Spider-Man: How Life Story Reshaped Peter Parker's History

Spider-Man has undergone a long and tumultuous comic book history, enjoying nearly sixty years of history. Yet for all of this time, Peter Parker has hardly aged.

Spider-Man: Life Story, by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley, integrates the web-slinger's most iconic moments into one full lifetime.

Indeed, Life Story takes key events from each decade, from the 1960s to the 2010s, fitting these classic storylines into the larger tapestry of Peter's life. Stories such as "the Clone Saga", "Kraven's Last Hunt", the alien costume saga and many more are woven into Peter's life.

Alongside these classic tales, Life Story shows the more realistic changes which accompany Peter's age. Spider-Man's costumes evolve over time, Peter advances in his career as a scientist, he gets married, has kids and even undergoes the physical wear-and-tear of age.

All the while, the core idea of Spider-Man remains a constant: responsibility. Peter, over the course of his life, is constantly struggling to do the right thing, a struggle that evolves as he grows older. From wondering if he should contribute to the Vietnam War effort to trying to protect his family, this Peter tries his hardest to do right by everyone, remaining true to his character.

The events of Life Story take many unexpected twists and turns, spanning from 1962-2019. In the 60s, Peter's life is very similar to the original Stan Lee/Steve Ditko/John Romita Sr. comics. This time, however, rather than protecting the Goblin's identity as Norman Osborn, Peter has Norman arrested. Peter also has an internship with Reed Richards at the Baxter Building.

Cutting to the 70s, Peter is married to Gwen Stacy and works with Reed Richards and Otto Octavius at the Future Foundation. Things take a turn for the worse, however, when Harry Osborn, as the Black Goblin, gets Miles Warren to reveal his cloning experiments. Peter learns that Gwen has been a clone for years. After Warren's lab is destroyed, the clone Gwen leaves, and a grieving Peter is consoled by Mary Jane.

By the 80s, Peter and MJ are married with two kids, Claire and Benjy. Returning from Battleworld, Peter acquires the symbiote costume, enhancing his waning powers. Kraven the Hunter then ambushes Peter and buries him alive, much like the famous "Kraven's Last Hunt", by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck. This time, however, Peter is aided by the black suit, enabling him to dig his way out of the grave and nearly kill Kraven. Peter's actions frighten MJ, who leaves to Portland with the kids.

In the 90s, Peter is alone, running Parker Industries with little enjoyment for his life. Suddenly, Peter and his clone, Ben Reilly, are abducted by Doc Ock, who reveals Peter to be the clone and Ben the original version of Peter. After the fight, Peter relinquishes his company and Spider-Man identity to Ben. Peter also tracks down Norman Osborn and reveals that he knows Osborn was manipulating Ock's DNA results and that Ben is the clone after all. Norman then dies of a heart attack and Peter reunites with his family in Portland.

Later on, in the 2000s, Ben is killed by Morlun, a vampiric menace who hunts spider-people. Peter learns of this and flees Portland to protect his family. Arriving in New York, however, Peter is confronted by Tony Stark, who wants him to register under the superhuman registration act. Refusing, Peter is attacked by Stark's Avengers before he is aided by Captain America's resistance movement. Peter then flees with the anti-registration heroes.

Finally, by 2019, Peter is one of the oldest heroes left. Doctor Doom took control of the Earth following the superhuman Civil War, leaving Spider-Man as the leader of the resistance movement. Joined by his protege, Miles Morales, Peter travels to Doom's space station in order to shut down all of Doom's technology. Fighting off a symbiote-enhanced Kraven and Doc Ock's mind inside Miles' body, Peter activates the device, dying in space to save the world. The last thing Peter thinks of is Mary Jane.

Spider-Man: Life Story takes readers through a full, emotionally-packed lifetime with Peter Parker, remixing six decades of comics into one incredible life story.

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