Fantastic Four Stan Lee

Richard Wentworth a.k.a. the Spider in the pulp magazine The Spider.
Stan Lee stated that it was the name of

this character that inspired him to create a character that would become Spider-Man. [15]
In 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was
casting about for a new superhero idea. He said the idea for Spider-Man arose from a surge in
teenage demand for comic books, and the desire to create a character with whom teens could
identify.[16]:1 In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman pulp magazine crime fighter
the Spider as a great influence,[15]:130 and in a multitude of print and video interviews, Lee stated he
was further inspired by seeing a spider climb up a wall—adding in his autobiography that he has told
that story so often he has become unsure of whether or not this is true. [note 1] Although at the time
teenage superheroes were usually given names ending with "boy", Lee says he chose "Spider-Man"
because he wanted the character to age as the series progressed, and moreover felt the name
"Spider-Boy" would have made the character sound inferior to other superheroes. [17] He also decided
to insert a hyphen in the name, as he felt it looked too similar to Superman, another superhero with a
red and blue costume which starts with an "S" and ends with "man". [18] At that time Lee had to get
only the consent of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman for the character's approval. In a 1986
interview, Lee described in detail his arguments to overcome Goodman's objections. [note 2] Goodman
eventually agreed to a Spider-Man tryout in what Lee in numerous interviews recalled as what would
be the final issue of the science-fiction and supernatural anthology series Amazing Adult
Fantasy, which was renamed Amazing Fantasy for that single issue, #15 (cover-dated August 1962,
on sale June 5, 1962).[19] In particular, Lee stated that the fact that it had already been decided
that Amazing Fantasy would be canceled after issue #15 was the only reason Goodman allowed him
to use Spider-Man.[17] While this was indeed the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic
continuing and that "The Spiderman [sic] ... will appear every month in Amazing."[19][20]
Regardless, Lee received Goodman's approval for the name Spider-Man and the "ordinary teen"
concept and approached artist Jack Kirby. As comics historian Greg Theakston recounts, Kirby told
Lee about an unpublished character on which he had collaborated with Joe Simon in the 1950s, in
which an orphaned boy living with an old couple finds a magic ring that granted him superhuman
powers. Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference", Theakston writes, and Lee
afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. [21] Steve Ditko would be the
inker.[note 3] When Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I hated the way he was doing it!
Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic". [21]:12 Lee turned to
Ditko, who developed a visual style Lee found satisfactory. Ditko recalled:
One of the first things I
dwawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwpider-Man is a fictional superhero created by writffffffffffssssser-
editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing
Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He appears in American comic
books published by Marvel Comics, as well as in a number of movies, television shows, and video
game adaptations set in the Marvel Universe. In the stories, Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker,
an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and
Mary Parker were killed in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of
adolescence and financial issues, and accompanied him with many supporting characters, such
as J. Jonah Jameson, Harry Osborn, Max Modell, romantic interests Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane
Watson, and foes such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin and Venom. His origin story has him
acquiring spider-related abilities after a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging to
surfaces, shooting spider-webs from wrist-mounted devices, and detecting danger with his "spider-
sense".
When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were
usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist. The Spider-Man series broke ground by
featuring Peter Parker, a high school student from Queens behind Spider-Man's secret identity and
with whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" young readers could relate.
[9]
While Spider-Man had all the makings of a sidekick, unlike previous teen heroes such
as Bucky and Robin, Spider-Man had no superhero mentor like Captain America and Batman; he
thus had to learn for himself that "with great power there must also come great responsibility"—a line
included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man story but later retroactively
attributed to his guardian, the late Uncle Ben.
Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first and longest-lasting of which
is The Amazing Spider-Man. Over the years, the Peter Parker character developed from a shy,
nerdy New York City high school student to troubled but outgoing college student, to married high
school teacher to, in the late 2000s, a single freelance photographer. In the 2010s, he joins
the Avengers, Marvel's flagship superhero team. Spider-Man's nemesis Doctor Octopus also took on
the identity for a story arc spanning 2012–2014, following a body swap plot in which Peter appears
to die.[10] Marvel has also published books featuring alternate versions of Spider-Man,
including Spider-Man 2099, which features the adventures of Miguel O'Hara, the

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Richard Wentworth a.k.a. the Spider in the pulp magazine The Spider.

Stan Lee stated that it was the name of

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