Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) during the Silver Age of Comic Books. He has since become one of the world's most popular and commercially successful superheroes, serving as Marvel's flagship character and mascot.
The character's secret identity is Peter Parker, a teenage high school student and orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues, giving him a relatable, everyman quality that set him apart from other superheroes of the era. Over the decades, the Spider-Man mythos expanded to include the concept of a broader "Spider-Verse," a multiverse containing countless alternate versions of the hero. This included the introduction of Miles Morales in 2011, a teenager of African-American and Puerto Rican descent who takes up the Spider-Man mantle in an alternate universe, which became a central focus for modern multiverse storylines.
