He is the quintessential embodiment of the teenage superhero in the Marvel pantheon. However, Spider-Man celebrates his 60th birthday on August 10, the date on which, in 1962, he made his first appearance in number 15 of the comics. Amazing Fantasy volume 1. Peter Parker, the first to wear the Spider-Man costume, did not remain an eternal teenager, however. Over time, we saw him grow up, get married and have children and even die. Still, the success of the “weaver” is irremediably linked to the pangs of youth.
It was the designer Jack Kirby who would have proposed the concept of a spider-man to Marvel, in particular after his collaboration with the screenwriter Joe Simon on The Fly, at Archie Comics, the story of a child able to turn into a fly. In the early 1960s, “Marvel is experiencing financial difficulties and wants to create new characters to relaunch”explains Lolita Graziosi-Broissiat, doctor in sociology after a thesis on The Evolution and sociological impact of superheroes from 1938 to 2020. The proposal pleases Stan Lee, editor-in-chief of Marvel.
“It will be entrusted to Steve Ditko, screenwriter, draftsman and inker. The latter will reshape Spider-Man to prevent him from resembling The Fly. He will make him a character who looks like him, both physically and mentally.explains M.me Graziosi-Broissiat. For his part, Jack Kirby takes charge “from the front cover based on the work of Ditko and then Stan Goldberg, inker, designer and colorist who will add the color and the dynamic that we know today”. Spiderman was born. He will only become Spider-Man a little later, with a hyphen, to avoid being confused with a famous character from the competing publisher DC Comics, Superman.
rapid popularity
Under the costume of this first Spider-Man, there is Peter Parker, a young New Yorker from Queens, who develops superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. An orphan, he was raised in a modest environment by his aunt May and his uncle Ben. From then on, the high school student who became a superhero will constantly protect his secret identity.
Quickly, Peter Parker ends up “to have as much popularity as the Fantastic Four”, according to the specialist. A year after his birth, after co-starring in the fascicule Amazing Fantasyhe is entitled to his own comics, baptized The Amazing Spider-Man. For comic book and superhero specialist journalist Xavier Fournier, “the take-off of the character comes with the release in 1967 of the animated TV series” on the American channel ABC. In France, the journalist recalls that the first boards of Spiderman will be unveiled in the anthologies Comic book treasuresin 1967. But young viewers and readers in France really fell in love with “Spidey” from 1977, with the magazine Tele-Juniorreview Weird and the broadcast, ten years late, of the cartoon on TF1.
A success that will not be denied over the many (but not always successful) adaptations on small and large screens, whether cartoons, films or video games. From the 1970s, Stan Lee worked to bring his heroes to Hollywood and around the world. If he will not succeed in concluding all his projects, such as that of making a film, Spidermanby Alain Resnais, the spider-man will be entitled, in Japan, to his own manga drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami (Crying Freeman) in 1970 and, eight years later (well before Bioman), to his series of special effects (tokusatsuin Japanese) produced by Toei Animation.
In the early 2000s, the trilogy was even given Spiderman by Sam Raimi the merit of having relaunched, almost single-handedly, superhero films, which are now as plentiful as they are lucrative. “The genre died out after the batman and robin [de Joel Schumacher, 1997] with George Clooneyrelocates Xavier Fournier. Of course there was a reboot with X-Men and Bladebut their aesthetics leaned more towards Matrix. Sam Raimi is the first to return to the theatricality of the superhero in mask and tights. » With her movements from building to building in the heart of a New York City reconstituted in 3D, the “Spider”, heroine in the 1980s and 1990s of video games that had hitherto been rather poor, also, at the same era, reinvented as a playful and agile hero of very big budget productions.
Even today, Spider-Man is, along with Batman, whose adventures are published by DC Comics competitors, one of the best-known superheroes. For Lolita Graziosi-Broissiat, “this success is linked to these adaptations, but also to the fact that readers can identify with this young hero”.
Teen torments
From the beginning, the Spider stands out in the super-heroic landscape. Until there, “teenage superhero characters were usually sidekicks”notes the journalist Evan Narcisse, author of comics and consultant on the video game released in 2020 Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. “After the Second World War, a social group appeared: adolescents with free time and a certain incomehe adds. As society learned to deal with this new group, these teenagers, too, had to find their place in the world. What Peter Parker had to do also in his daily life and his adventures. »
After the departure of Steve Ditko in 1966, the character is entrusted to John Romita, who will give him the benefit of his experience of sentimental comics. “He’s going to give Spider-Man a soapy side like [chez l’éditeur concurrent] Archie comics. Romita is going to give more room to Peter Parker’s two love interests, Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, two pin-ups, a blonde and a brunette who are vying for her favors »says Xavier Fournier.
Spider-Man’s personality and looks are also a nod to the land of brawny, first-degree superheroes. “He’s a shy person, not really built, a little nerdy and shouted down in high school. Marvel characters are less mythological representations than DC Comics. They are more fallible and human”says Océane Zerbini, creator of the pop culture podcast Lemon Adaptation Club.
Once the costume is on, Peter Parker uninhibits himself and allows himself a lot of humor. A banter which announces, with decades in advance, that of the superhero films today published under the label of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). However, the high school student is written as a melodramatic character. “He’s also arguably the first Marvel hero with a social outlook. This is not the case with Tony Stark [Iron Man] or the Fantastic Four, who are notables”adds Mr. Fournier.
Coming from a popular background, and despite his superpowers, Peter Parker must help his aunt pay the bills, follow up with employers who are slow to pay him, manage his love torments and mourn his uncle. “He’s not invincible. In the comics, he makes his own costume and accessories to weave his webs. recalls the sociologist Lolita Graziosi-Broissiat, for whom this character “represents a form of the American dream: anyone can succeed and become a hero, even when you are the nice little spider in the neighborhood”.
painful heroism
Crippled with doubts, Peter Parker learns to become a vigilante at his expense. According to Océane Zerbini, her saga “stages the reconciliation between everyday life and its charge of superheroes. This was already the case with Bruce Wayne/Batman, but Parker’s more humble origins give this dilemma more realism. He is constantly torn between doing good for his city or supporting his family..
There is, for the journalist Xavier Fournier“a form of harshness to remind Peter that his uncle died by his fault”, when he let slip the thief who ended up killing him. Spider-Man is a hero who is not really rewarded for his efforts, he can miss a crucial job interview to better save people, or even live an absolutely traumatic episode, for readers as for him: death by Gwen Stacy, in 1973.
An apprenticeship summed up by the phrase that has become cult: “With great power comes great responsibility”. Lent to Uncle Ben, this quote appears in 1962 in a narrative bubble written by Stan Lee, explains an article published in 2021 in Philosophy Magazinewhich traces the proverb back to the Bible.
The longevity of Spider-Man is also due to its capacity for reinvention, under the pen of dozens of authors and designers. “Its variations are numerous: Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, Scarlet Spider, Spider-Ham or Spider-Man Noir…”, enumerate Mme Graziosi-Broissiat. Versions evolving in different dimensions (what Marvel calls the “multiverse”) who coexist with Peter Parker, pose as an alternative, without erasing his origin story.
“The character has known in sixty years many iterations, jobs, different ages… His relationship to money, to the police, to the family could change several timesrecalls M.me Zerbini. Ultimately, Spider-Man is more of a formula than a personality. »
Political inroads
More recent interpretations also show the desire of the authors of Spider-Man to adapt to the times and to show more diversity. Web-Weaver, the first gay Spider-Man was announced for September 2022. We think before that of Miles Morales, a black and Latino Spider-Man created in 2011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, who particularly convinced in the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: New Generationbut also in video games Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Coming from a parallel reality, Miles dons the costume of Spider-Man after the death, in his world, of Peter Parker. But will end up collaborating with the latter in another dimension. “Adding Miles to the Spider-Man mythology gives depth to the character of Peter Parker, who is to become his mentor. Miles himself doesn’t have the same burden of guilt as Peter, which gives him a different texture. [Les BD qui lui sont consacrées] explore how young people can take their heritage and evolve it to meet the challenges of the present”says journalist Evan Narcisse.
The American author adds: “Miles’ ethnic background allows him to react differently. While the police often saw Spider-Man as a threat, Peter Parker never had to worry about preconceptions affecting his daily life. Some stories have, conversely, shown that Miles does not have this luxury and this changes his conception of justice. » Stories with an impact that is all the stronger as Miles Morales is contemporary with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Spider-Man had already rubbed shoulders with political subjects. the appearance, in issue 583 ofAmazing Spider-Manin 2009, by Barack Obama, who had just become the first black president of the United States, broke sales records. “The MCU has also done Daily Bugle [le journal qui emploie Peter Parker mais traque Spider-Man]a parody of Infowars, the site of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones »analyzes Océane Zerbini.
“And we find, from 1971, the denunciation of drugs in Green Goblin Reborn!. After the positive reception of this sequence by the public, the Comics Code Authority [le “gendarme” des BD] even allowed itself to revise its code, to allow comics to tackle the subject of drug addiction, as long as it was shown in a negative light”, complete Lolita Graziosi-Broissiat. And earlier still, the subject of the war had been broached with the character of Flash Thompson, a high school friend of Peter Parker and a conscript who had gone to fight in Vietnam.
In sixty years, Spider-Man will not only have surveyed New York from building to building, he will also have accompanied the changes of eras and witnessed historical moments.