Didja Know... Aunt May Almost Married Doctor Octopus

Didja Know digs into the fun facts, strange stories, and divine details that helped build the hallowed halls of the House of Ideas!

Hey, we’re big enough to admit it—sometimes your ol’ pals here at Didja Know Central get so wrapped up with the dashing and diverse characters on the lower rungs of the lilting ladder of Marvel that we sorta forget the bigwigs who made us the peerless publishers we are!

So how about we rectify that little letdown with a guy named Spider-Man?

And why not? This week, here at the House of Ideas, the Spidey-ness is nearly out of control! We got WAR OF THE REALMS STRIKEFORCE: THE LAND OF THE GIANTS #1, MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #6, VENOM #14, and MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #5 comin’ atcha on Wednesday! Heck, Charlie, we even got Spidey in SHURI #8!

So, in that spirit, let’s make with a few Super Spidey Stories, okay? Okay!

Didja Know… Spidey’s first opponent was a wrestler?

Sure, legend sez the wondrous Wall-Crawler went up against the batty Burglar in his very first appearance, but before that, our hero matched his mettle against a big bruiser named Crusher Hogan.

Right after he gained his Spider-powers in AMAZING FANTASY #15, Peter Parker put on a mask to climb into the ring with Hogan to earn some bread—that means money, honey—by waltzing around with the champ for at least three minutes. Uh-huh, if you don’t know by now, you can guess how that went, Wesley. Ol’ Pete humbled Hogan and won his bread…and became Spider-Man in the process!

And Crusher? He sat it out for, oh, about twenty years or more to reappear in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #271 as—get this—a janitor at the very gym he used to be a big shot at!

Didja Know… Spidey once grew four extra arms?

Lessee…one, two, three, four, plus the two he already had, which makes six… Waitaminnit... Oh! And two legs he already had makes eight limbs total! He really did become a human spider!

Back in the landmark AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #100, Aunt May’s nephew was on his last leg, or arm as it was. His pal Captain Stacy of the police had been killed and Stacy’s daughter Gwen formed a fearless fury for Spider-Man and things seemed dark and dreary for our boy. So, he did the only natural thing he could do—Pete whipped up a chemical cocktail to rid himself of his Spider-powers and accidentally gave himself four more arms.

Happens all the time, right? Well, Spidey rushed out to curb his comrade Dr. Curt Connors into creating an antidote, but then Morbius the Living Vampire appeared and then Connors transformed into the lizard and…listen, bud, we may not have radioactive blood, but dig it up yourself and you’ll be glad you did!

Didja Know… Aunt May almost married Doctor Octopus?

Talk about your May-December romances! Or should that be May-Otto-ber...? Regardless, it really happened! And yes, we still can’t un-see it!

The two met in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 when Ock kidnapped Betty Brant and Aunt May to lure the Web-Slinger into a trap, but May walked away from the debacle with a mighty fine impression of that dear, sweet, little eight-armed maniac. How could love not be on the air that night?

Fast-forward to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #130 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #131, you’ll see the wedding you’d never imagined you’d ever see—and with a certain friendly neighborhood hero as witness. Did they go through with it? Who carried who over the threshold? Did they ever go on a honeymoon?

We’ll hold everything, True Believers, while you run out and buy rice! Book report due tomorrow!

Peruse these eye-poppin' publications with Marvel Unlimited right now! Then visit your local comic shop to read WAR OF THE REALMS STRIKEFORCE: THE LAND OF THE GIANTS #1, MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #6, VENOM #14, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #5, and SHURI #8 on Wednesday, May 22!