Monday, July 4, 2016

Spider Facts

Lets see how much of a Spider-Man fan you are! Here are One Dozen Spider-Man Facts!
1. Spider-Man's creator Stan Lee never liked the idea of kid sidekicks so when he was creating Spider-Man part of the process was creating a teenaged superhero who wasn't a sidekick.

2. The motto "With Great Power, There Must Also Come Great Responsibility" is usually associated with Uncle Ben, but the phrase was actually first given by the narrator of "Amazing Fantasy #15".

3. Spider-Man merchandise has made more money than any other comic book related merchandise since 2002.

4. Stan Lee had originally asked Jack Kirby (Hulk, Iron Man, Thor) to draw Spider-Man, but Jack's art style didn't fit Stan's mental image of the character. Stan turned to Steve Ditko to draw Spider-Man through the 1960's. Ditko is well known for giving Spider-Man slim eyes as opposed to wide eyes. Ditko also created Ted Kord/Blue Beetle II for DC Comics, a character of similar design to Spider-Man.

5. Peter was left with Ben Parker and May Parker by his parents when he was a child because Peter's parents Richard and Mary were secret agents. The Parkers worked for both the CIA and SHIELD. Ben Parker is Richard's brother.

6. Part of the influence behind Spider-Man came from the pulp hero "The Spider" who was created in the 1940's.

7. Stan's boss was planning on cancelling the "Amazing Fantasy" title at issue #15, he also refused Stan's Spider-Man idea time and time again because he felt it was too much of a risk to create a teenaged hero with no superhero mentor. He also cited how the general public hated spiders. His boss allowed Stan to use Spider-Man for the last issue of "Amazing Fantasy". The book sold so well Stan's boss allowed the character to continue in his own book "The Amazing Spider-Man".

8. Most Marvel characters have adjectives in their early books (Incredible Hulk, Invincible Iron Man, Mighty Thor). Spider-Man has had the most adjectives applied to him. This includes: Amazing, Spectacular, Sensational, Superior, Avenging, and Astonishing.

9. Spider-Man was part of DC Comics and Marvel Comics first crossover story "Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man" in 1976.

10. Marvel Editorial has continuously tried to keep Spider-Man from appearing old. In 1987 Spider-Man had married Mary Jane, but Editorial worried keeping Spider-Man hitched would distance him from younger readers. Attempts were made to make the readers dislike Mary Jane, but even then Editorial didn't want Spider-Man to be a widow or a divorcee. When Spider-Man's clone Ben Reilly took over for him, Peter was allowed to be a straight-up husband. However fans didn't like Ben Reilly and so Ben was killed off, Peter returned as Spider-Man, and Mary Jane had a miscarriage so that Peter wouldn't be tied down by a child. In 2007, Marvel hired J. Michael Straczynski to write "One More Day" an event in which Peter makes a deal with Mephisto (a demon) to save Aunt May's life and-in return-wipe his marriage to MJ from history.

11. "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" is one of a very few musicals based off a comic book character. It's music was put together by performers Bono and The Edge. Due to repeated stunt accidents the play has been shut down for good.

12. On June 5th, 1987, the marriage of Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson was acted out at Shea Stadium with actress Tara Shannon playing MJ and Stan Lee officiating the marriage for promotion of the comic story.
Thanks for reading!
Do you like Spider-Man being a teenager or do you want to see an adult Spider-Man? Comment below!

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