Fanfic / The Web of The Spider-Man

Peter Parker couldn't wait for his school field trip to Stark Industries. How could he not? It was where all of his nerdy dreams are made! The company was the forefront of engineering, robotics, chemistry... there's nothing a geek like him couldn't lose himself in. So he raced home and turned on the TV, eagerly awaiting Tony Stark's return from being kidnapped to Afghanistan.

Then Mr. Stark reveals that he is in fact, Iron Man. All hell breaks loose in the media and Peter's dream trip gets cancelled. He reluctantly punches in a vote to head to Oscorp as a consolation trip. Then this trip decides to go off the rails when a man in a giant winged suit crashes through the window and demands to see Norman Osborn.

In the midst of the chaos, Peter tries to free one of the guards who had been pinned to the wall. He's only stopped when he feels a searing pain shoots up his arm. Raising his hand, he discovers a growing welt on the back as a wave of heat and nausea sweeps over him. After managing to stumble out of the burning building, he decides to sleep off his discomfort after hitching a ride home.

And well, you probably know how the rest goes.

The Web of The Spider-Man is a Spider-Man Forum Quest written by gorilla_fingers (of My Huntsman Academia fame) on Spacebattles. Placing the reader into the shoes of one Peter Parker, it's up to you to guide the once powerless teen on his road to becoming an amazing superhero... while also keeping his grades up, maintaining some semblance of a social life, and making ends meet as a growing, hormonal teenager with superpowers he doesn't entirely understand.

No pressure, right?

Beware of unmarked spoilers.

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The Web of The Spider-Man provides examples of:

• Adaptational Backstory Change: Richard and Mary Parker were Oscorp scientists rather than government agents.
• Adaptational Dumbass: The author explicitly states that he wants to focus on the "everyman" aspect of Peter's character, downplaying the super-genius intellect attributed to him in his more recent incarnations. He's far from dumb. He just isn't bending the law of physics with his devices any time soon.
• Adaptational Heroism: Peter was never a particularly mean or villainous guy, but the meaning of "with great power there must also come great responsibility" mantra didn't get hammered into his head until after Uncle Ben's preventable death. Here, he rushes in to help an Oscorp guard even before he gets his spider powers. He would have continued trying to help if the Oscorp building wasn't burning and he didn't feel so sick from the spider bite. After discovering his Super-Strength and wall-crawling abilities, he decides to use his newfound powers as a superhero, having been inspired by both Uncle Ben and the myriad of anime and comic books he reads.
• Adaptational Name Change: In the comics, 'Alex O'Hirn' and 'Flint Marko' were aliases that the Rhino and Sandman (respectively) used, and their real names were Alexei Syetsevich (Rhino) and William Baker (Sandman). Here, Alex O'Hirn and Flint Marko are their actual names.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Flash Thompson only ribs Peter and doesn't shove him into lockers or resort to any sort of physical bullying in this story. It's still irritating and Peter is still a social outcast, but at the very least he isn't getting scrapes and bruises to go along with it.
  • Black Cat doesn't blame Peter for her father being imprisoned (she recognizes that Peter was doing him a favor by saving him from the Punisher) like in The Spectacular Spider-Man, and she doesn't reject Peter's civilian identity out of hand like she did in the comics.
• Adaptation Distillation: Peter's adventures are going to focus more on street-level crime (at least at first) and his aspect as a Spider-Totem is going to be mostly shoved aside in favor of more grounded adventures. His Teen Genius aspects are also going to be downplayed to focus on his original "everyman" aspect.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: A lot.
  • The spider that gave Peter his powers was an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier serum.
  • Norman Osborne was the one who stole Adrian Toomes' work and pushed him into becoming the Vulture.
  • Peter is present at the accident that turned Max Dillon into Electro.
  • Peter foiled Alex O'Hirn and Flint Marko before they became the Rhino and Sandman.
  • Peter rescued Dr. Strange from the accident that mangled his hands.
  • The Trapster/Paste-Pot Pete is a scientist specializing in adhesives who got desperate to study Spider-Man's webbing.
  • Dr. Octavius works with the Big Man, and is the cause of Rhino and Sandman gaining their powers.
• Adaptational Wimp: Kraven is a normal guy who hunts Spider-Man with a bow and arrows, though this is probably justified as Sergei Kravinoff (who doesn't yet go by 'Kraven the Hunter') hasn't yet had the enhancements that canonically allowed him to keep up with Spidey physically.
• Adventure Rebuff: Daredevil is not keen on the teenaged Peter going into the costumed crimefighting business. The Punisher is more cooperative, because Frank left 'responsible adult' behind a long time ago.
• The Alleged Computer: Peter's laptop is a brick from the 80s or 90s and is being held together with gum, paperclips and toothpicks. Downplayed in that it works fine, but it's still lagging way behind the more recent models.
• And Then What?: Felicia Hardy is hit with a case of this once her father gets caught. Unlike in Spectacular Spider-Man, she's not too phased about Walter being imprisoned, especially when she finds the massive amount of money he'd been hoarding while living in dingy safehouses with Felicia, but she soon realizes she has no idea what to do with it. She has no need to work because she's set for life, but she also doesn't have any friends because Walter kept her close and never let her have a social life, she has a lot of acrobatics and stealth training but not many life skills, and generally doesn't know what to do with herself because her dad had decided her life for her. She ends up deciding to become a thief in her own right, and eventually starts a Dating Catwoman relationship with Spider-Man.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing: Several.
  • Peter is the Animal Abilities variant, having gained spider-like powers from a spider bite.
  • The Vulture is an Animal Alias. His power is a wing suit, but it's the media who stick him with the name Vulture.
  • Black Cat is Animal Alias- she's a Badass Normal who calls herself that because she's a cat burglar. And she enjoys sending Peter cute cat images.
  • Rhino is a downplayed Animal Abilities- his power source doesn't have anything to do with rhinos, but Dr. Octavius based the Rhino suit on the animal (which is why he has that horn on his head).
• Anti-Villain:
  • Adrian Toomes, the Vulture. He's correct that Norman Osborne stole his life's work, and he generally tries to avoid civilian casualties, but in the end, he's still resorted to terrorist actions to settle his grudge.
  • Prowler and Black Cat are specifically called out as this, which is why they're not out-and-out supervillains. Prowler works for the Big Man because he's a dumb kid who needs money, while Black Cat wants to live her romanticized ideas of phantom thievery (And meet Spider-Man), and neither of the two ever does anything worse than theft.
  • The Punisher. Spidey goes after him because he thinks Frank's 'Kill 'em all and let Mephisto sort it out' is too extreme, but the Punisher never targets people who aren't engaging in criminal activity and willingly tells Spidey what he knows about the Big Man. Omakes from his point of view show that he genuinely admires Spider-Man (even if he does find the kid naive) and thinks he's the first true superhero since Captain America.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Peter's brief conversation with the Oscorp guard he's trying help while the Oscorp building is falling to pieces around him.
  Guard: [sees Peter trying to pull out the Vulture's feather] What the Hell do you think you're doing you lunatic?
  Peter: I'm using the Power of Archimedes!
  Guard: Fucking... what?
  Peter: [adjusts his glasses] You know... Archimedes? Great Classical Mathematician and Engineer? Torque? H-He said that if he could stand in the right place with a long enough lever he could... [gets a blank stare] This... probably isn't the time or place for this, is it?
  Guard: Gee, ya think?!
• Badass Normal:
  • Walter and Felicia Hardy are more focused on escape artistry instead of hand-to-hand combat, but they are very good at sneaking and getting around New York via grappling hook, and have no superpowers.
  • The Punisher is New York's only non-powered vigilante, using his military training, a bulletproof vest, and a lot of guns.
  • The Enforcers are a sort of offscreen case. They're well-known in the criminal underworld for being very competent goons, but can't match up against Spider-Man, whose superpowers easily compensate for his lack of experience.
• Best Friend: Ned is Peter's best friend and closest confidant as the two nerdiest guys around.
• Birds of a Feather: As massive, massive nerds that no one really likes, Ned and Peter quickly grew on each other as each other's closest friend and confidant.
• Brainy Brunette: Peter is a bright kid who loves the physical sciences on top of being a brunette.
• Butt-Monkey: Alex O'Hirn and Flint Marko, pre-supervillainy. Tombstone even notes in a memo to the Big Man's followers that the pair repeatedly encountering Spider-Man and getting trounced is not normal, they're just really unlucky.
• Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Downplayed, but Peter's first encounter with Clint Barton/Hawkeye is when he swings in to help Clint with some thugs trying to hold him up.
• Buffy Speak: While gushing over how cool it is for Tony Stark to be a superhero, Peter says that Iron Man will be as big as Captain America, just "science-ier". While developing his own gadgetry, he says that he'll be the second "scienc-y-est" superhero around.
• Cast from Calories: Peter's powers come with a sizable increase to his appetite to keep up with his newly superhuman physique and Healing Factor, forcing him to eat at least four meals a day to keep himself running at max.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Peter can't bear to leave the burning Oscorp building until he's ensured that everyone else has gotten to safety, directing his classmates to the fire escape and running in to free a guard that the Vulture had pinned to the wall.
• Clark Kent Outfit: Peter puts on the loosest clothes he has to hide his new physique from his aunt and uncle.
• Combo Platter Powers: As per the old theme song, Peter can do "whatever a spider can". He has the proportionate strength, speed, durability and agility of a spider. His Spider-Sense alerts him to immediate threats to himself, his Healing Factor lets him quickly heal off cuts and bruises in his sleep, and he can climb up walls and ceilings with the spider-like hairs growing on his hands and feet.
• Comes Great Responsibility: One of Peter's motivations for becoming a superhero is to live up to his uncle's mantra. This is also subverted. Peter begins fantasizing about his superhero life and the fame and admiration it could bring him rather than the moral scruples and the gravity of the situation.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Walter Hardy complains a lot about being caught by Spider-Man... who found him in the middle of a stand-off with the Punisher. Everyone but him realizes that he was lucky to get off with a jail sentence and a shot to the leg; if Spidey hadn't been there, he'd just be dead.
• Composite Character: A lot of characters combine MCU, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel Comics attributes.
  • Ned Lee is a combination of Ned Leeds and Ganke Lee, combining the two's names as well as their role as Peter's closest confidant.
  • The Vulture has his MCU design and relationship to Liz Allen, and his The Spectacular Spider-Man backstory.
  • Gwen is in a band, much like her Earth-65 counterpart.
• Cool Uncle: Uncle Ben, of course. While he doesn't always understand Peter's passions, Ben is always there to help them along.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Norman Osborn, of course. He stole Toomes' flying suit and then bribed an US Patent Office employee to modify the records in order to transfer ownership of the suit to his company.
• Dating Catwoman: Peter's relationship with Felicia Hardy/Black Cat eventually evolves into this. Black Cat turns her heists into games with Spider-Man, who enjoys chasing someone who actually quips back.
• Deadpan Snarker: Despite his nerdy exterior, Peter has a biting wit that he doesn't dare use in public out of fear of making himself more of a pariah than he already is.
  Peter: (thinking about his upcoming trip to Oscorp) Well hey Pete, don't be so down. I mean, sure, it's where your parents got in a gruesome lab accident that apparently led to some kind of closed-casket funeral but hey, people say that confronting bad memories is how you deal with them, right?
• Death by Origin Story: In this story, Mary and Richard Parker were Oscorp scientists who were killed in a freak lab accident that apparently charred their bodies beyond recognition. Their caskets had to be kept closed during the wake and funeral because their remains were too grisly to see.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: While Peter was too young to remember his parents, Ben and May have nothing but good things to say about them and are clearly hurt by their passing.
• Dirty Cop: The named police officers are all just trying to do an impossible job on a limited budget with a difficult mayor, but it's noted that the Big Man has a large chunk of the legal system in his back pocket.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: After waking up, Peter accidentally tears the doorknob of his bedroom door off its hinges. When he tries to put it back in, he ends up breaking the door frame as he accidentally forces it open.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": After he gets powers, Alex O'Hirn insists on being called 'Rhino'. Peter, of course, calls him O'Hirn anyways to annoy him.
• Dream Reality Check: After testing out his new powers in his room, Peter pinches himself to make sure he isn't dreaming. After confirming that he isn't (and that it really, really hurt), he's ready to jump for joy.
• Dumb Muscle: Alex O'Hirn and Flint Marko. Big Man even chose them to become supervillains because he knew they were dumb enough to be easily controlled.
• Entertainingly Wrong: The X-Men assume Spider-Man is a fellow mutant.
• Everyone Has Standards: Frank Castle doesn't try to kill Spiderman because he recognizes that Spidey is a good guy who doesn't deserve the Punisher's usual modus operandi.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Peter possesses the "Gadgeteer" trait, allowing him to develop and create gadgets for as long as he has the time, money, and resources.
• Gamebooks: The story is written like a game of GURPS, allowing readers to choose how the story is going to proceed by writing-in courses of action or selecting from options that the author provides. These can range from Peter's strategy in a crisis to how he spends his downtime.
• Geek Physique: Peter had pencil-thin wrists prior to gaining his powers and he couldn't even do ten push-ups. He also had asthma that prevented him from holding down any part-time job lest he get winded or have trouble breathing. Luckily for him, one radioactive spider bite managed to make both of these ailments magically disappear. Ned is at the opposite end of the spectrum, possessing a heavy-set physique that made him the butt of many jokes.
• Genre Savvy: Peter and Ned are fully aware of numerous superhero tropes from years of reading comic books, binge watching anime, and engaging in all sorts of nerdy activities. Knowing the rigors of superhero life, Peter takes his time to prepare his costume, get acclimated to his abilities, and develop his Web Shooters while Ned works on becoming the "guy in the chair". They both geek out when they manage to invoke one intentionally or unintentionally.
  Ned: (after Peter explains why he feels like he has to be a superhero) Dude... you just gave a superhero speech!
  Peter: [Beat as he thinks about this] Oh my God! I did!
• Giver of Lame Names: Peter's first wanted to call his Wall Crawling abilities "Stick'em Powers", but he quickly decided that it was a bad name. His first attempts at coming up with his superhero name included the "Spectacularly Amazing Arachnid-Kid". His names for his prototype web fluid are "Salty Spitoon" and "Weenie Hut Jr.'s".
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Peter's powers corrected his vision, letting him ditch his thick, round glasses for good. He ends up wearing them anyways after the Oscorp incident to avoid turning heads, but he barely manages to not bump into anything and they gave him a splitting headache. He later manages to make himself a set of clear lenses that let him to keep the glasses without issue.
• Happily Adopted: Peter clearly loves his aunt and uncle, growing up to be a bright, kind-hearted teenager despite the ribbing he gets in school for his nerdy interests.
• Healing Factor: Peter possesses a minor healing factor, allowing him to recover from scrapes, bruises, and broken bones much more quickly than a normal person for as long as he has sufficient rest.
• Heroic Build: Peter's spider powers came with an upgrade to his physique, going from pencil-thin wrists to sizable pecs, toned, thick arms, and washboard abs. For a nerdy kid who couldn't even do ten push-ups on his own, he couldn't help but gawk at himself for a few minutes. He even lampshades it, saying that he pulled a full "Charles Atlas" and went from "Mac" to "Man".
• Hero-Worshipper: Peter has looked up to Tony Stark all his life. While he's bummed that he can't go on his field trip, he also Squees when he realizes that his hero is now a superhero.
  Tony Stark was... well, kind of your hero! He was super smart but also successful and funny and people liked him and girls liked him! At the same time he made amazing advancements in the fields of science and technology that helped people! Sure before there was the whole weapons division at Stark Industries that muddied things up but, well, he was still helping people with his advancements and the technology his company produced. When he closed down the weapons division a couple weeks back it made the entire thing even simpler! The fact that Tony Stark was now a literal super hero? That just made it ten times better! He was like that old WWII Hero, Captain America, but just... science-ier!
• How Do I Shot Web?: Peter struggles to get a handle on his powers when they first manifest, accidentally busting his bedroom door open and sticking himself to the doorknob with his new wall-crawling abilities.
• I Shall Taunt You: It's Spider-Man, what did you expect? His taunting is especially effective against Rhino, who has anger issues and has been repeatedly caught by Spider-Man.
• It Began with a Twist of Fate: Peter's superhero career began after he was bitten by a radioactive spider at Oscorp, which never would have happened if he had gone to Stark Industries as planned.
• It's All About Me: Walter Hardy. He believes that he's the best in the business and feels the need to constantly prove it. When he gets imprisoned, all he can think about is getting back to work, overlooking his daughter's feelings and the obvious-to-everyone-else fact that the Luxury Prison Suite he's in is the Big Man retiring him because of his stubborn refusal to use gadgets. Later, when he learns that Felicia is making a name for herself as the Black Cat, his first reaction is to insist she shouldn't do it- not because she's a teenager and organized crime is a dangerous business, but because he's mad at her for upstaging him. It's really no wonder that Felicia only makes a token attempt to get through to him before abandoning him to rot in jail.
• Jumped at the Call: When Ned points out that Peter has the opportunity to become one of the first modern day superheroes with his new powers, Peter seizes it and immediately begins designing everything from his costume to his Web Shooters.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Mysterio's plot, as befitting a career magician. He stages highly visible robberies of shops that were already robbed by his compatriots, using his illusions to make it look like he's doing it himself and getting off scot-free, thus causing the police to draw their attention away from normal robberies- like the one Mysterio's goons were committing. Spider-Man also fell for it at first, until he stumbled onto an antique shop during the pre-Mysterio robbery.
• Kid Hero: Peter is just 15 when he begins his superhero career.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After helping an Oscorp guard free himself, Peter decides to run back to his classmates because of the pain and nausea he's feeling after the spider bite.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The "Great Power, Great Responsibility" mechanic incurs penalties should Peter decide to abuse his powers for his own gain. Being a hero means that he can potentially avoid negative outcomes like Uncle Ben's death. On the other hand, acting like the Amazing Spider-Douche (as the Quest Master put it) can make Peter's life spiral out of control, potentially resulting in Ben's and May's deaths.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Played with. This basically sums up Peter's encounters with Deadpool and the Punisher, but when he meets Daredevil, the two have a peaceful talk and the narrative snarkily lampshades that that's usually what happens when two heroes meet and aren't duct taped to the Conflict Ball.
• Logical Weakness: This is how Peter wins against the Rhino. Rhino has metal armor bonded to his skin, which makes him very tough, but means that he can't sweat as the metal coating prevents it. His endurance in a fight is thus laughably low, and when combined with Spidey venting steam at him, he ends up passed out from heat exhaustion.
• Luxury Prison Suite: It's acknowledged that the prison Walter Hardy/The Cat gets sent to isn't so much a prison as a forced retirement. He's in with the white-collar crooks, has a decent amount of freedom and privilege, and is there because the Big Man was doing him a favor after his decades of work. Of course, Walter himself doesn't see it this way, as he insists that he's the absolute best irreplaceable thief in New York, and can't stand to not be out there plying his trade.
• The Man Behind the Man: A triple threat. The Big Man pays for most of the supervillains Spidey faces, Dr. Octavius does the scientific legwork, and Norman Osborn is secretly an associate of the Big Man but has yet to become the Green Goblin.
• Mathematician's Answer: Felicia gives a few to Hobbie while at the Midtown High prom, after he recognizes her as the Black Cat and demands to know why she's dating the seemingly ordinary Peter Parker. He's absolutely right to be suspicious and in thinking Felicia wouldn't go for a normal guy, but she deflects by merely saying that she's there because Peter invited her and that she's dating him because he makes her happy. She leaves out that this is because he's Spider-Man and their most common dates double as attempted heists.
• Mind Screw: The first meeting with Mindworm: not only was Peter under the impression of having repeated a same action many times, he also became aware of that, and how disturbing it was.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Peter discovering that he's ripped after waking up drenched in sweat is taken straight from the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film.
  • Peter says Ned can be "the guy in the chair".
  • Peter describes his adhesive abilities as "stick'em powers".
  • One of Peter's first ideas for his superhero name is the "Spectacularly Amazing Arachnid-Kid", with the last two words being a reference to the alias of Miles Morales in the Ultimate Spider-Man show.
  • The name of the quest itself may be one, as there is a series of comics called Web of Spider-Man.
• Nerd Action Hero: Peter is a fan of Legos and all things scientific and sci-fi. He binges cartoons and anime with Ned in his free time, citing The Power of Friendship speeches when he runs off to find Ned. Then he gets his spider powers and is suddenly a superhumanly strong, fast, and tough hero.
• Nerd Glasses: Peter had big, round Harry Potter-esque glasses before the spider-bite.
• Obfuscating Disability: Downplayed. To ensure no one knows how much he's changed, Peter still wears his glasses (now with clear lenses) carries his inhaler, and wears baggy clothes.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Downplayed. Peter has a working knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, machinery, and computer operations, but he's far from an expert in any of those fields (i.e. Ned outdoes him in computer wizardry). He also professes his love for engineering and physics more than the other subjects, but he does enjoy tinkering with the chemistry set his mother left for him.
• Painful Transformation: Peter mutating his spider-strength and reflexes is extremely painful, since all his muscle fibers are tearing apart and reconstructing themselves. It almost gets him killed when he's distracted by the pain and trips down some stairs, but luckily said spider reflexes kicked in and helped him stick the landing.
• Parental Substitute: Peter's Aunt May and Uncle Ben have been taking care of him for as long as he can remember after the deaths of his parents. They're nothing but kind and patient with him and love him dearly as the last living reminder of his parent's legacy.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • Black Cat is a variation. Since she mostly commits crimes for the thrill (her father had already made enough money to last her a lifetime once he lands in prison), she has little personal investment in them and likes to turn them into games with Spider-Man. If he wins, she'll simply leave with no hard feelings. This agreement is noted to have given her a considerable rep in the criminal underworld because she's faced Spider-Man repeatedly and not ended up in jail.
  • The NYPD tries to stop Spidey because he's a vigilante and they are cops, but they don't really hate him and are more upset that a) their limited budget means they can't do as much to stop crime as they'd like, and b)political pressure is forcing them to waste said limited budget going after Spider-Man, while absolutely refusing to give them any more money or the equipment necessary to deal with him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The guard Peter helps is grateful for saving his life twice, but he insists that Peter leave ASAP. It simply wasn't safe for an asthmatic teenager who looked like complete crap after a spider bite to be in a burning building. Peter doesn't blame him and takes the advice, hightailing it out as fast as he can with all the changes going on in his body.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Vulture does two with the intent of getting at Norman Osborne, and Rhino goes charging off after Spider-Man immediately after getting his powers. Subverted with Flint Marko, who after becoming Sandman decides to blow off revenge against Spider-Man in favor of committing bigger crimes.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Black Cat is a mild variation. Walter Hardy made sure Felicia got a good education and she's relatively well-adjusted, but his lifestyle as a thief meant that she was well-trained in acrobatics, grapple gun usage, disguise, and various other thieving skills, she never developed much of a social life. Spider-Man is really her Only Friend.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:
  • It's discussed, with Peter commenting that Tony Stark can get away with revealing his identity because he's rich and can bribe his problems away.
  • Peter later notes that Sergei Kravinoff probably bribed the cops to clear the streets for his confrontation with Spider-Man.
• Second-Person Narration: The reader is placed into Peter's shoes every step of the way, resulting in this.
• Secret-Keeper: The first person Peter trusts with knowledge of his powers is Ned, who is instantly on board with the idea of Peter becoming a superhero.
• Sense Loss Sadness: Both Electro and Sandman have this, but Sandman doesn't care that much.
• Shout-Out:
  • Even if his social life is a drag, Peter takes some comfort in the fact that he can be "king of the pirates" while streaming anime with Ned.
  • While trying to get himself to run from the Vulture, Peter can't bring himself to do it despite his own mental insistence.
    Peter: Now was the time to run!... You said... run!... Dammit.
  • Ned immediately compares Peter's powers to Superman, while Peter makes it his goal to develop his own gadgets to be a budget copy of Batman with spider-powers.
  • Peter's prototype names for his web fluid are "Salty Spitoon" and "Weenie Hut Jr.'s".
  • When trying to save Vulture from his fall after damaging one of his wings, Spider-Man says a certain line on a ballon that we are all familar with.
    Spider-Man: Pikachu, I CHOOSE YOU!
  • While studying his father's chemistry notes, Peter remarks that he'll be the second scienc-y-est superhero around "With this knowledge passed down the Parker line for... a generation".
• Show Within a Show: A non-canon omake in My Huntsman Academia portrays the events of the story as a "Journey" that Izuku is writing on "GalaxySkirmishes".
• Spanner in the Works: Vulture didn't know it, but his attack on Oscorp tossed two big wrenches in Norman Osborn's plans- first, by releasing the enhanced spiders he'd intended to use to re-create the Super Soldier serum, and second, one of those spiders bit Peter Parker, giving him his powers. Toomes would probably find this incredibly satisfying if he knew about it.
• Spider-Sense: As the Trope Namer, of course Peter would get this as his first power. It manifests as an irritating buzzing and ringing in his ears that warns him of imminent danger, allowing him to react more quickly to threats that he can’t immediately perceive. It's an uncomfortable sensation described as having his own brain screaming at him while every hair stands on end and every muscle tenses up in preparation to move.
  zzzzRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! EVERY SINGLE HAIR ON YOUR BODY IMMEDIATELY STOOD UP ON END, YOUR NERVES SCREAMING, YOUR MUSCLES TENSING! ALL OF IT HAPPENING AT ONCE AS IT FELT LIKE YOUR BRAIN WAS JUST SCREAMING SOMETHING AT YOU, JUST YELLING AS LOUDLY AT IT COULD AT THE TOP OF ITS LUNGS! "MOVE YOU DUMB ASSHOLE OR YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" MOVE!
• Starter Villain: The first criminals Peter catches are The Enforcers, while the first supervillain he faces is the Vulture.
• The Stations of the Canon: Played with. It's noted that Peter can't stop most supervillain origins even if he's present, but some things can be averted; Uncle Ben doesn't die (unless the players get too assholish) because players are too Genre Savvy to fall for any 'Uncle Ben Death' flag, and the Symbiote can be redeemed (though it won't be easy by any means) because its descent into villainy was a direct result of Peter's actions in canon.
• Status Quo Is God: Subverted. The author has stated that he isn't going to use "Parker Luck" as a handwave for keeping Peter in Perpetual Poverty. At the same time, Peter still has to make smart choices if he's going to stay ahead in school and earn cash.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Peter and Frank both get frustrated when Walter Hardy gets away via grapple gun.
  Spider-Man/Punisher: Are you kidding me?!
• Super-Strength: Peter is excited to discover that he can now easily lift his bed with one hand after the Oscorp incident.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Tony Stark denies being a superhero when pressed on his "bodyguard in a suit" cover story, only for the reporter to point out that he never accused him of being one. It takes about all of five seconds for Tony to spill the beans completely.
  Reporter: I’m sorry Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that was a bodyguard in a suit? That conveniently appeared despite the fact that-
  Tony: I know it’s confusing. It is one thing to question the official story and another to make wild accusations or insinuate that I’m, uh, a superhero.
  Reporter: I never said you were a superhero.
  Tony: You didn’t…
• They Would Cut You Up: Peter refuses to go to the hospital out of fear of what the doctors would find if they started treating him in his current state, begging Ned to give him a ride home instead.
• Those Two Guys: Alex O'Hirn and Flint Marko, though they go their separate ways when they become supervillains.
• Too Clever by Half: Peter tries to pry all of the feathers out of the guard's clothes to free him. Said guard manages to use the one feather Peter pried out to tear up off the parts of his clothes that were Pinned to the Wall. Peter even lampshades it.
  Wow, Aunt May was right. You were too smart for your own good sometimes.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Walter Hardy (Black Cat's father) is angry at Peter for getting him caught. In context, the Punisher had just tracked him down and was going to kill him before Spider-Man intervened. His daughter Felicia lampshades it when they talk, noting that he should probably be grateful to be in jail with an injured foot rather than dead.
• Villains Out Shopping: Peter's second meeting with Frank Castle happens by complete chance, when Frank is getting breakfast from a diner. And Word of God is that Frank's first appearance (which was from the point of view of a bystander- Peter wasn't nearby) was when he was walking home after getting groceries.
• Wall Crawl: Peter discovers his ability to cling to things when he can't get the doorknob he just ripped out of its socket off his hand. The hairs responsible for this only grow on his hands and feet, preventing him from just sticking to the wall with any part of his body.
• What Have I Become?:
  • While escaping Oscorp, Peter becomes more and more aware of his new abilities and is terrified of what's happening inside of his body.
    Between how sick and hurt you were feeling and all of this... you... you were starting to feel scared. This wasn't right. This wasn't natural. This was... this was something else. Something had happened to you... Something was still happening to you...
  • After testing out his powers in his room, Peter gets excited and is ready to tell Ned all about them. Then it sinks in how fast all of these changes happened and that he's now the textbook definition of a freak of nature.
    You mutated. Rapidly, powerfully and with seemingly no pattern except that it made you strong. Made you fast... made you able to stick to walls like a spider... And gave you some kind of mental tick that you still didn't entirely understand with that Danger Sense. In short you were the literal dictionary definition of a freak of nature... Hoo boy...
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Subverted with Sandman. He does consider the implications of being practically immortal... but is too thick-headed for them to actually stick.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Max Dillon really goes off the deep end once he becomes Electro. It's understandable, as some of the side effects to his powers include not being able to sleep, eat, or touch anything.
• Working-Class Hero: The Parkers aren't especially well-off and Peter has to make do with whatever hand-me-downs he got from his parents, scrounging up his allowance for parts to keep his decades-old laptop running.
• Wrong Assumption: Side-stories focusing on the police show them falling into this trope in their profiles of New York's vigilantes, since they're working on very few facts, and aren't aware that they live in a superhero comic:
  • They notice that Daredevil seems to be trained and know a lot about police procedure, but they think he's a former cop who got fired for Police Brutality instead of a lawyer with outside martial arts training and minor superpowers.
  • For Spider-Man, they think Peter is an athlete, instead of a scrawny nerd who happened to get super strength from an accident.

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