Spider-Man's Backstory and History (MCU)

This page is dedicated to the early life of Peter Parker, his cultural background, and how he became Spider-Man.

Birth and early life
Peter Benjamin Parker was born on August 10, 2001 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, the son of S.H.I.E.L.D agents Mary (née Fitzpatrick) and Richard Parker. When Peter was about five years old, without explanation, his parents told him that he would need to pack his bags and he would be living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben for a period of time. Richard and Mary did not really tell him the reason why he needed to live with his aunt and uncle as they did not want to scare him. Richard had a hunch that one of their S.H.I.E.L.D co-workers was responsible for a number of deaths in the locations of their work, and Richard was finally proven right when he got a recording of the guy. Richard and Mary than got on a plane to Afghanistan for a mission, but the criminal knew that Mary and Richard knew too much and had them killed. Their deaths were later covered up as a plane crash. Prior to their deaths however, Richard and Mary had another child unknown to Peter, a daughter and Peter's younger sister, Teresa.

Peter was raised by his aunt and uncle, seeing them as his surrogate parents. Peter got his love for pop culture and preference to old-school music from his uncle. Peter also idolized the Avengers, with Iron Man being his favorite of them. As Peter reached his high school years, he grew to be a prodigy in multiple scholastic subjects at Midtown High School, and received top honors. Despite this however, Peter struggled communicating with others and was often ignored and ostracized from his peers. He was also a target of consistent verbal bullying, though it rarely got physical. He was also trolled on his social media accounts from his classmates, the worst offender being that of popular student Eugene "Flash" Thompson.

In fall of 2015, when Peter was fourteen years old, he and his class were taken on a field trip to General Techtronics Laboratories East. There, scientists showed the students many different exhibits, but Peter was must intrigued by the genetically modified "super" spiders the scientist created. They explained that they created the spiders with synthesized RNA from five species of spiders including the jumping spider, Darwin's bark spider, giant house spider, diving bell spider, and black widow spider. To give the spiders an "extra kick" the scientist also spliced in gamma radiation and neutron radiation, the kind of radiation one would find in an atomic bomb. Now these spiders have superior strength, speed, endurance, web-building, and jumping abilities, and since there is also radiation in their bodies they can survive an atomic bomb. The diving bell spider RNA also gives these spiders more aquatic abilities and can hold their breath for extended periods of time. There were exactly fifteen of them, but one of the students were quick to point out that one was missing. As the students moved on to another area, the scientist demonstrated another thing they wanted to show the students. Unknown to everyone, one of the super spiders was above head and was irradiated by the demonstration's particle accelerator. The particle accelerator developed electromagnetic radiation. The spider bit Peter on his hand and oblivious to him, after it fell off his hand it used its last pulses of life to bite his classmate Cindy Moon on the ankle, before dying as it had sustained too much radiation in its system.

Peter felt unwell for the rest of the trip to the point where he actually passed out and his aunt and uncle were called. When Peter awoke he was in his bedroom, as he had been asleep for sixteen hours. Peter actually felt much better now and noting that it was 6:45 AM he thought it was a good idea to start getting ready for school. When he put his glasses on however, the vision was now blurry and can see perfectly clear without them. He thought it was odd but did not think too much about it. As he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he found that he had developed newfound strength, effortlessly ripping the door knob, squeezing all the toothpaste out of tube that some actually ended up the celling, and breaking other small items. When Peter was at school, things were relatively normal, though strange things would happen from time to time. During P.E. class, when Peter was looking Flash through a football at him, and without looking, Parker caught the ball and through it right at Flash's face, with so much force that he actually knocked him out. Flash's friends saw this and charged at Parker, but he lost them really quickly. As Peter ran out the building, he did not notice that there was a car heading straight to him. Peter jumped out of the way and was shocked to find out the he was actually sticking to the wall and was able to find it. As he made it to the top of the building he was climbing. Peter put two-and-two together that these abilities must be tied to the spider bite that occurred the day prior, and decided to test them out, now fulling realizing that he could do whatever a spider can.

A couple days later, Parker encountered an ad offering a cash prize for lasting three minutes in the ring with Joseph "Crusher" Hogan, Peter decided this would be a good way to test his powers. Wanting to remain anonymous so he can avoid ridicule if he loses, Peter made a wrestling suit and named himself "The Spider". Using his knowledge from WWE and his new powers, Parker defeated Hogan with ease. Like promised, the wrestling gave Parker the money they advertised. Peter actually wanted to use the money to help his Aunt May and Uncle Ben move out of their house, as they had their eyes on an apartment but were short on money.

TV producer Maxwell Shiffman observed his performance and convinced him to go on television with his 'act'. Desperate for money and actually enjoying the thrill of wrestling, Parker agreed. After a visit to the Goodwill store and using items from his room, Parker designed and made a cheap costume and fabricated synthetic webbing and wrist-mounted web-shooters, using chemicals from his school and dumpster-diving to create the web-shooters, Peter debuted as Spider-Man, becoming an instant sensation.

Over the coming days as Peter's popularity as Spider-Man grew and he was actually coming close to the amount of money in his goal, a mugger robbed the TV station which Peter allowed to run past him without using his abilities to stop the mugger deciding that it was not his problem and that he should let the police do their job. A couple days later, Peter had finally achieved his goal, and went home excitedly to tell his aunt and uncle the good news, but was shocked to see a cop car parked in front of his home. When he went inside a police officer informed him that his Uncle Ben had been murdered, as he surprised the burglar and took the bullet for May. Learning the police had the burglar responsible holed up in a warehouse, Peter changed into Spider-Man and easily captured him, only to discover he was the same thief he had allowed to escape earlier. Peter beat up the burglar named Dennis Carradine and was about to finish him off but he could not bring himself to do it, and instead webbed up Carradine for the police.

The heartbroken and remorse-filled Parker blamed himself for his uncle's death, and vowed that he will carry on and use his powers for good. Parker made good on his promise and operated as Spider-Man independently for six months until he was contacted by Tony Stark, who revealed that he knew that he was Spider-Man and recruited him to join his conflict with Avengers members acting in violation of the Sokovia Accords, led by Steve Rogers.

Richard Parker's biography
Richard Parker was born September 7, 1967 in Lakewood, Jefferson County, Colorado, the son of Allen Christopher Parker (1932-2008) and Geraldine Vanessa "Jerry" Gonzales (1936-2022). His father was a native of Wichita, Kansas, while his mother was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was of Old Stock American heritage, while his mother was born to a Puerto Rican father and a Ashkenazi Jewish mother whose families came from Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania. Richard married Mary Fitzpatrick in 1999 in Denver, and when Mary got pregnant they moved to New York City, where Richard's brother Ben moved many years ago for college. Richard and Mary met while they became agents of SHIELD. Richard and Mary were killed in Afghanistan on August 27, 2006. Their daughter Teresa was born about a month prior.

Richard's paternal grandfather was Herbert Frankford Parker (the son of Andrew Bartholomew Parker and Charlotte Grace "Lottie" Thorsen). Herbert was born on August 13, 1907 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Herbert passed away on January 15, 1987 in Kansas City, Kansas. Herbert had two brothers, Richard "Dick" Parker (1909-1979) and Sebastian Parker (1913-2001). Andrew was born on June 10, 1877 in New Palestine, Randolph County, Illinois, the son of George William Parker and Theresa Ann Holland. Andrew passed on October 24, 1955 in Topeka, Kansas. Charlotte was also born in Chicago on January 1, 1887, the daughter of Norwegian emigrants Julius Michael Thorsen (1837-1897) and Henrietta Amelia Eriksen (1840-1926) and was the youngest of fourteen children. Her siblings included Celia Barbara Thorsen (1857-1933), Florence Hannah Thorsen (1858-1911), Thor Thorsen (1860-1948), Loki Thorsen (1861-1950), Olaf Thorsen (1863-1899), Joseph Michael Thorsen (1867-1962), Peter Marcus Thorsen (1869-1939), Daniel Alfred Thorsen (1870-1944), Christian Douglas Thorsen (1873-1952), Thomas Theodore Thorsen (1874-1970), Francis Thorsen (1878-1974), Kenneth Espen Thorsen (1879-1975), and Mary Frances Thorsen (1881-1957). Charlotte passed away on November 23, 1982 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Richard's paternal grandmother was Selina Rosemary Greenstein (the daughter of Max Leonard Greenstein and Dorothy Hannah Powers). Selina was born in Kansas, on August 15, 1911. She passed away on December 30, 2007 in Houston, Texas. Selina had two younger sisters Ida Greenstein (1913-2000) and Sarah Greenstein (1915-2012). Her father was Jewish. Max was born in New York, the son of Walter James Greenstein, of Laupheim, Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, and of Muriel Cecile Pennamacoor, of Sokołów, Sokołów County, Masovian Voivodeship. Max was born in 1890 and served in World War I, and was killed in action on July 4, 1916 in Beaumont-Hamel, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France during the Battle of the Somme. Dorothy was born in Illinois, the daughter of Solomon Powers and Rebecca Rice.

Richard's maternal grandfather was Pedro Alejandro González (the son of Isidro Benejan Gonzalez y Betancourt and Francisca Sebastiana Garcia). Pedro was born on February 5, 1910 in Isabela, Puerto Rico, and passed away on October 16, 1997 in El Barrio, Upper Manhattan, New York City. Pedro was the twelveth of fifteen children. Isidro was born in Moca, Puerto Rico, the son of Miguel González y Domínguez and Mercedes Aquino Betancourt y Rodriguez. Francisca was the biological daughter of Bernardo Hugo Garcia y Bautista and Monica del Madrigal Font, and was adopted by Manuel Pedrosa Martinez and Jocelyn Reyes Flores.

Richard's maternal grandmother was Rebecca Joyce "Betty" Kane (the daughter of Maurice Moshe "Morris" Kane and Elizabeth Frances "Fannie" Himmelberg). Rebecca was born on March 23, 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and passed away on May 16, 2002 in Tucson, Arizona. There was a eighteen year age difference between Rebecca's parents, as Maurice was born in 1873 and Elizabeth was born in 1891. Rebecca was the third of fourteen children and the eleventh of her father, as he had eight kids from his previous marriage. Maurice was the son of Ukrainian Jewish emigrants, Louis Cohen and Yetta Lowenthal. Elizabeth was the daughter of Abraham Himmelberg, who was a Hungarian Jewish emigrant, and of Isla Rachel Savage, who was born in Deptford, London, England, the daughter of Romanian Jewish parents.

Mary Fitzpatrick's biography
Mary Fitzpatrick was born on September 14, 1967 in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. She was the middle child of three children born to Margaret Joan (née Black), an insurance broker, and William James "Wild Will" Fitzpatrick, an archaeologist. At the time of Mary's birth her father got a big break in his archaeologist career, and was offered a job in Colombia to promote agricultural development. When Mary was eight years old, her family finally left Colombia and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mary spoke fluent Spanish and it took time to fully learn English. Mary attended Albuquerque High School and earned her diploma in 1985. She then enrolled at University of Southern California, and graduated with a double-major degree in human biology and architectural and building sciences. She then met Richard Parker at S.H.I.E.L.D. and married him in 1999, and having a son in 2001. They later had another child named Teresa in 2006 about a month prior to her and Richard's demise.

Mary's paternal grandfather was Clarence Baylor "Clancy" Fitzpatrick (the son of Michael Joseph Fitzpatrick and Crescentia Crawford). Clarence was born in Mississippi. He was born on December 18, 1922 the sixth of eight children. His family was relatively poor and could not afford a college education unless another family member paid for it. Clarence served in World War II and was killed in action in Italy on September 13, 1944. His older brother William Maurice Fitzpatrick (1920-1944), was killed in action two months prior in France during the Normandy invasion. Michael was the son of Nicholas Fitzpatrick and Mary Moore. Crescentia was the daughter of Joseph Henry Crawford and Martha Cash.

Mary's paternal grandmother was Josephine Violet Garrigues (the daughter of Norbert Peter Garrigues and Marguerite Pizzolato). Josephine was born in Louisiana, the daughter of a Cajun father and an Italian/Sicilian mother. Norbert was the son of Joseph Rosemond Garrigues and Marie Frances Charpentier. Marguerite was born in Contessa Entellina, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, the daughter of Antonio Sandre Pizzolato and Isabella Cecilia Greco.

Mary's maternal grandfather was Marvin Jackson "Vinny" Black (the son of Wesley Arthur Black and Catherine "Kate" Velcheck). Marvin was born in Colorado. Wesley was born in Kansas, the son of Romeo Ernest Black and Virginia Marie Frost. Catherine was born in Wisconsin, the daughter of Austrian emigrants, Martin Velcheck, of Treffen, Villach-Land, Carinthia, and of Louisa Kallenbach, of Köttmannsdorf, Klagenfurt-Land, Carinthia.

Mary's maternal grandmother was Pearl Caroline Sorensen (the daughter of Edward Vincent "Ned" Sorensen and Cordelia Eleanor Blight). Pearl was born in Utah. Edward was born in Colorado, the son of Frederick Pedersen "Fred" Sorensen, who was a Danish emigrant from Præstø, Vordingborg, Sjælland, Denmark, and of Regina Weissman, who was of half German ancestry, one-quarter Irish descent, and her other quarter being a mix of English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, Welsh, and French Huguenot. Cordelia was born in Iowa, the daughter of James Matthew "Jim" Blight and Sophriana Jones.