I rarely mention him on the site, but Spider-Man is probably my favorite superhero.
Or rather he was until everyone seemingly forgot how to write him in 2007, but that’s another story.
I once read the theory that every decade Marvel tries to replicate the success of the early Spider-Man with a new character.
That got me thinking: is that true? Were any of these attempts successful to any degree? Did DC try to do the same? Were there characters that COULD have worked this way but no serious attempt was made?
So for every decade starting from the 60s, I’m going to look at what could be considered potential new Spider-Men.
What do I mean by that? I have four criteria to be a successful Spider-Man type of hero; you don’t necessarily have to hit all four.
1) The protagonist must be either a teenager or a college student
2) The civilian identity must be a regular person, or at the very least start that way
3) There is an attempt to see the hero tackle “relatable” problems of an average person
4) There is focus on the civilian life
1960s
There isn’t a REAL attempt in the 60s, but there are a couple of outliers.
I should probably mention the Teen Titans, but I don’t know much about their stories before the 80s.
Potential Marvel attempts: the Human Torch and the X-Men
I’ve already reviewed the entirety of the Human Torch serial from this era, so I won’t discuss it now… but I have no doubt the only reason he got a spin-off from the Fantastic Four is that he was the only other teenage Marvel hero available.
As for the X-Men, as we’ve seen there was a slight attempt to to Spider-Man-ize their civilian life, especially under Roy Thomas. It didn’t really work, though.
Missed DC opportunity: Supergirl
Her original serial was THIS close to getting her in the right spot: she even graduate high school before Spider-Man did! Not to mention her adoptive parents learning about her secret identity preceded Spider-Man by a long shot.
Unfortunately, as soon as Supergirl goes to college this all collapses. I’ve said this during the Supergirl retrospective several times, but… when Spider-Man goes to college he turns more interesting, but Supergirl loses nearly everything that made her stand out.
1970s
This is the period when the theory makes the most sense. Probably helped by the fact that the quality of Spider-Man stories is almost universally considered to have dropped in the 70s.
Failed Marvel attempt: Nova
This was pretty blatant attempt… not only Nova being a regular guy is an important aspect of his origin story, but it hasn’t exactly been denied as an attempt to replicate the Spider-Man formula.
Nova eventually turned out the be a great character, although he’ll have to wait the 2000s to be given the chance to shine. So why wasn’t his first series a smash hit?
Having Marv Wolfman as a writer didn’t help… he’s a great writer, but I consider his Spider-Man run to be one of the worst, so he’s not exactly the best man for the job if you want that result.
None of the alterations to the classic Spider-Man formula was a bad move… Richard Rider is not a science genius like Peter Parker, his brother is. Plus having a regular guy be involved in more fantastic adventures than Spider-Man definitely differentiated them.
Where I think it failed was the human aspect: none of the civilian stuff really worked.
Plus his rogues gallery sucked! Only the Sphinx is worth mentioning, but he doesn’t have a large enough role to affect the results.
Failed DC attempt: Firestorm
Yet another classic Spider-Man writer, this time Gerry Conway (whose various Spider-Man runs are MILES ahead of Wolfman’s). And the tweak is to have both a regular guy AND a science genius be the hero at the same time, despite being two separate characters.
That made for a fun dynamic, and I generally consider his first series to be much better than Nova’s first series… although I frankly found Firestorm truly insufferable on Justice League.
Once again, the sore spots are the civilian aspect AND the villains! Unlike Nova he does have a regular villain that made a lasting impact, namely Killer Frost, but that’s about it.
He also turned out okay, but the Spider-Man parallels didn’t last.
1980s
Unsurprisingly considering the 80s were a great decade for Spider-Man, there didn’t seem to be that much interest to replicate the formula.
Failed Marvel attempt: Speedball
You don’t get any more blatant than having STEVE DITKO create your character!!!
Unfortunately not this is 80s Ditko, it’s Ditko without Stan Lee to balance his obsessions. The result is one of the weirdest launches for a Marvel character I’ve ever seen.
I’d rather consider Speedball as actually debuting in the 90s with the New Warriors, since he WAS an interesting character there.
Missed Marvel opportunity: New Mutants
Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I don’t care all that much for this series. It’s a combination of factors… by this time I consider Claremont’s writing to be vastly overrated, and while the characters are enjoyable I always found the plots he used didn’t belong in this series.
Plus, while this is just MY problem, but… I have a really hard time reading dialogue of characters with a strong accent, and this series was full of those!
None of these are reasons to consider New Mutants a missed opportunity: it’s the fact that the private lives of the mutants are barely covered. This was the first series to really make use of the school setting, even more so than the original X-Men… and it still was barely anything.
Almost successful DC opportunity: New Teen Titans
Definitely a FAR more successful Marv Wolfman series than Nova! In fact, a true bestseller of the 80s.
This barely qualifies as an attempt to copy the Spider-Man formula, sure, but the interpersonal relationship between the characters was very often not just the focus: it was also more interesting than the superhero shenanigans.
So while I don’t think I can consider it as a positive example, I kind of have to give it a shoutout.
1990s
This was a hectic decade for Spider-Man, so it was the perfect moment to look for a successor.
Failed Marvel attempt: Darkhawk
This series often gets undeservedly lumped together with the “so bad it’s crap” batch of new series of the 90s, but it wasn’t that bad! And while some ridicule Darkhawk’s design, I think he’s great.
Unfortunately this is Nova all over again: the elements are there, but the civilian life and the villains are just too boring. Also I don’t think Marvel believed in this series enough: it lasted a respectable 50 issues, but it wasn’t promoted enough.
Missed Marvel opportunity: Generation X
Basically the same exact problems of New Mutants. I actually enjoyed the first year or so of this series MUCH better than I did New Mutants, but no effort whatsoever was done to focus on the civilian life to truly qualify.
Missed Marvel opportunity: New Warriors
Another 90s series that gets undeservedly bad publicity. This had a serious chance! It’s basically the same situation of New Teen Titans, except everyone on this team could have the civilian identity involved with normal people without raising eyebrows.
Still an underrated series, but not enough emphasis on the civilian side to truly count as a successful Spider-Man formula.
Missed DC opportunity: Superboy
One one hand, it’s hard to find two teenage heroes more different than Superboy and Spider-Man… Superman’s clone doesn’t even TRY to have a real civilian identity in this series, and they two have vastly different personalities.
Having said that, if Superboy DID make a more serious attempt to blend with normal people, this COULD have worked.
Missed DC opportunity: Impulse
Basically the same as Superboy, although we DID get his school life… which was kind of meh.
With the added problem that Mark Waid on this series and Flash, and Peter David in Young Justice, seem to be the only people on the planet capable of writing an Impulse who is not insufferable.
Successful DC attempt: Robin
With Marvel repeatedly failing at this, DC has a surprising success story at replicating the original Spider-Man formula!
Granted, Tim Drake’s high school life is not nearly as interesting as Peter Parker’s, but the balance between him and his adventures as Robin is just great.
Too bad DC Comics seems to actively hate Tim and force anyone else into the Robin costume.
2000s
This was basically the punchline of the original version of the theory: the first time Marvel successfully replicated Spider-Man was… Spider-Man.
Successful Marvel attempt: Ultimate Spider-Man
I have rather… strong opinions on Michael Bendis as a writer. Some of his stuff is great, most is passable, some is truly dreadful. Ultimate Spider-Man managed to get through all three stages, but the early stuff? Yeah for once he DID nail the attempt to recreate the Spider-Man magic.
Before he went completely bonkers, but that’s Bendis for you.
Missed Marvel opportunity: Runaways
A bit of a stretch. But what sold this series was the excellent character interaction between the kids; if only they stayed in one place, they would’ve been even more Spider-Man than the original.
Unfortunately you can’t keep them from running around since, you know, that’s in the name.
2010s
This is an extension of the original theory. But by this decade Spider-Man was… well I completely dropped the series, so that should tell you something.
I probably wasn’t the only one looking for a Spider-Man substitute since there are many success stories! With one exception.
Failed Marvel attempt: Nova
I just can’t stand this little s##t. Seriously, his series was just crap and I’ve yet to read a story where Sam Alexander is not insufferable. Maybe there was focus on his civilian life? I dropped his series after a couple of issues and it’s not mentioned in his other appearances I’ve read, so you tell me.
Successful Marvel attempt: Spider-Man
I stopped reading Ultimate Spider-Man AGES before Miles Morales was a thing, and I didn’t read a single story with him until he was transported to the regular universe.
It should really tell you something that he’s the only remnant of the Ultimate Universe still running around in his original form!
While I haven’t read a ton of his stories, at least since he’s joined the regular Marvel Universe I can see the appeal. And these days he’s a far better use of several Spider-Man tropes than Peter Parker.
Successful Marvel attempt: Miss Marvel
Out of all the examples I made, Kamala Khan is BY FAR the best example on how to modernize the Spider-Man formula while at the same time doing something new.
At first I was a little wary when I heard all the praise her series was getting, but… yeah, it’s really THAT freaking good.
Successful DC attempt: Blue Beetle
Full disclosure: I haven’t read any of his stories and I’ve barely aware of him by cultural osmosis and cameos. But I really needed to mention him because he’s proven to be a fan-favorite for quite some time now.
2020s
It’s definitely to early to tell. For what it’s worth, from the above examples only Miss Marvel and Miles Morales are still going strong with the original formula.
I guess Blue Beetle might also qualify, but I don’t know enough about modern DC Comics to know for sure.