Over the years Spider-Man’s story has been retold several times by various authors. The original story dates back to August 15, 1962, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. With so many variations of the character spread throughout the comics, T.V. shows, movies, and video games it is hard to keep track of Spider-Man’s true origin story.
In the movies alone there are four different variations to how Peter Parker lived his life. If added to the different variations in the comics, there are a lot of reasons to get confused about how everything started. These are the top 10 things people get wrong about Peter Parker’s Spider-Man origin story.
10 He Created His Webs Himself Using Technology That Was Around Him
In the first movie about the Web-slinger, produced by Sony with actor Tobey Maguire playing Peter Parker, they show him shooting webs from his wrists as if his body produced the webs. This has led many people to believe that is how it actually works. In the origin story from the comics, he doesn’t have this ability.
He creates his webs himself and in cases the fluid in small cartridges that he carries around. In fact, early in the series that was a major problem he had. Often times while fighting bad guys he would run out of web fluid. As he started swinging around beating on villains more often he became better at manufacturing the fluid and storing it in various places.
9 He Didn’t Start Off Doing Hero Work
When he discovered his newfound abilities, one of the first things he did was create his costume and then went on T.V to show off his abilities in order to get more money. This, however, wasn’t before he went into the ring and wrestled for a hundred bucks by having to stay in the ring for three minutes. Spider-Man easily takes down the wrestler and wins the fight along with the hundred dollars then accepts a television gig. It was after his first show that he lets a thief get away from a cop instead of stopping him. It is only when the same thief, later on, kills Uncle Ben that Spider-Man tries out his hero work for the first time capturing the thief for the police.
8
The Chameleon Was His First Supervillain Foe
Even though the first villain Spider-Man fought was the burglar that killed Uncle Ben, the Chameleon was the first “super-villain”. Although his powers aren’t all that impressive. In fact, at first, he didn’t have any superpowers at all. The Chameleon was a master at disguise and used special props and masks to change his identity at will. He even impersonated Jameson once. He was a Soviet named Dmitri Smerdyakov. Spider-Man is able to defeat the Chameleon by using his spider senses. In later issues, Smerdyakov is revealed to be related to Kraven the Hunter, one of Spider-Man’s biggest
7 His First Crossover Wasn’t With The Avengers
Many people think that Spider-Man only had his eyes set on joining the Avengers. Although he does wind up on their team after a long while and is even mentored by Tony Stark/Iron Man, his first encounter with a super team-up is with the Fantastic Four.
He sneaks into their headquarters and starts a fight with them mistakenly thinking they will pay him if he joins their team. He starts the fight in order to show off his skills, however, once Reed Richards tells him that they don’t pay Spider-Man runs off in a hurry.
6 His First Love Wasn’t Mary Jane Watson...Or Gwen Stacey
It was J. Jonah Jameson's secretary Betty Brant. When Peter Parker started taking photographs of Spider-Man in action for the Dailey Bugle he was instantly mesmerized by Miss. Brant who often handed over the checks to Peter in the beginning. Jameson would often yell at her, as he did everyone, but she was one of the few employees who could stand up to him. This confidence is what attracted Peter to her. During the first years working at the Dailey Bugle, they would often flirt with each other further angering Mr. Jameson. After a couple of issues Peter and Miss. Brant even dated. That was until they drifted away and Miss. Brant started dating Ned Leeds while Peter started dating Gwen Stacy.
5 It Took A Long While For Peter Parker To Realize He Had New Powers
Nine panels was all it took! Peter realizes his abilities are sticking around for better or worse really soon. In nine panels of the first issue, he goes from being bitten by the radioactive spider, to dodging oncoming traffic, to scaling the side of the wall, and then finally donning a mask and taking out a wrestler for a hundred dollars. In both versions of the film, they make it seem days before he realizes what has happened but in the original comic it was merely hours before he was doing miraculous jumps and flips while taking down a man much bigger than him.
Most of the powers he poses are found in the original story. However, there are a few that he develops later Most of the powers he poses are found in the original story. However, there are a few that he develops later.
4 The Spider Was Extraordinary And Rare
This is another myth. In the original comic, all that is mentioned about the spider that bit Peter was that it has been given a “starring but brief role to play in the drama we call life.” (Stan Lee, Steve Ditko) The spider had no genetic mutations or special abilities in the original comic. It was just hit by a radioactive energy beam and as it died it bit the only thing it could and that was Peter's hand. After this panel, the spider is never seen again in the original comic.
3 Wings Or No Wings
Spider-Man’s first design had small wings that were made out of webbing. Since he only created the costume for the T.V. show that he performed on they originally did not serve any purpose. They were more for looks than anything else. Even later when Spider-Man takes to crime-fighting he never really uses them. Illustrator Steve Ditko drew them in the comics because they looked cool. Proof of usefulness for every tool in Spider-Man’s arsenal is found at the end of the 41 page Sinister Six issue The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. Here his webbed wings aren’t even mentioned.
2 Who The Sinister Six Included
This may not necessarily be one people get wrong per se but there is definitely a lot of confusion on who were the original members since the team-up has evolved over the years. In the first Spider-Man annual Stan Lee and Steve Ditko have the web-slinger go up against Dr. Octavius, The Vulture, Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and Electro.
In some other issues, the members have been swapped out for other famous villains such as Rhino, Hobgoblin, Shocker, and others. In recent comics, the number of members has gone up to twelve members sometimes even more. In 2019 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6 included the sinister sixty!
1 Flash Thompson Loves Peter Parker
Well, not really. He only loves Spider-Man but often humiliates Peter in high school during the first issues. Prior to getting his abilities, Peter was an easy target for Flash because of his nerdiness. It is only later in the series do they grow to like each other. Flash does create a Spider-Man fan club for a short while though. Later when they go to college Flash allows Peter to room with him since all of his other friends have left. During this time their relationship grows.