# Question about Spiderman **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480 "2003-01-18T15:51:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/21 "2003-01-19T06:45:57Z")
How about the alternate history where Pete stepped into the elevator with the robber, snapped his neck with one hand, swung off into the night, took the money, dropped the body from a great height (onto its head)? Peter can then take investment tips from Green Goblin and only appear as Spider-man to maul some strikers that are interfering with his dividend re-investment plan. I love happy endings. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/22 "2003-01-19T12:42:34Z")
There was an issue of What If? in which several scenarios were posited: Flash became Spider-Man, Betty Brant became Spider-Girl, ect. At the end of all these scenarios, Peter Parker ended up figuring out how it happened and becoming Spider-Man on purpose. You can’t screw with destiny. I seem to recall that in some early stories Spider-Man’s senses could pick up all kinds of things. I don’t have a cite, but I’ve noticed that sort of thing happened with Daredevil, too – his powers were more broadly defined at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/23 "2003-01-19T15:11:42Z")
I have this vague memory of the spider-tracer-attached-to-spider-sense backfiring violently one; a bad guy crushed it, and it caused Spider-Man immense pain. Is this accurate? Also, a cite to answer the OP: [http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0145487](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0145487) The organic web shooters, outside of any Venom-origin context (and in that case they came from the costume anyway), were strictly from the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Virgowitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9fc348/32.png) [@Virgowitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgowitch)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/24 "2003-01-19T15:14:38Z")
I kept waiting for Peter to reach across the lunch table for MJ’s hand, and accidently spray her decolletage with webbing: “OMG, I am SO sorry. This never happened to me before…”:smack: ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/25 "2003-01-19T19:35:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Cataclysm** > …any device they came up with that looked as though it could possibly hold the amount of fluid necessary for the number of webs that Spidey shoots out would also have looked too big and ungainly. …Whereas a biological gland necessary for web-shooting would be invisible, capable of firing web-juice at bullet speed, and conveniently located on the wrist. Okay, whatever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/26 "2003-01-19T23:27:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cataclysm \* > the reason they gave Peter Parker the genetic ability to shoot out web from his wrists in the movie was because any device they came up with that looked as though it could possibly hold the amount of fluid necessary for the number of webs that Spidey shoots out would also have looked too big and ungainly. Well, knowing the demands of filming being different than the demands of drawing comic-book characters, I always kinda assumed the webbing consisted of two seperate elements that expanded mightily when mixed, with enough force (assuming Spidey adjusted his shooters to release a narrow stream) to send a single strand two or three hundred feet, the minimal distance he’d need for swinging from building to building. Regardless of the method, any kind of launching system capable of firing a strand 300 feet would have a wicked recoil. Pretty impressive, I’ll admit, once you agree to suspend your disbelief with an industrial crane. ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/27 "2003-01-19T23:42:18Z")
I watched the “Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels” DVD. IIRC, the original idea for Spider-Man was to have the organic web shooter he uses in the movie, but the Comics Code Authority didn’t approve. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/28 "2003-01-20T00:02:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terrifel \* > \*\*Much as I dearly wanted a pair of web-shooters as a child, I have to say that the idea that Peter invented them always sort of gave me pause. Sure, he was presented as a science nerd, but his actual inventing skills seemed awfully intermittent. He concocts the formula for web fluid immediately after getting his powers, and then he invents… well, nothing much for a while. > > \*\* IIRC, he already had the shooters lying around his room, he just had to modify them (it has been a few years since i last read AF15). He also helped Doc Conners de-Lizard himself dozens of times, and seems to come up with wacky chemical formulas every year or so in some books story (for sme reason i remember Web of Spiderman doing this several times). And i always imagined the Spider-tracers were mini-bombs. They should write a story were he just detonates on that is on Doctor Doom’s helicoptor or something ---
**Author:** ![Mole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/29 "2003-01-20T00:12:10Z")
Just wanted to thank **Skeezix** and **Max Carnage** for the backstories on Venom and Carnage. I was a Spidey fan in my youth and have always wondered about the origins of those other two characters. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/30 "2003-01-20T00:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terrifel \* Eventually he got around to devising his spider-tracers, which somehow triggered his spider-sense at low levels, enabling him to follow criminals. How, exactly, was this accomplished? Can danger be broadcast over radio? > \*\* As a kid I toyed with the idea that the tracers contained a piece of paper with his name and address, thus providing a small amount of danger should the villain ever open one up and read it. \*\* **Terrifel** , just wanted to say that that’s brilliant. 😃 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/31 "2003-01-20T00:40:24Z")
I just wanted to thank **skeezix** for bringing back good memories. I read the whole Spider-Man/symbiotic suit/Venom saga as it unfolded and enjoyed it. CJ ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480/32 "2003-01-20T12:08:07Z")
Shucks. I was always a huge fan of the Venom storyline, because it was the first time I’d ever seen a major change in a "headliner’s"continuity. I mean, this was Spider-Man, and to actually see him wear a **new costume** was a trip, once upon a time. Then, to see him get a **new title** just to deal with this bizarre costume storyline, was pretty wild, too. And of course, it blew up into Venom, and Carnage, and the Maximum Carnage story-arc… (which was doubly cool for me, as it was the first time Iron Fist re-appeared in public, after being presumed dead for years, and I’d always dug Power Man/Iron Fist…) It was a lotta fun, once upon a time. Now, new costumes happen once a month, major characters are completely re-written every few stories, **everybody** dies, since nobody actually stays dead anymore, anyway… Eh. Comic books were fun _and_ collectible, for a while. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spiderman/149480.md?page=1)