Peter Parker was once a normal teenager in high school.
He had lived with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May Parker since he was six, after his parents had died in a plane crash. One day, Peter attended a new experiment on neogenics by Professor Farley Stillwell.
When Stillwell demonstrated his new radioactive ray, nobody noticed a small spider that got in the path of the ray.
The spider got away from the ray, unnoticed.
The radioactive spider crawled onto Peter and bit him on the hand.
Peter fled the laboratory with a throbbing headache...
...and was nearly run over by a speeding car.
Peter leapt out of the way just in time...
...and found himself sticking to the wall of a building a few stories off the ground!
Discovering he had gotten the powers of a spider, Peter had also learned how to make a special chemical formula to create webbing and he stored his web-cartridges into wrist-worn gauntlets. Deciding to use his new powers to make money, Peter created a red-and-blue costume and took the name Spider-Man so he wouldn't be recognized. Spider-Man made his first appearance on television and performed live for his classmates, unaware he was really the nerdish Peter Parker that they had taunted at school.
While back stage, Spider-Man was approached by an agent to become a professional wrestler...
... and liked what he heard.
Spider-Man would soon perform live in the wrestling ring.
He defeated his opponents with ease...
...and he quickly became popular.
One night, after winning a large amount of prize money, Spider-Man was at his locker at the fight arena...
... when he discovered a policeman chasing after a thief.
The thief ran right past Spider-Man...
... but the fame and fortune had gotten to Peter and clouded his better judgment. The self-absorbed Spider-Man didn't even try to stop him as he ran by, as Spidey felt it wasn't his responsibility to stop him.
As Spider-Man told the cop chasing after the crook:
"Hey, sorry, pal. I'm a wrestler, not a cop."
After watching the crook escape, Spider-Man thought to himself, "I figured, 'why should I get involved?'"
But that night, tragedy struck Peter Parker and changed his life forever. When he returned home, he found the police at his house.
When he went inside, he saw his Aunt May sobbing on the couch and a policeman approached him.
The policeman told Peter that a burglar had entered the house and that his Uncle Ben had tried to stop him, but the armed burglar had shot and killed him.
When Peter demanded to know who killed him, the policeman explained that the police had him cornered at the old Acme Warehouse on the waterfront.
Peter went upstairs, and changed into his Spider-Man costume.
Spidey went to the warehouse to confront the burglar himself.
The police had the warehouse surrounded...
... but Spider-Man wanted to be the one to catch him first.
Spider-Man crawled inside the warehouse and quickly found the masked burglar.
Spidey leaped down and caught the burglar off guard.
Spidey quickly disarmed and caught the burglar, and then he unmasked him.
To Spidey's shock and horror, he knew the familiar face all too well...
It was the same crook from the arena, the very one he didn't stop when he had the chance.
After leaving the burglar for the police in a web, a grief-struck Peter returned home and wondered what to do next. Peter remembered that his Uncle Ben had always told him that "with great power, comes great responsibility." Peter decided to follow his late uncle's advice by using his powers to fight crime and protect people, so that they would not lose someone they loved the way Peter had lost his uncle. From then on, Peter became the city's self-appointed protector, The Amazing Spider-Man!
Now, as a college student at Empire State University, Peter must balance having a normal life as Peter Parker and fighting crime as Spider-Man. Spider-Man has since fought people with super-powers of their own for their own evil purposes and are too much for the police alone to handle and new threats continue to pop up in his life. But leading a double life can cause new problems for Peter, as he may have to walk out on a date or miss classes in order to fight super-powered villains as Spider-Man. Even so, no matter what problems he has, Peter continues to live up to his promise to his uncle to continue on as Spider-Man to save the city again and again.