PETER DAVID

Real Name: Peter Allen David

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Comic book and television writer, novelist;
    former Daily Bugle staff reporter, minister

Group Membership: Marvel Comics (Kurt Busiek, George Perez, Mark Waid, others);
    formerly Daily Bugle (Chris Baiocchi, John Barber, Tom Brevoort, Dan Buckley, Justin Gray, Mark Guggenhaim, David Hine, J. Jonah Jameson, Nick Lowe, Jerome Maida, Tom Marvelli, Mike Mayhew, Patrick McGrath, Jim McLaughlin, Clifford Lawrence Meth, Terry Morrow, Joe Quesada, Brian Reed, "Robbie" Robertson, Mike Sangiacomo, Andy Schmidt, Cory Sedlmeier, Warren Simons, Dan Slott, J. Michael Straczynski, Zeb Wells, others)

Affiliations: Kurt Busiek, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Elsa Chandler, Keith Chandler, Marlo Chandler-Jones, the Daily Bugle staff, Death, Doc Samson (Leonard Samson), Drax the Destroyer (Arthur Douglas), the Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Sue Richards, Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Hector, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Rick Jones, Namor the Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie), Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier), Paris, George Perez, Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd), Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter), Strong Guy (Guido Carosella), Talos the Tamed, Thor (Thor Odinson), Ulysses, Mark Waid, War Machine (Jim Rhodes), Adam Warlock, Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair)

Enemies: Mephisto

Known Relatives: Kathleen O'Shea David (wife), Shana, Guinevere, Ariel, Caroline Helen David (daughters), Gunter David (father, deceased), Dalia David (mother, deceased), Wally David (brother), Beth (sister), Martin David (paternal grandfather, deceased), Hela David (paternal grandmother, deceased), Myra Kasman (ex-wife)

Aliases: PAD

Base of Operations: Patchogue, Long Island, New York, USA;
    formerly Pennsylvania, USA; Verona, New Jersey, USA; Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA; Fort Meade, Maryland, USA

First Appearance: (unidentified) Incredible Hulk II#418 (June, 1994);
    (identified, first name only) Captain America III#21 (September, 1999)

Powers/Abilities: Peter David had no superhuman powers but he was an extremely skilled writer, taking special care when it came to continuity when writing stories set in a shared fictional universe.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown

History:
(real life) - Peter Allen David was born on September 23, 1956 in Fort Meade, Maryland to Gunter and Dalia David. Growing up with a sense of humor inherited from his mother, David became interested in comic books around the age of five. His parents disapproved of superhero books, leading Peter David to read Marvel Comics in secret. He eventually became interested in writing from his father, who sometimes worked as a newspaper movie reviewer. He drifted away from comic books during his teenage years but retained an interest in science fiction, meeting Myra Kasman at a Star Trek convention and marrying her in 1977 (and with whom he would have three daughters: Shana, Guinevere and Ariel). His interest in comic books was rekindled months later and he was further inspired to write following a meeting with famed writer Stephen King. David later attended New York University, where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in journalism. While his journalistic writing career was not immediately successful, Peter David moved more into fiction writing, with his first published fiction work appearing in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in 1980. Eventually giving up on writing, David moved more into book publishing, which led to his work in Marvel Comics' sales department in the early 1980s and after some unsuccessful attempts to sell stories, one of David's stories was accepted by editor Jim Owlsley (later known as Christopher Priest).

(Captain Marvel I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Peter David became a professional comic book writer.

(real life) - Peter David also became well-known as a novelist.

(Incredible Hulk II#418 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Peter David was ordained as a minister.

(Incredible Hulk II#418) - Peter David was tapped to officiate the marriage of Rick Jones to Marlo Chandler. Prior to the ceremony, David asked who gave Marlo in marriage and Captain America replied that he had the honor in the absence of Marlo's late father. David then began the ceremony before being interrupted by the arrival of Drax the Destroyer, who assumed he was liked since he had received an invitation. After the Hulk had Drax sit next to Adam Warlock, Peter David continued, only to be again interrupted by the arrival of the Wizard and a small group of supervillains. Rick Jones allowed them to sit before squads of alien Kree and Skrulls arrived as well and when the Silver Surfer ordered the aliens to sit down, Peter David tried a third time to continue the ceremony. The demon Mephisto interrupted this time and upon Mephisto's defeat, Peter David successfully completed the ceremony and gave Rick Jones permission to kiss the bride.

(real life) - Peter David and Myra Kasman separated and eventually divorced.

(Incredible Hulk II#467) - Peter David officiated the funeral of Betty Banner.

(real life) - David met and began dating writer/editor/puppeteer Kathleen O'Shea.

(Captain America III#21) - Peter David served as umpire for the softball game between the Marvel and DC comic book companies. While there, David stood over the shoulder of DC catcher George Perez and questioned which team Perez was on, to which Perez claimed it was a crossover.

(Captain Marvel IV#2 - BTS) - While at Golden Orange Comics comic book store, Rick Jones spoke with the employee, Al, about where his wife Marlo was and when Jones was leaving after learning Marlo was in Canada, Al yelled back to see if Rick Jones still wanted the Peter David books that had come in.

(real life) - Peter David married Kathleen O'Shea and together, they had a daughter, Caroline Helen David.

(Daily Bugle Civil War Newspaper Special (fb) - BTS) - Peter David took a staff reporter job at the Daily Bugle newspaper.

(Daily Bugle Civil War Newspaper Special - BTS) - David contributed reporting work to a special edition of the Daily Bugle newspaper covering the superhero civil war.

(She-Hulk II#21 - BTS) - After Stu Cicero made an observation that Mr. Fantastic resequencing Jennifer Walters' DNA to restore her She-Hulk powers sounded just like the Dr. Pulaski transporter solution from Star Trek: The Next Generation, his coworker Chas Kilpatrick commented on Stu's comment being the second Star Trek reference made that day and joked that it was like being in a Peter David comic book.

(Spider-Man 2099 III#7 - BTS) - Overhearing the commotion caused by Glorianna inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, Peter David went on the Twitter social media engine to announce publicly that he heard screams from the direction of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

(real life) - Following a health decline involving a series of strokes, kidney failure and a mild heart attack, Peter David died on May 24, 2025.

Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by himself, Gary Frank and Cam Smith.

    In case it's not obvious, Peter David was a real life writer of comic books, novels and television. He's known for his long runs on Incredible Hulk, X-Factor, She-Hulk, Young Justice, Supergirl, SpyBoy, several Star Trek novels, and several television series such as Babylon 5 and Space Cases, which he co-created!

    I know this profile barely scratches the surface of Peter David's long career but it is intended to focus mostly on Peter David's appearances in Marvel Comics with a bit of real life history added to help flesh out the backstory of his fictional Earth-616 Marvel Comics counterpart. My intent is to honor the real Peter David with this profile, as I was a big fan of his work and had met him a few times over the years at comic conventions. He was always a friendly and funny person and I hope this profile reflects the respect I have for the guy. But don't take just my word on it! Get out there and read his stories and books, and if you want more insight into Peter David, get it from the man himself at his website, PeterDavid.net.

    A version of Peter David appears on the calendar page of Marvel Age I#111, in which it's stated that he requested Rick Jones stop being portrayed as a jerk in the book. I can't help but wonder if this request was a real one since David was writing Incredible Hulk at the time, which did indeed give a new image to Rick Jones...

    On the first page of She-Hulk II#21, Stu Cicero and Lewis Utz are discussing the comics Stu missed while he was stuck extradimensionally and Lewis is complaining about how some characters are appearing when they should've been in jail and how no one seems to care about continuity anymore. As the conversation is going on, a man with glasses is walking past them in the background and, to me, this man resembles Peter David (as he appeared later in life without his facial hair) quite a bit. I could be reading too much into it but I feel like this is a little nod to Peter David, who was a staunch supporter of continuity (see the quote on the Marvel Appendix itself!) but without confirmation of this, I chose not to include it in this profile. What do you think? Is the image to the right an image of Peter David? U Decide!

    Strangely enough, the Marvel Database lists Peter David as being the feature character in his story "I've Said Enough" from Marvel Comics I#1000 but when I read the story, the main character is a future counterpart of Rick Jones. I don't see Peter David anywhere in the story.

    I left Peter David's height and weight as unrevealed, as I had trouble finding specifics online for the real Peter David. Additionally, I listed his eye color as hazel but in many photos I found online, his eye color wasn't the easiest to see due to lighting glare from his glasses. They appeared hazel to me but if this is incorrect, please tell me so I can update the profile to reflect that!

This profile was finished on 08/14/2025, but saved for the late Peter David's birthday!

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Peter David should be distinguished from:

• DAVID - security guard for Cleo Vanderlip--Dakota North I#5
• DAVID - attorney, worked with Matt Murdock to build case against chemical company Kelco--Daredevil I#251
  
• DAVID - Hydra, friend of Simon, refused to allow friendship to compromise the intended poisoning of the Ogalla Aquifier--Amazing Spider-Man II#522
• DAVID, BRETT - reporter--Punisher VII#31
• DAVID, DR. VINCENT - scientist father of the WWII-era hero, Hercules (Varen David)--Mystic Comics I#3
  
• KING DAVID - Biblical king, formerly fought the giant Goliath--The Bible; Bible Tales for Young Folk I#1
  
• other "Peter" or "David" characters, groups, items, races or events
  

Peter David (of Earth-9047)

Appearances:
Incredible Hulk II#418 (June, 1994) - Peter David (writer), Gary Frank (pencils), Cam Smith (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#467 (August, 1998) - "The Lone & Level Sands" story - Peter David (writer), Adam Kubert (art), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Captain America III#21 (September, 1999) - "Soundquake!" story - Mark Waid (writer), Andy Kubert (pencils), Jesse Delperdang (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Captain Marvel IV#2 (February, 2000) - Peter David (writer), ChrisCross (pencils), Anibal Rodriguez, Wayne Faucher, Scott Koblish (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Daily Bugle Civil War Newspaper Special (September, 2006) - Chris Baiocchi, Peter David, Justin Gray, Mark Guggenhaim, David Hine, Jerome Maida, Jim McLaughlin, Clifford Lawrence Meth, Terry Morrow, Brian Reed, Mike Sangiacomo, Dan Slott, J. Michael Straczynski, Zeb Wells (writers), Mike Mayhew (art), Andy Schmidt (editor)
She-Hulk II#21 (October, 2007) - Dan Slott, Ty Templeton (writers), Rick Burchett (pencils), Cliff Rathburn (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Spider-Man 2099 III#7 (April, 2016) - Peter David (writer), Will Sliney (art), Devin Lewis (editor)

First posted: 09/23/2025
Last updated: 08/14/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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