High school and college years

Many people find their first girlfriend in high school. Some even meet their future wife there. And Peter was no exception: this is where he meets Liz Allan, the most popular girl at Midtown High… and Betty Brant, who becomes his first actual girlfriend (when I first found out about this, I couldn't believe it).

Yeah, I know it's weird for a high schooler to be dating a tabloid secretary, but in her defense, Betty is around Peter's age, even if she works at the Daily Bugle (the reasons why she starts working at that age are explored a bit deeper in Untold Tales of Spider-Man).

Of course, the relationship with Betty couldn't last forever. It turns out that Betty's brother, Bennett—a lawyer—is unknowingly working for Doctor Octopus (who needs no introduction) through some shady connections. This leads to a battle on a ship, where Spider-Man gets involved and complicates things even further. Betty is right there on the ship when one of the thugs opens fire wildly and kills Bennett. To make matters worse, it's not long before Peter loses his powers due to a common cold and gets defeated by Doctor Octopus, who naturally reveals his secret identity right in front of Betty and J. Jonah Jameson. Even so, nobody actually believes a kid could be Spider-Man…

With her brother dead and having realized that Peter isn't the quiet, safe guy she hoped for, the two of them drift further and further apart…

And all of this because of a bite from a radioactive spider. But what would have happened if Uncle Ben had never died? Peter would have never learned the lesson of responsibility and would have probably exploited his powers to get quick fame and money. I would even dare to say that instead of being Marvel's greatest superhero, he could have been a Fantastic Four villain.

And speaking of the Fantastic Four, Peter actually tries to apply for a job with them as Spider-Man at first, but it falls through because they can't afford to pay him. That leads him to work as a freelancer for a newspaper, under the grumpiest boss alive: J. Jonah Jameson.

I think it's time to skip ahead three years after Peter gets bitten by the spider. In fact, let's jump straight to graduation day…

It's the first day of college, and the only thing on Peter's mind is Aunt May, who is dying (Peter gave her a life-saving blood transfusion back in high school, and it's taking its toll right now). Peter needs a special chemical that was stolen by someone calling himself the Master Planner… an alias for Doctor Octopus.

That's how a more infuriated Spider-Man than ever tracks down the Master Planner and faces him in his underground base… only to get the chemical and end up trapped under tons of debris while the base floods. Uncle Ben died because of him, and now that he has a chance to save Aunt May, is she going to die because of him too?

No! Spider-Man pulls off the ultimate feat of strength of his life to break free from the wreckage and fight his way through the remaining henchmen to save Aunt May… Of course, while all this is going on, his classmates at Empire State University think he's a stuck-up snob who thinks he's better than everyone else, just because of the way he ignores them.

So don't be surprised when I tell you that Peter first met Harry and Gwen as his bullies, who hung out with Flash Thompson. And who would have guessed that just a few issues later, Peter would be sharing an apartment with Harry as best friends. Excelsior! (And I forgot the most important part… Gwen and Peter end up falling in love).

Speaking of bullies, I'm surprised I haven't mentioned him until now, but one day the Green Goblin cleverly figures out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, leading to a brutal showdown right in Peter's own backyard. In the end, Peter is defeated and kidnapped. But the worst was yet to come: in a classic villain monologue moment, the Green Goblin reveals that he is his father!

… Ha, ha, can you imagine? I think it would have been cool if George Lucas had taken inspiration from "this twist" for his saga in a galaxy far, far away, but that's not how it went down. Instead, Peter discovers that the Green Goblin is Norman Osborn, the father of his new best friend, Harry. After Norman conveniently loses his memory from being a bit too overconfident in his victory, Peter gets some peace. But not much… And it's not like it lasts, either.

Failing grades at ESU and the utter chaos of his life in general lead Peter to decide to be Spider-Man no more… and throw his suit in the trash. Naturally, crime skyrockets. The big shots who couldn't keep control of certain territories before suddenly show up to take it all; especially a certain underworld figure nicknamed the Kingpin. But we'll get back to this Kingpin guy in the future. The important thing to know is that, just like in Spider-Man 2, Peter realizes a world without Spider-Man can't exist, so he takes up the mantle again.

Man, for his first year in college, it's moving at a mile a minute. But I've gotta be honest. Sometimes I think about all the adventures Peter had at his age, and I look at myself like, "something's wrong with me," because at my age, the most action I've seen is sitting in a chair staring at a blue computer screen for over 10 hours every single day. Quite a life, right? But witnessing the tragic turn Peter's life is about to take, I don't think anyone would actually want to be in his shoes…

As soon as Norman Osborn gets his memory back, he puts on the Green Goblin suit and decides to pay a visit to the first person on his hit list: Peter Parker. Instead, he finds his girlfriend. Spider-Man discovers the kidnapping and makes it to the Brooklyn Bridge just in time. The Green Goblin and Spider-Man fight fiercely before Gwen Stacy is pushed off the bridge.

The Night Gwen Stacy Died is a comic no one saw coming. The kidnapping and the death happened just way too fast. And like Uncle Ben's passing, it ended up being a permanent death that marked the web-slinger forever.

Only one issue goes by before a grieving Peter makes the choice to avenge Gwen's death by killing the Green Goblin. But who would have thought that the glider would kill the Green Goblin first, in a backfired attempt to impale Spider-Man.

The issue where Gwen Stacy dies is also the first of many more comics where major characters in the Spider-Man mythos start dropping dead: Doctor Octopus, Hammerhead, Kangaroo, Molten Man… And who would've thought that right after this, one of Marvel Comics' biggest characters, the Punisher, would make his debut as a Spider-Man villain; though that's not entirely true, since he was manipulated by a guy named the Jackal into thinking Spider-Man was a dangerous criminal who needed to be taken out.

And I might not have mentioned this earlier, but Harry was definitely the person hit hardest by all of this. Not only was he left completely alone in the world, but shortly before his father's death, he had fallen deep into drug addiction. So, Harry starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together on his own, until he discovers that his dad was the Green Goblin and that Peter is Spider-Man. Taking up the mantle as the new Green Goblin, Harry makes Spider-Man's life a living hell, at least for a while, before being defeated and sent to a psychiatric institution.

Lastly, I think we've also been ignoring a very special, red-headed character for too long: Mary Jane Watson. Before Gwen's death, Mary Jane was the girl competing with Gwen for Peter's attention, but she was also the type who was all about parties and fun, so Peter always preferred Gwen. After Gwen's passing, the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane develops like never before, especially thanks to Mary Jane's newfound empathy and authenticity.

Gwen Stacy is back.

But that's impossible, right? If Gwen died on the Brooklyn Bridge, who is this girl claiming to be Gwen?

The reality is that she is Gwen, but not the Gwen we all know, because she's a clone created by… the Jackal. In fact, later on, this infamous antagonist teams up with different villains to keep the web-slinger busy so he can finish his two sinister creations on time: the clones of Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker.

But why so much hatred for Spider-Man? Just like Harry, who grew to hate Spider-Man over his father's death, the Jackal does it over the death of… Gwen Stacy. This is where things get a bit weird, because turns out this biology professor fell in love with his student Gwen, envied Peter, and then hated him after discovering his secret identity and his involvement in Gwen's death. This professor's name is Miles Warren.

And if you think this is crazy, just wait until the 90s, which is when Miles Warren's experiments take an even heavier toll on Peter and his… future wife, who we'll talk about later when Peter is finishing college. But for the time being, Peter runs into his clone, and they face off to save the life of Ned Leeds (sorry for not mentioning Ned until now; in the comics, Ned isn't a friend of Peter like in the MCU, but a Daily Bugle reporter who marries Betty Brant). In the end, both Miles Warren and Peter's clone "die," but Gwen escapes…

A new era is on the horizon. But unfortunately, the new writers—Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and Dan O'Neil—separate Peter from a certain special red-headed girl that the current writer, Gerry Conway, had started using more and more. True, that means potential new romances down the line, maybe even a white-haired thief… and who knows? MJ might eventually step back into Peter's chaotic life, but all in good time.