# Spider-Man
Spider-Man is Marvel's web-slinging superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962, whose comics, cartoons and blockbuster films have fueled decades of internet memes. Screenshots from the 1967 ABC animated series became the raw material for the 60s Spider-Man image macro format, one of the earliest recurring reaction templates online.
## Origin
Writer Stan Lee created Spider-Man in 1962 with artist Steve Ditko after pitching a teenage superhero to Marvel publisher Martin Goodman. The character debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962 and picked up his own title, The Amazing Spider-Man, in March 1963[3].
The meme side of the character mostly traces to the ABC animated series that began airing in September 1967 and ended in June 1970. Screen captures from those episodes became the source material for the 60s Spider-Man image macro genre[3]. Sam Raimi's 2002 live-action Spider-Man film and its two sequels added a second layer of quotable reaction moments starring Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield's 2012 and 2014 Amazing Spider-Man films kept the pipeline going[3].
- **Platform:** Marvel Comics (character origin) / image boards and Tumblr (meme spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown (character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; 60s Spider-Man image macro originator unconfirmed)
- **Date:** 1962
## Overview
The Spider-Man meme footprint runs across formats. A widely used example is the 60s Spider-Man image macro, built from screen captures of the 1967 ABC cartoon and captioned as reaction images[3]. Fans pair those screencaps with situational punchlines about mistaken identity, workplace irony, or fandom infighting, most famously the two-Spider-Men pointing frame.
Beyond the cartoon, live-action films fed a second wave of reaction material. Tobey Maguire's exaggerated expressions in Sam Raimi's 2002 trilogy, plus the emo strut from Spider-Man 3, still get reused as reaction GIFs and edits[3]. Quotable moments from the Marvel Studios era with Tom Holland later joined the same rotation[1].
The character also anchors a large fan ecosystem outside the meme formats. Sites like Spider-Man Crawlspace track new comics and film news, and dedicated wikis, subreddits and Tumblr blogs keep a steady flow of art, screencaps and edits circulating[2].
## How to Use
The 60s Spider-Man format typically uses a screenshot from the 1967 cartoon, often the two identical Spider-Men pointing at each other, with a top-and-bottom caption applying the mistaken-identity beat to a niche subject (rival fandoms, duplicate bugs, siblings, political parties)[3]. Tobey Maguire reaction crops from the Raimi trilogy are commonly used as standalone reaction images in Twitter or Discord replies.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Spider-Man?
Spider-Man is Marvel's teenage superhero Peter Parker, whose comics, cartoons and films have generated an ongoing supply of internet memes, most famously the 60s Spider-Man image macro built from screencaps of the 1967 ABC animated series[3].
### Where did Spider-Man come from?
The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko and debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962, followed by The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in March 1963[3].
### What does Spider-Man mean?
As a meme, Spider-Man refers less to the character itself than to a pool of reusable images: 60s cartoon screencaps used as reaction macros, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield film crops, and later Tom Holland MCU moments[3][1].
### How do you use Spider-Man?
The classic use is captioning a 60s cartoon screenshot, often the two Spider-Men pointing at each other, to make a mistaken-identity joke, with Raimi-era Tobey Maguire crops often used as standalone reaction images[3].
### Is Spider-Man still popular?
Yes. The character stayed in constant circulation through the Marvel Studios deal announced in February 2015 and the Tom Holland casting in June 2015, with fan communities like /r/spiderman, the Spider-Man Wiki and Spider-Man Crawlspace still active[1][2].
## References
1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170118050816/https://news.marvel.com/movies/24062/sony_pictures_entertainment_brings_marvel_studios_into_the_amazing_world_of_spider-man/]()
2. [https://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/]()
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/spider-man]()
4. [https://movieweb.com/marvel-spider-man-movie-reboot-sony-hack/]()
5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhLksdRVSxs]()
---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/spider-man
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library