also has a backup story, "The Secrets of Spider-Man!" wherein writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko illustrate Spidey's various powers, abilities, and gadgetry.

To demonstrate Spidey's strength, which Ditko notes will increase as young Peter Parker matures, Spidey hoists an unspecified amount of weight. No numbers are cited but three of Marvel's strongest - Thor, the Hulk, and the Thing - are watching and seem impressed with the Webhead's raw strength.

4 Peter Demonstrates His Spider Strength Against the Holiday Rush

New York can be a little chaotic at Christmas time, and few heroes know that better than Spider-Man. Like everyone else, Peter Parker is working against the clock to get everything ready for the holidays. In the story "A Spider Carol," Spidey was making his rounds two days before Christmas when he saw a traffic jam blocking the path of an ambulance.

Spidey swung down and lifted a cab out of the ambulance's path, the driver still inside, to a stunned reaction from passersby. In a rare bit of gratitude from his fellow New Yorkers, the ambulance driver thanks Spidey for saving his patient's life.

3 Spidey Plays Catch With a Truck

It's one of those days when nothing goes right for Spider-Man. In this backup story, Peter Parker starts the day by waking up late, and it gets steadily worse from then on. He's whisked into a battle with the Absorbing Man, who throws a truck into a crowd of people.

Spidey catches the truck in midair and immediately (and sarcastically) ponders whether he cares too much about his job. The fact that Spider-Man could stop the hurtling truck dead in its tracks is another testament to how immense and consistent his strength is under pressure.

2 Spider-Man Saves a Plane From Crashing

Only Spider-Man could team up with Captain Marvel and still get stuck with the heavy lifting. When a runaway plane's landing gear doesn't deploy, Peter Parker manages to catch up with the plane, force its landing gear down, and lift the nose to avoid a disaster on the runway.

Spidey notes that the plane itself is 75,000 pounds and is carrying 40,000 pounds in fuel, meaning that Spider-Man lifts well over 110,000 pounds in saving the day. In a rare moment of gratitude, Spidey even gets a "thank you" from J. Jonah Jameson, then the mayor of New York.

1 Peter Lifts Inhuman Amounts to Save Aunt May

Throughout his 60-year history, Peter Parker has spent much of his time caring for his elderly Aunt May. While possessing medicine that can save her life, Spider-Man is swept up in a battle with the Lizard. During the conflict, the hero is pinned under tons of iron.

In one of his defining moments, referenced in the 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man almost gives up before remembering how he failed his Uncle Ben. Unwilling to let it happen again with Aunt May, Peter resolves to fight on and lifts the giant mechanism to free himself.