Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Unrevealed (Earth-535962)
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: Unrevealed
Affiliations: Unrevealed
Enemies: Unrevealed
Known Relatives: Unidentified aunt and uncle
Aliases: Unrevealed
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: (see comments)
Powers/Abilities: Judging by his physical appearance, Spiderman likely had at least peak-human strength; he also had the power to walk up walls, but any other abilities (if any) are unrevealed.
He was armed with a web gun, which fired strands of spider-like webbing and nets to entrap opponents.
Height: Unrevealed (6'2"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(see comments)
- An orphaned teenager lived with his Aunt and Uncle -- although his
Aunt was kindly and maternal, his Uncle (a retired police captain,
who was gruff in the manner of General "Thunderbolt" Ross) was
down on the teenager and gave him grief.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, a whiskered scientist-type was beginning to work on some sort of experiment or project.
The teenager headed to the scientist's lab, where he would (presumably) be turned into Spiderman...
Comments: Created by Jack Kirby (...et al, see comments)
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The above History was from a 2002 article written by Steve Ditko, wherein he summarized his recollection of the first five Kirby-drawn pages of Spiderman that he was given to ink. He described the hero only being seen on the opening splash-page, and the other four pages were all a set-up to the adventure story that would follow, but was never actually completed by Kirby (read on for further details). |
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In 1953, the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was producing work for several different comic book publishers. A character called "The Silver Spider" (apparently a name suggested by Simon's brother-in-law) was created for possible sale to Harvey Comics. This character was Tommy Troy, an orphan boy who found a magic spider-crest ring, and when he rubbed it, a genie appeared and turned Tommy into the adult Silver Spider, who was basically just a super-strong guy with no apparent spider-powers. Simon and Kirby liked the work C.C. Beck (the artist for the Shazam!/Captain Marvel comic, until that character was cancelled in 1953), so they had him do a few sample pages of this proposed feature, which Beck drew in the same whimsical style and tone he used for Captain Marvel. But Sid Jacobson, the editor for Harvey, rejected it -- in a critical rejection memo to his bosses, Jacobson thought the Silver Spider was "strictly old hat," and should have the spidery appearance of a thin and wiry person with long arms and legs, along with the corresponding powers of a spider; consequently, this concept never sold. |
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(During this same time, Simon and Kirby were also developing a feature called "Night Fighter" -- this character was intended to be a scientific adventurer who used a number of gadgets to combat crime, including a pair of magnetic boots which allowed him to walk up walls, much like a spider. Although this series never came to fruition, the costume worn by Night Fighter sort of resembled the one Kirby designed for his later-proposed Spiderman feature at Marvel.) |
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By 1958, the Silver Spider's name was changed to "Spiderman" (which Simon had worked up into a prototype logo; see this profile's title), and Simon and Kirby were going to sell it to Archie Comics; however, Kirby redrew the Beck pages and changed the concept of the character to "The Fly" instead (since the recently released horror movie of the same title was popular at the time). With a more pseudo-science-fiction background rather than a magic-based one, Kirby's Adventures of The Fly appeared in 1959; the protagonist was Tommy Troy, an orphan boy who was given a ring by a being from another dimension, which transformed him into an adult hero with insect-like powers (e.g. the abilities to fly, walk up walls, see in all directions, and with proportionally greater strength), and he was armed with a "buzz gun" that emitted stunning vibration blasts. But Simon and Kirby were both gone from the series by the fourth issue, and amicably dissolved their partnership sometime thereafter. |
Kirby eventually moved on to Marvel Comics, and by 1962, after the Fantastic Four was proven to be a success, he was anxious to introduce more superheroes; he proposed the idea for a Spiderman feature to be introduced in Amazing Adult Fantasy, with Steve Ditko handling inks -- although introduced as a teenage boy, Kirby's Spiderman had a physique which resembled that of Captain America, a costume which sort of resembled the later-created Ant-Man's (without the helmet), and he carried a web gun.
But when he
got the first five Kirby-drawn pages to ink, Ditko noticed how
close the concept was to the Fly -- not wanting to be involved in
any law-suits with a rival company (since the Fly comic was
still being published back then, using other artists),
Marvel instead assigned the character to Ditko to totally rework.
Ditko redesigned the costume, replaced the web gun with
wrist-mounted web-shooters, the character's origin was altered,
and a hyphen was added to the name. But Kirby still contributed
some of the early plot ideas to the Spider-Man series (e.g.
When Spidey saved astronaut John Jameson's runaway space capsule
in issue#1 by replacing an electronic module, this same idea was
used by Kirby earlier in his Sky
Masters of the Space Force syndicated comic-strip).
(Also of note: In an earlier Kirby-drawn Marvel romance story, a character named "Flash Thompson" was mentioned; a few months later, a major supporting character with the same name was introduced in the origin of Spider-Man (@ Amazing Fantasy I#15). Although there's no proof that Kirby came up with the name, he was known to be more involved with the plotting and writing than he ever got credit for.)
Kirby's Spiderman pages have never surfaced in all the years since then -- it's possible that Ditko discarded them after he was done with them.
Kirby also apparently produced at least one presentation board that detailed his ideas for the character -- this too has not been seen publicly, but former editor-in-chief Jim Shooter once remembered seeing it back in 1969; on his blog, Shooter described a character who was bigger and bulkier, with a different costume and a web gun, and he remembered thinking to himself, "This isn't at all like Ditko's".
Yet to even give Kirby sole credit for this character would be a disservice, since some ideas that others had contributed over time would eventually appear as the character evolved into Kirby's version of Spiderman.
So how much of the more-familiar Spider-Man did Jack Kirby create? It's undeniable that Kirby played an important link in the chain of circumstances that led to the creation of the character, but let's also give credit where it's due to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, who both primarily worked to make Spider-Man the success he is today.
(Since Spiderman never actually appeared anywhere, perhaps they could do a story teaming him up with other "lost" concept characters like Cougar, Decathlon, and Starhawk [...maybe call them "The Forgotten Four"?], with guest-appearances by Humus Sapien and Lectronn.)
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Jack Kirby's Spiderman should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Spiderman by Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics by Tom Scioli, p111, pan3 (headshot - Spiderman, firing web gun)
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, circa 1953
The Silver Spider by C.C. Beck
Night Fighter by Jack Kirby
Night Fighter, walking up wall of building
Adventures of The Fly#1/1, p6, pan6 (Tommy Troy transforms into The Fly)
Appearances:
None
First posted: 08/28/2026
Last updated: 08/28/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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should check out the real thing!
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