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Mr. Ghost Writer Spring Break Project IEW 3-28-13 The History of the Amazing Spider-Man

Spider-Man is the most popular Marvel superhero. And although many people look at the character through the unreliable films, the original character in his first comic was a lot different in a lot of ways. The creator of Spider-Man, Stan Lee, had no idea his character would be so widely accepted. I saw a fly on the wall, said Stan, and I thought to myself, gee, wouldnt it be cool if a guy could stick to walls. So I started thinking of names for the character, Fly-Man, no, Bug-Man, no, anyway I went down the list and I suddenly came to Spider-Man, and I thought it sounded dramatic and a little bit scary. And lo, a legend was born! But before he could even have a chance of getting this character his own comic, he had to talk to his publisher, and he almost refused. The publisher thought that there was no way anyone would love a superhero who had so many problems. But eventually he agreed and Spider-Man made his comic book debut in 1962 in a comic titled Amazing Fantasy #15 (see picture no. 4). It was a major success and Spider-Man soon got his own comic, The Amazing Spider-Man. The story of the character in the comics was of a young teenage boy named Peter who lives with his aunt and uncle. His life is all but happy, however when he goes to school. He is constantly bullied by the school showoff Flash Thompson and made fun of by his friends, who often called him

bookworm. His life soon changes, however when he goes to a scientific demonstration of radiation. But a spider descending its web gets caught right in the middle of the experiment and is exposed to the radiation. Right before it dies, the spider lands on Peters palm and gives a horrible bite. Peter has to leave because his head hurts and is not feeling well. But while he is deep in his own thoughts, a car almost hits him and he leaps up and notices he is sticking to a wall with his bare hands. After he is fully aware of what happened to him, he makes his own web shooters and utility belt, which contained containers of web fluid to refill webbing and a Spider-Man light, and went into show business. He made his own mask using just plain, black cloth, and went with jeans and a t-shirt. His opponent in a fight he has, called Crusher Hogan, underestimates the puny high-schooler, and thus loses. Peter leaves the ring with the money and heads to a different show program where he entertained audiences with his unique powers. But for this he sewed his own costume and officially named himself Spider-Man. But after he is done, he heads to the back of the building to get his clothes and sees a fugitive running towards him with a police officer behind him. Spider-Man lets him go into the elevator and the policeman argues with Spider-Man about why he let him go. But when Spider-Man comes home, he realizes Uncle Ben has been shot and he sets out to catch the man who shot him and learns that the man was the fugitive he let go and learns it was his fault. Saddened, he learns an important lesson that came to define his character, with great power comes great responsibility. After the comic release of the character there soon followed his own cartoon. But it was 40 more years before he got his own film directed by Sam Raimi titled Spider-Man with actor Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. It was a HUGE success! Raimi was surprised by how many people loved the movie. The movie illustrates the origin of Spider-Man and how before, he was just an ordinary teenager. The movies theatrical release poster (see photo no. 1) gave fans an idea at how the character would

appear in the movie. The enemy in the film was the Green Goblin a.k.a. Norman Osborn. Norman is trying to find out how he can make performance enhancers that wont harm the human body. But when hes pressured for time with his company at risk, he is desperate and tests the serum on himself and soon turns into the insane Green Goblin. The Green character was actually one of the first enemies in the comics to find out who Spider-Man was. The film, however, was not based on the original comic. But it does include an exact depiction of the fugitive running towards the elevator from the original comic. After the movie, Raimi was excited to make another film, and so were the fans! Two years later, in 2004, the second Spider-Man film was released titled Spider-Man 2. Its theatrical release poster (see photo no. 2) showed changes in spider-Mans costume design. Some of the changes included the eyes, the color, the web design, and the spider logo on the front and back. The film portrayed Peters life moving on as a free-lance photographer at the Daily Bugle with the crazy J. Jonah Jameson as the publisher. Peter has to accept that being a hero means giving up his own dreams and sacrificing them for others. Tobey Maguire, who resumed his part as Peter Parker, was fascinated at how the Spider-Man character appeared on screen. This film was actually the first to use throughout what Raimi called the SpyderCam. The SpyderCam was a large camera that would sweep across the city where they were shooting on a wire at a high altitude. This gave the effect of a virtual swing through the city. After the shooting was done, they stuck a CG Spider-Man in the camera. This long process made it much easier to actually catch Spider-Man swinging through the air, whereas in the first film, the SpyderCam wasnt used until the final scene of the movie which made it hard for the camera man to catch the character prior to the use of the SpyderCam. The enemy in this film was the science genius Dr. Octopus, or Doc Ock as he is called in the movie. Doc Ocks first comic book appearance was in an early Spider-Man comic (see photo no. 8). The experiment Otto Octavius performs

is completely different in the comics, where he is simply handling dangerous chemicals with the mechanical arms. The radioactive explosion was what caused the Doctor to lose his mind and go crazy. After this film was yet another that concluded the trilogy and it got a lot of cheers and a lot of boos. The final film of the trilogy showed Peters life simply perfect. He was getting popular as Spider-Man throughout New York and he was about to propose to Mary Jane Watson. But the death of Norman Osborn prevents Harry Osborn, Peters best friend, from letting him fully believe him. This movies theatrical release poster (see photo no. 3) shows a black Spider-Man. What? Spider-Man in a black suit? The black suit was a symbiote. The symbiote first made its comic book appearance in The Secret Wars where Spider-Man and many other heroes go to an alien planet and Spider-Man discovers the suit and brings it back to earth unaware of its danger. In the movie, Peter and Mary Jane are leaving a field on his motor bike and the goo, which came from a meteorite during a meteor shower, gets on his bike. In this final film, titled Spider-Man 3, the villains are Venom, New Goblin, and Sandman, who made his first comic appearance very early on in the Spider-Man comics (see photo no. 6). Spider-Man soon learns the suit is dangerous and that it can make you evil and selfish, so he sheds it and it gets onto Eddie Brock who turns into Venom, the most popular Spider-Man villain. Venom learns who Spider-Man is through the black suit and targets him as an enemy. The New Goblin, Norman Osborns son Harry, actually assists Peter in defeating Venom and Sandman. In the end Harry dies sacrificing his life to protect Peter, Venom gets defeated, and Sandman learns he, Uncle Bens true killer, made a mistake and apologizes to Peter, and Peter forgives him. The film got a lot of cheers for phenomenal acting and visual effects, but it also got booed for its poor illustration of the character Venom. Venom, in the comics, is truly evil to Spider-Man and wants nothing more than to give Peter a slow painful death. In the film, Venom is jealous and hates Spider-Man in a different

way. It was a dangerous move to have Venom in the film, which wasnt decided until right before they started shooting, because he is a very popular villain that everyone looks at differently so it made it hard for Raimi to get him exactly the way he thought the fans would want it. But nonetheless, the trilogy was officially stated as the most successful superhero trilogy of all time. Little did Spider-Man fans know that five years later, yet another Spider-Man film would be made. To the surprise of many fans of the Marvel character, a new Spider-Man film was made in 2012. But there actually was going to be a Spider-Man 4, 5, and 6 after Spider-Man 3, but the release date was not enough time to get the script ready for Spider-Man 4 so Sam Raimi was forced to end his Spider-Man series. However, a new one was made not as a continuation, but as a reboot. Andrew Garfield played Spider-Man in director Marc Webbs The Amazing Spider-Man. The movie is going to lead to a sequel that will reveal the truth about Peters parents and what happened to them in the mysterious plane crash. This film got thumbs up from the fans and was also a great success, the second film will be released in 2014 with Andrew Garfield resuming his role as Spider-Man and Jamie Foxx as Electro. The films theatrical release poster (see photo no. 5) showed many changes in the costume design. The eyes changed, the spider logo changed a lot, the lower half of the suit changed, and the webbing design changed as well. Some people think this film far surpassed the others, especially teenagers, others think Tobey Maguire did a better job. But only one of the films received an Academy Award. Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 were both nominated for an Academy Award, and Spider-Man 2 won for Best Visual Effects. In conclusion, the Spider-Man franchise has set numerous records, and is one of the most popular and successful franchises in history. And to think it all came from a simple idea of a fly on a wall.

With Great Power

Comes Great Responsibility