What you didn’t know about Spider-Man

HE’S one of the most iconic superheroes of all time, but the stories behind the subtle changes to his distinctive look tell a fascinating story.

SPIDER-MAN has come a long way since the 1960s comics, but as the story is relentlessly rebooted by Hollywood, his suit remains one of the most iconic in history.

Numerous subtle changes to the red-and-blue spandex are central to the evolution of your friendly neighbourhood superhero — and the story they tell reveals the layers to the enduringly popular character.

Peter Parker is constantly seen sewing and mending his suit. It’s an illustration of how different he is to superheroes such as the wealthy Bruce Wayne (Batman).

In 1962, Peter Parker designed his suit to enter a wrestling competition as The Human Spider, adding webbed underarms to give it impact in the ring. Later, in the Homecoming movie, the webbing was to return with a purpose.

Over the next 20 years, the suit only slightly changed, from a simple red and black to the red and blue we associate with Spidey today.

The secret behind the white spider of Spider-Man’s Advanced Suit has been revealed.

In 1984, a brand-new look emerged: a black suit known as The Symbiote. Fans hated the change, so the writers came up with a storyline in which Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) helped Peter separate from it.

On other occasions in the comics, Peter is caught without his suit, and has to improvise with the help of dodgy costume shop, at one point stripping off a too-tight suit mid-action.

This is reflected in his latest iteration — PlayStation game Marvel’s Spider-Man — in which players can access 27 suits, including one that’s simply the character in his undies.

After more than half a century of the amazing Spider-Man, he has appeared in dozens of suits, from the futuristic Iron Spider (or Stark Suit) designed by Iron Man Tony Stark to the Spider-Armour MKIV, complete with camouflage and advanced web-shooters.

He also has a homemade suit, which looks suitably patched up, and the Spider-Punk.

Perhaps most intriguingly, there’s the Advanced Suit, featuring a large white spider on the chest, whose meaning was kept carefully under wraps by Marvel and Insomniac Games ahead of the release.

That’s because it reveals an intriguing new detail about the character.

Spidey’s messy first apartment is key to the evolution of his character.

In the PlayStation game, we meet Peter Parker not during his coming of age again, but eight years after he was bitten by a genetically engineering spider and became Spider-Man.

Instead of discovering his powers, he’s 23 and at that awkward, post-college phase where he’s trying to figure out what he wants from his job and changing relationships. He’s navigating paying bills and having his own apartment for the first time, a pigsty where his suit is buried under the mess.

“I remember my first job and paying bills for the first time, my apartment, trying to make a name for myself, and also seeing how my relationships and friendships changed once we were out of college,” Insomniac Games Creative Director Bryan Intihar told news.com.au at the launch in New York. “I just thought that would be really interesting time that people could relate to.”

Working as a scientist, Peter is starting to suspect he might be able to have a greater impact on the world as his human self than as Spider-Man.

Yuri, who plays Spider-Man in the game, explains: “It’s a coming of age of a different kind. ‘Am I helping more people as a scientist, could I help more people by working full time on science than I could as a superhero?’

Your friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man has one of the most iconic looks of any superhero, but the subtle changes are vital to his evolution.

“Every great Spider-Man story is a Peter Parker story at heart. It’s why we love Spider-Man so much, he is dealing with the same things that we all deal with, we are all Spider-Man in a way.”

This Peter works for scientist Otto Octavius, a man who later becomes his nemesis Dr Octopus.

But in the game, we learn that this enemy was at one time a mentor, who sees Peter with the suit and believes he is assisting Spider-Man as a lab technician.

Octavius becomes the person who adapts the suit to add the large white spider, which is made of a hi-tech material that absorbs gunfire and the impact of falling or crashing into things.

It’s a small but fascinating detail that shows how a superhero’s suit is central to his character and his evolution.

The wide eyes have remained — with some unfortunate narrow-eyed errors of judgment — but now they can wink.

The web-shooters have been a constant, but their production turned organic.

Spider-Man is the king of reinvention, but always feels familiar. And he’s destined to keep dishing up surprises.

- Marvel’s Spider-Man is available now exclusively on PlayStation 4.

Originally published as What you didn’t know about Spider-Man