History CommonKnowledge / SpiderMan

* Everyone knows that Spider-Man is a teenager, which has led to much mocking about Creator/TobeyMaguire and Creator/AndrewGarfield being too old to play the high school student. This has led many to claim that this is why Creator/TomHolland's films were more accurate in the comics since he was cast when he was 19. While Maguire and Garfield were in their late twenties while their iterations of the characters were 18 and 17 respectively, and many adaptations also depict him as a high schooler, in the comics, Spider-Man hasn't been in high school since ''1965'', having graduated in issue 28 before attending ESU in issue 31. This means that he was only in high school for three years, and over the next few decades Peter aged into his late twenties before ComicBookTime really stopped his progression. As a result, many of his most beloved and iconic storylines and supporting cast came after he graduated.

** Another one that's been pointed out after the first issue of 2019's ''The Amazing Mary Jane'', but the aforementioned popular perception of MJ being an unattainable wish-fulfilment character for a GiveGeeksAChance story often ignores that MJ herself is ''pretty adorkable'' herself; her first appearance has her happily, goofily dancing to music on the TV, and her upbeat energy generally gives her a fun weirdo vibe. Again, part of this is adaptations often downplay this to composite her with Liz and Gwen, who ''were'' popular girl types, even as the latter was re-written to be a nerd like Peter in modern updates.

* Despite the name, ComicBook/SpiderWoman (Jessica Drew) is ''not'' a DistaffCounterpart of ComicBook/SpiderMan, and she has no connection to him whatsoever. Apart from having a [[AnimalMotifs spider gimmick]] and a few of the same superpowers, they have practically nothing in common. Jessica got her powers from a chemical serum created by her scientist father (not a radioactive spider), she primarily works as a spy (not a reporter), and she has plenty of powers that Peter Parker doesn't have--including energy blasts and pheromone manipulation. By most accounts, Creator/MarvelComics only created the character to prevent another company from claiming the rights to the name "Spider-Woman", and they never intended her to be a part of Spider-Man's supporting cast.[[note]] There have been several other characters called "Spider-Woman" over the years, and most of them have been similarly independent from Spider-Man. Julia Carpenter was a government agent with psychic powers, and she got her powers after she was a human test subject in a government experiment; Mattie Franklin got her powers from a magic ritual, and she became a superhero to "replace" Spider-Man while he was temporarily retired; and Charlotte Witter is a supervillain who was mutated into a grotesque human-spider hybrid by ComicBook/DoctorOctopus. The Ultimate Universe version is an OppositeSexClone.[[/note]]

* As far as most folks know, Franchise/SpiderMan's chief superpower is his ability to shoot webs. Except this is ''not'' among his superpowers at all. Web shooting was instead the ability of a device Peter Parker had built for himself. Spider-Man's actual superpowers are his ability to cling to walls, his "SpiderSense", and superhuman strength and agility, which all help leverage the usefulness of the device. It's only in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' movies that he gained the power to shoot webs naturally, although this did [[RetCanon make its way to the comics]], [[SnapBack briefly]].

* Thanks to most adaptions being insistent on only using Venom as a villain, thus either never adapting past Venom's very first appearances or preferring to adapt Ultimate!Venom, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries the adaption deviations of the symbiote corrupting Peter and instead introducing Eddie as a rival coworker who forged fake photographs]] and finally Gargan introducing the concept of Venom truly eating people, everyone knows Venom as a purely villainous monster that used to work at the Daily Bugle and is obsessed with eating people. In truth, the Venom symbiote did not corrupt Peter at all and instead took Peter's body out at night to fight crime in a misguided attempt to both please Peter after he made a offhand comment and out of its desire to be a hero. Even saving Peter's life from his own attempt to get rid of it. Meanwhile, Eddie was actually a journalist from the rival newspaper called the Daily Globe that exposed the identity of a serial killer known as the Sin Eater. (retcons have revealed Eddie was right) After Spider-Man and Daredevil catches a copy cat seemingly debunking Eddie's story, Eddie's life falls apart and so he goes to the church where Peter rid himself of the symbiote to ask forgiveness for the suicide he was about to commit. While Venom did start out similar to his adaptions, caring very little for innocent life, this didn't last for long. Instead Venom was quickly made into a NobleDemon type anti-villain that limited their revenge solely to Peter, saving both innocent people and even Peter's loved ones if they got caught in the crossfire of their fights with Spidey or was in danger from another criminal, which led to their popularity skyrocketing. As a result Venom was transitioned into a goofy anti-hero, which became Eddie's new status quo. (to the point that Eddie has been a good guy longer than he has been a villain) While Eddie would use cannibalistic threats against both Peter and the criminals he fought, it was only a scare tactic. With Eddie only fully giving into a symbiote's hunger when bonded to the Toxin symbiote, otherwise he was able to resist doing so by feeding the Venom symbiote chocolate. Also the Venom symbiote wasn't as ravenous as adaptions make it out to be, only really demanding food if starved for a lengthy period of time or after fully being corrupted.

* The Klyntar--the Venom symbiote's species--are ''not'' an AlwaysChaoticEvil race bent on destruction. This originally ''appeared'' to be the case, but it's since been established in ''ComicBook/VenomDonnyCates'' that they're actually a peaceful race. They were previously corrupted by [[GodOfEvil Knull]], who forced them to conquer other worlds, but they [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone deeply regretted their past actions]] after overthrowing him, and even tried to atone by [[TheAtoner spreading peace throughout the universe]]. Most of the villainous Klyntar that Spider-Man has encountered over the years (like ComicBook/{{Venom}} and ComicBook/{{Carnage}}) were corrupted by their hosts' negative emotions, contributing to the misconception.

* Everyone knows that Spider-Man is a teenager, which has led to much mocking about Creator/TobeyMaguire and Creator/AndrewGarfield being too old to play the high school student. This has led many to claim that this is way Creator/TomHolland's films were more accurate in the comics since he was cast when he was 19. While Maguire and Garfield were in their late twenties while their iterations of the characters were 18 and 17 respectively, and many adaptations also depict him as a high schooler, in the comics, Spider-Man hasn't been in high school since ''1965'', having graduated in issue 28 before attending ESU in issue 31. This means that he was only in high school for three years, and over the next few decades Peter aged into his late twenties before ComicBookTime really stopped his progression. As a result, many of his most beloved and iconic storylines and supporting cast came after he graduated.

* Everyone knows that Spider-Man is a teenager, which has led to much mocking about Creator/TobeyMaguire and Creator/AndrewGarfield being too old to play the high school student. This has led many to claim that this is way Creator/TomHolland's films were more accurate in the comics since he was cast when he was 19. While Maguire and Garfield were in their late twenties while their iterations of the characters were 18 and 17 respectively, Spider-Man hasn't been in high school since ''1965'', having graduated in issue 28 before attending ESU in issue 31. This means that he was only in high school for three years, and over the next few decades Peter aged into his late twenties before ComicBookTime really stopped his progression. As a result, many of his most beloved and iconic storylines and supporting cast came after he graduated.

* Contrary to popular belief, the AlternateUniverse version of Gwen Stacy from Earth-65 (the world where Peter died, and Gwen became a superhero) isn't ''actually'' named "ComicBook/SpiderGwen". That's [[IAmNotShazam the title]] of the comic book that she originally starred in, but her name was actually "ComicBook/SpiderWoman"; Marvel elected not to call the book ''Spider-Woman'' to avoid confusion with Jessica Drew's series (which was still ongoing at the time). More recently, she's begun going by the name "[[ComicBook/GhostSpider2019 Ghost-Spider]]".
* Everyone knows that Uncle Ben told Peter that ''"{{With great power comes great responsibility}}"''. Actually, when this famous line first appeared in ''Amazing Fantasy #15'', Uncle Ben didn't say it. In fact, ''nobody'' said it: it was a line in the narration. The various ''Spider-Man'' adaptations popularized the idea that Uncle Ben said it shortly before his death, and the idea proved so popular that [[{{Retcanon}} the comics retroactively worked it in]]. The idea that the quote is Peter's personal motto isn't incorrect, but [[NewerThanTheyThink it's a relatively recent addition to the comics]].

* Everybody knows that Peter often has a poor love life because of his double life as Spider-Man, and he's wary about dating because he doesn't want to involve a woman in his dangerous life. This idea mostly originated in the Creator/SamRaimi movies, which used it as a convenient source of drama. In the comics, Peter has a ''very'' active love life, and he's been dating various women more-or-less constantly since he became Spider-Man. Even [[ILetGwenStacyDie Gwen Stacy's murder]]--usually portrayed as the most traumatic experience of his life--didn't really put him off dating, and he began dating Mary Jane Watson almost immediately after mourning Gwen.

* The Klyntar--the Venom symbiote's species--are ''not'' an AlwaysChaoticEvil race bent on destruction. This originally ''appeared'' to be the case, but it's since been established in ''ComicBook/DonnyCatesVenom'' that they're actually a peaceful race. They were previously corrupted by [[GodOfEvil Knull]], who forced them to conquer other worlds, but they [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone deeply regretted their past actions]] after overthrowing him, and even tried to atone by [[TheAtoner spreading peace throughout the universe]]. Most of the villainous Klyntar that Spider-Man has encountered over the years (like ComicBook/{{Venom}} and ComicBook/{{Carnage}}) were corrupted by their hosts' negative emotions, contributing to the misconception.

* Everyone knows that Uncle Ben told Peter that ''"With great power {{comes great responsibility}}"''. Actually, when this famous line first appeared in ''Amazing Fantasy #15'', Uncle Ben didn't say it. In fact, ''nobody'' said it: it was a line in the narration. The various ''Spider-Man'' adaptations popularized the idea that Uncle Ben said it shortly before his death, and the idea proved so popular that [[{{Retcanon}} the comics retroactively worked it in]]. The idea that the quote is Peter's personal motto isn't incorrect, but [[NewerThanTheyThink it's a relatively recent addition to the comics]].

* Everybody knows that ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson is a classic DamselInDistress who constantly needs to be saved by Spider-Man. While this might be true in [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy the live-action films]] (where she's something of an AdaptationalWimp), the comics have pretty consistently portrayed her as a spunky and empowered woman who has no problem fending for herself--which is part of the reason why [[EnsembleDarkhorse she became a fan favorite]] compared to Peter's other girlfriends.[[note]] Ironically, Creator/EmmaStone's portrayal of Gwen Stacy in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' (who was something of a CompositeCharacter) is a much closer approximation of MJ's portrayal in the comics.[[/note]]

* As far as most folks know, Franchise/SpiderMan's chief superpower is his ability to shoot webs. Unfortunately, this is ''not'' among his super powers at all. Webshooting was instead the ability of a device Peter Parker had built for himself. Spider-Man's actual super powers are his ability to cling to walls, his "spider sense", and superhuman strength and agility, which all help leverage the usefulness of the device. It's only in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' movies that he gained the power to shoot webs naturally, although this did [[RetCanon make its way to the comics]], [[SnapBack briefly]].

* Despite the name, ComicBook/SpiderWoman (Jessica Drew) is ''not'' a DistaffCounterpart of ComicBook/SpiderMan, and she has no connection to him whatsoever. Apart from having a [[AnimalMotifs spider gimmick]] and a few of the same superpowers, they have practically nothing in common. Jessica got her powers from a chemical serum created by her scientist father (not a radioactive spider), she primarily works as a spy (not a reporter), and she has plenty of powers that Peter Parker doesn't have--including energy blasts and pheromone manipulation. By most accounts, Creator/MarvelComics only created the character to prevent another company from claiming the rights to the name "Spider-Woman", and they never intended her to be a part of Spider-Man's supporting cast.[[note]] There have been several other characters called "Spider-Woman" over the years, and most of them have been similarly independent from Spider-Man. Julia Carpenter was a government agent with psychic powers, and she got her powers after she was a human test subject in a government experiment; Mattie Franklin got her powers from a magic ritual, and she became a superhero to "replace" Spider-Man while he was temporarily retired; and Charlotte Witter is a supervillain who was mutated into a grotesque human-spider hybrid by ComicBook/DoctorOctopus.[[/note]]

* As far as most folks know, Franchise/SpiderMan's chief superpower is his ability to shoot webs. Unfortunately, this is ''not'' among his super powers at all. Webshooting was instead the ability of a device Peter Parker had built for himself. Spider-Man's actual super powers are his ability to cling to walls, his "spider sense", and superhuman strength and agility, which all help leverage the usefulness of the device. It's only in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' movies that he gained the power to shoot webs naturally, although this did [[CanonImmigrant make its way to the comics]], [[SnapBack briefly]].

* In the early days, La Prensa reprinted the Spider-Man comics in Mexico, in Spanish. It was a huge sucess so they started printing at a higher pace than Marvel's own publication speed (2 issues a month instead of 1), but to keep up with that they asked Marvel permission to create their own Spider-Man comics as well. Marvel greenlighted the Mexican artist Jose Luis Duran, and gave him full creative freedom. ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied took place, but in Mexico, we had a comic where Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy got married! But no, contrary to popular belief they did not took advantage of the deal to ignore the event and make a FixFic of sorts. The episode of the marriage was actually AllJustADream, and they did not publish the death of Gwen simply because they were still behind schedule and got out of business before getting to that point.

* Gwen Stacy's death is often seen as noted by Creator/BobChipman in his comics lore videos as "Spider-Man's second origin story" one which made him distance himself from relationships out of fears for the safety of his loved ones. In actual fact, Peter never did such a thing. Immediately after Gwen's death, Peter fell in love with Mary Jane, and after they broke up for the first time, he had some dead-end relationships with rebound girls, before falling in with Felicia Hardy. In fact Peter is almost never really "single" for a great deal of time. Much of this seems to be based on AudienceColoringAdaptation from the end of the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' where [[spoiler:Peter backs away from MJ after she returns his affections]] but that is an invention of the film, whereas Peter in the comics never was or never considered becoming any kind of CelibateHero where despite setbacks, he is essentially optimistic that somehow he will do better next time and make things work somehow in his next relationship.

* Everyone knows "With great power, ComesGreatResponsibility" is a line from Uncle Ben given to the young Peter Parker before he became Spider-Man after his death. While the line is said by him in many adaptations, it was ''not'' used in the original comics -- it wasn't actually by a character at all, but rather the closing caption of ''Amazing Fantasy #15'', Spider-Man's first appearance. In the actual solo series, in the early issues, Peter certainly didn't invoke it as any real motto or slogan, nor did he dwell greatly on Uncle Ben's passing until later issues.

* Everyone knows Eugene "Flash" Thompson is the ultimate JerkJock bully who torments Peter before he became Spider-Man, and after Peter got his powers he usually gets his ass kicked in some way and/or humiliated before he eventually goes out of focus. Basically just an obstacle for Peter to overcome. While teenage Flash being a JerkJock is true, this stems from the first few years of the comic books. Afterwards, he joined the army, matured considerably upon his return, and is often a JerkWithAHeartOfGold ''at worst''. Many would be even more surprised to learn that for most of his history, Flash has actually been ''one of Peter's best friends'' (even being the best man at his wedding!). Even his status as a JerkJock was given a sympathetic writing, as it was revealed that his own father was an [[AbusiveParents abusive alcoholic]]. Eventually, Flash would become a heroic ComicBook/{{Venom}} as Agent Venom and even served as a member of the freaking ComicBook/{{Avengers}}. Like many examples, this is due to adaptations creating this confusion. Since most people are introduced to Flash in a high school context, often through another medium, Flash is usually just an antagonist to Peter and nothing more, giving a lot of people this impression.