#1: Spider-Man
AKA: Peter Parker, Ricochet, Dusk, Prodigy, Hornet, Scarlet Spider, Captain Universe, Bag-Man
Powers: Shoots webs, clings to walls, spider-sense
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15, 1962
Created By: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Portrayed By: Nicholas Hammond, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland
12 votes, 357 points (Top voter: Adrenaline/Beta Metroid/Johnny Unusual (#1))
I don't imagine anyone is too surprised by this. Enjoying his 60th anniversary this year, Spider-Man is easily Marvel's most popular character and a globally recognizable icon. He has by far the most appearances of any Marvel character, including starring in over 300 issues of Spectacular Spider-Man, 100 issues of Web of Spider-Man, 200 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, and a dozen other ongoing titles. The 900th issue of the flagship title The Amazing Spider-Man is releasing in two days. He also frequently appears as a guest in other titles, and has been a member of teams like the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Defenders. His success has led to successful spin-off titles for characters including Eddie Brock, Jessica Drew, Miles Morales, Flash Thompson, Gwen Stacy, Cindy Moon, Miguel O'Hara, Ben Reilly, and Felicia Hardy. It's hard to overstate how big a part of the Marvel universe Spider-Man is.
I probably don't need to explain the origin, but to quickly recap: Peter Parker was just a nerdy high school kid when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. The bite enhanced his physique to superhuman levels and gave him strange powers like precognition of danger and adhesiveness to walls and ceilings. He developed wrist-mounted devices that let him shoot an organic sticky webbing and became a TV star. He ignored a criminal he could have stopped, who went on to kill his uncle and adopted father Ben. Racked with guilt, Peter learned that with great power must also come great responsibility. He vowed to use his powers and technology to fight criminals and prevent the same from happening again, and a superhero was born. Unfortunately, tragedy continued to follow Spider-Man wherever he went. An unreasonable number of Peter's friends and acquaintances have been driven to villainy, and a similar number of them have simply been lost, directly or indirectly as a result of his deeds. He lost his girlfriend Gwen Stacy when his best friend Harry Osborn's dad Norman, the Green Goblin, threw her off a bridge and he couldn't save her. Harry himself developed a drug problem and also became the Green Goblin before dying, returning to life, and dying again. Numerous people around him like Ned Leeds and Dr. Curt Connors were dragged into heartbreaking situations through no real fault of their own. After marrying Mary Jane Watson, they had a daughter together, but she was killed by the machinations of Norman again, along with his clone Ben Reilly, whom he considered a brother. He nearly lost his adopted mother Aunt May when she was shot after he revealed his secret identity during the Civil War, but Peter and Mary Jane changed her fate when they agreed to let Mephisto rewrite reality so they had never been married, in a storyline that is considered one of the worst in his history.
Just to speak about that: If there is one major problem I think Marvel has with Spider-Man, it's that they don't allow him to evolve. He's not alone in this among comic characters, but I think the problem is clearest with him. When I was growing up, Spider-Man was just a guy who was married. Their wedding was in 1987, and it was magically erased in 2007. For an entire generation of kids, Peter Parker was an adult man with a wife. But Marvel's editors decided they wanted the character to go back to his roots as a single guy who didn't have his shit together, and that's who he became again. Every few years Peter starts to sort things out and become a responsible adult, and every few years another writer comes along to smash it to the ground and start from scratch again. I think it's one of the tragedies of the character that almost everyone he loves thinks he's a flake. He's constantly missing appointments and letting people down because he was too busy saving someone's life as Spider-Man to show up as Peter Parker. And he can't let them know why he was late because he wants to protect them from the danger that his other life obviously causes. But it's a story that's played out a million times, and Marvel has other characters like Miles who can be a young, unattached Spider-Man. Like, there's a reason pretty much every alternate universe Spider-Man that exists happens to still be married to MJ. I hope at some point in the future there's an editorial change that allows a character who's existed for 60 years to actually mature.
Spider-Man has starred in numerous animated series and video games over the years. He has also had multiple live action film incarnations. There's a lot to question about Spider-Man 3, but the first two Sam Raimi movies are still among the best superhero movies ever made. Tobey Maguire's Peter isn't quite the wisecracker he usually is on the page, but I believe he and Raimi captured the character's beating heart underneath all the false bravado. The Amazing Spider-Man movies aren't very good, but Andrew Garfield had an affable take on the character. The Peter Parker in the MCU played by Tom Holland doesn't feel much like the Peter from the comics, being thrust directly into the center of big universe-exploding events much earlier in his career. They're very fun and funny movies though, and I'm curious what happens next, although I thought No Way Home went a bit overboard in taking away his entire support system. I'm not sure I've ever seen the character more alone.
Anyway, Spider-Man is cool. I like that he has a slender body and an outfit that covers it entirely, making him usually stand out in a crowd. I like that the eyes of the mask are allowed to be expressive even though that doesn't make sense. Web swinging is awesome, and twenty times more visually interesting than just flying somewhere. I like that he's always running out of web fluid and struggling to finish off bad guys without it. I like that he uses cheesy jokes to distract his opponents, but it ends up annoying everybody in the room, including the other superheroes he might be teamed up with. I like that his solo titles put so much emphasis on his personal life. At times Amazing Spider-Man is as much a soap opera as it is a superhero book. I can understand a preference for more straightforward stories, but by making Peter's world so rich and detailed, it helps you really feel the stakes when he's trying to save the city from destruction, and it's an endless supply of characters and story threads for further highly dramatic tales. Most of all, I like that Spider-Man is just a good guy. It kills him when somebody is hurt who he feels he could have protected. He can't hold down a good job or keep a girlfriend, or even afford to live in his own apartment without weird roommates. He knows it's because being Spider-Man makes it impossible to live up to his potential as a normal man. And he keeps doing it anyway. He doesn't know how not to be Spider-Man.
That's the end of the list. Thanks for sending your votes and adding your thoughts.
