The Amazing Spider-Man

All that changed when Peter attended a demonstration on safe nuclear power. Unknown to all present, a common spider had slid in between the radioactive elements, becoming radioactive itself. The spider fell onto Peter's hand, bit him, injected its now radioactive venom, and died. Peter stumbled out onto the street, where he failed to notice a oncoming car. Sensing danger, he jumped clear of the car, and to his amazement, stuck to a wall like a human spider. Still startled, Peter crawled up the wall to the top of the building, where he crushed a steel pipe he grabbed for support. Determined to test his new abilities, Peter decided to join a wrestling fight against Hogan, wearing a mask to not be recognized. Deviating from Hogan's attacks, he climbed up a post with his opponent on his shoulder, winning the contest. Realizing that he now possessed great power, Peter took the identity of "Spider-Man", a costumed entertainer who amazed crowds with his spider-like powers.

One evening, as Peter was leaving a television studio after an appearance, a man shoved by him, pursued by a security guard. Ignoring the guard's request for help, he didn't stop the man, who escaped via the elevator.

After changing clothes and returning home, Peter learned that his Uncle Ben had been killed when he surprised a burglar inside the house. Blind with grief, he hunted the burglar down to a nearby warehouse, where he realized that the burglar was the same man he had failed to stop at the studio. Enraged, Peter beat the man unconscious, and left him for the police to find. With his uncle's death, Peter learned the hardest lesson of his life - that with great power comes great responsibility. He vowed to never shirk this responsibility again, and the crime-fighter Spider-Man was born.

What's Been Happening

Since his debut as Spider-Man, Peter Parker's life has become a juggling act between student, Daily Bugle photographer, family supporter and costumed superhero. Originally met with suspicion and distrust, Spidey has since become more accepted by New Yorkers as a crime-fighting feature of the city.

Since early on, Spider-Man has attracted his share of bizarre, costumed evil-doers - some with psychopathic tendencies, such as Venom or Carnage; some, like the Scorpion, Mysterio and the Vulture, just interested in thievery; and some intent on establishing crime empires, like the Kingpin and the Green Goblin (who was secretly Norman Osborn, father of Peter's college roommate Harry). Not to mention the deceased Dr. Octopus, the only one who really defeated Spidey in all these years.

Throughout the years, Peter has had relationships with many women, like Betty Brant (his first girlfriend), Gwen Stacy (killed by the hands of the Green Goblin) and Felicia Hardy (aka the Black Cat), but always seemed to return to his teenage sweetheart, Mary Jane Watson. Realizing the deep love that he and Mary Jane had grown to share, and the fact that MJ served as his anchor in the "normal" world, Peter proposed to her (just prior to the proposal, MJ revealed that she had known about his dual identity for some time). In what he saw as probably the most grown-up move he could take, Peter married Mary Jane in a small ceremony. While the two have had their ups and downs, they share a strong love for one another that binds them together through all their trials.

The Clone Saga

The most traumatic event on Peter's carrer as Spider-Man came recently when a perfect clone of himself, whom he had faced years earlier, resurfaced, claiming to be the "original" Peter, and suggesting that Peter himself was the clone. For a while, Peter even started believing that the clone - who took the name of Ben Reilly and temporarily posed as the Scarlet Spider - could be the true Spidey.

As the clone crisis worsened, Aunt May became terminally ill, and during a quiet time with Peter, revealed that she had known for some time that he was Spider-Man, and was intensily proud of him for it. Peter and May had a few more days before she passed away.

The long-running clone saga came to a head when an experiment, realized by Seward Trainer, a cientist friend of Ben Reilly, apparently confirmed that Ben was the original Peter Parker. For a time, Peter gave up being Spider-Man in favor of Ben to spend more time with his pregnant wife. Finally, the mastermind behind the clone mystery, the presumed-dead Norman Osborn, made himself known.

In a climatic battle between Peter and Osborn, Peter was revealed as the original one, Ben was killed and the Goblin apparently fell to his death. Though the good guys won, Osborn got the ultimate revenge by stealing MJ's baby and leading the Spider-couple to believe their child had died at birth.

With the clone mystery resolved, Peter has re-dedicated his efforts as Spider-Man, and has a new, more upbeat outlook on life. Together, Peter and Mary Jane are now taking their lives one day at a time, and enjoying to its fullest.

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