10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Spider-Man

2. His Best Stories Are When He's In School

The classic image of Spider-Man, at least the one that's been popularised in wider culture, is that of a teenage hero attempting to come to grips with his after-hours heroics while maintaining a regular life and navigating the hell that is your high school and college years. It's what instantly separates him from other major heroes: he's just a kid, someone who doesn't have it all together and goes through the same struggles as you, and then beats up dudes with eight arms once he's gotten through them.

When it comes to big-screen adaptations, this has been the preferred version of the character as well. The first two Raimi movies were rooted in this context, as were The Amazing Spider-Man films, and Marvel's take is the youngest yet, with the company constantly reiterating how committed they are to keeping him in school.

It's true that a lot of what makes the character so special, and some of his best storylines so resonant, is indebted to this context, but there's so much great material to be found outside of it. In the comics especially, the regular 616 Spidey has spent way more time out of school than he has in it, and the recent PS4 game has shown how much scope there is for stories off the page about a more experienced wall crawler.

Yet, the image of a high-school-era Spidey remains the go-to version of the character in the minds of many.