Marvel Comics has tons of iconic characters on its roster, but almost all of them pale in comparison to Spider-Man. One of the most popular characters in comic book history has been around for more than six decades, but surprisingly, he hasn't changed very much. From his first appearance to today, Spider-Man has always been a hero focused on responsibility and saving others.

By 1962, Marvel was enjoying great success thanks to the creations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby like the Fantastic Four, and one day, Stan Lee was asked to make a new superhero that the publisher could use. Naturally, Stan Lee was eager to make a new creation, and he went home and mulled it over. After coming up with a ton of different ideas, he eventually settled on Spider-Man. Wanting to break conventions, Stan Lee decided to give Spider-Man both personal problems and make him a teenager, which was very uncommon for superheroes at the time.

Stan Lee quickly returned the character to Marvel, where the higher-ups told him it was one of the worst ideas they'd ever heard. Spider-Man was completely rejected, and Stan Lee seemed to give up on the character. Much later, Marvel was getting ready to cancel the anthology series Amazing Fantasy and, wanting to get Spider-Man out of his system, Lee put Spider-Man in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15, and the character absolutely exploded.

Fun fact: Lee initially took the character to artist Jack Kirby to further develop, before deciding to work with Steve Ditko instead. While Ditko created the interior art for the first Spider-Man story, Kirby drew the cover for Amazing Fantasy #15 that would give readers their first glimpse of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man's First Appearance Set All The Rules For Who He'd Be

Amazing Fantasy #15 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Looking back at Amazing Fantasy #15 by Lee and artist Steve Ditko is a very interesting experience because it's presented as nearly a speed-run of Peter's entire history and origin. Everything that people know about Peter can be seen first appearing in this single issue. This is a stark contrast to characters like Batman, whose origin actually didn't appear for several months after his first appearance. Reading this issue feels like Stan Lee is very aware that this could be be the only appearance of Spider-Man, and therefore, he wants to get absolutely everything he planned into a single issue.

Amazing Fantasy manages to cram in how Peter Parker is a nerd and viewed as a loser in school, completely disrespected by his peers, how he visits a science museum and gets bitten by a radioactive spider, his loving relationship with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, his discovery of his powers, making his own suit, and the death of Uncle Ben. Lee and Ditko manage to fit this all into a single issue, and these would all become some of the most important cornerstones of Peter's history. It's incredibly impressive that so much can be conveyed in just one comic, especially since it is done in just eleven pages.

Spider-Man Has Continued To Embody These Character Traits For Decades After

Spider-Man Is One Of Stan Lee's Most Enduring Creations

One of the defining aspects of Spider-Man's character that Lee and Ditko establish in Spidey's early stories is that Peter Parker suffers from everyday problems. While characters like Superman and Batman or even Iron Man have personal problems to deal with, none of them were exactly relatable due to the sheer larger than life aspect they embodied. Just for fun, Lee and Ditko wanted to try and give Spider-Man real problems that the average teenager could relate to. These include things as simple as being unable to chase Doctor Octopus out of Brooklyn because Peter can't afford a train ride out of the city.

In the end, as Spider-Man's popularity grew, the adventures he went on became a lot darker and more intense. While Peter started out as just a young teenager who worried about homework as much as he did supervillains, things would eventually be taken to more extreme lengths.

These dark storylines began with Peter accidentally causing the death of his first love, Gwen Stacy. They would eventually escalate to Peter losing more friends and loved ones, and even intense experiences like getting his eyes torn out by the villain Morlun. All of these horrible things were born out of one main element that Ditko and Lee established from the very beginning, which is that nothing ever goes right for Peter Parker.

Spider-Man's Stories Have Continued Pushing Peter In Recent Years

Peter's Everyday Problems Are Now Almost Always Life-Threatening Or World-Ending

It's an infamous fact in comics that Peter Parker has bad luck. This story element was originally introduced by Ditko and Lee to show that sometimes, no matter how hard someone tries, life just doesn't go their way. It's a small touch of realism that helped Peter become relatable. However, as his comics have become darker and darker over the years, it's become something of a curse for the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Reading Spider-Man's stories of today, it seems like nothing ever works out for Peter Parker. From losing his friends to being unable to be with the woman he loves, Peter's life has gone from balancing life and school to simply trying to stop his life and city from falling apart. It's a pretty dark change for what was once a fairly light-hearted character. It's interesting to look back on Spider-Man's first issue and see just how far things have come from such simple beginnings.

Spider-Man Still Upholds The Ideals He Was Created With

No Matter How Dark Things Get, Peter Remains The Hero He's Always Been

Spider-Man has remained one of the most popular characters in comic books because of the simple ideals that Stan Lee and Steve Dikto put forth more than 60 years ago. A lot of complaints about Spider-Man's comics today are that he hasn't really developed or changed much since his early years. While Peter Parker was originally allowed to grow up, go to college and even get married, now he seems to be stuck in the same cycle. That's what makes it so fascinating to look back and see that Stan Lee and Steve Dikto were able to define everything about the character and perfectly set up who Spider-Man is in just 11 pages.