One of my favorite superheroes is without a doubt Spider-Man, and with the huge success of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” I thought it would be fun to share some interesting facts about the famous web-head. For the purposes of this list, I will be steering clear of events that occurred in the Spider-Man films such as the deaths of Uncle Ben and Captain Stacy.

Let’s get started, shall we?

1. Peter doesn’t meet Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane until College.

While films and TV adaptions of the wall-crawler have often depicted Peter Parker and his two lady friends as knowing him in high school, the comics don’t introduce the two characters until Peter starts attending Empire State University. Gwen was introduced as a fellow student; while MJ was the niece of Aunt May’s neighbor, who Peter refused to meet until the panel above happened of course.

2. Peter Parker has had many romantic relationships.

While Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy are the most well-known of Parker’s love interests, he has had several significant others, some even have secret identities themselves. The most notable though are Liz Allen, Betty Brant, Carlie Cooper, and Felicia Hardy. Some of those lucky ladies even know about Peter’s alter ego and have helped Spider-Man in a few of his adventures over the years.

3. Cloned.

On occasion (by which I mean frequently) comics can get weird. Some of that weirdness developed into a story arc for Spider-Man known as the “Clone Saga.” The story focused on Peter finding out he had a clone, who had taken up the name Ben Reilly, who was part of the villain, Jackal’s plot to… convince Peter he was the real clone. Yeah, it wasn’t a great plan. The clone Kaine was also introduced in this story, yes Spider-Man was cloned twice… at least. The “Clone Saga” also lasted from 1994-1996 and is one of the more negatively viewed parts of the web-head's history.

4. Peter Parker and Flash Thompson.

Many probably know Flash Thompson as Peter’s high school bully while they attended Midtown High. However, the two later became close friends while enrolled at Empire State University. Flash later joined the military and eventually bonded with the Venom symbiote while working for the U.S. Government and became a hero in his own right. Ironically, Flash was a huge Spider-Man fanboy in high school.

5. Marriage

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were once married. It took some convincing from Peter and a lot of thought by MJ but eventually, the couple wed. There was a lot of patience and compromise, there is plenty of strife and danger when you’re married to a super hero after all. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last due to what many think of as the worst retcon in comics.

6. Identity Revealed.

During the events of the “Civil War,” story-line (which focused heavily on a superhuman registration act as one of its plot points) Spider-Man decided to join the side of Tony Stark, registering himself as a super-hero and revealing his secret identity as Peter Parker to the world. However, the web-head regretted his decision and aided Captain America in rescuing super-humans who refused to register. Sadly, the damage to Peter had already been done as a contract was put out on the Parker family by the Kingpin and Aunt May was left in a coma.

7. Deal with the devil (Worst Retcon Ever).

Peter had gone down several avenues in an attempt to save his aunt’s life including modern medical technology and even more mystic methods. Unfortunately, nothing helped with May’s worsening condition. Then, one day the devilish villain Mephisto visited Peter and Mary Jane. The villain offered to keep Aunt May alive but it would cost Peter and MJ their marriage; making it so they were never wed in the first place. The couple gave this deal a day of thought and in the end decided it would be for the best and the deal was made. These events took place during the story “One More Day.”

8. Phenomenal Cosmic Powers (with better living space).

At one point Spider-Man was chosen by the cosmic force known as the Uni-Power and gained the abilities of Captain Universe making him “virtually indestructible, able to fly, shoot energy blasts, and possess greater strength.” But, the force left the wall-crawler just as quickly as it was bestowed and he was back to swinging between skyscrapers in no time.

9. New Horizons

At a certain point in his life, Peter Parker was down on his luck; he lost his job, Mary Jane and he had split and his spider powers were on the fritz. Fortunately, his luck turned around when he was offered a job at Horizon Labs. Horizon offered gifted scientists the means to create new technologies and pursue their own goals. The best perk for Peter was having full access to the lab at any time, meaning he could still be Spider-Man and manage to get some work done. He also managed to accidentally create an arrogant sidekick for himself while working there, but the writers quickly buried that story thread.

10. The Superior Spider-Man.

So what happens when the egomaniac Otto Octavius swaps minds with Peter Parker? Well, first he learns Parker is Spider-Man and then claims he’ll be much better at the job than the original web-slinger. From there it is all downhill as Spider-Man becomes much more aggressive than people remember him. He might have also performed a public execution, but things weren’t all bad. Otto managed to complete Parker’s doctorate and even created his own company.

11. Parker Industries.

Thanks to Doc Ock’s short time in Spider-Man’s body. Peter returned to a lot of responsibility in the shape of Parker Industries, his very own company. Parker tried using this new power to help recover from many of Otto’s mistakes. He started work on a prison to hold dangerous super-villains; as well as, de-powered the villain Electro.

For more basic info on the web-head check out the Marvel Universe Wiki.