50 Fun Facts About Hard Spider-Man

Amazing Fantasy #15 was cover-dated August, but on what date that year did it actually go on sale?

Cover dates ran months ahead of the newsstand date so unsold copies looked fresh longer. The series had just been renamed from Amazing Adult Fantasy for that one issue.

Which Marvel publisher approved Spider-Man only because Amazing Fantasy was being cancelled?

He objected that people hate spiders and that teenagers should be sidekicks, not heroes. Once the sales figures came in he asked Lee for an ongoing series.

Which artist drew the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 after Stan Lee rejected Steve Ditko's version?

Kirby had also drawn a first attempt at the character that Lee rejected as too heroic. Ditko inked the cover Kirby pencilled.

Steve Ditko left The Amazing Spider-Man after which issue?

Ditko had been plotting the book himself by the end and was reportedly no longer speaking to Lee. Romita took over and immediately unmasked the Green Goblin.

Which 1971 arc, run without the Comics Code seal, forced a revision of the Code's rules on drugs?

The US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare had asked Lee to run an anti-drug message. Harry Osborn's addiction was the storyline, and the Code was rewritten shortly after.

Who wrote The Amazing Spider-Man #121–122, the two-parter in which Gwen Stacy dies?

The editors originally asked for Aunt May to be killed. Marvel's 2001 fan poll later ranked issue #121 the sixth-greatest Marvel comic of all time.

Gil Kane's art in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 shows Gwen falling from which bridge, not the George Washington?

Later reprints and stories have gone back and forth on which bridge it was. The 2004 series The Pulse stuck with the George Washington.

Which Spider-Man storyline crossed over all three Spider-Man titles in October and November 1987?

Kraven shoots Spider-Man with a tranquilizer, buries him for two weeks and wears his costume. J.M. DeMatteis first pitched the buried-hero idea as a Wonder Man story, then as a Batman one.

Which cannibalistic sewer monster does Kraven set loose on Spider-Man in the 1987 'Last Hunt' story?

DeMatteis and artist Mike Zeck had created the character together earlier. Spider-Man had needed Captain America's help to beat him the first time.

How much did Marvel pay fan Randy Schueller for the idea of Spider-Man's black costume?

Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter wrote to him in 1982. The costume debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 before its origin was shown in Secret Wars #8.

Venom's first full appearance came in which issue of The Amazing Spider-Man?

Writer David Michelinie wanted a villain the spider-sense could not detect. The symbiote had picked up Peter's genetic signature while bonded to him, so it could slip past his sixth sense.

Before the symbiote found him, Eddie Brock had been a reporter for which newspaper?

Brock's career collapsed when the man he named as the Sin-Eater turned out to be a compulsive confessor, and Spider-Man caught the real killer.

Which two creators are credited with Carnage, who first fully appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #361?

Stan Lee supplied the host's name, Cletus Kasady, and the idea that the bond was so complete he says 'I' where Venom says 'we'.

Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 (1990) sold roughly how many copies, helped by multiple variant covers?

Two years later McFarlane co-founded Image Comics and launched Spawn #1, which sold 1.7 million, still a record for an independent comic as of 2007.

Under what name had Peter Parker's clone been living before he became the Scarlet Spider?

The clone had been created in a 1970s storyline. The saga was so unpopular that Marvel eventually undid it, but the Scarlet Spider identity kept returning.

The Jackal debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #129, but in which issue was he unmasked as Miles Warren?

Warren himself had been in the book since #31 as an unnamed Empire State University professor. He is the man responsible for cloning Peter and Gwen.

Which Marvel villain murdered Richard and Mary Parker, according to The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5?

Peter's parents were spies who posed as traitors to infiltrate Albert Malik's organization in Algeria. Richard had been recruited by Nick Fury.

Which Babylon 5 creator became the main writer of The Amazing Spider-Man in the 2000s?

His run introduced Ezekiel Sims, who suggested Peter's powers were no accident. It ended in a public spat over how One More Day was resolved.

In One More Day, Peter and Mary Jane trade their marriage to Mephisto in exchange for what?

Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada insisted a single Peter was intrinsic to the character. The world's memory of the marriage was erased, though the identity reveal from Civil War was undone too.

How many issues did The Superior Spider-Man run before Amazing returned in 2014?

Amazing had ended with #700 in December 2012. Otto eventually surrendered the body to Peter to save the woman he loved.

Which 2014 Marvel event introduced Gwen Stacy's alternate-universe web-slinger and fought the Inheritors?

The Inheritors are psychic vampires hunting spider-people across realities. The event later inspired the animated Into the Spider-Verse films.

Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, was created by Rick Leonardi and which writer?

Miguel is an Irish-Mexican geneticist in Nueva York whose DNA is half rewritten with spider code. Issue #1 is still that writer's best-selling single comic.

Why does Spider-Man 2099 wear that particular costume rather than a design of his own?

Miguel has non-retractable talons on his fingers and toes that would shred normal cloth. He also has fangs he cannot retract, so he learned to talk without showing his teeth.

Miles Morales made his first appearance in which 2011 comic?

Bendis and Sara Pichelli created him after the Ultimate Peter Parker died. Bendis was partly inspired by Donald Glover wearing Spider-Man pajamas on Community.

Which two abilities does Miles Morales have that Peter Parker lacks?

Against the Armadillo the strike proved useless until his venom energy shaped itself like a web lasso. He also has a bigger 'mega venom blast'.

Bendis and Mark Bagley's run on Ultimate Spider-Man broke a Marvel record previously held by whom?

Bagley stayed until issue #111. Bendis stretched the original 11-page origin into a 180-page, seven-issue arc.

In the Ultimate universe, the spider that bit Peter had been exposed to what substance?

The same drug created the Ultimate Green Goblin and Hobgoblin, and it later explained why Peter survived his own 'death'.

Spider-Man Noir, created by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky, operates in New York during which era?

He debuted in Spider-Man: Noir #1 in February 2009 and the miniseries touched on lynching, fascism and socialist agitation of the New Deal years.

Spider-Punk, the Spider-Man of Earth-138, is an alternate version of which existing Marvel character?

In the main universe that name belongs to the Prowler. Dan Slott and Olivier Coipel introduced Spider-Punk in Amazing Spider-Man #10 in January 2015.

Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, first appeared in a 1983 one-shot titled what?

The one-shot also featured Captain Americat and Hulk-Bunny. His later ongoing series ran under Marvel's Star Comics imprint for younger readers.

In Spider-Man: Blue, Peter recounts his romance with Gwen Stacy into a tape recorder on which day?

It sits alongside the pair's Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray and Captain America: White, all colour-coded looks at heroes' early years.

Spider-Man: Life Story runs in real time from 1961; Peter goes from age 15 to what age?

Each issue covers a decade. Mark Bagley drew it, and the 1980s issue reworks Secret Wars, Venom's origin and Kraven burying Peter alive.

Which Batman story is Spider-Man: Reign most compared to, even naming a character 'Miller Janson'?

Kaare Andrews wrote and drew the 2006 series about a retired Spider-Man 30 years in the future. Marvel used the comparison in its own marketing.

Marv Wolfman originally created the Black Cat in 1978 as a foil for which heroine?

Wolfman based her on the Tex Avery cartoon 'Bad Luck Blackie'. Her actual bad-luck power was later granted, and secretly sabotaged, by the Kingpin.

Who funded the experiment that turned Mac Gargan into the Scorpion?

Jameson had hired Gargan as a private investigator to find out how Peter Parker got his photos. The Scorpion then went after Jameson too.

Adrian Toomes, the Vulture, first appeared in which issue of The Amazing Spider-Man?

Ditko drew him gaunt so he took up less panel space. He is a founding member of the Sinister Six, and Michael Keaton played him in Homecoming.

Besides the Sinister Six, which villain team did the Sandman co-found to fight Reed Richards' family?

He joined the Wizard, Paste-Pot Pete and Medusa to crash Reed and Sue's engagement party. He was later an Avengers reserve member.

Marvel Team-Up ran from 1972 to 1985 and was replaced by which title?

The Human Torch was meant to be the permanent co-star but was dropped after three issues for a rotating slot. Aunt May headlined one issue.

In the 1978 Toei live-action Spider-Man series, what was the name of the giant robot Spider-Man summoned?

It transformed from the Marveller spaceship. Toei reused the giant-robot idea in Super Sentai, which became Power Rangers in the West.

Which animator produced the cheaper later seasons of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon, reusing Rocket Robin Hood footage?

Comic villains were dropped for generic green monsters to save money. Season one had been made by Grantray-Lawrence, which went bankrupt.

Which actor played Spider-Man in the 1977 CBS TV movie and the live-action series that followed?

The pilot drew a 17.8 rating, the best CBS production of that year. The wall-crawl was done with a rig; the building swing took two days to set up.

Before Sony, which production company bought the Spider-Man film rights for $225,000 in 1985?

Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus reportedly thought he was a werewolf-like character. Tobe Hooper was attached at one point, and Tom Cruise was considered.

Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man was the earliest film ever to do what at the box office?

A teaser trailer showing a helicopter caught in a web between the Twin Towers was pulled after 9/11.

Which Pulitzer-winning novelist was hired to rewrite Spider-Man 2, only for Sony to reject his take?

Raimi and Alvin Sargent cherry-picked from the Gough, Millar, Koepp and Chabon drafts. The film went on to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

How many preview performances did Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark give before its June 2011 opening?

With a $75 million budget it was the most expensive Broadway production ever, and it closed in January 2014 partly because it could no longer get injury insurance.

How many units did Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sell in 24 hours, a PlayStation first-party record?

It passed five million in 11 days. The 2018 original had a 23-year-old Peter eight years into his career.

Into the Spider-Verse's hand-drawn look was inspired by the art of which Miles Morales co-creator?

The film needed the largest crew of animators Sony Pictures Animation had ever used on a feature and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

In Into the Spider-Verse, Kingpin builds a collider hoping to retrieve alternate versions of whom?

He blames Peter Parker for the deaths of Vanessa and Richard, which drives the whole plot.

In Insomniac's 2018 Marvel's Spider-Man, what is the lethal Oscorp bioweapon that Mister Negative steals?

Doctor Octopus later releases it in Times Square, infecting Aunt May among many others.

What subtitle did the extended cut of Spider-Man: No Way Home carry when it hit cinemas in September 2022?

The original grossed $1.921 billion, the most of any 2021 release, and was Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects.