Peter Parker

Peter Parker, also known by his superhero alias Spider-Man, is the main character in the Marvel's Spider-Man series. Peter is the protagonist in Marvel's Spider-Man, a supporting character in Miles Morales, and the dual protagonist in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, alongside Miles Morales.

A resident of New York City, Peter gained his superhuman spider-powers and abilities after a bite from a radioactive spider at age fifteen. Opting to maintain a secret identity, he employed his newfound abilities and crafted web gadgets to protect New York. Eight years deep into his superhero journey, Peter is a seasoned and adept crime fighter but frequently grapples with balancing his superhero duties and personal life.

As the Spider-Man persona, Peter fought various criminals, sharing a longstanding rivalry with Wilson Fisk. He spent eight years collaborating with Yuriko Watanabe to bring Fisk down, but doing so unleashed deadlier organized crime. Peter was the sole Spider-Man until he was supported by Miles Morales, a friend who also gained spider powers. Outside the mask, Peter worked as a lab assistant for his mentor, Dr. Otto Octavius, and grew up under the nurturing care of his Aunt May Parker. Romantically, Peter has been linked with Daily Bugle reporter Mary Jane Watson, whom he met during middle school along with his best friend, Harry Osborn.

History

Early history

Peter was born in roughly 1995,^[a] in Forest Hills, New York.^[1] Peter was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in Queens. While in middle school, Peter became best friends with Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn, forming a friendship that would last into his adulthood.^[3] Peter also developed an interest in science at a young age, and he grew up idolizing the acclaimed scientist Dr. Otto Octavius.

At fifteen years old,^[1] while attending a science demonstration, Peter was bitten by a radiation-infused spider, which altered his physiology and granted him superhuman abilities. Peter fashioned a rudimentary costume for himself out of a shirt, pants, and a mask, engineered his own homemade web fluid and web-shooters, and began wrestling for money under the moniker "The Spider".^[4] At some point after, Uncle Ben passed away, at which point Aunt May started volunteering at F.E.A.S.T., while Peter gains part-time job at Daily Bugle after becoming a crime-fighter, Spider-Man.^[5] After successfully getting a data inside a drive with Harry during their infiltration at Midtown High, Peter and Harry meet up at the football field undetected before they are approached by Harry's father, Norman, who sadly informed them the death of Emily Osborn by an Oshtran syndrome.

Becoming Spider-Man

Resolving to use his powers for good, Peter crafted a distinctive red and blue suit, becoming "Spider-Man". Stopping petty crimes across New York, thanks to J. Jonah Jameson, opinions on him varied, with some seeing him as a menace and others as a hero.^[b] Taking up photography, Peter freelanced for the Daily Bugle to help May pay for the mortgage before quitting after being framed for murder.^[15]

Over eight years, Spider-Man clashed with foes like Shocker early in his career,^[16] as well as Electro, Vulture, Rhino, Scorpion, and others, ultimately incarcerating them in the Raft prison. He also encountered villains like Sandman, Lizard, Swarm, and Mysterio. During his early crime-fighting days, he inadvertently left backpacks webbed across the city. The culmination of his eight years was his consistent rivalry with crime lord Wilson Fisk, known as "The Kingpin" being forced to fight against their enforcers ^[17]. While fighting him and his influence, he built an alliance with NYPD's Yuriko Watanabe, who remained oblivious to his real identity.^[18]

In his personal sphere, Aunt May became affiliated with F.E.A.S.T., helmed by Martin Li. Peter briefly dated Mary Jane, but six months prior to Marvel's Spider-Man,^[3] broke up with her due to his fears about her safety.^[c] After completing his studies at Empire State University, Peter joined Octavius Industries, working under Otto. There, he once encountered Miles Morales and Phin Mason at an Oscorp event, but had to leave abruptly due to Spider-Man duties.^[21]

Hostile Takeover

Spider-Man discovered a new criminal named Blood Spider (Michael Bingham) who was impersonating him. Blood Spider, who did not care about saving lives and only wants to get blood on his hands, turned much of the city against Spider-Man. Luckily, Spider-Man managed to expose him and sent him to the Raft.

Marvel's Spider-Man

In "The Main Event", an experienced Peter Parker aided Yuriko Watanabe and the police in the arrest of Wilson Fisk at Fisk Tower, with Fisk ominously warning Peter that Fisk had kept order in the city, and Spider-Man would miss him in a month.^[22] After, in "My OTHER Other Job" Peter assisted Dr. Octavius with prosthetic demonstrations, but was too late to prevent it facing issues in front of government financiers.^[23] In "Something Old, Something New", upon Octavius finding his damaged suit, he helped Peter design a new Advanced Suit, and expressed pride in Peter.^[24][d]

Asked by Yuri to inspect a tripped alarm at an auction in "Don't Touch the Art", Peter reunited with ex-girlfriend Mary Jane. The auction house was attacked by the Inner Demons, who were pursuing an item called Devil's Breath.^[25] Shortly after, in "A Shocking Comeback", Peter put Shocker away again, who was working for the Demons but refused to reveal their identity due to his fear.^[26] In "Wheels within Wheels", Spider-Man worked with Officer Jefferson Davis to stop a Demon attack. Later that night, because Mayor Norman Osborn had pulled Octavius' funding and Peter could no longer be paid, Peter was evicted from his apartment, forced to stay at May's in "Couch Surfing".^[27]

At an award ceremony in "And the Award Goes to...", Mayor Osborn was to award Davis for his valor. The event took a dark turn when the Demons, led by Martin Li as Mister Negative, ambushed and killed Davis among others.^[28] Distraught, Davis' son, Miles Morales, initially resisted Peter's consolation. However, they later bonded when Peter arranged a job for Miles at F.E.A.S.T.^[29] Osborn's response to the Demon's threat was to deploy Sable International and its steely leader, Silver Sable, who clashed with Spider-Man.

Peter and Mary Jane meanwhile teamed up investigating Oscorp's perilous bioweapon, Devil's Breath. After successfully intercepting Li in "The One That Got Away", their partnership strained as Peter's protectiveness caused Mary Jane to ask for space.^[30] Concurrently, Otto's research continued, but his condition worsened due to a crippling neuromuscular disease. Despite Peter's cautions about the neural interface's adverse effects, Otto, consumed by his resentment for Osborn, clandestinely persisted with its usage.^[31][32]

In "Out of the Frying Pan...", a prison break released several of Spider-Man's foes — Mister Negative, Electro, Vulture, Rhino, and Scorpion — with Otto emerging as Doctor Octopus. He released the Devil's Breath in Times Square, leading to a citywide crisis. Osborn declared martial law and branded Spider-Man a fugitive.^[14]

Peter fought and defeated the Sinister Six in "Picking up the Trail" and "Heavy Hitter", teaming up with Mary Jane and Miles, where Mary Jane looked for a cure for Devil's Breath and Miles kept watch over F.E.A.S.T. After Mary Jane located the cure, in "The Heart of the Matter", Spider-Man secured it from Mister Negative, but was easily defeated by Doctor Octopus. Wounded, Mary Jane advised Peter to rely on his own science rather than his spider powers, leading him to build himself a yellow-light black armored suit to face Doc Ock.^[33] After a climactic battle with Otto atop Oscorp Tower in "Pax in Bello", Peter secured the antidote, tearfully telling the doctor that he had looked up to him prior to his downfall, and turning away from him when he pleaded with Peter not to be sent to prison.^[20]

Peter brought the antiserum to Dr. Morgan Michaels, hoping to cure Aunt May, who was infected with the disease. However, the dose was only enough for one use, and Dr. Michaels needed it to make enough to cure the others. As Peter prepared to save May, she revealed that she knew he was Spider-Man and that was proud of him. Ultimately, he was forced to let May die, devastating him. Three months on, New York stabilized, Mary Jane reconcile, and Miles, bitten by an experimental Oscorp spider, revealed his newfound spider-powers to Peter.^[20]

Velocity

Peter was called to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to face Swarm. He webbed Swarm and landed a few hits, but was stung by one of Swarm's bees, allowing Swarm to escape. Recovering, Peter considers making an "Armored Advanced Suit."

Across the city, Mary Jane Watson texts Peter about a new story she and Ben Urich are working on. They stand outside a comedy club where an EMT mentions that the attack matches others. Inside, the owner tells them there are no surveillance cameras or cell phones allowed during shows. MJ finds cell phone footage of the attack online, showing a microphone attacking a comedian. As they leave, cars start honking and shaking. Ben is thrown into trash bins, and MJ trips and is dragged away.

In Peter's apartment, MJ bursts in, telling Peter about the invisible attack, claiming it was a ghost. Peter calms her with coffee, and shows her sketches of the new "Arachknight" suit. The next day, Peter and MJ search for Ben at the Daily Bugle and find old reports about a ghost story. They discover a reporter died while investigating illegal genetic testing at Oscorp, possibly linked to Mister Negative.

A robbery alert brings Peter to a rooftop. He confronts the thieves, but his armor malfunctions, locking up. He removes part of the armor and webs up the thieves. Later, Peter and MJ are in a diner when the table starts to rattle. A voice warns MJ to back off, and the whole restaurant begins to shake with food lifting into the air.

The City That Never Sleeps

In "The Heist", Mary Jane informed Peter of a break-in at the MMoCA museum, targeting the "Maria" painting associated with the Maggia crime syndicates. On-site, Peter confronted Maggia don Hammerhead's minions and crossed paths with his former flame, Felicia Hardy (the Black Cat). Her real target was data drives embedded in artworks, which stored Maggia's financial records.^[34] Later, she disclosed that Hammerhead was leveraging her son—potentially also Peter's—for her cooperation.^[35] This revelation strained Peter's relationship with Mary Jane temporarily,^[36] but they found a concealed Hammerhead vault. As Felicia and Peter infiltrated, Peter learned she had deceived him and there was no child, but her real target was Hammerhead's personal drive in that vault. Discovering a bomb plot by Hammerhead at Felicia's residence, Peter endeavored to rescue Felicia (who was baffled he would try after she had betrayed him), but the explosion went off.^[37]

In "Turf Wars", Spider-Man aided Yuri Watanabe in assaulting Hammerhead's base, leading to many officer casualties. Spider-Man disrupted Hammerhead's operations, and discovered Hammerhead's intent to kill rival Maggia leaders with stolen Sable International gear. Spider-Man confronted Hammerhead, who was fatally shot by an interfering Yuri. In "Silver Lining", after initially clashing with her again, Spider-Man allied with Silver Sable to reclaim her stolen tech. After several encounters, and a surprise save from a still-alive Black Cat, Spider-Man and Sable cornered Hammerhead on a boat, defeating him.

Spider-Geddon

During a fight against the Tarantula who was robbing a bank in the Financial District, Peter was approached by the Otto Octavius of the Prime Marvel Universe, who in his home reality also sported the moniker of Spider-Man. Octavius requested Peter's presence in a new Superior Spider-Army being reassembled to defeat the returned Inheritors. Before accepting Octavius' solicitation, Peter asked his help to capture Tarantula. Following the villain's defeat, both arachnid heroes shared a moment of familiarity, which stemmed from Peter's admiration for the version of Octavius from his world, and at Octavius' request, Peter showed him footage of his counterpart. Before departing from his home reality, Peter visited both Miles and MJ. Octavius suggested recruiting Miles as well, but Peter opposed the idea, arguing that Miles was too young to come along, and that in case he didn't come back, his world would still have a Spider-Man.

They both have gone to recruit the Spider-Man of Earth-51778, but having to take down a Giant-Monster using the Sword Vigor. Later, all the Superior Spider-Army was assembled. Ben Reilly, a clone from Earth-616's Spider-Man, revealed himself to to them offered his help since he created the cloning technology of New U, the tech used by the Inheritors to make their return. When the Miles Morales of a dead (later revived) universe contacted Otto saying they would attack the Inheritors, who were planning revive Solus, their father, using the New U Tech, right at the Transamerica Pyramid, where New U once operated. Peter and other Spiders rescued their comrades, eventually ending up in another world.

Peter interacted with Miles Morales and a Mary Jane from another universe who married with her Peter Parker, who suggested to not let his Mary Jane go in case she is anything like his Mary Jane. They were approached by Spider-Punk who brought them back to their base. In there, Superior Spider-Man and Spider-Nor-Man, an alternate version of Norman Osborn, had a discussion since he was questioning Otto's leadership and criticizing the Spiders for putting their hopes on a Deus Ex Machina. Because of this, both he and Spiders-Man separated of the team and he declared he would think in a plan, but he was actually going to destroy the Web of Life and Destiny, stopping the travel between dimensions.

Ben Reilly decided to offer himself to the Inheritors, since the one who would consume him would be Jennix, the "scientist" of the family, who would absorb his knowledge, and because of the many times he died and was resurrected, it would destroy his maniacal mind. Otto would pretend he double crossed Ben and give him to the Inheritors to leave his world alone. The plan have seemed to work but Otto couldn't leave in time because Peter followed them and believed all the plan was true. Upon Ben being consumed, they attacked Peter and Otto, who apologized for not being the man Peter thought he was, but that perhaps he could something close. Peter said he couldn't control Otto actions, only what he do, which fight the Inheritors. When Solus, now revived, was about to consume them, Miles Morales, now with the power of the Captain Universe, stopped him and they begun to fight. During the final battle between the Inheritors and spiders, many Spider-People from across the Multiverse to help them, including Earth-616's Peter Parker, who ordered the Spider-People to follow Otto's lead, which meant Miles kill Solus, something he did with the Sword Vigor. Upon realizing Solus planted the hunger in his sons, they used the cloning technology to create baby bodies to them and free them from their hunger. The plan worked and Peter returned to his universe, saying to Otto that unlike his Otto, in the end, he did the right thing and that the guy Peter thought he was, he could actually be him if he tries, and told him to take care.

Spider-Verse Team-Ups

Death of Spider-Verse

During Shathra's reign, Peter was converted and absorbed into her Hive along with almost every other Spider in the Multiverse. He was among those sent by Shathra to intercept Peter Parker (Earth-616), Araña, and Night Spider in a temple of Earth-616's Delvadia. All of Shathra's victims were eventually released when Silk slashed Morlun with the Totem Dagger. All Spiders were thrown into Earth-616, where they dealt a combined defeat to Shathra.

On the Spot

Peter encountered The Spot from Earth-616 and, despite initial reluctance, struck a deal with Ohnn. Ohnn promised to help Peter travel back in time to fix his mistakes if Peter assisted The Spot in the future. Motivated by his grief over Aunt May, Peter agreed. The Spot traveled to another reality to empower an alternate version of himself and assured Peter he would return.

In a fierce battle between The Spot from Earth-616 and his world's Spider-Man, The Spot called upon Peter Parker from Earth-1048 for help. Peter, though hesitant, fought his 616 counterpart to distract him. Using his web-shooters, Peter temporarily incapacitated the 616 Spider-Man. Realizing their fight endangered civilians, they moved to a rooftop. There, 616 Spider-Man chastised Peter for collaborating with Ohnn and mentioned Aunt May and Uncle Ben. This angered Peter, who explained his May was dead. They then visited the F.E.A.S.T. center, where Peter shared the story of his Aunt May’s death and the center’s renaming in her honor. The two bonded over their shared experiences.

The Spider-Men traveled to Earth-691, a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They defeated the Skorpsmen with Killraven's help. Seeing this devastated world, Peter asked about the fate of Miles and MJ but was told they likely never existed here. This revelation upset Peter, who apologized to Killraven for his reaction. Killraven reassured him that caring was never wrong.

Next, they arrived on Earth-1053, where Peter had allowed Doctor Octopus to use a neural link, driving both insane and leading to their world’s downfall. 1053-Spider-Man explained how The Spot helped them cure diseases but warned of Peter and 616 Spider-Man’s arrival. Peter and 616 Spider-Man fled after a haunting encounter with this reality's Aunt May.

They then visited a version of Larval Earth, encountering Spider-Ham. After narrowly escaping Hog-zilla, they fled to another universe, devoid of superheroes. Here, they met a homeless Peter Parker who recounted his tragic story of losing Uncle Ben and facing financial ruin. The Spider-Men advised him to reconnect with Aunt May.

Continuing their journey, they encountered three evil versions of themselves, each corrupted by a different artifact. These encounters disappointed Peter, who had always believed in his own goodness. 616 Spider-Man reassured him that their evil counterparts were corrupted by external influences.

Finally, they arrived in a universe where the alternate Spot was preparing to kill 616 Spot. Peter and 616 Spider-Man intervened, determined to stop the chaos and bring an end to The Spot’s manipulation.

Miles Morales: Wings of Fury

Miles Morales

Initially hesitant,^[38] Peter trained Miles in the Spider-Man role while Mary Jane, heading to Symkaria, enlisted him as her photographer. During "Hold Onto Your Web-Shooters", they supervised a convoy transferring Raft prisoners, including Rhino. Chaos broke out when Miles accidentally unleashed Rhino. Though Peter was badly injured and urged Miles to run, Miles discovered his bio-electricity powers, subduing Rhino. Debriefing over pizza, Peter informed Miles of his Symkaria trip and departed,^[39] handing over a new suit and training modules citywide to him.

Following the Braithwaite Bridge incident, Peter offered to return, but Miles, confident in his abilities, dissuaded him.^[40] After a month, post-Roxxon and Underground conflicts, Peter praised Miles for maturing into his role. He mentioned moving into Aunt May's Queens residence and pondered a teaching position at ESU. Peter expressed astonishment at Miles' mother, Rio, acknowledging her son's dual identity, a contrast to his own history with Aunt May.^[41]

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (comic)

Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Peter became a science teacher at Brooklyn Visions Academy, where Miles Morales was a student. On his first day, he arrived late for a physics lesson on surface tension. When Miles asked to leave to fight crime, Peter allowed him, knowing Miles was Spider-Man. Miles soon returned, insisting Peter help him. They left to fight Sandman, who was wreaking havoc in New York. After dealing with Sandman, Peter returned to the school and was fired for abandoning his class.

Peter went home and found an old photo. MJ arrived, mentioning Harry, who had just returned. Peter and Harry met, reminisced about old times, and Harry invited Peter to co-found the Emily-May Foundation. After a tour and discussions with Norman Osborn, Peter agreed.

Later, Peter and Miles oversaw a prisoner transfer, but the convoy was attacked by the Hunters, who abducted the prisoners. Peter, MJ, and Harry visited Coney Island, where the Hunters kidnapped Tombstone. As Spider-Man, Peter prioritized saving civilians, and Harry, using a powerful exosuit, helped him.

Peter revealed his identity to Harry, and they researched the exosuit. Norman discovered their experiments. Peter learned of Tombstone's location and, with Harry's help, rescued him. Harry's exosuit showed a spider symbol, hinting at deeper powers.

MJ discovered that Kraven had kidnapped Dr. Connors and turned him back into the Lizard. Peter and Harry failed to stop him. Peter was injured, but Harry's exosuit healed him, transforming into the Black Suit. Peter became more aggressive and fought off Kraven's minions, while MJ and Harry retreated to the Emily-May Foundation.

Peter returned to the Foundation and saw Harry's illness worsening without the exosuit. He tried to return it but found it unwilling to leave its new host. They needed to restore Connors to normal to remove the exosuit, but Kraven had the serum.

To retrieve the serum, Peter infiltrated Kraven's party, disguised as a waiter. After getting the serum, he and Harry synthesized an antiserum to cure Connors, though the Hunters damaged the Foundation. With Miles's help, Peter restored Connors. Connors revealed the Black Suit was an alien symbiote. The symbiote evolved into the Symbiote Suit, further corrupting Peter, who refused to destroy it.

Peter retreated to Aunt May's house, ignoring MJ's warnings about his aggression. As he slept, Kraven's Hunters attacked, and the symbiote puppeteered Peter to fight them off. Concerned, MJ and Miles woke Peter, but the symbiote pursued MJ. Kraven's forces kidnapped Miles.

The next day, Peter, disoriented, struggled with the symbiote's influence. He rejected Harry and MJ when they read his Daily Bugle report. Norman expressed gratitude to Peter for being Harry's friend, which angered Harry. Rio Morales asked Peter to help find the missing Miles.

Martin Li, freed by Miles earlier, intercepted Peter and told him where to find Miles. Peter confronted Kraven, who instilled more hatred, intensifying the symbiote's influence. Miles intervened, using a bell to help Peter regain control. Peter tore off the symbiote, and Miles contained it.

Peter regretted his actions under the symbiote's influence. On Connors' order, he brought the symbiote to Oscorp to destroy it. There, a sick Harry attacked Peter as the symbiote rebonded with Harry, transforming him into Venom. Venom knocked out Peter, rampaged through Oscorp, and killed Kraven.

A day later, Peter searched for Harry using an Oscorp badge. He found Harry's EMF badge and realized Venom was infecting citizens. Peter and Miles created sonic grenades to fight the symbiotes. They rescued Rio and Ganke from Venom's nest.

Peter continued searching for Harry while Miles ensured the safety of his mom and roommate. Venom, pretending to be Harry, held MJ captive. Peter returned home and confronted Venom, who transformed MJ into Scream. MJ fought Peter until she regained control and killed the Scream symbiote. MJ revealed a vision of the meteorite that brought Venom.

Peter and Miles arrived at City Hall, infested by Venom's symbiote army. They battled the horde and found an emergency exit. Ganke warned them that transformed people were attacking. Martin Li used his negative powers to shield them temporarily. Li and Miles entered Peter's mind to find the symbiote's core and destroy it.

Peter awoke with a new Anti-Venom symbiote, created from Li's Lightforce and Venom's remnants. He used it to defeat the symbiote army. Li, now at peace, turned himself in. Peter praised Miles for reforming Li.

Peter and Miles split up to find the meteorite. Peter, deceived by Venom, fought him and learned the meteorite's true location.

Joining the Spider Society

Eventually, Spider-Man was recruited into the Elite Spider-Society by Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, where he works with alternate versions of himself and various other Spider-people from other universes to stop multiversal threats. At one point he was inspecting two 8-bit anomalies, whom Lyla, Miguel's digital assistant, addressed as "a couple of video game guys". Confused, Peter asked if she was referring to him.

Characteristics

Appearance

Peter is of slightly above-average height, with a lean but muscular build, weighing 167 lbs. and standing 5'10" in height.^[1] He has brown hair and hazel eyes. Peter is often seen wearing plaid or flannel shirts. In the second game, his hair is cut shorter. As a teenager, Peter wore glasses, a blue puffer jacket, gray sweater over a white shirt, dark brown pants, and black loafers.

As Spider-Man, Peter wears a skin-tight bodysuit, which both conceals his identity and provides additional protection. While he can choose one of several suits, they are all spider-themed, and generally have a red, black, and blue color palette with white teardrop-shaped eyepieces. Notable examples include:

Personality

Peter Parker:

I promise to do everything in my power to protect this city.

Miles Morales:

I promise.

Peter Parker:

That's it.

Miles Morales:

That oath a real thing?

Peter Parker:

Totally. Definitely didn't just make it up.

Miles Morales § "Hold Onto Your Web-Shooters"

Peter Parker is compassionate, self-sacrificing, witty, determined, and occasionally socially awkward. A light-hearted wisecracker, he is proud of his humor,^[1] deploying it to break tensions and lift the mood, something that has at times irritated both friends and allies.^[26] However, while remaining upbeat in the face of adversity, Peter never adopts an arrogant or callous attitude. Peter is compassionate, loyal, and faithful to those close to him, but not to the point where he will forgive their crimes.

Peter's heroism is driven by a sense of responsibility he feels. He regularly sacrifices personal well-being and relationships for the greater good. This commitment gives him an unwavering resilience against overwhelming odds^[e] and a commitment to justice, even if it means confronting respected allies over their wrongdoings.^[f] It also has meant Peter can take on a larger burden than he can bear, and blames himself unnecessarily when the city is hurt.^[43][45] Peter's sense of responsibility is somewhat driven by guilt of those close to him he has lost, particularly his uncle Ben Parker.

Peter is also inspired by those close to him whom he admires. He has described his Aunt May as the one person in the world he would want to emulate, owing to her strength and selflessness.^[5][46] Peter also admired Otto's intelligence, relentlessness, and compassion;^[20] the admiration was mutual,^[d] making the fallout heartbreaking for Peter. Peter also shares mutual admiration with his girlfriend Mary Jane, though guilt at losing others caused him to become overly protective of her, straining their relationship.^[c] Similarly with Miles, who shared many of the same traits, Peter was reluctant to train him,^[38] but eventually became very proud of him as a second Spider-Man.^[41]

However, Peter's struggles in life have left him with a hidden darkness. While he kept this below the surface, bonding with the symbiote brought these more negative traits to the surface. He became arrogant, aggressive and cold towards others. His jokes even gained a sadistic tendency. The symbiote drew upon Peter's inner self-loathing and his desire to attain even greater power and even drove him to consider harming his loved ones, such as Mary Jane and Miles. However, once the suit was removed, Peter's personality was restored to his more upbeat self.

Abilities

The spider bite gave Peter spider-like superhuman abilities, including wall-clinging, super strength, a danger-sensing "spider-sense", and enhanced durability. His strength enables feats like lifting heavy debris,^[22] and his anatomy can endure impacts that would greatly injure a regular person. He possesses superior speed, agility, reflexes, and a regenerative healing factor, allowing rapid recovery from severe injuries^[47] and enhancing his vision.^[25] As Spider-Man, Peter's combat style blends martial arts and professional wrestling, incorporating agile, momentum-based maneuvers. He is largely self-taught, refining his skills over years and later mentoring Miles.

Beyond his Spider-Man abilities, Peter has prodigious intellect spans various scientific fields, recognized by peers like Otto Octavius for his talent^[23] and significant contributions to Octavius Industries. Peter also developed all his own equipment, is a capable hacker, and is adept at identifying overlooked patterns.

Peter's developed equipment includes a range of web-based tools. His primary equipment, the web-shooters, aid navigation and combat. His other crafted gadgets include the Impact Web and Spider-Drone. He also makes use of robotic Spider-Tracers for tracking and Spider-Bots for surveillance. His self-made suits offer varying degrees of protection, flexibility, and integrated tech, with the Advanced Suit being prominent. Each suit color serves a specific function, combining flexibility and defense.^[48]

When bonded with the Venom symbiote, Peter's strengths and abilities amplify, allowing him to produce tendrils for offense and defense. The symbiote can also provide him with immense healing capabilities, able to heal broken bones and, most notably, restore him to perfect health despite being on the verge of death from a stab wound. However, the symbiote amplifies his negative emotions, making him more aggressive in combat and hostile to others, even his friends. It also makes him extremely vulnerable to high-frequency sounds, which will cause him to cry out and writhe in pain. By contrast, the non-sentient Anti-Venom symbiote grants Peter the same abilities but with none of the downsides.

Other appearances

Insomniac Games's version of Peter Parker has appeared in numerous crossover events throughout Marvel.

Spider-Geddon

Confirmed canon by Insomniac,^[49] his version of Spider-Man makes an appearance in the Spider-Geddon comic book storyline. The story of Spider-Geddon takes place after the events of the game and begins on Earth-1048 (the game's designated Earth) as Spider-Man is listening to J. Jonah Jameson's podcast. Spider-Man is contacted by Mary Jane Watson who states that a criminal is tearing up a bank in the Financial District and has a spider symbol on him. He arrives at the Financial District where he discovers that Tarantula is responsible. During the battle, Spider-Man is visited by Superior Spider-Man of Earth-616 who joins the battle. After some difficulty, he and Superior Spider-Man manage to defeat Tarantula.^[50]

Spider-Man is with Superior Spider-Man's group on Leopardon as they discuss how to destroy the Inheritors.^[51]

After Solus dismisses Superior Spider-Man upon bringing Ben Reilly to him, Spider-Man of Earth-1048 is revealed to have secretly followed Superior Spider-Man and thinks that he has betrayed him. As Spider-Man of Earth-1048 learns that tricking Jennix into feeding on Ben Reilly was part of Superior Spider-Man's plans, they are attacked by the Inheritors.^[52]

Other crossovers

Spider-Man is featured in the six-issue comic book miniseries Marvel's Spider-Man: City at War, which follows the events of the game while introducing some new events.^[53] A second miniseries, Marvel's Spider-Man: Velocity, continues on from the events of City at War, and details Spider-Man's encounter with the supervillain Swarm.^[54] The character is also featured in Marvel's Spider-Man: The Black Cat Strikes, a five-issue limited series inspired by the events of The City That Never Sleeps.^[55]

Peter Parker makes a cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as a member of the Spider Society.

Peter also appeared in Marvel web-comic series Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity Comic in the On the Spot arc, in this comic (which evidently takes place before ATSV and Marvel's Spider-Man 2) while still grieving the loss of May Parker, Peter is met by The Spot of Earth-616 who makes Peter the promise that if he helps him he will send him back in time to save May. Peter not thinking clearly listens to The Spot and when Peter Parker of Earth-616 confronts The Spot, The Spot sicced Peter on his Earth-616 counterpart resulting in the 2 fighting and the two briefly stop fighting only to make sure civilians are out of the way and safe and then proceed to continue their battle on the roof. 616-Peter who's Aunt May is still alive hears Peter out and tries to listen to him.

The two Peter's bond over their different universes and the people in their universes who are different yet the same, when Peter finds out 616-Peter and his MJ are on the outs he tries to give him advice which he rejects for now in favor of the two teaming up together to stop The Spot. The two head to 616-Peter's Avenger's Tower in which the two Peter's relate on how busy both their worlds Avengers are before meeting up with Cloak and Dagger in which they use Cloak's abilities to travel to other universes. The first universe they arrive in is Earth-691 a world ravaged by the Skorpsmen, Peter is traumatized about this world wanting to make sure his family, Miles, and MJ of this world are safe to which his 616-counterpart assures him they are either long gone or were never born. The 2 also find the corpse of this world's Spot.

The 2 then travel to Earth-1053, a world similar to Peter's own world except in this universe, Peter allowed Otto Octavius to go through with his experiments and became as demented and angry as his mentor. Peter initially scolds his 1053-countrerpart until he sees the May Parker of this universe which traumatize him, the 2 then travel to Earth-8311 (a.k.a Larval Earth) or Spider-Ham's world and are nearly killed by Hogzilla until they are saved by Spider-Ham and the Scavengers. The 2 then leave to another world that 616-Spider-Man allegedly claims to have used to hide from the Inheritors, this world has no superheroes or superhumans and the two meet this world's version of them who injured his leg trying to save uncle Ben which resulted in him becoming homeless and Aunt May living with the Watsons.

Peter and his 616-counterpart advise their homeless counterpart to meet back up with May and that she does not care about money or his failures and just want to see him. Peter and his 616-counterpart then go back to traversing the Multiverse in which they come across 3 different evil versions of them one of which appearing to be a version of Peter sporting the Cloak of Levitation. Upon arriving in another reality the two comment on their evil counterparts and how different and sad they are compared to them before continuing on, the two then managed to rescue 616-Spot from a version of him who's doubled in size and strength but he gives them trouble appearing to be much stronger than 616-Spot. With the help of 616-Spot they manage to defeat the larger Spot and traumatize him at that.

The three then head back to Earth-616 where 616-Spot is unaware of what got a hold of him and realizes whatever plan he had during whatever mental state he was in was dumb as he's already as powerful as he needs to be. 616-Peter and Peter attempt to arrest Spot for the murders he committed in his crazed state but he teleports away, Peter afraid that he might constantly come back to Earth-616 due to having the knowledge that May is alive in another universe has Doctor Strange of Earth-616 erase his memories. Strange informs him he can't erase them but can make it so that the memories or recessive meaning he'll know the adventure happened but it'll just be more like a dream than something that he actually did. Peter accepts that and a moment later wakes up back on Earth-1048 on a rooftop assuming he fell asleep on patrol again before going back to fighting crime.

Original appearance

Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 on August 10, 1962.

Due to his popularity and high sales, he was later featured in a series, The Amazing Spider-Man, in 1963.

Behind the scenes

Portrayal

Yuri Lowenthal is the voice and motion-capture actor for Peter/Spider-Man in the game.^[56] Originally, John Bubniak provided the character's facial model in the PlayStation 4 version, prior to being replaced by Ben Jordan as of the PlayStation 5 remaster. Insomniac Games explained that the change was made in order to get a better match for Yuri Lowenthal's facial capture, and to "bring the best performances to players" with next-generation games.^[57] However, the change received backlash from the fans and critics, and Bubniak's facial model can still be seen in the credits of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered.^[58][59]

In early 2015, Lowenthal gained the role after some initial pushback within Insomniac Games due to him voicing one of the main playable characters for Insomniac's most recently released game at the time, Sunset Overdrive. Ultimately, the game's lead writer Jon Paquette convinced the studio to cast him in the role due to his trust in Lowenthal's acting ability.^[56] Lowenthal worked with two stunt people throughout the game's development.^[56] He tried to differentiate between his voices for Peter Parker and Spider-Man but thought that they could not be totally different and, as a result, spent a large amount of time "finessing and massaging" his performance to achieve a balance.^[56]

Reception

Insomniac Games' portrayal of Peter Parker has received a widely positive reception from fans and critics. Jonathon Dornbush of IGN praised the focus on Peter Parker and highlighted voice actor Yuri Lowenthal of having "an emotional honesty" in this version of Spider-Man that made it one of his favorite portrayals of the character.^[60] Similarly, Josh Harmon of EGM praised the game's characterization and understanding of Spider-Man and heroes in general, which he felt was handled better than how other comic adaptations handle their protagonists.^[61] Dom Nero of Esquire described the character as one of the best versions of Spider-Man he has seen and enjoyed the way that Insomniac depicted Spider-Man's morality and handled his transition into adulthood.^[62]

Spider-Man was named the fan-favorite video game character at the inaugural Gamers' Choice Awards in 2018.^[63] The character was ranked as the number one character within the game by WhatCulture.com.^[64]

Notes

Annotations

Citations

References

Video games

• Insomniac Games (2018). Marvel's Spider-Man [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 4.
• Insomniac Games (2018). Marvel's Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 4.
• Insomniac Games (2020). Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 5.
• Insomniac Games (2023). Marvel's Spider-Man 2 [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 5.

Books

• (2018). "Marvel's Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover". From Titan Books. ISBN 1785659758. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020.
• Hallum, Dennis (2020). Marvel's Spider-Man: The Black Cat Strikes (Volume 1, #1) . Marvel Comics.

Websites

• Vader, Leo (2018, April 4). "Exclusive Interview With The Man Playing Spider-Man". From Game Informer. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018.
• Dedmon, Tanner (2018, August 23). "Spider-Man's Fighting Style Broken Down in New Video". From ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019.
• Saavedra, John (2018, September 11). "Spider-Man PS4: New Spidey Costume Explained". From Den of Geek. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018.
• Stevens, Colin (2018, December 17). "Spider-Man PS4 Gets His Own Marvel Comic". From IGN. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019.
• Dornbush, Jonathon (2018, April 4). "Marvel's Spider-Man Gameplay, Story Details Revealed". From IGN. Archived from the original on March 10, 2019.
• Harmon, Josh (2018, September 4). "Marvel’s Spider-Man review". From EGMNOW. Archived from the original on March 10, 2019.
• Nero, Dom (2018, September 4). "'Marvel's Spider-Man' Is Wholesome and Good—And the Best Version of the Superhero We've Seen". From Esquire. Archived from the original on March 10, 2019.
• (n.d.) . "2018 Gamers' Choice Awards". From Gamers' Choice Awards. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019.
• Marston, George (2019, May 14). "SPIDER-MAN: VELOCITY Continues Sony Game Continuity". From Newsarama. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019.
• (n.d.) . "Spider-Man PS4: Ranking Every Character From Worst To Best". From WhatCulture.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2019.
• Stevenson, James (2020, September 30). "Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered detailed". From PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020.
• Paquette, Jon (2023, May 3). "Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 prequel comic announced for Free Comic Book Day". From PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on October 17, 2023.
• PlayStation [@PlayStation] (2023, May 24). Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - Gameplay Reveal | PS5 Games [Video]. YouTube.