Spider-Man

Spider-Man is the creation of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, his artistic partner Jack Kirby, and artist Steve Ditko. Spider-Man first appeared in 1962 in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15; his own series, The Amazing Spider-Man, began the next year. According to the story line, Spider-Man is the alter ego of student Peter Parker; an accidental bite from a radioactive spider gave Parker the arachnid's relative strength and agility plus a tingling "spider sense" for danger. After his Uncle Ben is killed by a burglar, Parker determines to use his new powers to fight crime, dressed in a mask and form-fitting costume and equipped with spider-like web slingers. Ongoing characters in the Spider-Man universe include his love interest Mary Jane Watson, kindly worrywart Aunt May, hothead Daily Bugle publisher Jonah Jameson and exotic villains Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin. Spider-Man became a daily comic strip in 1977, and has been featured in a variety of animated TV series. The 2002 movie Spider-Man featured Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. Both Maguire and Dunst reprised their roles in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Extra credit: In some of the ongoing versions of the storyline, Spider-Man has married Mary Jane and they are separated or Mary Jane is presumed dead... In some versions the spider which bit Peter Parker is genetically altered rather than radioactive... The character Spider-Girl is a futuristic spinoff of the Spider-Man story, with Peter Parker's teenage daughter taking on his crimefighting ways...