Peter Parker
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Peter Benjamin Parker |
| Occupation: | Superhero |
| Relationships: | Richard & Mary Parker (parents), May Parker (aunt), Ben Parker (uncle), Spider-Girl (AU!daughter) Ben Reilly (clone/ally), Kaine (clone) Gwen Stacy (love interest), Mary Jane Watson (love interest/sometimes wife), Black Cat (love interest/ally), Shadowcat (ally/sometimes love interest) |
| Fandom: | Spider-Man (all films, comics, cartoons), The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Marvel Cinematic Universe |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Peter Parker is the alter ego of Spider-Man from the Marvel Comics series Spider-Man. He also appears as members of The Avengers and new Fantastic Four series. Peter has also been the focus of several film adaptions.
Canon
There is often quite a bit of variation between canon material, but there are usually a few common elements between all of them: Peter is raised by his uncle Ben and aunt May, he is bit by a radioactive spider and gains superpowers, and thus takes on the superhero identity of Spider-Man. His most likely love-interest is Mary Jane Watson, although whether Peter/Mary Jane turns out to be the endgame pairing often varies lot.
Movieverses
In the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film Trilogy (2002-2007), Peter Parker is played by Tobey Maguire. In the reboot film series created by Marc Webb (2012-2014), Peter is played by Andrew Garfield. Both actors and set of films became quite popular. Tom Holland first appeared as Spider-Man/Peter in the MCU in Captain America: Civil War.
Cartoons
Peter Parker is featured in all of the Spider-Man cartoons[1], although the fandom for the cartoonverses are significantly smaller than the movieverses. The most popular ones are Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Ultimate Spider-Man.
Fandom
Pairings
There are a few pairings that seem to show up in the fandom of nearly every Spider-Man adaptation, these usually are Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson (usually canon), Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy, and Harry Osborn/Peter Parker. Peter Parker/Wade Wilson (Spideypool) also appears in nearly every universe, whether the two characters are shown together in canon or not.
Comicverse
Perhaps because of the extent of comics crossovers, and Peter's greater interactions with other characters, there are a great deal of comics related pairings. Aside from the pairings mentioned above, other popular pairings are Peter Parker/Johnny Storm and Peter Parker/Felicia Hardy. Rarer pairings include Peter Parker/Kitty Pryde, Peter Parker/Jessica Drew, Carol Danvers/Peter Parker, Peter Parker/Cindy Moon, Peter Parker/Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker/Jessica Walters and Wanda Maximoff/Peter Parker
Spider-Man Trilogy
Besides being paired with Mary Jane and Harry, the threesome of Peter/MJ/Harry was quite common. The crossover pairing of Peter/Chloe (Smallville) also found a following.
MCU
The pairings that appeared in the fandom, especially after the first MCU Spider-Man film, were Tony Stark/Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker and Liz Allan/Peter Parker. Later MCU pairings included Bucky Barnes/Peter Parker, Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Quentin Beck/Peter Parker, and Peter Parker/Stephen Strange, as well the customary Peter/MJ.
Cartoons
The fandoms of the various cartoon adaptations usually follow the same pattern of pairing Peter with Mary Jane, Gwen or Harry, however Peter Parker/Felicia Hardy also tends to be very popular.
Common Tropes and Storylines in Fanworks
- Bisexual: Peter is straight in canon (although, there was a comic panel that hinted that he might not be[2]), but fans often headcanon Peter as bisexual and incorporate that into their fanworks
- Woobie: fans sometimes have a tendency to woobify Peter, this is especially prevalent with the MCU version of the character
- Hurt/Comfort: Peter is most likely to be the character being hurt, and needing comfort form other characters, this often coincides with the Peter Parker Needs a Hug tag
- No Powers AU: where Peter never becomes Spider-Man, or somehow loses his powers. This may also include fanworks set within different AU settings.
- College AU: because of Peter's relative age, these may be stories where Peter is still Spider-Man and trying to balance school and being a superhero, or they may be more mundane AUs.
Spider-Man Trilogy
- It was fairly common to crossover with Smallville
The Amazing Spider-Man Series
- Due to canon influence from the first film, the pairing Peter/Gwen became popular. And although MJ didn't appear in the first film, there was quite a few fics written that introduced her and the Mary Jane/Peter pairing.
- This Peter Parker was commonly added to early MCU The Avengers Movieverse fics as a nod to the character's membership in the comics. This was usually done under the trope Domestic Avengers/Superfamily, but also under as a secondary character or having one of the main characters recruit him to SHIELD.
- In fics Peter was often shown to have a fanboy crush on Tony Stark and his technology. This was also sometimes extended to Jane Foster, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers.
- Peter and Darcy Lewis were often portrayed as friends/bros in the stories they were in together. [1] [2]
Fan Reaction to Spider-Man's Introduction to the MCU
Once it was announced that Spider-Man was finally going to appear in the MCU, thus ending the Amazing Spider-Man series and there would be no more Garfield as Peter/Spidey. It had a mixed response, because many fans supported the idea of Spider-Man finally joining the MCU (it was practically accepted in fanon anyway), but enjoyed Garfield's acting and would have prefered to have him continue (#SaveGarfield & #SaveAndrewGarfield was often used on social media). Another criticism of the decision to recast was the fact that the series was just rebooted. Others felt that Marvel Studios could have cast a better actor, because Tom Holland was a relative unknown at the time. However, many others wanted the Spider-Man character to be recast as a POC or be the Miles Morales incarnation of the character, in which Donald Glover was often fancasted.
After Captain America: Civil War was released, fans immediately took to Tom Holland and his portray of Peter/Spider-Man in the film. Positive feedback on the character and actor continued for Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Fanworks
Fanfiction
MCU
- Peter Parker Meets The Avengers by arabellagaleotti
Fanart
Comicsverse
- Colouring Fun: Spiderman by shirokabocha56
- Marvel's Spider-Man by Cartoonsarelife1996
- Spider-man by arunion
- Spider-Man : Parker's Diary by thekidKaos
- Spider-man Headshot by IAmPowers99
MCU
- Peter Parker (Tom Holland) - Spiderman by ketto-art
- Peter Parker is spider man by KAIKARRY
- Peter-Parker by RyanRigby
Marvel's Spider-Man (Video Game)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) by phil-cho
Relationship Art
Peter/Kitty Pryde:
- Peter and Kitty by Alchemistress666
- Shadowcat and Spider-Man by DComp (TASM/XMM)
- Kitty and Spidey -colored- by HoneyAppleNinja (X-Men: Evolution)
Peter/Rogue:
Peter/Wonder Woman:
Vids
- See Category:Spider-Man for other relationship vids.
Spider-Man Trilogy
- For You, a Smallville crossover vid about Chloe/Peter, by OViolentDarkKnightO
The Amazing Spider-Man
- We All Have Secrets (offline)
- what are you waiting for? by astroni
- awake and alive by Lottie'scorner
- "hold on to hope" (offline)
- How perfect you are... (Peter/Clara Oswald - Doctor Who crossover), by JackiWhovian
MCU
- believer by xAdria10x
- Are You Ready? by Lost In Film
Example Art Gallery
The Amazing Spider-man by kanapy-art (2012), this piece based on the character from The Amazing Spider-Man films
Archives & Fannish Links
- See Category:Spider-Man for other relationship links.
- Peter Parker works at AO3
- Peter works at FFN (comics/movies category)
- Peter Parker works at FFN (Spectacular Spider-Man)
- Peter Parker works at FFN (Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon)
- Peter Parker Noir works
- Spiderman Slash, LiveJournal community for Peter in any slash pairing (inactive)
Resources
References
- ^ List of Spider-Man cartoons
- ^ "Jan 18, 2022 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-02-28.