10 Times Marvel Was Forced To Change Spider-Man

10. The Original Spider-Man Was Totally Different

It's tempting to believe Stan Lee and Steve Ditko devised Spider-Man the way he is known nowadays from the get-go. However, the original character had so little resemblance to the superhero of today, you wouldn't even know it was Spider-Man. Instead of being bitten by a radioactive arachnid, Peter Parker obtained spider-powers by wearing a magical ring.

Stan the Man never explained why this element was changed but Ditko stated it was because the character was too similar to the Archie Comics superhero, The Fly, which debuted in 1959. This series focused on an orphan called Tommy Troy who found a special ring that endowed him with insect-like reflexes.

Because Lee was fully aware of The Fly's existence, he could have been accused of plagiarism if he created a comic that also centred around an orphan who obtained the powers of a tiny invertebrate while wearing a magical ring. It's also worth mentioning the first villain The Fly faced was a web-spinning criminal called Spider Spry.

By the time Spider-Man debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 three years later, his entire backstory had been rewritten into the wisecracking, web-slinging superhero we all know.