Biography of Spider-Man, 1963

The following is a biography of Spider-Man for the year 1963, in which Peter Parker engaged in his earliest acts of heroism while coming to terms with his new identity.

Biography

Saving an astronaut

Now living alone with his aunt, with limited means to support themselves, Peter Parker decided to continue using his Spider-Man persona as a means of entertainment. But this didn't get very far, as soon the Daily Bugle—particularly their chief editor, J. Jonah Jameson, began presenting Spider-Man as a public menace and a bad influence on children. Blacklisted from public appearances, Parker was left without any income as his and May's financial situation grew more and more dire. Soon afterward, astronaut John Jameson—son of the reporter—was scheduled for a space flight into orbit. Shortly after his rocket took off, the capsule he was in lost a critical guidance component and was sent spiraling toward the earth. Watching the launch on the ground, Parker leapt into action as Spider-Man, grabbing a replacement component from the overseeing scientists. He reached a nearby military base and convinced a pilot there to fly him close to the capsule, hopping onto it and replacing the part, allowing Jameson to land the capsule safely. Parker believed that this heroic act would be more than sufficient to get the Bugle off of his case. Instead, J. Jonah Jameson took the position that Spider-Man had caused the malfunction himself for publicity, further exacerbating the public's negative perception of him and kicking off what would be a long-standing bitterness between the two.

The duplicitous Chameleon

Still looking for a means of income, Parker got the idea to join the Fantastic Four, who had their headquarters there in New York. He entered their Baxter Building through a window, setting off an alarm. He was initially perceived as a threat, which caused a brief battle between them. He offered to join, inquiring about the financial prospects, but they assured him that there was no money in their team: that any profits they made went strictly into fighting crime. A disappointed Spider-Man left, but Mr. Fantastic was certain they'd see each other again. Shortly thereafter, Spider-Man heard a strange signal specially tuned to the frequency of a spider's hearing offering a chance for a profit. Desperate, he answered the call, meeting at the place the message designated. That place was the roof of a building where missile defense plans were being stored; when he arrived, a helicopter had just taken off and he was met with police who accused him of stealing said plans. He had been set up by the Chameleon, who disguised himself as Spider-Man and made off with the plans. Spider-Man escaped the police and tracked down the fleeing helicopter, which was en route to meet with a Soviet sub to sell the plans. He apprehended Chameleon and brought him to the police.

The airborne Vulture

Spider-Man soon learned of a new villain in the city, a man in a green bird costume called the Vulture. Capable of flight, Vulture had been terrorizing the city with a series of robberies, and had publicly announced that he was going to rob a shipment of diamonds. Spider-Man also learned that pictures of the Vulture could be sold for a significant reward. He was able to track Vulture down, but his mind was occupied by taking photos and he was outwitted. Vulture escaped, though Spider-Man did get some quality photos. He also figured out the means behind Vulture's power of flight: because he didn't make any noise, Parker deduced that he was using magnetism. He created an "anti-magnetic inverter" to counter Vulture's flight when next they met. Parker then brought his photos to J. Jonah Jameson's publishing company—Jameson was thrilled with the pictures, and Parker agreed to sell them to him on the condition that he not ask how he got them. The two agreed on a business relationship, beginning Parker's career as a press photographer. When the shipment of diamonds took place, copious security was on hand to guard the skies, but Vulture surprised them all when he emerged from a manhole and took the jewels into the sewer. When Vulture eventually emerged, Spider-Man was waiting for him on a rooftop and employed his anti-magnetic inverter. This successfully disabled Vulture, allowing him to be easily captured by the police and for Spider-Man to get more photos. This produced another substantial payment from Jameson, finally giving Peter and Aunt May a significant source of income.

The Tinkerer's alien conspiracy

One day at school, Parker was sent by a professor to have his radio fixed. He went to a small shop run by a man who called himself the Tinkerer, who quickly repaired the radio for a mere ten cents. This struck Parker as suspicious, especially in conjunction with unusual electrical signals that he detected at the shop with his spider senses. Bringing the radio back to the professor's lab, Parker continued to detect the signal, and he decided to return to the shop as Spider-Man to investigate. Infiltrating the store at night, Spider-Man found the Tinkerer and a group of aliens in the basement. He eavesdropped and learned that the radios Tinkerer was "fixing" in fact contained surveillance devices that he and the aliens were using to gather information for a coming invasion. Spider-Man fought off the aliens and took it to the Tinkerer, but was forced to flee when the fight led to the basement machines combusting and starting a large fire. In the confusion, Spider-Man pulled at Tinkerer's face and learned that it was a mask, though his true visage was covered by the smoke. Spider-Man escaped as the aliens flew off in their spaceship, while Tinkerer's fate and true nature were left a mystery.

The nefarious Doctor Octopus

J. Jonah Jameson soon assigned Parker to the story of Otto Octavius' laboratory accident and the subsequent mysterious lockdown of the hospital in which he was being treated. Parker arrived as Spider-Man to the hospital, where he found Octavius—now embracing the moniker "Doctor Octopus"—holding several hospital workers hostage. Octavius' signature mechanical arms, which he used to perform dangerous experiments, had become welded to his body in the accident, as well as suffering brain damage that permanently altered his personality. Spider-Man took the fight to Doctor Octopus, but was handily defeated and repelled. This was demoralizing for Spider-Man, who had begun to get bored with fighting small-time criminals and believed himself unstoppable. The upset Parker attended an assembly at school, where Human Torch was giving a talk, encouraging the students to never give up. The speech energized Parker, and he infiltrated an atomic lab that Octopus had taken over. He concocted a special adhesive formula in a lab inside and confronted Octopus once more, using the chemical to glue two of the mechanical arms together. This combined with a newfound mental confidence and focus allowed Spider-Man to just barely defeat the Doctor, confining him with his webs to be retrieved by the authorities. Spider-Man, in costume, later found Human Torch and thanked him for his inspiration, much to Torch's confusion.

The intangible Sandman

Patrolling the city one day, Spider-Man happened upon a police chase of the Sandman, an infamous bank robber with supposedly remarkable powers. Spider-Man engaged the criminal, only to find that Sandman's powers were real: he was able to instantly alter his body's composition, crumbling into sand or tightening hard as steel at will. This also allowed him to stretch his body in unnatural ways, similar to Mr. Fantastic. Spider-Man heavily tore his mask in the conflict with Sandman, forcing him to retreat. Parker stayed up half the following night repairing his mask, and the following day was regrettably forced to cancel a date with classmate Liz to pursue the Sandman further that night. As Parker walked the halls, Sandman arrived at his school while on the run from police, attempting to take refuge in one of the classrooms. Parker heard him confronting Principal Davis, and quickly donned the Spider-Man costume, engaging Sandman once more. Spider-Man led him across the school building, delaying until the police could arrive. Eventually, the two wound up in the shop room, where Spider-Man used a vacuum cleaner to quickly suck up Sandman after he shifted completely into sand form. He then took a few pictures of himself seemingly fighting clouds of ordinary sand, imitating the fight that had just occurred, to give to Jameson later on. Parker removed and hid his costume before the arrival of the police, who took away the vacuum bag containing Sandman. His schedule freed, Parker tried to make up with Liz, but she had already scheduled a date with Flash for that night. Parker's photographic proof that Spider-Man was on the scene at the high school further fueled Jameson's assertion that Spider-Man was a menace, exacerbating his mixed public image.

Doctor Doom and Flash's folly

One day, Spider-Man received a bizarre sensory message from an unknown source, beckoning him to an undisclosed location. Following the signal, Spider-Man traced it to a building. Looking in the window, he saw the signal's origin: none other than Doctor Doom, archnemesis of the Fantastic Four. He confronted Doom, who offered an alliance to help him battle the Fantastic Four, apparently having been influenced by Jameson's depiction of Spider-Man as a villain. Spider-Man flatly declined, and Doom engaged him, but Spider-Man was able to escape. Doom detonated the building after the two were away; Spider-Man took some pictures for Jameson, and as he left the scene, it looked to all the world like he had caused the fire. Parker later gave the photos to Jameson, and politely suggested that the public was beginning to question his rabidly negative coverage of Spider-Man; he was surprisingly backed up by Betty Brant, Jameson's secretary. Jameson brushed him off, admittedly interested strictly in rising sales of the Bugle.

Amidst his schoolmates, Parker attempted to separate himself from Spider-Man's secret identity by publicly agreeing with Jameson's suspicion of the hero, drawing the ire of his fellow students, especially Flash Thompson, a big fan of Spider-Man. This situation combined with Doom's newfound desire to discover Spider-Man's secret identity in a most unexpected way. Flash organized with other students to play a prank on Parker, dressing Flash up as Spider-Man to scare him in the streets of New York. As Parker rounded a corner, Doom himself was approaching as well, narrowing down traces of Spider-Man's spider DNA within a certain area. Doom spotted Thompson dressed as Spider-Man, knocked him out with a burst of sleeping gas, and abducted him, fully believing him to be the real Spider-Man as Parker walked away none the wiser. Later, Parker watched as Doom took over the television airwaves, demanding that the Fantastic Four surrender to him within the hour or forfeit the life of Spider-Man, whom he believed to have captured. Naturally confused, Parker was soon informed by his classmates that Flash Thompson was in fact the one who'd been taken. He briefly wrestled with the idea of letting his hated rival meet his fate, but quickly realized that saving him was the right thing to do. Spider-Man scoured the city until his spider sense located Doom in an abandoned factory. He engaged a thoroughly confused Doom in combat, and the two proved almost perfectly evenly matched; that was until the Fantastic Four arrived on the scene, prompting Doom's swift retreat. Spider-Man himself also fled home, leaving the Four to retrieve the bogus Spider-Man and bring him to safety. The following day, Flash's popularity at school had grown even bigger, much to Peter's chagrin.

The Fox and the Torch

Spider-Man soon heard bizarre reports of a crime that he had supposedly committed. A priceless Leonardo da Vinci painting had been stolen from a museum in town, and some webbing had been left behind by the culprit to frame Spider-Man. Searching for a solution, Spider-Man sought out the help of the Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Arriving at Storm's Glenville home, Spider-Man was set upon by the Torch, unable to tell him that he was seeking his help. Torch underestimated him however, and Spider-Man was soon able to escape. He took refuge in a nearby chemistry lab, quickly developing a special icy webbing that would incapacitate Torch long enough to explain the situation. Spider-Man did just that, finding Torch once more and binding him with his webs, telling him that the real criminal was still out there, before departing to find the culprit himself. Torch later tracked down Spider-Man himself, having learned that the likely culprit was a crafty criminal known as the Fox. The two used their combined skills, particularly Spider-Man's spider sense, to trail the Fox through various hideouts in the city. They eventually caught up to him, secured him and the painting, and took him to justice.

The case of the Lizard

Reading an issue of the Daily Bugle, Spider-Man learned of the appearance of a new villain in Florida known as the Lizard, a supposed reptilian man terrorizing the Everglades. In particular, the Bugle (that is, Jameson) had challenged Spider-Man to go and defeat the Lizard. Parker approached Jameson and asked for the means to travel to Florida to photograph that confrontation. Jameson turned him down on the grounds that he was doubtful Spider-Man would actually accept the challenge. Later, Parker arrived in Jameson's office as Spider-Man to do just that, suggesting that he send a photographer along to document the event. Parker returned once more, and Jameson informed him that the two of them were both going to Florida; this would make Parker's double identity a challenge to maintain. On the flight over, Parker read about a reptile expert in Florida named Dr. Curtis Connors, and figured that he could ask him for assistance. Leaving Jameson's watchful eye, Parker donned the Spider-Man costume and found his way to the Lizard, who was exactly as advertised. He was not wearing a costume, as Parker suspected, but really was somehow part-reptile. The two fought in Lizard's own swampy element, but Spider-Man retreated upon noticing that Dr. Connors' house was nearby. He went there to warn him of the Lizard's proximity, but was only met by his wife Martha. Martha informed him that her husband was the Lizard: Curtis had lost his arm in the Korean War, and had inadvertently transformed himself by drinking a serum meant to regrow it. Now, his mind was gradually deteriorating from that of a benevolent scientist into a cruel, predatory reptile. Spider-Man used his chemistry skills and Connors' lab to develop an antidote. The Lizard stormed in and smashed Spider-Man, declaring that he would use more of his own serum to transform Florida's reptiles into an unstoppable army of monsters. He stormed off, and Spider-Man tracked him down, fighting him and a group of alligators. Spider-Man was able to pour the antidote into his mouth, and moments later Curtis Connors returned to his human self: missing arm and all. Dr. Connors returned home to see his wife and son, and burned his notes, vowing to never tamper with nature again. Parker returned to Jameson with photos of the Lizard, which he dismissed as being obviously fake.

The Vulture returns

Spider-Man soon heard over the radio that his old foe the Vulture had escaped from prison. Equipping his magnetic inverter, Spider-Man didn't waste time looking for him, and Vulture made himself easy to find in the skies of New York. Spider-Man put his inverter to use, but found that it didn't work this time: Vulture had altered his suit to shift magnetic polarization at will, countering the inversion. Spider-Man was caught off guard and sent plummeting into a rooftop, spraining his arm. He had his arm put in a sling at the doctor, and publicly explained that it was a volleyball injury. The next day at the Bugle, Vulture invaded Jameson's office through the window, threatening to steal the paper's stash of payroll funds. Parker slipped out of the office and donned his costume, crafting a small makeshift sling out of webbing to get him through the coming battle. Spider-Man confronted the Vulture, and they fought through the press building and out into the skies of New York once more. Vulture carried Spider-Man high into the air, threatening to drop him, but Spider-Man webbed up his wings, preventing him from staying aloft himself. As the two fell, Vulture begged for his life, and Spider-Man created a makeshift parachute to slow their descent. Spider-Man left Vulture to glide peacefully down to the ground, where he was arrested once again. Swinging past the Bugle offices, Spider-Man ran into J. Jonah Jameson, who naturally held him accountable for the damages to the offices that day. Returning to the office uncostumed, Parker saw Betty Brant, whom he had been entertaining the idea of asking out of late. The two sat among the wrecked Bugle office and shared a heartfelt moment together.

See also

• Biography of Spider-Man, 1964
• Earth-772, an alternate universe in which Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four