Spider-Man: Homecoming marks the sixth live-action feature film for everyone’s friendly neighborhood hero, and with the webslinger swinging back into theaters, our latest Origins and Evolutions piece takes on the decades-long and complicated history of Spider-Man! Check out the Spider-Man Origins and Evolutions in the gallery below!
A young Peter Parker / Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Spider-Man: Homecoming also stars Zendaya, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover and Tyne Daly.
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Homecoming was written by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, Jon Watts & Christopher Ford, and Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. The film is produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, and executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Jeremy Latcham, and Stan Lee.
Spider-Man: Homecoming will swing into theaters on July 7.
Spider-Man Origins and Evolutions
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The Spider
An old pulp hero, The Spider became one of the first inspirations for the character, though notably only the name is a tangible inspiration.
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Amazing Fantasy #15
Steve Ditko and Stan Lee created Spider-Man way back in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15 featuring the origin that we're all familiar with to this day. The issue sees Peter himself creating his costume in a matter of a few panels too, a comprehensive and complete origin.
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The Amazing Spider-Man
Amazing Fantasy concluded with that 15th issue, but Spider-Man quickly swung into his own series, which would continue to be published for decades. Readers across the country connected with the character because he faced every day problems in addition to his superheroics, a trait that has remained with him ever since.
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Romita's Spider-Man
After The Amazing Spider-Man #38, Steve Ditko handed the reins on the character over to another legend, John Romita Sr. Romita's art would go on to define the look of the character for the forseeable future, ditching the (though iconic) web wings under the hero's arms.
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The Black Suit
Little about Spidey's appearance would change over the next few years until the iconic Black Suit. The suit first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 and Marvel Team-up #141 and was later given an origin in Secret Wars and even later revealed to be the alien symbiote that we would know as Venom. The black suit had a bad effect on Spider-Man, despite rejuvenation and an unlimited web supply, as it would take control of his body during the night and hoped to take him over fully.
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Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man
When comics hit their big commercial boom in the '90s, the wallcrawler was among them, thanks in part to a revitalized book by Todd McFarlane.
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Spider-Man 2099
The Marvel 2099 line launched in the 1990s with its flagship character being none other than a new wallcrawler. Miguel O'Hara was a scientist living in 2099's NYC where he was inspired by records of the original Spider-Man and sought to recreate him.
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Spider-Man 2211
An even further future saw another version of Spider-Man with even more Spider-like abilities.
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The Clone Saga
Following the death of Gwen Stacy, a villain named The Jackal tormented Spider-Man with a clone of his beloved and later made a clone of the webslinger himself. The first story had one of the webslingers dying in an explosion, but it was later revealed the clone actually survived and was operating as the Scarlet Spider and going by the name Ben Reilly (named for Peter's Uncle and Aunt) and with some doubt about who was the original and who was the clone.
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Kaine
The story would continue to reveal an unsuccessful first clone of Peter known as Kaine.
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Ben Reilly as Spider-Man
During the saga, Peter briefly retired as Spider-Man and Ben took up the mantle of the webslinger.
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No Powers
Marvel's What If? Vol 2 #76 saw a version of Peter that never got bit by the spider. Instead, Flash Thompson became Spider-Man and chose to be a criminal. Peter took it upon himself to stop him with a variant on Doc Ock's arms.
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Spider Boy
Marvel and DC previously collaborated on the Amalgam Universe, a combination of their two comic worlds creating all-new heroes. In the AU, Spider-Man was combined with Superboy.
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Sheep Boy
The pages of Marvel's What If? V2 #100 imagined Peter Parker as a man bitten by a radioactive sheep instead of a spider.
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Identity Crisis
One Spidey story saw the hero framed for murder, which forced Peter to take on some different identities, including Ricochet, Hornet, Dusk, and Prodigy.
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Earth X
This older version of Peter differs highly from most, living not only to be an older man with a family, but with the public knowing that he's Spider-Man. He stays out of heroics for the most part, until his daughter becomes the new Venom.
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The Webslinger
This sword-and-sorcery version of the Marvel universe appeared in Avataars: Covenant of the Shield #2, including a bewitched version of Spider-Man.
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Ultimate Spider-Man
In the early 21st century, Marvel decided to “reboot” their line of comics with their heroes existing in the modern world rather than having been around since the 1960s. The result was a high-school aged Peter Parker once again who would wear the mask for 160 issues.
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Spider-Man (2002)
The first feature film adaptation of the character would see Tobey Maguire as the webslinger, including a new version of his wrestling suit and his eventual upgrade to a full-on Spider-Man suit.
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Mangaverse
This version of Spider-Man appears in the Manga-inspired version of the Marvel U, with Spider-Man being a ninja of the Spider Clan.
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The Future
Several different versions of Peter Parker as Spider-Man in the future were revealed with some varying costume differences.
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Iron Spider
The events of Civil War saw Spider-Man switching to the side of Iron Man and revealing his identity to the world. For his troubles, he was given a new set of duds which may be his best yet.
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1602
This alternate reality in Elizabethan England sees another version of Peter, in perhaps the most unique outfit.
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Spider-Man: Noir
This '30s-inspired Spider-Man has one big difference from other versions: He's packing heat.
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Horseman of Apocalypse
Though Apocalypse has had many horsemen of the decades, at two different points Spider-Man served as Pestilence.
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The Hulk
In one universe, Peter Parker never became Spider-Man, but instead became the Incredible Hulk!
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Spider-Man: Fairy Tales
This miniseries reimagined four different Spider-Men, including a knight version, a samurai, and an African spider-god.
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Future Foundation
An offshoot of the Fantastic Four, Peter joined the team and had a suit to match his fellow members.
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The Ultimate Spider-Man
Following the death of Peter Parker in the Ultimate universe, another Spider-Man was revealed in Miles Morales. Miles possessed similar abilities to Peter but with two added bonuses: the ability to cloak himself and a stinger.
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Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark
The 2010 musical saw the wallcrawler swing onto Broadway with Penny Dreadful's Reeve Carney behind the mask.
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Ghost Spider
This Ghost Rider-influenced version of Spider-Man started out as a villain but found redemption when he became the spirit of vengance.
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Monstrous Spider-Men
Several different versions of Spider-Man have either furthered his mutation into a monstrous form or become other monsters all together.
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The Amazing Spider-Man
After three movies with Sam Raimi, Sony decided to reboot the wallcrawler on the big screen with Andrew Garfield taking on the role for two films. His first costume was a slight departure with gold eyes, but the second film brought them back to white.
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The Superior Spider-Man
One of the best storylines in modern Spider-Man comics saw Doctor Octopus swap bodies with Peter as his old body died, becoming a new version of the hero and taking over Peter's life. A much more violent version of the hero, Octavious made some additions to the suit including his trademark arms.
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Edge of the Spider-Verse
Ahead of the event with “Every Spider-Man ever,” a set-up series introduced us to some new verisons of Spider-Man, including the tech-based SP//dr and the fan-favorite Spider-Gwen.
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Captain Universe
During the 1990s, Spider-Man was possessed by the Uni-power, a cosmic blessing that gave him new abilities and a new outfit. Spider-Verse introduced us to a world where he never relinquished that power.
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Spider-Man: Homecoming
The Marvel Cinematic universe has their crown jewel back with Spider-Man now swinging next to the likes of Iron Man and Captain America on the big screen. Tom Holland plays the hero in the new film (reprising his role from 2016's Captain America: Civil War) with perhaps the best version of the Spider-Man suit on screen. A sequel is scheduled already for 2019, and a third film is planned as well.
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1967 Cartoon
Though he has appeared in a number of animated shows throughout the years, few are as famous as the '60s series. Using very cheap animation, the Spider-Man cartoon ran for 52 episodes from 1967-1970.
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Spider-Man: The Animated Series
The renaissance of comics leads to a boom of animated shows featuring the heroes on television with the simply titled “Spider-Man” lasting for 65 episodes.
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Other animated appearances
Some of the other Spider-Man cartoons include the Superhero Squad Show, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and the classic Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.
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Spider-Man
Spider-Man has also appeared in several video games throughout the years. One of the best known was released in 2000 for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and PC. The game saw players going up against a who's who of Spidey villains with plenty of other Marvel references and the option for alternate suits.
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Spider-Man 2
Still the most talked about Spider-Man game, or even movie tie-in game, was for Spider-Man 2, which was the first to offer us an open-world New York City to swing through.
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Other video game appearances
Spider-Man has appeared in countless other titles, ranging from LEGO Marvel Super Heroes to Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage to Marvel vs Capcom and Disney Infinity. He'll next appear in Insomniac Games' Spider-Man game for the PlayStation 4 in 2018.
