History Characters / SpiderManTheCharacter

* OneHitKill: Peter's full force punches, even when he's out of shape, can easily be fatal to humans. In fact , thsi was exploited, much to Spidey's horror, a woman trying to get a MercyKill via SuicideByCop, jumped into a fight between Peter and Wolverine, resulting in her dying from one punch from Peter.

* NotHelpingYourCase: Something Jonah calls him out on during Nick Spencer's run. As JJ points out, whenever he made a false accusation against Spider-Man in the past, Spidey's response was usually to insult, antagonize, and even ''threaten'' Jameson for doing so rather than simply reach out and try to set the record straight, which did nothing to improve [[HeroWithBadPublicity his image]].

* WeaknessTurnsHerOn: The real reason why Peter Parker is so sexy and irresistible to some of the most beautiful women in the world. They actually like his woebegone affect. MJ once told him so but he didn't get it:
--> '''Mary Jane Watson''': "You're the tensest person I've ever met, Pete. I think that's what makes you so loveable. You [[HurtingHero always look like you're going to]] ''fall apart'' -- like a [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]] who's just [[CosmicPlaything had the football jerked away from him]]."\\
'''Peter Parker''': "[[WithFriendsLikeThese That's the strangest compliment I've ever received]], MJ. [[CluelessChickMagnet If it was a compliment]]."\\
'''MJ''': "[[SincerityMode Oh, it was]], baby. [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan It was]]."
-->-- ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' Vol. 1, #141, dialogue by Creator/GerryConway.

The main character of the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comics is detailed here.
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[[Characters/SpiderManTheCharacter Spider-Man]]\\

!!!'''Alter ego:''' Peter Benjamin Parker
!!!'''Species''': Human mutate
!!!'''First appearance''': ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962)

* {{Adorkable}}: The TropeCodifier for Marvel U. He is the sweetest geek ever.

-> '''Timothy Harrison''': Geez, do ya have to be so hard on yourself? I know you messed up...but at least you've tried to make up for it.\\

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amazing_spider_man_youre_hired_vol_1_1_textless.jpg]]

* ComesGreatResponsibility: The {{Trope Namer|s}}, as it's part of his catchphrase.

* StoodUp: {Inverted|Trope}}. In a recent issue of Spider Man, where Peter Parker is (unintentionally) stood up by ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson after spending the day trying to remember where he agreed to meet her. Of course, Peter has had to ditch a fair number of dates while trying to save the day.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: It's pretty much his central character flaw, as for all of Peter's intelligence and amazing powers he could never truly become greater for all of the constant mishaps that happens in his life. As Otto can attest in ''Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', it is that Peter ''knows'' he's better and smarter than other people, but it came at such a high cost that he willingly sabotages himself to ease the horrible guilt he feels.

* TheGlassesGottaGo: He started out wearing NerdGlasses, but eventually lost them as he grew up and developed more confidence in his civilian identity. The interesting thing about how Peter learned he didn't need glasses in the comics was because of a boxing match. He agreed to a match with Flash Thompson, Flash got in one good blow that broke his glasses and Peter countered with a knock out. Once Pete realized the spider-bite fixed his vision, he really saw no need to buy a new pair or keep up the charade at that point.

** Although always through SexyDiscretionShot (it's still a family friendly franchise, after all), his relationship with Mary Jane was always shown to be sexual. Peter's [[TheirFirstTime first time]] was with her at the end of issue 149 (albeit with a tasteful door closed behind). Particularly after they got married, since the marriage allowed the writers and artists to show them in explicitly sexual situations without fear of angering conservative types too much. ([[spoiler:As for nowadays, the second issue of ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan, their first scene after officially getting back together is them waking up in the same bed. Subtle that ain't.]])
** To a lesser extent, he's been shown quite sexually active with some of his other LoveInterests as well, particularly Black Cat. Although with her it was portrayed as more kinky and less healthy due to her being turned off by the Peter Parker persona.
* GuiltComplex: His guilty conscience make him his own worst enemy at times. Otto says this is what separates him and Peter the most. Deep down, Peter knows he's better and smarter than other people, but it came at such a high cost that he willingly sabotages himself to ease the horrible guilt he feels.

* HealingFactor: Peter heals A LOT faster than normal people, though it's pretty slow one by Marvel standards. An example would be that any time he gets his bones broken, expect them to heal in less than a week. He also one time had his eyes completely burned out... and woke up with 20/20 vision the next day.

** He was the first host of the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote, until he found out what it was and rejected it out of fear and disgust. [[{{Yandere}} It]] still wants him, [[PuppeteerParasite one way]] or [[ToServeMan another]]...
** In the mid-2000's he was revealed to be the avatar of a totemic spider-god, though he later lost his connection to it and the powers it bestowed, which was acquired by his antiheroic clone Kaine.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: The TropeCodifier. He saves countless people, the entire city, and even the entire universe many, many, many, times, but he will still not get the credit he deserves. That being said, he does have a number of fans (how often they show up depends on the writer however), and most of the other heroes, at least nowadays, do show him considerable respect, enough that he was made an honorary member of the Fantastic Four and was offered a spot on two teams of the Avengers.

* HeroismWontPayTheBills: A regular source of angst for him, being a full time student, a part-time photographer, and a more than fulltime superhero.

* HollywoodDateless: He was married to one of the most beautiful women in the Marvel Universe. And before MJ, he had Betty Brant and Liz Allan fight over him and dated Gwen Stacy and the Black Cat. Even his least overtly attractive love interest, Debra Whitman, looked like a HotLibrarian. This despite him being being described as a poor nebbish nerd (though DependingOnTheArtist not really looking like one). His friend the Human Torch even called him on it, as did the Chameleon while impersonating him.

* HollywoodNerd: Peter Parker is a famous example. He was a real nerd in ''Amazing Fantasy #15'' but by later issues, when he stopped wearing glasses, started putting on muscles and worked for a living, he was actually becoming a pretty handsome guy. Romita Sr. gave him his iconic redesign where Peter went from a dark haired brunette to a light-haired one, had a more rugged and muscled look to the point that MJ and others would call him a "hunk" but later comics and stories still remind us from time to time his nerdy origins and kept lampshading his relationship with the gorgeous MJ even if he had dated other gorgeous women (such as Gwen) and was pretty easy on the eyes himself.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: When Parker Industries becomes a successful multi-national corporation, he's determined to keep his principles. When he opens a new branch in China, a journalist asks him point-blank if he just did it "for cheap Chinese labor". Peter responds that he's paying a fair salary to all of his workers, and even cuts his own salary down to middle-management level to make up for the loss of potential profit.

* IncorruptiblePurePureness: One of the driving forces of the character is that he is so strongly compelled to do what he sees as the right thing that he can't give up being a super hero, even with all the misery and ruined relationships that it brings to his life.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The rule of thumb with D-list villains is that as long as Spider-Man is constantly quipping and cracking jokes, everything is right in the world. If he's ''not'' telling jokes, [[OhCrap bad things are happening]] or [[BewareTheNiceOnes he's really, really pissed off]].

* PintSizedPowerhouse: Peter is by no means very small but his build is lean and he, like Daredevil or Black Cat, has a reputation for being fast, agile, and hard to hit. This makes most villains believe that he's a FragileSpeedster. He isn't. At all. Peter can officially lift over 10 tons and has lifted more than that when pressed and running on adrenaline. It's just that Peter is TheNiceGuy so he always holds back when dealing with any villains who can't handle punches from a man that can bench press a fire truck. This has often caught his enemies offguard much to their regret.

** Despite them being [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower mostly]] normal humans, Punisher and Kingpin have had a long history of fighting Spider-Man and coming up (relatively) even... until the gloves come off. Aunt May gets shot by one of Kingpin's assassins during the events of ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''; Punisher launches an assault on the Exchange building in Creator/GregRucka's ''Punisher'' run, resulting in massive collateral damage. Both events result in a pissed off Spidey tracking them down and ''beating the crap out of them,'' remind them that he could easily ''destroy'' them if he really wanted to.

** Despite them being [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower mostly]] normal humans, Punisher and Kingpin have had a long history of fighting Spider-Man and coming up (relatively) even... until the gloves come off. Aunt May gets shot by one of Kingpin's assassins during the events of ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''; Punisher launches an assault on the Exchange building in Creator/GregRucka's ''Punisher'' run, resulting in massive collateral damage. Both events result in a pissed off Spidey tracking them down and ''beating the crap out of them,'' remind them that he could ''easily'' destroy them if really wanted to.

** During his first fight with Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin, Harry had his father's equipment but not his powers or strength. Peter easily beat him up, and told Harry that if he hadn't pulled his punches, he probably would be dead.

** Despite them being [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower mostly]] normal humans, Punisher and Kingpin have had a long history of fighting Spider-Man and coming up (relatively) even... until the gloves come off. Aunt May gets shot by one of Kingpin's assassins during the events of ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''; Punisher launches an assault on the Exchange building in Creator/GregRucka's ''Punisher'' run, resulting in massive collateral damage. Both events result in a pissed off Spidey tracking them down and ''beating the crap out of them,'' remind them the he could ''easily'' destroy them if really wanted to.