History ComicBook / SpiderMan

* During the same era, in-between [=DeFalco=]'s firing, '''Creator/PeterDavid''' took over and contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories. He would return periodically after from time to time during later runs, including the Mackie and Byrne era as well as JMS (where he wrote ''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man''). He also worked on the popular potential future version of Spider-Man, ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099''.

* During the same era, in-between [=DeFalco=]'s firing, '''Creator/PeterDavid''' took over and contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories. He would return periodically after from time to time during later runs, including the Mackie and Byrne era as well as JMS (where he wrote ''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man''

** '''The Commuter Commuteth''' (Amazing Spider-Man #267): which is still the iconic Spider-Man without Manhattan stories (whose gimmicks were adapted scene-for-scene in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'').

* During the same era, in-between [=DeFalco=]'s firing, Creator/PeterDavid took over and contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories. He would return periodically after from time to time during later runs, including the Mackie and Byrne era as well as JMS (where he wrote ''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man''

* '''Tom [=DeFalco=]'s Spider-Man''' (1984-1987): [=DeFalco=] originally succeeded Stern as writer and working with Ron Frenz worked intermittently on Spider-Man in a period where editors such as Jim Owsley (better known as Creator/ChristopherPriestComics more celebrated for his work on ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'') and EIC Creator/JimShooter were being nosy and interfering. His biggest contributions are the storylines expanding on Mary Jane's past and backstory (revealing that she was Peter's SecretSecretKeeper for some time now) and making her Peter's confidant. He also incorporated the major costume change in Spider-Man ''The Alien Costume'' when In 1984, as part of the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', Spider-Man got a new, alien costume that responded to his thoughts. Eventually later writers would make this costume into a symbiote who was attempting to permanently merge with Peter. He also co-created Silver Sable in this time, who would become a Spider-Man fixture and spinoff character in her own right. [=DeFalco=] would be fired and then rehired in-between this run. Creator/PeterDavid meanwhile contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories, namely ''The Commuter Commuteth'' (Amazing Spider-Man #267) which is still the iconic Spider-Man without Manhattan stories (whose gimmicks were adapted scene-for-scene in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'') and ''The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]'' which was published in ''Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man'' between Issues 107-110 in 1986 when Spider-Man's friend, police captain Jean [=DeWolff=], was found murdered in her apartment. The hunt for [=DeWolff=]'s murderer becomes the impetus for an exploration of [[WhatIsEvil moral relativism]] among superheroes, the [[OffOnATechnicality flaws of the criminal justice system]], the [[{{Revenge}} desire for vengeance]], and the clash of values between the idealistic Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} and the pragmatic Spider-Man. This was Creator/PeterDavid's first professional ComicBook writing assignment, and is noted for subverting the comic-book stereotype of HeroicSacrifice in character deaths. [=DeFalco=] returned near the end is notable for contributing Issues #290-293, showing Peter proposing to MJ a second time and this time saying yes, leading to the biggest status-quo shake-up in Spider-Man history since Issue #28 (when Peter graduated High School and went to college), after which he would take over from Shooter as EIC on Marvel, a position he would occupy until the Mid-90s ending when he oversaw the Clone Saga, and continuing after that by working on ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl''.

* '''Lee and Romita Sr's Spider-Man''' (1966-1972 -- John Romita Sr. took over Ditko's role as artist and plotter after he left. As in the case of Ditko, the works were in the Marvel Method and Lee adapted himself to Romita Sr's strength and wavelength (i.e. romance comics) albeit Lee also took a more stronger hand in this time owing to the latter's unfamiliarity with plotting out stories by himself. Comprising Issues #39-110, this marked the end of Creator/StanLee's involvement with the regular Spider-Man continuity, he would contribute to the ComicStrip/SpiderMan newspaper strip (and indeed write far more for that then he ever did in the main comics). This era codified Peter Parker's dominant comic look, crystallized his supporting-cast (Harry Osborn as his best friend, Flash Thompson as VitriolicBestBuds) and the BreakoutCharacter that is Mary Jane Watson, as well as ComicBook/TheKingpin.

** ''The Hundred Arms Saga'': Where Peter decides to go Spider-Man No More [[RunningGag one more time]] and creates a potion that removes his powers [[EpicFail only to give himself extra hands]]. This story is notable for introducing Morbius the Vampire.

* '''ComicBook/LeeDitkoSpiderMan''' -- The original run of Spider-Man by its co-creators has many of the most iconic and often reproduced elements of the entire mythos. This includes ''Amazing Fantasy #15'', Spider-Man's iconic OriginsEpisode originally published in the last issue of an anthology comic but an immediate success and hit. The iconic cover by Creator/JackKirby, the art by Creator/SteveDitko and Creator/StanLee's dialogues created one of the greatest stories, with a fable like simplicity about how Peter's life goes on a rollercoaster from nobody to somebody and then comes crashing down when tragedy strikes him. The success of this story led to Spidey's flagship title, ''Amazing Spider-Man #1-38.'' It featured the first and seminal appearances of many classic Spider-Man villains, Spider-Man's supporting cast, and showing the character growing and maturing almost in real time from high school student to college student which happened in what's considered the masterpiece of this era, ''If This Be My Destiny'', aka the Master Planner arc.

* '''Lee and Romita Sr's Spider-Man''' -- John Romita Sr. took over Ditko's role as artist and plotter after he left. As in the case of Ditko, the works were in the Marvel Method and Lee adapted himself to Romita Sr's strength and wavelength (i.e. romance comics) albeit Lee also took a more stronger hand in this time owing to the latter's unfamiliarity with plotting out stories by himself. Comprising Issues #39-110, this marked the end of Creator/StanLee's involvement with the regular Spider-Man continuity, he would contribute to the ComicStrip/SpiderMan newspaper strip (and indeed write far more for that then he ever did in the main comics). This era codified Peter Parker's dominant comic look, crystallized his supporting-cast (Harry Osborn as his best friend, Flash Thompson as VitriolicBestBuds) and the BreakoutCharacter that is Mary Jane Watson, as well as ComicBook/TheKingpin.

* '''Creator/GerryConway's Spider-Man''' -- Stan Lee was followed by Gerry Conway, a former fan turned writer who at the age of 18-19 had the daunting task of stepping in Stan Lee's foot-steps. Where Lee worked via Marvel Method, Conway had a strong voice as writer and while working with artists it was his views and ideas that really made it to the story. As such he's seen by some as Spider-Man's first actual writer in the traditional sense. He wrote 110-149 nearly the same amount of issues that Ditko did and in many ways just as important and defining for stories going forward. Conway introduced a slew of iconic characters and concepts -- Hammerhead, The Punisher (who ultimately became his own sub-franchise), the Jackal, the Spider-Mobile.

** ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'' -- During this time, Conway also wrote and edited the first ever inter-company non-continuity crossover where Spider-Man and Superman fight, team up against Luthor and Doc Ock and at the end, Peter, Clark, MJ and Lois go on a double date.

* '''Roger Stern's Spider-Man''': After Conway, Spider-Man entered an uneven period filled with a few strong stories and new characters (namely ''ComicBook/BlackCat'') but was otherwise seen as lacking the spirit and freshness of the previous era. Peter and MJ broke up after she rejected Peter's proposal and an editorially mandated break-up (by Marv Wolfman) to shake things up. MJ would be PutOnABus, Harry Osborn was married to Liz Allan. Roger Stern originally worked on the smaller character-centric ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' before taking over the main title from Issue 206, starting an intermittent run that introduced the Hobgoblin, made Felicia Hardy and Black Cat the third great romance in Spider-Man's life and put out a couple of seminal issues. Towards the end Stern returned Mary Jane to the regular continuity, and set up the love triangle between MJ-Peter-Felicia as the replacement for the classic one.

* '''Tom [=DeFalco=]'s Spider-Man''': [=DeFalco=] originally succeeded Stern as writer and working with Ron Frenz worked intermittently on Spider-Man in a period where editors such as Jim Owsley (better known as Creator/ChristopherPriestComics more celebrated for his work on ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'') and EIC Creator/JimShooter were being nosy and interfering. His biggest contributions are the storylines expanding on Mary Jane's past and backstory (revealing that she was Peter's SecretSecretKeeper for some time now) and making her Peter's confidant. He also incorporated the major costume change in Spider-Man ''The Alien Costume'' when In 1984, as part of the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', Spider-Man got a new, alien costume that responded to his thoughts. Eventually later writers would make this costume into a symbiote who was attempting to permanently merge with Peter. He also co-created Silver Sable in this time, who would become a Spider-Man fixture and spinoff character in her own right. [=DeFalco=] would be fired and then rehired in-between this run. Creator/PeterDavid meanwhile contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories, namely ''The Commuter Commuteth'' (Amazing Spider-Man #267) which is still the iconic Spider-Man without Manhattan stories (whose gimmicks were adapted scene-for-scene in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'') and ''The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]'' which was published in ''Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man'' between Issues 107-110 in 1986 when Spider-Man's friend, police captain Jean [=DeWolff=], was found murdered in her apartment. The hunt for [=DeWolff=]'s murderer becomes the impetus for an exploration of [[WhatIsEvil moral relativism]] among superheroes, the [[OffOnATechnicality flaws of the criminal justice system]], the [[{{Revenge}} desire for vengeance]], and the clash of values between the idealistic Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} and the pragmatic Spider-Man. This was Creator/PeterDavid's first professional ComicBook writing assignment, and is noted for subverting the comic-book stereotype of HeroicSacrifice in character deaths. [=DeFalco=] returned near the end is notable for contributing Issues #290-293, showing Peter proposing to MJ a second time and this time saying yes, leading to the biggest status-quo shake-up in Spider-Man history since Issue #28 (when Peter graduated High School and went to college), after which he would take over from Shooter as EIC on Marvel, a position he would occupy until the Mid-90s ending when he oversaw the Clone Saga, and continuing after that by working on ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl''.

* '''The Spider-Marriage''': The major change in Spider-Man continuity that happened when Peter got married to his long-time love interest Mary Jane Watson:

** ''Best of Enemies'': Another important story from this time is ''Spectacular Spider-Man #200'' which deals with the death of Harry Osborn, written by J. M. [=DeMatteis=]. Harry Osborn the wayward friend of Peter, rejected suitor of MJ, tortured son of Norman, and troubled young father, relapses into becoming the Green Goblin one more time over his grief and nostalgia for his long-gone college youth and the innocence that he, Peter and MJ lost. He finally attains a measure of redemption before dying in a classic story.
** ''Parallel Lives'' -- Creator/GerryConway, like Lee, would never quite become a major writer on Spider-Man again, but he returned later to contribute for some smaller side stories, notably dealing with Robbie Robertson. ''Parallel Lives'' one of the first "graphic novels" published after Peter and MJ's wedding is a tribute to the love story at the heart of Spider-Man which Conway did more than anyone to bring to fruition.[[note]]Even if Conway disagreed with the decision to marry Spider-Man in the regular continuity[[/note]]

* '''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''': Gerry Conway's original Clone Saga was an emotional roller-coaster and farewell to Gwen Stacy and the nostalgia she represented. That was what he intended at any rate and that was how it was received originally. But near the end of his story there was a bit where Spider-Man fought a clone of himself in a stadium and for a brief moment Peter had CloningBlues and readers wondered if [[OpeningACanOfClones the Peter we saw was the clone all along]][[note]]In the actual story, Peter reasons logically that since he's in love with MJ and the clones are fixated on Gwen Stacy and were created after Gwen's death, that meant he was the real deal, since if he was a clone he would be stuck in the past and not able to get over, grow and mature. A moment of emotional truth about the nature of CharacterDevelopment and not fixating on the past expressed in comic book metaphors, that unfortunately got lost in the shuffle of fan theories about logistics[[/note]]. Inspired by ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' and ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' stories which expressed a tragic attitude to its iconic heroes by temporarily removing them and replacing them with AntiHeroSubstitute, an attempt was made to give Spider-Man his own equivalent. It was also felt that this would be "back to basics" and temporary. Peter was now married and a new character could be the hip former single Spider-Man of the past and contrast with Peter's present. That was the original idea for a six month story. What followed, thanks to a period where marketing and merchandising was inspiring creative as well as a period of weak editorial oversight was a story stretched out for three years with endless backtracking, padding and spinning of wheels as Ben Reilly, Kaine, the Jackal (the villain of the original Saga who died at the end of it and was totally forgotten until the second one) returned to wreak havoc on Spider-Man's life along with a slew of characters that were hard to keep track off. Mary Jane also became pregnant, Aunt May died in ''Issue #400'' written by J. M. [=DeMatteis=] (which despite later retcons is still considered a classic story in its own right, and works as a standalone). Meanwhile, Marvel dropped the bombshell and triggered the second backlash in its creative history (the first being Gwen's death). The Spider-Man we'd been following for the past twenty years [[ActuallyADoombot was a clone]][[note]] Conway's response on this retcon from a story that hilariously misread his own story to start with: "When I did find the gist of the story, that the previous ten years of Spider-Man stories didn't happen, I thought, this is a wonderful thing for a writer, because it means when I left the title, the book stopped."[[/note]]. The response to this story (that the Spider-Man who fought the Juggernaut, romanced Black Cat, met the Kid who Collected Spider-Man, wore the Black Suit, grieved over the death of Captain [=DeWolff=], married MJ and survived Kraven and fought Venom and Carnage wasn't the real deal) was loud and negative. Even if Ben Reilly was positively received by some, the entire project fell apart and the whole thing was hastily undone through a series of {{retcon}}s and quietly swept under the rug -- with the main consequence that the original Green Goblin was [[BackFromTheDead back among the living]]. (Oh, and providing a possibly-dead baby to become ComicBook/SpiderGirl in an alternate timeline.) Aunt May also came back at the end.

* '''Post-Clone Saga''': This period was notable for a brief attempt at a ContinuityReboot SettingUpdate, John Byrne's ''Chapter One'' which despite initial notices was quickly retconed and canceled over to fears that it was an attempt to replace the original story. It was followed by Howard Mackie's run which led to the brief death of Mary Jane Watson at the demand of editors, followed by Peter Parker at his lowest and most depressed period in his life. Green Goblin, the revived Norman Osborn decided to catch up and get his ArchEnemy mojo back in ''Revenge of the Green Goblin'' by Roger Stern, a bleak, angsty and violent story where the Goblin tortures and gaslights Peter Parker into becoming his heir only for him to refuse. Near the end Mary Jane was alive after all and she and Peter returned, but the trauma of her period of captivity and resulting PTSD leads her and Peter to separate for a brief period. She would leave New York and go to LA and recover in the meantime. In 2000, Creator/BrianMichaelBendis wrote ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' another attempt at a ''Chapter One'' SettingUpdate but this one proved popular and influential, starting the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' sub-franchise which dominated the turn of the millennium.

* '''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan''': The first writer to have an extended run on the title since Roger Stern, JMS introduced a series of new concepts and ideas. Namely the MythArc of the Spider-Totem. He also wrote the ''9/11 response issue'' in ASM-36, V2 (which became famous for the entirely black cover by John Romita Jr). His run became celebrated for "The Conversation" (ASM-38), the comic where Aunt May after discovering Peter is Spider-Man finally has a heart to heart talk with her nephew about the lies he has told her since the age of 15 (which much like the retconned Aunt May death issue[[note]]where it was revealed she knew Peter was Spider-Man all along and intended as such in that story[[/note]] is still considered a classic). Peter also became a high school teacher in this time and in Issue #50, Spider-Man and MJ reunite and commit to their relationship again. His later run was also affected by a series of stories by other writers, including Brian Michael Bendis' ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' where Spider-Man became an active member of a super-team, leading to JMS migrating the Parker family to Stark Tower. Then there was ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' by Mark Millar which revealed Spider-Man's identity to the world and the consequences of that story led to ''Back in Black'' where Spider-Man and his family became outlaws on the lam. Other important stories in this time is ''Marvel Knights'' by Mark Millar and "To Have and to Hold" by Creator/MattFraction as well as Paul Jenkins' work on Spider-Man in ''The Spectacular Spider-Man''. This run ended with the third major backlash in Spider-Man history: ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay.'' After Aunt May takes a bullet meant for him, Peter becomes so distraught that he's willing to make a DealWithTheDevil to fix things. The price for this soul-destroying bargain. His happy marriage to MJ, a future child with her, and Peter going back to the status-quo of the Post-Conway to Late-[=DeFalco=] era albeit somehow every story that happened before still happened in the same way regardless. Side-effects include, Peter's identity (which was public since ''Comicbook/CivilWar'') is a secret once more and Harry Osborn is alive again, he's free to date any random GirlOfTheWeek (or month or whatnot) again. And of course, writers can start screwing with Peter's love life again. This story marked the start of Spider-Man's current era.

* '''ComicBook/DanSlottSpiderMan''': Originally serving as one of a slew of writers on Marvel's brain trust that charted out the new status-quo in ''ComicBook/BrandNewDay'', Slott ultimately became the major writer of Spider-Man and with more than 200+issues on Spider-Man in main titles, secondary titles, mini-series and other stuff, he has become ''the most'' Spider-Man writer ever, having spilled more ink on Spider-Man than any other writer in its history. Spidey's supporting cast was expanded to new faces, while old relationships and concepts were [[ReimaginingTheArtifact updated]]. Starting from "Big Time", Slott became the main writer. His first big success was ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'', an event story from 2011 which spanned all of the ongoing Spider-Man satellite books as well as much of the Marvel Universe. A mysterious viral outbreak grants the whole of Manhattan powers similar to Peter Parker's. Anarchy soon follows, and things are complicated further as Spidey's old foe The Jackal resurfaces and takes advantage of the chaos. The aftermath saw Kaine acquire his own ongoing book series (''Scarlet Spider''). This was followed by ''Ends of the Earth'' and ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', a 2012-2014 Spider-Man event that saw Peter Parker disappear from his own title for the longest gap in his history (the previous being ''Kraven's Last Hunt''). This was followed by the ''Parker Industries'' arc which saw Peter Parker elevated to a rich businessman. In the same period there was ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' where Spider-Man teams up with many, ''many'' other people with Spider-powers as well as AlternateUniverse counterparts of himself in order to stop a danger that threatens them all. Features massive amount of ContinuityPorn as Spider-Men from previous AU storylines (such as ComicBook/TheCloneSaga and ComicBook/HouseOfM), Spider-themed spin-off books, '''ComicBook/WhatIf''' one-shots, Animated Series, Video Games and even Live Action all interact with each other on the same page while travelling between dimensions in a desperate bid to save themselves from extinction. Slott ended his run with ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'' published in 2018, stopping at Issue #801.

** ''Parallel Lives'' -- Creator/GerryConway, like Lee, Conway would never quite become a major writer on Spider-Man again, but he returned later to contribute for some smaller side stories, notably dealing with Robbie Robertson. ''Parallel Lives'' one of the first "graphic novels" published after Peter and MJ's wedding is a tribute to the love story at the heart of Spider-Man which Conway did more than anyone to bring to fruition.[[note]]Even if Conway disagreed with the decision to marry Spider-Man in the regular continuity[[/note]]

** ''Parallel Lives'' -- Like Lee, Conway would never quite become a major writer on Spider-Man again, but he would return later to contribute for some smaller size stories, notably dealing with Robbie Robertson. This however, one of the first "graphic novels" published after Peter and MJ's wedding that is a tribute to the love story at the heart of Spider-Man which he did more than anyone to bring to fruition.

* '''Lee and Romita Sr's Spider-Man''' -- John Romita Sr. took over Ditko's role as artist and plotter after he left. As in the case of Ditko, the works were in the Marvel Method and Lee adapted himself to Romita Sr's strength and wavelength (i.e. romance comics) albeit Lee also took a more stronger hand in this time owing to the latter's unfamiliarity with plotting out stories by himself. Romita Sr. initially tried to be consistent with Ditko's art-style. Comprising Issues #39-110, this marked the end of Creator/StanLee's involvement with the regular Spider-Man continuity, he would contribute to the ComicStrip/SpiderMan newspaper strip (and indeed write far more for that then he ever did in the main comics). This era codified Peter Parker's dominant comic look, crystallized his supporting-cast (Harry Osborn as his best friend, Flash Thompson as VitriolicBestBuds) and the BreakoutCharacter that is Mary Jane Watson, as well as ComicBook/TheKingpin.

** It was with ''Issues 42-43'' however, which had ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson's first appearance that Romita really established the new style. Spider-Man would no longer be the story of just Peter Parker and his closed world as in the Lee-Ditko era but it would now encompass a regular supporting cast, love triangles, and a more social and less hostile atmosphere. In short, Spider-Man would be LighterAndSofter and later Spider-Man runs often [[NostalgiaFilter celebrated this college era as a time of innocence and sweetness]] embodied by the LoveTriangle of Peter, Mary Jane, and Gwen Stacy, he latter of whom became Peter's FirstLove. However, [[UnbuiltTrope this is only the most famous part]].

* '''Lee and Romita Sr's Spider-Man''' -- John Romita Sr. took over Ditko's role as artist and plotter after he left. As in the case of Ditko, the works were in the Marvel Method and Lee adapted himself to Romita Sr's strength and wavelength (i.e. romance comics) albeit Lee also took a more stronger hand in this time owing to the latter's unfamiliarity with plotting out stories by himself. Romita Sr. initially tried to be consistent with Ditko's art-style. He hit the ground running with the ''Green Goblin Unmasked'' story which finally answered and resolved the great mystery of the previous run, the truth behind Spider-Man's most mysterious and dangerous enemy. It was with issue 42 however, which had ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson's first appearance that Romita really established the new style. Spider-Man would no longer be the story of just Peter Parker and his closed world as in the Lee-Ditko era but it would now encompass a regular supporting cast, love triangles, and a more social and less hostile atmosphere. In short, Spider-Man would be LighterAndSofter and later Spider-Man runs often [[NostalgiaFilter celebrated this college era as a time of innocence and sweetness]] embodied by the LoveTriangle of Peter, Mary Jane, and Gwen Stacy, he latter of whom became Peter's FirstLove. However, [[UnbuiltTrope this is only the most famous part]]. Romita Sr and Lee also put out a number of tense and dark issues, including ''Green Goblin Reborn!'', a landmark comic published in 1971 when the U.S. Department of Health approached Marvel and asked them to do an anti-drug storyline[[note]]There was one little problem: UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode forbade drugs anywhere, both good and bad. Marvel decided to write a three-parter where Harry Osborn was shown to be popping pills and ignore Comics Code approval for those three issues. Along with ''ComicBook/GreenLantern[=/=]ComicBook/GreenArrow'' doing a heroin storyline the same year, this was one of the first signs of transition to the socially- and politically-conscious [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age of Comics]].[[/note]]. Then there's the storylines featuring major CharacterDeath namely the Death of Captain George Stacy in Issue #90 whose fallout shaped the end of the era. There's also the ''Hundred Arms Saga'' where Peter decides to go Spider-Man No More [[RunningGag one more time]] and creates a potion that removes his powers [[EpicFail only to give himself extra hands]] which is notable for introduce Morbius the Vampire. Comprising Issues #39-110, this marked the end of Creator/StanLee's involvement with the regular Spider-Man continuity, he would contribute to the ComicStrip/SpiderMan newspaper strip (and indeed write far more for that then he ever did in the main comics). This era codified Peter Parker's dominant comic look, crystallized his supporting-cast (Harry Osborn as his best friend, Flash Thompson as VitriolicBestBuds) and the BreakoutCharacter that is Mary Jane Watson, as well as ComicBook/TheKingpin.

* '''Creator/GerryConway's Spider-Man''' -- Stan Lee was followed by Gerry Conway, a former fan turned writer who at the age of 18-19 had the daunting task of stepping in Stan Lee's foot-steps. Where Lee worked via Marvel Method, Conway had a strong voice as writer and while working with artists it was his views and ideas that really made it to the story. As such he's seen by some as Spider-Man's first actual writer in the traditional sense. He wrote 110-149 nearly the same amount of issues that Ditko did and in many ways just as important and defining for stories going forward. Conway introduced a slew of iconic characters and concepts -- Hammerhead, The Punisher (who ultimately became his own sub-franchise), the Jackal, the Spider-Mobile. But his most important contribution is ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied.'' A landmark story that ended the Silver Age of Comics, published in 1973. Peter Parker's life had settled down a bit. He was in a steady relationship with Gwen, and started getting some respect from the people around him but there was that snag. Norman Osborn was part of his supporting cast, demoted to an amnesiac lame dad for most of the previous run (save the drug issue) but a walking time bomb waiting to go off as far as Peter was concerned. In issue 121-122, Osborn relapsed into the Green Goblin and decided to hurt Spider-Man and then he just happened to run into Gwen Stacy and this led to a confrontation on the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrives, just in the nick of time, like the song goes...except this time he ''doesn't''. Gwen Stacy dies. ''Never'' before had a superhero failed like this. This also resulted in the first major fan backlash among Spider-Man readers and arguably the first real fan controversy about a superhero storyline ever. Conway's other lasting contribution, is the elevation of Mary Jane Watson as Spider-Man's long-term LoveInterest. His run documented the slow maturity of MJ, and Peter's growing feelings for her, with the two falling in love with each other around the time of the major story that closed Conway's original run - ''The First Clone Saga'' which Conway created as a response to the Gwen Stacy backlash and {{Bookends}} it. A clone of Gwen returns to Peter's life just when he and MJ are moving on. This tests their bond and feelings but in the course of a crazy mind-bending adventure that somehow combines the Silver and Bronze Age (intense scenes of longing, grief, and guilt mixed with goofy confrontation with villains in empty stadiums), Peter realizes that he's no longer the same man who fell for Gwen. He goes back to Mary Jane and the two of them at the close of Issue #149 commit to their love for each other. Conway's final run is often considered a kind of ending to ''Spider-Man'' since it marked the end of his ComingOfAgeStory from teenager to man (what with the final panel implying that he crossed the final [[SexAsARiteOfPassage rite of passage]]). During this time, Conway also wrote and edited the first ever inter-company non-continuity crossover of ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan''. Like Lee, Conway would return later to contribute for some smaller size stories, notably dealing with Robbie Robertson. His big major story after this is ''Parallel Lives'' published after Peter and MJ's wedding that is a tribute to the love story at the heart of Spider-Man which he did more than anyone to bring to fruition.

* '''Roger Stern's Spider-Man''': After Conway, Spider-Man entered an uneven period filled with a few strong stories and new characters (namely ''ComicBook/BlackCat'') but was otherwise seen as lacking the spirit and freshness of the previous era. Peter and MJ broke up after she rejected Peter's proposal and an editorially mandated break-up (by Marv Wolfman) to shake things up. MJ would be PutOnABus, Harry Osborn was married to Liz Allan. Roger Stern originally worked on the smaller character-centric ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' before taking over the main title from Issue 206, starting an intermittent run that introduced the Hobgoblin, made Felicia Hardy and Black Cat the third great romance in Spider-Man's life and put out a couple of seminal issues. Most notable was ''The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man''. A small story published as a side-story in a single issue (''Amazing'' #248) it ended up over-shadowing the A-Story and celebrated as one of the most humanistic and stirring moments in the entire mythos where Spidey visits one of his fans and just spends time chatting, even revealing himself as Peter Parker and explaining his origins to a total stranger. It's only at the end that we learn that the boy is a LittlestCancerPatient with days left to live, wishing to meet his hero before he passed on. Stern also wrote ''Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut'' (Issue #229-230) one of the greatest battle issues and fights in Spider-Man's career. Towards the end Stern returned Mary Jane to the regular continuity, and set up the love triangle between MJ-Peter-Felicia as the replacement for the classic one. Stern also wrote a mystery for the Hobgoblin but decided to quit before revealing it, starting a problem for the character that he would resolve belatedly in TheNineties with ''Hobgoblin Lives!''.

* '''The Spider-Marriage''': ''The Wedding (The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21)'' was the result of a strange series of circumstances. At a convention Stan Lee and EIC Jim Shooter had been asked by fans if they would have Peter get married to Mary Jane (referring to the newspaper continuity where the two were long the OfficialCouple as opposed to the regular continuity which stuck to a permanent melodrama and rotating love-interest model). Lee, crowd-pleaser that he was shrugged and said he was okay with it, and Shooter having been put on the spot said he was okay with it too. The response was picked up by the media and it was widely popular among fans and general readers, including those who had long given up on reading Spider-Man in the regular continuity for years having grown tired of the StaticCharacter nature of his stories. Both Shooter and Lee hashed out a plan immediately for the big event to coincide together. For brand reasons, Shooter felt that having Peter Parker marry in the newspaper strip and not in the regular continuity, with the former having a general readership beyond comics fans at the time and Lee's own name, potentially delegitimized the regular continuity and led to Marvel losing a major coup with the first major superhero wedding ever (at a time when Superman and Batman in their main continuities were still single). Besides it was also a very popular decision among fans since this was a major status-quo they wanted but it was polarizing among writers and regular comics readers (a smaller number in terms of demographics but more regular and reliable in the long run). So the marriage had to happen in the regular continuity, even if Peter and MJ at this time were friends with strong feelings for one another but also hesitant about starting a relationship again leave alone a marriage. The result was a series of issues in 1987 that saw MJ over three issues resolving her family baggage and saying yes to Peter followed by the famous Annual, published in 1987 and written by David Michelinie, featuring cover art by John Romita Sr. The period of the marriage was immediately followed by a series of iconic storylines starting right out of the gate with ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt.'' This landmark story was published over two months in every monthly Spider-Man title being a kind of crossover in Spider-Titles and it became the first Spider-Man story to be collected in hardcover (or trade paperback, for that matter), and one of ''Marvel's'' first collections. Kraven the Hunter sets out to prove that he's a better man than Spidey, and starts by shooting him and burying him. It was the first major story featuring Spider-Man as a married man. It was followed by ''Venom'' a landmark story that introduced Spider-Man's third great ArchNemesis and the biggest villain in the title since Creator/SteveDitko left. The Symbiote that Spider-Man had driven away by exploiting its AchillesHeel, sonic attacks and loud noise in general, whereupon it merged with a reporter who felt Spider-Man had wronged him and became the recurring villain Venom. Venom was a runaway hit but he went from villain to AntiHeroSubstitute, leading writers to create Venom's own Venom, leading to Carnage. But this marked the start of a run of Spider-Man storylines that proved more and more polarizing leading to ''ComicBook/MaximumCarnage.'' An event from 1993; Carnage recruits C-list villains into a LegionOfDoom, and Spidey recruits a number of heroes ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Venom]]) to stop them. Mainly of note for being the highest-selling multi-title comic series in History (displacing ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'') until ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' - the reason for such a large mega-run was summarized by writer/E.I.C. Tom [=DeFalco=] as being a test to see how a multi-title series would function in the Spidey-verse, something that was tried before, but with a much smaller cast. Another important story from this time is ''Spectacular Spider-Man #200'' which deals with the death of Harry Osborn.

* '''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''': Gerry Conway's original Clone Saga was an emotional roller-coaster and farewell to Gwen Stacy and the nostalgia she represented. That was what he intended at any rate and that was how it was received originally. But near the end of his story there was a bit where Spider-Man fought a clone of himself in a stadium and for a brief moment Peter had CloningBlues and readers wondered if [[OpeningACanOfClones the Peter we saw was the clone all along]][[note]]In the actual story, Peter reasons logically that since he's in love with MJ and the clones are fixated on Gwen Stacy and were created after Gwen's death, that meant he was the real deal, since if he was a clone he would be stuck in the past and not able to get over, grow and mature. A moment of emotional truth about the nature of CharacterDevelopment and not fixating on the past expressed in comic book metaphors, that unfortunately got lost in the shuffle of fan theories about logistics[[/note]]. Inspired by ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' and ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} stories which expressed a tragic attitude to its iconic heroes by temporarily removing them and replacing them with AntiHeroSubstitute, an attempt was made to give Spider-Man his own equivalent. It was also felt that this would be "back to basics" and temporary. Peter was now married and a new character could be the hip former single Spider-Man of the past and contrast with Peter's present. That was the original idea for a six month story. What followed, thanks to a period where marketing and merchandising was inspiring creative as well as a period of weak editorial oversight was a story stretched out for three years with endless backtracking, padding and spinning of wheels as Ben Reilly, Kaine, the Jackal (the villain of the original Saga who died at the end of it and was totally forgotten until the second one) returned to wreak havoc on Spider-Man's life along with a slew of characters that were hard to keep track off. Mary Jane also became pregnant, Aunt May died in Issue #400 written by J. M. [=DeMatteis=] (which despite later retcons is still considered a classic story in its own right, and works as a standalone). Meanwhile, Marvel dropped the bombshell and triggered the second backlash in its creative history (the first being Gwen's death). The Spider-Man we'd been following for the past twenty years [[ActuallyADoombot was a clone]][[note]] Conway's response on this retcon from a story that hilariously misread his own story to start with: "When I did find the gist of the story, that the previous ten years of Spider-Man stories didn't happen, I thought, this is a wonderful thing for a writer, because it means when I left the title, the book stopped."[[/note]]. The response to this story (that the Spider-Man who fought the Juggernaut, romanced Black Cat, met the Kid who Collected Spider-Man, wore the Black Suit, grieved over the death of Captain [=DeWolff=], married MJ and survived Kraven and fought Venom and Carnage wasn't the real deal) was loud and negative. Even if Ben Reilly was positively received by some, the entire project fell apart and the whole thing was hastily undone through a series of {{retcon}}s and quietly swept under the rug -- with the main consequence that the original Green Goblin was [[BackFromTheDead back among the living]]. (Oh, and providing a possibly-dead baby to become ComicBook/SpiderGirl in an alternate timeline.) Aunt May also came back at the end.

* '''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''': Gerry Conway's original Clone Saga was an emotional roller-coaster and farewell to Gwen Stacy and the nostalgia she represented. That was what he intended at any rate and that was how it was received originally. But near the end of his story there was a bit where Spider-Man fought a clone of himself in a stadium and for a brief moment Peter had CloningBlues and readers wondered if [[OpeningACanOfClones the Peter we saw was the clone all along]][[note]]In the actual story, Peter reasons logically that since he's in love with MJ and the clones are fixated on Gwen Stacy and were created after Gwen's death, that meant he was the real deal, since if he was a clone he would be stuck in the past and not able to get over, grow and mature. A moment of emotional truth about the nature of CharacterDevelopment and not fixating on the past expressed in comic book metaphors, that unfortunately got lost in the shuffle of fan theories about logistics[[/note]]. Inspired by ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' and ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} stories which expressed a tragic attitude to its iconic heroes by temporarily removing them and replacing them with AntiHeroSubstitute, an attempt was made to give Spider-Man his own equivalent. It was also felt that this would be "back to basics" and temporary. Peter was now married and a new character could be the hip former single Spider-Man of the past and contrast with Peter's present. That was the original idea for a six month story. What followed, thanks to a period where marketing and merchandising was inspiring creative as well as a period of weak editorial oversight was a story stretched out for three years with endless backtracking, padding and spinning of wheels as Ben Reilly, Kaine, the Jackal (the villain of the original Saga who died at the end of it and was totally forgotten until the second one) returned to wreak havoc on Spider-Man's life along with a slew of characters that were hard to keep track off. Mary Jane also became pregnant, Aunt May died in Issue #400 written by J. M. [=DeMatteis=] (which despite later retcons is still considered a classic story in its own right, and works as a standalone). Meanwhile, Marvel dropped the bombshell and triggered the second backlash in its creative history (the first being Gwen's death). The Spider-Man we'd been following for the past twenty years [[ActuallyADoombot was a clone]][[note]] Conway's response on this retcon from a story that hilariously misread his own story to start with: "When I did find the gist of the story, that the previous ten years of Spider-Man stories didn't happen, I thought, this is a wonderful thing for a writer, because it means when I left the title, the book stopped."[[/note]]. The response to this story (that the Spider-Man who fought the Juggernaut, romanced Black Cat, met the Kid who Collected Spider-Man, wore the Black Suit, grieved over the death of Captain [=DeWolff=], married MJ and survived Kraven) wasn't the real deal was loud and even if Ben Reilly was positively received, the entire project fell apart and the whole thing was hastily undone through a series of {{retcon}}s and quietly swept under the rug -- with the main consequence that the original Green Goblin was [[BackFromTheDead back among the living]]. (Oh, and providing a possibly-dead baby to become ComicBook/SpiderGirl in an alternate timeline.) Aunt May also came back at the end.

* '''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan''': The first writer to have an extended run on the title since Roger Stern, JMS introduced a series of new concepts and ideas. Namely the MythArc of the Spider-Totem. He also wrote the ''9/11 response issue'' in ASM-36, V2 (which became famous for the entirely black cover by John Romita Jr). His run became celebrated for ''The Conversation'' (ASM-38), the comic where Aunt May after discovering Peter is Spider-Man finally has a heart to heart talk with her nephew about the lies he has told her since the age of 15 (which much like the retconned Aunt May death issue[[note]]where it was revealed she knew Peter was Spider-Man all along and intended as such in that story[[/note]] is still considered a classic). Peter also became a high school teacher in this time and in Issue #50, Spider-Man and MJ reunite and commit to their relationship again. His later run was also affected by a series of stories by other writers, including Brian Michael Bendis' ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' where Spider-Man became an active member of a super-team, leading to JMS migrating the Parker family to Stark Tower. Then there was ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' by Mark Millar which revealed Spider-Man's identity to the world and the consequences of that story led to ''Back in Black'' where Spider-Man and his family became outlaws on the lam. Other important runs in this time is ''Marvel Knights'' by Mark Millar and ''To Have and to Hold'' by Creator/MattFraction as well as Paul Jenkins' work on Spider-Man in ''The Spectacular Spider-Man''. This run ended with the third major backlash in Spider-Man history: ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay.'' After Aunt May takes a bullet meant for him, Peter becomes so distraught that he's willing to make a DealWithTheDevil to fix things. The price for this soul-destroying bargain. His happy marriage to MJ, a future child with her, and Peter going back to the status-quo of the Post-Conway to Late-[=DeFalco=] era albeit somehow every story that happened before still happened in the same way regardless. Side-effects include, Peter's identity (which was public since ''Comicbook/CivilWar'') is a secret once more and Harry Osborn is alive again, he's free to date any random GirlOfTheWeek (or month or whatnot) again. And of course, writers can start screwing with Peter's love life again. This story marked the start of Spider-Man's current era.

* '''ComicBook/DanSlottSpiderMan''': Originally serving as one of a slew of writers on Marvel's brain trust that charted out the new status-quo in ''ComicBook/BrandNewDay'', Slott ultimately became the major writer of Spider-Man and with more than 200+issues on Spider-Man in main titles, secondary titles, mini-series and other stuff, he is the writer who has spilled more ink on Spider-Man's main books than any other writer in its history. Spidey's supporting cast was expanded to new faces, while old relationships and concepts were [[ReimaginingTheArtifact updated]]. Starting from "Big Time", Slott became the main writer. His first big success was ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'', an event story from 2011 which spanned all of the ongoing Spider-Man satellite books as well as much of the Marvel Universe. A mysterious viral outbreak grants the whole of Manhattan powers similar to Peter Parker's. Anarchy soon follows, and things are complicated further as Spidey's old foe The Jackal resurfaces and takes advantage of the chaos. The aftermath saw Kaine acquire his own ongoing book series (''Scarlet Spider''). This was followed by ''Ends of the Earth'' and ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', a 2012-2014 Spider-Man event that saw Peter Parker disappear from his own title for the longest gap in his history (the previous being ''Kraven's Last Hunt''). This was followed by the ''Parker Industries'' arc which saw Peter Parker elevated to a rich businessman. In the same period there was ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' where Spider-Man teams up with many, ''many'' other people with Spider-powers as well as AlternateUniverse counterparts of himself in order to stop a danger that threatens them all. Features massive amount of ContinuityPorn as Spider-Men from previous AU storylines (such as ComicBook/TheCloneSaga and ComicBook/HouseOfM), Spider-themed spin-off books, '''ComicBook/WhatIf''' one-shots, Animated Series, Video Games and even Live Action all interact with each other on the same page while travelling between dimensions in a desperate bid to save themselves from extinction. Slott ended his run with ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'' published in 2018, stopping at Issue #801.

* '''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''': Gerry Conway's original Clone Saga was an emotional roller-coaster and farewell to Gwen Stacy and the nostalgia she represented. That was what he intended at any rate and that was how it was received originally. But near the end of his story there was a bit where Spider-Man fought a clone of himself in a stadium and for a brief moment Peter had CloningBlues and readers wondered if [[OpeningACanOfClones the Peter we saw was the clone all along]][[note]]In the actual story, Peter reasons logically that since he's in love with MJ and the clones are fixated on Gwen Stacy and were created after Gwen's death, that meant he was the real deal, since if he was a clone he would be stuck in the past and not able to get over, grow and mature. A moment of emotional truth about the nature of CharacterDevelopment and not fixating on the past expressed in comic book metaphors, that unfortunately got lost in the shuffle of fan theories about logistics[[/note]]. Inspired by ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' and ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} stories which expressed a tragic attitude to its iconic heroes by temporarily removing them and replacing them with AntiHeroSubstitute, an attempt was made to give Spider-Man his own equivalent. It was also felt that this would be "back to basics" and temporary. Peter was now married and a new character could be the hip former single Spider-Man of the past and contrast with Peter's present. That was the original idea for a six month story. What followed, thanks to a period where marketing and merchandising was inspiring creative as well as a period of weak editorial oversight was a story stretched out for three years with endless backtracking, {{Padding}} and spinning of wheels as Ben Reilly, Kaine, the Jackal (the villain of the original Saga who died at the end of it and was totally forgotten until the second one) returned to wreak havoc on Spider-Man's life along with a slew of characters that were hard to keep track off. Mary Jane also became pregnant, Aunt May died in Issue #400 written by J. M. [=DeMatteis=] (which despite later retcons is still considered a classic story in its own right, and works as a standalone). Meanwhile, Marvel dropped the bombshell and triggered the second backlash in its creative history (the first being Gwen's death). The Spider-Man we'd been following for the past twenty years [[ActuallyADoombot was a clone]][[note]] Conway's response on this retcon from a story that hilariously misread his own story to start with: "When I did find the gist of the story, that the previous ten years of Spider-Man stories didn't happen, I thought, this is a wonderful thing for a writer, because it means when I left the title, the book stopped."[[/note]]. The response to this story (that the Spider-Man who fought the Juggernaut, romanced Black Cat, met the Kid who Collected Spider-Man, wore the Black Suit, grieved over the death of Captain [=DeWolff=], married MJ and survived Kraven) wasn't the real deal was loud and even if Ben Reilly was positively received, the entire project fell apart and the whole thing was hastily undone through a series of {{retcon}}s and quietly swept under the rug -- with the main consequence that the original Green Goblin was [[BackFromTheDead back among the living]]. (Oh, and providing a possibly-dead baby to become ComicBook/SpiderGirl in an alternate timeline.)

* '''ComicBook/OneMoreDay:''' End of ''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan'' run. After Aunt May takes a bullet meant for him, Peter becomes so distraught that he's willing to make a DealWithTheDevil to fix things. But the price is amazingly steep... Editor Joe Quesada... Er, Mephisto wants to suck all the happiness out of Peter's life, and so demands his marriage to Mary Jane declared null and void. As side effects, Peter's identity (which was public since ''Comicbook/CivilWar'') is a secret once more and Harry Osborn is alive again. And of course, writers can start screwing with Peter's love life again. This later led to '''ComicBook/OneMomentInTime''', a followup story (or ''[[FunWithAcronyms OMIT]]'', if you're so inclined), that showed exactly what happened on what was supposed to be Peter and MJ's wedding day, as well as how things fell apart between them after ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''.

* '''ComicBook/SpiderIsland''': An event story from 2011 which spanned all of the ongoing Spider-Man satellite books as well as much of the Marvel Universe. A mysterious viral outbreak grants the whole of Manhattan powers similar to Peter Parker's. Anarchy soon follows, and things are complicated further as Spidey's old foe The Jackal resurfaces and takes advantage of the chaos with the aid of the enigmatic being known as The Queen. Peter saves the day with help from his fellow superheroes, Mary Jane, and his clone Kaine, and eventually all is right with the world... except in Peters', as his girlfriend Carlie Cooper breaks up with him. The aftermath saw Kaine acquire his own ongoing book series (''Scarlet Spider'').

* '''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan''': A 2012-2014 Spider-Man event that saw the ''Amazing Spider-Man'' title dropped and relaunched as the ''Superior Spider-Man''. Following on from the final story arc of ASM, "Superior" sees a new Spider-Man take up the power and the responsibility, only with a vastly superior intellect and a tendency not to pull Peter's normally reserved punches. Although the arc has since ended and the original Spider-Man has returned, there is evidence that his self-proclaimed SuperiorSuccessor may return as a secondary character.

* '''ComicBook/SpiderVerse''': Spider-Man teams up with many, '''many''' other people with Spider-powers as well as AlternateUniverse counterparts of himself in order to stop a danger that threatens them all. Features massive amount of ContinuityPorn as Spider-Men from previous storylines (such as ComicBook/TheCloneSaga and ComicBook/HouseOfM), Spider-themed spin-off books, '''ComicBook/WhatIf''' one-shots, Animated Series, Video Games and even Live Action all interact with each other on the same page while travelling between dimensions in a desperate bid to save themselves from extinction.

* '''Tom [=DeFalco=]'s Spider-Man''': [=DeFalco=] originally succeeded Stern as writer and working with Ron Frenz worked intermittently on Spider-Man in a period where editors such as Jim Owsley (better known as Creator/ChristopherPriestComics more celebrated for his work on ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'') and EIC Creator/JimShooter. His biggest contributions are the storylines expanding on Mary Jane's past and backstory (revealing that she was Peter's SecretSecretKeeper for some time now) and making her Peter's confidant. He also incorporated the major costume change in Spider-Man ''The Alien Costume'' when In 1984, as part of the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', Spider-Man got a new, alien costume that responded to his thoughts. Eventually later writers would make this costume into a symbiote who was attempting to permanently merge with Peter. He also co-created Silver Sable in this time, who would become a Spider-Man fixture and spinoff character in her own right. [=DeFalco=] would be fired and then rehired in-between this run. Creator/PeterDavid meanwhile contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories, namely ''The Commuter Commuteth'' (Amazing Spider-Man #267) which is still the iconic Spider-Man without Manhattan stories (whose gimmicks were adapted scene-for-scene in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'') and ''The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]'' which was published in ''Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man'' between Issues 107-110 in 1986 when Spider-Man's friend, police captain Jean [=DeWolff=], was found murdered in her apartment. The hunt for [=DeWolff=]'s murderer becomes the impetus for an exploration of [[WhatIsEvil moral relativism]] among superheroes, the [[OffOnATechnicality flaws of the criminal justice system]], the [[{{Revenge}} desire for vengeance]], and the clash of values between the idealistic Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} and the pragmatic Spider-Man. This was Creator/PeterDavid's first professional ComicBook writing assignment, and is noted for subverting the comic-book stereotype of HeroicSacrifice in character deaths. [=DeFalco=] returned near the end is notable for contributing Issues #290-293, showing Peter proposing to MJ a second time and this time saying yes, leading to the biggest status-quo shake-up in Spider-Man history since Issue #28 (when Peter graduated High School and went to college), after which he would take over from Shooter as EIC on Marvel, a position he would occupy until the Mid-90s ending when he oversaw the Clone Saga, and continuing after that by working on ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl''.

* '''The Spider-Marriage''': ''The Wedding (The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21)'' was the result of a strange series of circumstances. At a convention Stan Lee and EIC Jim Shooter had been asked by fans if they would have Peter get married to Mary Jane (referring to the newspaper continuity where the two were long the OfficialCouple as opposed to the regular continuity which stuck to a permanent melodrama and rotating love-interest model). Lee, crowd-pleaser that he was shrugged and said he was okay with it, and Shooter having been put on the spot said he was okay with it too. The response was picked up by the media and it was widely popular among fans and general readers, including those who had long given up on reading Spider-Man in the regular continuity for years having grown tired of the StaticCharacter nature of his stories. Both Shooter and Lee hashed out a plan immediately for the big event to coincide together. For brand reasons, Shooter felt that having Peter Parker marry in the newspaper strip and not in the regular continuity, with the former having a general readership beyond comics fans at the time and Lee's own name, potentially delegitimized the regular continuity and led to Marvel losing a major coup with the first major superhero wedding ever (at a time when Superman and Batman in their main continuities were still single). Besides it was also a very popular decision among fans since this was a major status-quo they wanted but it was polarizing among writers and regular comics readers (a smaller number in terms of demographics but more regular and reliable in the long run). So the marriage had to happen in the regular continuity, even if Peter and MJ at this time were friends with strong feelings for one another but also hesitant about starting a relationship again leave alone a marriage. The result was a series of issues in 1987 that saw MJ over three issues resolving her family baggage and saying yes to Peter followed by the famous Annual, published in 1987 and written by David Michelinie, featuring cover art by John Romita Sr. The period of the marriage was immediately followed by a series of iconic storylines starting right out of the gate with ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt.'' This landmark story was published over two months in every monthly Spider-Man title being a kind of crossover in Spider-Titles and it became the first Spider-Man story to be collected in hardcover (or trade paperback, for that matter), and one of ''Marvel's'' first collections. Kraven the Hunter sets out to prove that he's a better man than Spidey, and starts by shooting him and burying him. It was the first major story featuring Spider-Man as a married man. It was followed by ''Venom'' a landmark story that introduced Spider-Man's third great ArchNemesis and the biggest villain in the title since Creator/SteveDitko left. The Symbiote that Spider-Man had driven away by exploiting its AchillesHeel, sonic attacks and loud noise in general, whereupon it merged with a reporter who felt Spider-Man had wronged him and became the recurring villain Venom. Venom was a runaway hit but he went from villain to AntiHeroSubstitute, leading writers to create Venom's own Venom, leading to Carnage. But this marked the start of a run of Spider-Man storylines that proved more and more polarizing leading to ''ComicBook/MaximumCarnage.'' An event from 1993; Carnage recruits C-list villains into a LegionOfDoom, and Spidey recruits a number of heroes ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Venom]]) to stop them. Mainly of note for being the highest-selling multi-title comic series in History (displacing ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'') until ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' - the reason for such a large mega-run was summarized by writer/E.I.C. Tom [=DeFalco=] as being a test to see how a multi-title series would function in the Spidey-verse, something that was tried before, but with a much smaller cast.

* '''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''' During the '90s, it was felt that Spider-Man had strayed too far from the original concept, gathering a bunch of unrelated cruft onto the premise. So, another Peter Parker showed up, and it was [[{{Retcon}} revealed]] that the Spider-Man we'd been following for the past twenty years was a clone. Through ExecutiveMeddling, the storyline became more and more unwieldy, until the whole thing was undone through a series of {{retcon}}s and quietly swept under the rug -- with the main consequence that the original Green Goblin was [[BackFromTheDead back among the living]]. (Oh, and providing a possibly-dead baby to become ComicBook/SpiderGirl in an alternate timeline.)

* '''Creator/GerryConway's Spider-Man''' -- Stan Lee was followed by Gerry Conway, a former fan turned writer who at the age of 18-19 had the daunting task of stepping in Stan Lee's foot-steps. Where Lee worked via Marvel Method, Conway had a strong voice as writer and while working with artists it was his views and ideas that really made it to the story. As such he's seen by some as Spider-Man's first actual writer in the traditional sense. He wrote 110-149 nearly the same amount of issues that Ditko did and in many ways just as important and defining for stories going forward. Conway introduced a slew of iconic characters and concepts -- Hammerhead, The Punisher (who ultimately became his own sub-franchise), the Jackal, the Spider-Mobile. But his most important contribution is ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied.'' A landmark story that ended the Silver Age of Comics, published in 1973. Peter Parker's life had settled down a bit. He was in a steady relationship with Gwen, and started getting some respect from the people around him but there was that snag. Norman Osborn was part of his supporting cast, demoted to an amnesiac lame dad for most of the previous run (save the drug issue) but a walking time bomb waiting to go off as far as Peter was concerned. In issue 121-122, Osborn relapsed into the Green Goblin and decided to hurt Spider-Man and then he just happened to run into Gwen Stacy and this led to a confrontation on the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrives, just in the nick of time, like the song goes...except this time he ''doesn't''. Gwen Stacy dies. ''Never'' before had a superhero failed like this. This also resulted in the first major fan backlash among Spider-Man readers and arguably the first real fan controversy about a superhero storyline ever. Conway's other lasting contribution, is the elevation of Mary Jane Watson as Spider-Man's long-term LoveInterest. His run documented the slow maturity of MJ, and Peter's growing feelings for her, with the two falling in love with each other around the time of the major story that closed Conway's original run - ''The First Clone Saga'' which Conway created as a response to the Gwen Stacy backlash and {{Bookends}} it. A clone of Gwen returns to Peter's life just when he and MJ are moving on. This tests their bond and feelings but in the course of a crazy mind-bending adventure that somehow combines the Silver and Bronze Age (intense scenes of longing, grief, and guilt mixed with goofy confrontation with villains in empty stadiums), Peter realizes that he's no longer the same man who fell for Gwen. He goes back to Mary Jane and the two of them at the close of Issue #149 commit to their love for each other. Conway's final run is often considered a kind of ending to ''Spider-Man'' since it marked the end of his ComingOfAgeStory from teenager to man (what with the final panel implying that he crossed the final [[SexAsARiteOfPassage rite of passage]]). During this time, Conway also wrote and edited the first ever inter-company non-continuity crossover of ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan''.

'''Roger Stern's Spider-Man''': After Conway, Spider-Man entered an uneven period filled with a few strong stories and new characters (namely ''ComicBook/BlackCat'') but was otherwise seen as lacking the spirit and freshness of the previous era. Peter and MJ broke up after she rejected Peter's proposal and an editorially mandated break-up (by Marv Wolfman) to shake things up. MJ would be PutOnABus, Harry Osborn was married to Liz Allan. Roger Stern originally worked on the smaller character-centric ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' before taking over the main title from Issue 206, starting an intermittent run that introduced the Hobgoblin, made Felicia Hardy and Black Cat the third great romance in Spider-Man's life and put out a couple of seminal issues. Most notable was ''The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man''. A small story published as a side-story in a single issue (''Amazing'' #248) it ended up over-shadowing the A-Story and celebrated as one of the most humanistic and stirring moments in the entire mythos where Spidey visits one of his fans and just spends time chatting, even revealing himself as Peter Parker and explaining his origins to a total stranger. It's only at the end that we learn that the boy is a LittlestCancerPatient with days left to live, wishing to meet his hero before he passed on. Stern also wrote ''Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut'' (Issue #229-230) one of the greatest battle issues and fights in Spider-Man's career. Towards the end Stern returned Mary Jane to the regular continuity, and set up the love triangle between MJ-Peter-Felicia as the replacement for the classic one. Stern also wrote a mystery for the Hobgoblin but decided to quit before revealing it, starting a problem for the character that he would resolve belatedly in TheNineties with ''Hobgoblin Lives!''.

* '''Tom [=DeFalco=]'s Spider-Man''': [=DeFalco=] originally succeeded Stern as writer and working with Ron Frenz worked intermittently on Spider-Man in a period where editors such as Jim Owsley (better known as Creator/ChristopherPriestComics more celebrated for his work on ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'') and EIC Creator/JimShooter. His biggest contributions are the storylines expanding on Mary Jane's past and backstory (revealing that she was Peter's SecretSecretKeeper for some time now) and making her Peter's confidant. He also incorporated the major costume change in Spider-Man ''The Alien Costume'' when In 1984, as part of the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', Spider-Man got a new, alien costume that responded to his thoughts. Eventually later writers would make this costume into a symbiote who was attempting to permanently merge with Peter. He also co-created Silver Sable in this time, who would become a Spider-Man fixture and spinoff character in her own right. [=DeFalco=] would be fired and then rehired in-between this run. Creator/PeterDavid meanwhile contributed a few seminal Spider-Man stories, namely ''The Commuter Commuteth'' (Amazing Spider-Man #267) which is still the iconic Spider-Man without Manhattan stories (whose gimmicks were adapted scene-for-scene in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'') and ''The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]'' which was published in ''Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man'' between Issues 107-110 in 1986 when Spider-Man's friend, police captain Jean [=DeWolff=], was found murdered in her apartment. The hunt for [=DeWolff=]'s murderer becomes the impetus for an exploration of [[WhatIsEvil moral relativism]] among superheroes, the [[OffOnATechnicality flaws of the criminal justice system]], the [[{{Revenge}} desire for vengeance]], and the clash of values between the idealistic Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} and the pragmatic Spider-Man. This was Creator/PeterDavid's first professional ComicBook writing assignment, and is noted for subverting the comic-book stereotype of HeroicSacrifice in character deaths. [=DeFalco=] returned near the end is notable for contributing Issues #290-293, showing Peter proposing to MJ a second time and this time saying yes, leading to the biggest status-quo shake-up in Spider-Man history since Issue #28 (when Peter graduated High School and went to college).

'''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt:''' The first Spider-Man story to be collected in hardcover (or trade paperback, for that matter), and one of ''Marvel's'' first collections. Kraven the Hunter sets out to prove that he's a better man than Spidey, and starts by shooting him and burying him. A multi-title story, and written in a somewhat experimental style. It was also the first major story featuring Spider-Man as a married man, having just recently wed ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson.

He managed to drive it away by exploiting its AchillesHeel, sonic attacks and loud noise in general, whereupon it merged with a reporter who felt Spider-Man had wronged him and became the recurring villain Venom.

'''ComicBook/MaximumCarnage:''' An event from 1993; Carnage recruits C-list villains into a LegionOfDoom, and Spidey recruits a number of heroes ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Venom]]) to stop them. Mainly of note for being the highest-selling multi-title comic series in History (displacing ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'') until ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' - the reason for such a large mega-run was summarized by writer/E.I.C. Tom [=DeFalco=] as being a test to see how a multi-title series would function in the Spidey-verse, something that was tried before, but with a much smaller cast.

'''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''': During the '90s, it was felt that Spider-Man had strayed too far from the original concept, gathering a bunch of unrelated cruft onto the premise. So, another Peter Parker showed up, and it was [[{{Retcon}} revealed]] that the Spider-Man we'd been following for the past twenty years was a clone. Through ExecutiveMeddling, the storyline became more and more unwieldy, until the whole thing was undone through a series of {{retcon}}s and quietly swept under the rug -- with the main consequence that the original Green Goblin was [[BackFromTheDead back among the living]]. (Oh, and providing a possibly-dead baby to become ComicBook/SpiderGirl in an alternate timeline.)

'''ComicBook/OneMoreDay:''' End of ''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan'' run. After Aunt May takes a bullet meant for him, Peter becomes so distraught that he's willing to make a DealWithTheDevil to fix things. But the price is amazingly steep... Editor Joe Quesada... Er, Mephisto wants to suck all the happiness out of Peter's life, and so demands his marriage to Mary Jane declared null and void. As side effects, Peter's identity (which was public since ''Comicbook/CivilWar'') is a secret once more and Harry Osborn is alive again. And of course, writers can start screwing with Peter's love life again. This later led to '''ComicBook/OneMomentInTime''', a followup story (or ''[[FunWithAcronyms OMIT]]'', if you're so inclined), that showed exactly what happened on what was supposed to be Peter and MJ's wedding day, as well as how things fell apart between them after ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''.

'''ComicBook/SpiderIsland''': An event story from 2011 which spanned all of the ongoing Spider-Man satellite books as well as much of the Marvel Universe. A mysterious viral outbreak grants the whole of Manhattan powers similar to Peter Parker's. Anarchy soon follows, and things are complicated further as Spidey's old foe The Jackal resurfaces and takes advantage of the chaos with the aid of the enigmatic being known as The Queen. Peter saves the day with help from his fellow superheroes, Mary Jane, and his clone Kaine, and eventually all is right with the world... except in Peters', as his girlfriend Carlie Cooper breaks up with him. The aftermath saw Kaine acquire his own ongoing book series (''Scarlet Spider'').

'''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan''': A 2012-2014 Spider-Man event that saw the ''Amazing Spider-Man'' title dropped and relaunched as the ''Superior Spider-Man''. Following on from the final story arc of ASM, "Superior" sees a new Spider-Man take up the power and the responsibility, only with a vastly superior intellect and a tendency not to pull Peter's normally reserved punches. Although the arc has since ended and the original Spider-Man has returned, there is evidence that his self-proclaimed SuperiorSuccessor may return as a secondary character.

'''ComicBook/SpiderVerse''': Spider-Man teams up with many, '''many''' other people with Spider-powers as well as AlternateUniverse counterparts of himself in order to stop a danger that threatens them all. Features massive amount of ContinuityPorn as Spider-Men from previous storylines (such as ComicBook/TheCloneSaga and ComicBook/HouseOfM), Spider-themed spin-off books, '''ComicBook/WhatIf''' one-shots, Animated Series, Video Games and even Live Action all interact with each other on the same page while travelling between dimensions in a desperate bid to save themselves from extinction.

* '''Creator/GerryConway's Spider-Man''' -- Stan Lee was followed by Gerry Conway, a former fan turned writer who at the age of 18-19 had the daunting task of stepping in Stan Lee's foot-steps. Where Lee worked via Marvel Method, Conway had a strong voice as writer and while working with artists it was his views and ideas that really made it to the story. As such he's seen by some as Spider-Man's first actual writer in the traditional sense. He wrote 110-149 nearly the same amount of issues that Ditko did and in many ways just as important and defining for stories going forward. Conway introduced a slew of iconic characters and concepts -- Hammerhead, The Punisher (who ultimately became his own sub-franchise), the Jackal, the Spider-Mobile. But his most important contribution is ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied.'' A landmark story that ended the Silver Age of Comics, published in 1973. Peter Parker's life had settled down a bit. He was in a steady relationship with Gwen, and started getting some respect from the people around him but there was that snag. Norman Osborn was part of his supporting cast, demoted to an amnesiac lame dad for most of the previous run (save the drug issue) but a walking time bomb waiting to go off as far as Peter was concerned. In issue 121-122, Osborn relapsed into the Green Goblin and decided to hurt Spider-Man and then he just happened to run into Gwen Stacy and this led to a confrontation on the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrives, just in the nick of time, like the song goes...except this time he ''doesn't''. Gwen Stacy dies. ''Never'' before had a superhero failed like this. This also resulted in the first major fan backlash among Spider-Man readers and arguably the first real fan controversy about a superhero storyline ever. Conway's other lasting contribution, is the elevation of Mary Jane Watson as Spider-Man's long-term LoveInterest. His run documented the slow maturity of MJ, and Peter's growing feelings for her, with the two falling in love with each other around the time of the major story that closed Conway's original run - ''The First Clone Saga'' which Conway created as a response to the Gwen Stacy backlash where a clone of Gwen returns to Peter's life just when he and MJ are moving on. This tests their bond and feelings but in the course of a crazy mind-bending adventure that somehow combines the Silver and Bronze Age (intense scenes of longing, grief, and guilt mixed with goofy confrontation with villains in empty stadiums), Peter realizes that he's no longer the same man who fell for Gwen. He goes back to Mary Jane and the two of them at the close of Issue #149 commit to their love for each other. Conway's final run is often considered a kind of ending to ''Spider-Man'' since it marked the end of his ComingOfAgeStory from teenager to man (what with the final panel implying that he crossed the final [[SexAsARiteOfPassage rite of passage]]). During this time, Conway also wrote and edited the first ever inter-company non-continuity crossover of ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan''.

'''The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man:''' Unlike the other stories here, this isn't a big, world-changing storyline. It's just a single issue (''Amazing'' #248), but it's well-loved as one of Spider-Man's biggest [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Crowning Moments of Heartwarming]]. The main story is a fight against a guy named Thunderball, but the memorable part is the backup story where Spidey visits one of his fans and just spends time chatting, even revealing himself as Peter Parker (the kid loves the irony of how Peter sells pictures of himself to Jameson) and explaining how his failure with Uncle Ben drove him to crimefighting. It's only at the end that we learn that the boy is a LittlestCancerPatient with days left to live, wishing to meet his hero before he passed on.

'''The Alien Costume:''' In 1984, as part of the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', Spider-Man got a new, alien costume that responded to his thoughts. Eventually, it was revealed that the costume was a symbiote who was attempting to permanently merge with Peter. He managed to drive it away by exploiting its AchillesHeel, sonic attacks and loud noise in general, whereupon it merged with a reporter who felt Spider-Man had wronged him and became the recurring villain Venom.

'''The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]:''' In 1986, Spider-Man's friend, police captain Jean [=DeWolff=], was found murdered in her apartment. The hunt for [=DeWolff=]'s murderer becomes the impetus for an exploration of [[WhatIsEvil moral relativism]] among superheroes, the [[OffOnATechnicality flaws of the criminal justice system]], the [[{{Revenge}} desire for vengeance]], and the clash of values between the idealistic Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} and the pragmatic Spider-Man. This was Creator/PeterDavid's first professional ComicBook writing assignment, and is noted for subverting the comic-book stereotype of HeroicSacrifice in character deaths.

* ''Creator/GerryConway's Spider-Man''' -- Stan Lee was followed by Gerry Conway, a former fan turned writer who at the age of 18-19 had the daunting task of stepping in Stan Lee's foot-steps. Conway was the first writer to actually belong to Spider-Man's original reading public, and the first one who can claim to be part of the generation that Peter Parker originally belonged to pre-ComicBookTime (post-war Baby Boomer being). Where Lee worked via Marvel Method, Conway had a strong voice as writer and while working with artists it was his views and ideas that really made it to the story. As such he's seen by some as Spider-Man's first actual writer in the traditional sense. He wrote 110-149 nearly the same amount of issues that Ditko did and in many ways just as important and defining for stories going forward. Conway introduced a slew of iconic characters and concepts -- Hammerhead, The Punisher (who ultimately became his own sub-franchise), the Jackal, the Spider-Mobile. But his most important contribution is ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied.'' A landmark story that ended the Silver Age of Comics, published in 1973. The status-quo left by Lee and Romita had gotten too secure and stable and the time was needed for the death of a major character to shake up stakes since the death of Captain George Stacy had already been forgotten. Peter Parker's life had settled down a bit. He was in a steady relationship with Gwen, and started getting some respect from the people around him but there was that snag. Norman Osborn was part of his supporting cast, demoted to an amnesiac lame dad for most of the previous run, but a walking time bomb waiting to go off as far as Peter was concerned. In issue 121-122, Osborn relapsed into the Green Goblin and decided to hurt Spider-Man and then he just happened to run into Gwen Stacy and this led to a confrontation on the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrives, just in the nick of time, like the song goes...except this time he ''doesn't''. Gwen Stacy, the love of Peter's early life, dies. ''Never'' before had a superhero failed like this. This also resulted in the first major fan backlash among Spider-Man readers and arguably the first real fan controversy. Spider-Man had now broken definitively from the shadow of Stan Lee and was going its own course. Conway's more lasting contribution, is the elevation of Mary Jane Watson as Spider-Man's long-term LoveInterest based on the opinions and sentiments of fans who had always preferred her over Gwen. His run documented the slow maturity of MJ, and Peter's growing feelings for her, with the two falling in love with each other around the time of the major story that closed Conway's original run - ''The First Clone Saga'' which Conway created as a response to the Gwen Stacy backlash where a clone of Gwen returns to Peter's life just when he and MJ are moving on. This tests their bond and feelings but in the course of a crazy mind-bending adventure that somehow combines the Silver and Bronze Age (intense scenes of longing, grief, and guilt mixed with goofy confrontation with villains in empty stadiums), Peter realizes that he's no longer the same man who fell for Gwen. He goes back to Mary Jane and the two of them at the close of Issue #149 commit to their love for each other. Conway's final run is often considered a kind of ending to ''Spider-Man'' since it marked the end of his ComingOfAgeStory from teenager to man (what with the finale implying that he crossed the final [[SexAsARiteOfPassage rite of passage]]). During this time, Conway also wrote and edited the first inter-company non-continuity crossover of ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan''.

Of course, he persevered, and with his powers, his native intelligence, and his nifty [[AppliedPhlebotinum web-shooters]], he went on to battle a bevy of strange supervillains. One of the best parts of Spider-Man's clashes with villainy was his [[TalkingIsAFreeAction nonstop fight patter]]. Even in the most dire of straits, Spidey could be counted on to deflate the {{mad scientist}}'s ego with a cutting remark, which made him everything from a DeadpanSnarker to a master of LampshadeHanging. Spider-Man was in many ways JackOfAllStats of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. While he wasn't the fastest, strongest, smartest or most skilled hero there was, Spidey possessed enough of all these qualities to be able to handle a wide variety of situations and villains.

Another storytelling element introduced and popularized for the comic book medium by the able Spider-Man authors is the sub-plot, a StoryArc related to his personal life woven into the arc of his troubles with a particular villain. Some ongoing sub-plots were the troubles of Spidey's love life -- at various times, Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy, and especially Mary Jane Watson, were all in the running; the identity of the Green Goblin and the troubles it brought to Peter's friend Harry Osborn; and Spider-Man being distrusted by the SuperHero community at large, leading to many LetsYouAndHimFight sequences. As time went on, subplots were also used to develop the supporting cast members by giving them ADayInTheLimelight.

There have been several seminal storylines, each of which defined the web-slinger during a certain era; these are the ones that are most often adapted into DerivativeWorks and referenced by later authors.

'''ComicBook/LeeDitkoSpiderMan''' -- The original run of Spider-Man by its co-creators has many of the most iconic and often reproduced elements of the entire mythos. This includes ''Amazing Fantasy #15'', Spider-Man's iconic OriginsEpisode originally published in the last issue of an anthology comic but an immediate success and hit. The iconic cover by Creator/JackKirby, the art by Creator/SteveDitko and Creator/StanLee's dialogues created one of the greatest stories, with a fable like simplicity about how Peter's life goes on a rollercoaster from nobody to somebody and then comes crashing down when tragedy strikes him. The success of this story led to Spidey's flagship title, ''Amazing Spider-Man #1-38.'' It featured the first and seminal appearances of many classic Spider-Man villains, Spider-Man's supporting cast, and showing the character growing and maturing almost in real time from high school student to college student which happened in what's considered the masterpiece of this era, ''If This Be My Destiny'', aka the Master Planner arc.

'''Green Goblin Reborn!:''' In 1971, the U.S. Department of Health approached Marvel and asked them to do an anti-drug storyline. But there was one little problem: UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode forbade drugs anywhere, both good and bad. Marvel decided to write a three-parter where Harry Osborn was shown to be popping pills and ignore Comics Code approval for those three issues. Along with ''ComicBook/GreenLantern[=/=]ComicBook/GreenArrow'' doing a heroin storyline the same year, this was one of the first signs of transition to the socially- and politically-conscious [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age of Comics]].

'''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied:''' By 1973, Peter Parker's life had settled down a bit. He was in a steady relationship with Gwen, and started getting some respect from the people around him... and then, they dropped the big one. The Green Goblin, the first villain who deciphered Spider-Man's identity, had undergone EasyAmnesia and retreated to civilian identity albeit returning for the famous drug issue but he relapsed big time in 1973, when he kidnapped Gwen and then dropped her off a bridge... and Peter couldn't quite save her. ''Never'' before had a superhero failed to save their [[DistressedDamsel girlfriend]] from the villain's DeathTrap. Unlike many supporting cast deaths, this one had actual consequences. Peter's next door neighbor, kind and feisty Party Girl Mary Jane Watson, who had been one of Gwen's best friends, [[CharacterDevelopment became more serious and sensitive]], and drifted toward a romance with Peter; (though it was later revealed she had always loved Peter from a distance before they even met) the Green Goblin was dead, having accidentally impaled himself as he fought the furious Spider-Man afterwards. For the comics industry as a whole, this was pretty much ''the'' sign that UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} was over.

'''Amazing Fantasy #15''': Spider-Man's iconic OriginsEpisode originally published in the last issue of an anthology comic but an immediate success and hit. The iconic cover (up top) by Creator/JackKirby, the art by Creator/SteveDitko and Creator/StanLee's dialogues created one of the greatest stories, with a fable like simplicity about how Peter's life goes on a rollercoaster from nobody to somebody and then comes crashing down when tragedy strikes him.

'''Amazing Spider-Man #1-38''': Otherwise known as the Stan-Lee and Steve Ditko era, owing to the strong artwork by co-creator Ditko and for the fact that the title was abruptly marked by his mysterious and never-explained departure from Marvel. It featured the first and seminal appearances of many classic Spider-Man villains, Spider-Man's supporting cast, and showing the character growing and maturing almost in real time from high school student to college student which happened in what's considered the masterpiece of this era, "If This Be My Destiny", aka the Master Planner arc.

'''Amazing Spider-Man #1-38''': [[ComicBook/LeeDitkosSpiderMan Otherwise known as the Stan-Lee and Steve Ditko era]], owing to the strong artwork by co-creator Ditko and for the fact that the title was abruptly marked by his mysterious and never-explained departure from Marvel. It featured the first and seminal appearances of many classic Spider-Man villains, Spider-Man's supporting cast, and showing the character growing and maturing almost in real time from high school student to college student which happened in what's considered the masterpiece of this era, "If This Be My Destiny", aka the Master Planner arc.

'''Amazing Spider-Man #1-38''': Otherwise known as the Steve Ditko era, owing to the strong artwork by co-creator Ditko and for the fact that the title was abruptly marked by his mysterious and never-explained departure from Marvel. It featured the first and seminal appearances of many classic Spider-Man villains, Spider-Man's supporting cast, and showing the character growing and maturing almost in real time from high school student to college student which happened in what's considered the masterpiece of this era, "If This Be My Destiny", aka the Master Planner arc.

[[caption-width-right:300:Spidey's first appearance, August 1962.]]

''Amazing Spider-Man #1-38''': Otherwise known as the Steve Ditko era, owing to the strong artwork by co-creator Ditko and for the fact that the title was abruptly marked by his mysterious and never-explained departure from Marvel. It featured the first and seminal appearances of many classic Spider-Man villains, Spider-Man's supporting cast, and showing the character growing and maturing almost in real time from high school student to college student which happened in what's considered the masterpiece of this era, "If This Be My Destiny", aka the Master Planner arc.

'''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied:''' By 1973, Peter Parker's life had settled down a bit. He was in a steady relationship with Gwen, and started getting some respect from the people around him... and then, they dropped the big one.

The Green Goblin, who had been revealed to be Harry's father Norman Osborn, kidnapped Gwen. Threatening her in the usual supervillain style, he dropped her off a bridge... and Peter couldn't quite save her. It was recently revealed that Spider-Man's web was the [[KilledOffForReal cause of her death]], as it caused her neck to break.[[note]]In ''The Physics of Superheroes'' by Professor James Kakalios, he explains that it really didn't matter whether or not Spidey had let her fall or caught her the way he did - if she'd hit the water she would still have broken her neck. However, later on in the comics and the first film, he's seen jumping off after a falling character and catching them mid-flight, then using a web to anchor himself. Assuming his arm's able to take more punishment because, hey, he's Spider-Man, this is entirely plausible (at least according to Kakalios), and so the angst may yet be justified. Considering that Pete's supposed to be some kind of wunderkind it's hard to see why he didn't understand that himself and spare the fanbase a lot of arguing - and the Green Goblin says something to the effect that she was already dead, which, considering HE'S supposed to be a genius too...[[/note]]

''Never'' before had a superhero failed to save their [[DistressedDamsel girlfriend]] from the villain's DeathTrap. Unlike many supporting cast deaths, this one had actual consequences. Peter's next door neighbor, kind and feisty Party Girl Mary Jane Watson, who had been one of Gwen's best friends, [[CharacterDevelopment became more serious and sensitive]], and drifted toward a romance with Peter; (though it was later revealed she had always loved Peter from a distance before they even met) the Green Goblin was dead, having accidentally impaled himself as he fought the furious Spider-Man afterwards. For the comics industry as a whole, this was pretty much ''the'' sign that UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} was over.

'''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt:''' The first Spider-Man story to be collected in hardcover (or trade paperback, for that matter), and one of ''Marvel's'' first collections. Kraven the Hunter sets out to prove that he's a better man than Spidey, and starts by shooting him and burying him. A multi-title story, and written in a somewhat experimental style.

'''ComicBook/OneMoreDay:''' End of ''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan'' run. After Aunt May takes a bullet meant for him, Peter becomes so distraught that he's willing to make a DealWithTheDevil to fix things. But the price is amazingly steep... Editor Joe Quesada... Er, Mephisto wants to suck all the happiness out of Peter's life, and so demands his marriage to Mary Jane declared null and void. As side effects, Peter's identity (which was public since ''Comicbook/CivilWar'') is a secret once more and Harry Osborn is alive again. And of course, writers can start screwing with Peter's love life again.

'''ComicBook/OneMomentInTime''': A followup story (or ''[[FunWithAcronyms OMIT]]'', if you're so inclined), that showed exactly what happened on what was supposed to be Peter and MJ's wedding day, as well as how things fell apart between them after ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''.

'''ComicBook/SpiderIsland''': An event story from 2011 which spanned all of the ongoing Spider-Man satellite books as well as much of the Marvel Universe. A mysterious viral outbreak grants the whole of Manhattan powers similar to Peter Parker's. Anarchy soon follows, and things are complicated further as Spidey's old foe The Jackal resurfaces and takes advantage of the chaos with the aid of the enigmatic being known as The Queen. Peter saves the day with help from his fellow superheroes, Mary Jane, and his clone Kaine, and eventually all is right with the world... except in Peters', as his girlfriend Carlie Cooper breaks up with him. The aftermath saw Kaine acquire his own ongoing book series (''Scarlet Spider'') and set the stage for a future Peter/MJ reunion... sounds all well and good right?

He's been played by three actors in three different film franchises to date: Creator/TobeyMaguire in the original ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Creator/AndrewGarfield in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'', and Creator/TomHolland in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, while Creator/JohnKrasinski voices him in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse''.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AmazingFantasy15.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Spidey's first appearance, August 1962.]]

He's been played by three actors in three different film franchises to date: Creator/TobeyMaguire in the original ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Creator/AndrewGarfield in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'', and Creator/TomHolland in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.