𝙿𝙴𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝙺𝙴𝚁 ( i s ) N∀W-ᴚƎᗡIԀS

• spider-suit
• pair of webshooters
• utility belt, with extra cartridges of webbing
• crumpled up receipt for a burrito at a local Manhattan location

• photography — as former official photographer for Spider-Man at the Daily Bugle, Peter has honed his ability to take a well-composed image, and has experience and talent in both chemical and digital photography.

• engineering — fascinated with 'how things work' and how to target at his enemy's weaknesses a little more accurately, Peter has tinkered with his own inventions over the years, including his own webshooters and web-fluid, but also: spider-trackers, scanners for UV and forensic analysis, different types of web-fluid for different elemental conditions (electric, freezing, for example), anti-magnetic and anti-sonic devices.

• academics/intellect — as a top student in both high school and college, and possessing high IQ scores, Peter can keep up with the best of the science supers like Hank Pym, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, and others.

• acrobatics/martial arts — years of spidering for a living has provided him with top notch athletics, and allowing him to learn how to use his strength to his advantage. Peter has also had a chance to learn different styles of martial arts defence from Captain America and Shang-chi.

• teaching — he's always had an affinity for helping and mentoring younger generations of heroes (or even non-heroes!) so it stands to reason that he uses his gift for connecting with people on an 'every day' level to teach and mentor. He held a job teaching science at Midtown High (his alma mater) for some time as well.

I. SPIDER PHYSIOLOGY —

• flexibility/agility — Spider-Man is able to move at incredible speeds with ease, and in combination with his spider-sense, this makes him able to predict and dodge incoming attacks at him. He also has peak flexibility and acrobatics, moving through the city at high altitude while webslinging like a member of the Cirque de Soleil.

• super strength — he has the 'proportional strength of a spider' and can lift about ~10 tons more than his body weight.

• durability/accelerated healing — while he may not have accelerated healing like Wolverine or X-23, he does heal a hell of a lot faster than he used to under his normal human physiology. While broken bones and broken ribs are not off the table, a few days of rest (or a night sometimes) will render him good as new. He is also still susceptible to catching a bad cold, or getting sick, but again - a few days of rest and he'll be back to his usual, healthy state.

• enhanced physiology — composition of skeleton, connective tissue, muscles, nervous system are all enhanced from standard-issue human.

• accelerated metabolism — he will eat like a horse, and also be able to metabolize some toxins and poisons, though he is still susceptible to ethyl chloride antiseptics, likely a side effect of his power gains.

• heightened sense perception — the five regular, human senses are heightened and strengthened.

• ability to cling to things (and climb walls, ceilings, anything with a surface) — otherwise known as 'wall-crawling'. Peter has the ability to stick to things, with "an upper limit of several tons per finger". As a conscious ability, he has control over what he sticks to and when, and if he is forced to unstick to something, then the strength of his ability basically causes the object he is sticking to to literally break off (ex. such as a wall or post, etc.). If he's distracted enough, his ability will fail to keep him adhered to something, and if the surface is too fragile, it is unable to carry his weight. His ability works through his Spider suit as well, because comics logic.

• spider-sense (precognitive sense)— giving him the ability to sense things before they happen, it comes in the form of a tingling that starts at the base of his skull but can often shudder through his entire body too. This sense allows him to detect when he's in personal danger, such as when an enemy is about to attack him from behind, or there's a flying car coming right at him and he doesn't see it right away. The severity of his spidey-sense indicates how close in proximity and how dangerous the oncoming assailant is — whether it's a person, monster, or object. As a result, this sense gives Spider-Man the ability to dodge and avoid getting in harm's way, so long as his reflexes are quick enough. (And most of the time, they are.)

II. MOLECULAR MANIPULATION —

• at its core, this Confluence-granted power will mess with Peter's original spider physiology by tapping into the parts that he is missing. AKA: Peter will be able to manipulate and disperse his own molecular form so he becomes intangible and essentially can 'phase' through solid objects (opposite to him usually sticking to solid objects). Eventually this will lead to him finding more ways to alter his molecular structure so he might be able to accelerate (melt), slow them down (freeze), or change a molecular form (shapeshift) to something else. This can be used as a combative power.

• mortality — despite his superhero strengths and powers, Peter Parker is still ultimately mortal and susceptible to aging, and death. He is also still human and therefore he can still be outsmarted; his strength, durability, and healing abilities all have limits as seen in countless canon struggles he has against his enemies. He may also be susceptible to poisoning through ethyl chloride.

• the 'Parker Luck' — the biggest obstacle in Peter Parker’s life is actually often himself, and his penchant for getting into situations that have very bad outcomes, otherwise known as the ‘Parker Luck’. His wanting to see the best in people, and carry out his responsibilities to do the right thing, as well as maintain his strong moral compass can often lead to him being easily manipulated, being self-sacrificial, and then wallowing in his own manpain.

Peter Parker’s raison d’etre can be stemmed back to a series of incredibly painful losses over his lifetime, beginning with the loss of his parents as an infant and continuing with the loss of his uncle Ben, and later George and Gwen Stacy. While he grows up in an incredibly loving home with as much of a stable childhood as his aunt and uncle are able to provide with what little they have, Peter is bullied in school, is seen as a quintessential ‘nerd’, and doesn’t have a whole lot of friends. Then at age 15, Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibition, giving him the superpowers that changed the entire trajectory of whatever life he knew before. His first act as the ‘Spider-Man’, however, is not especially heroic as the superhero he later develops into.

The loss of his uncle Ben weighs the heaviest on Peter’s shoulders as he feels personally responsible for what could have been a prevented death. Ever the scientist, post-bite Peter experiments with his newfound abilities by answering to an advertisement for a cash prize lasting three minutes in a wrestling ring. His wildly easy defeat of "the Crusher" leads to television appearances and potential fame, which spurs Peter to create his red-and-blue costumed persona, as well as the first iteration of his webshooters. This newfound fame clouds his judgment when he claims zero responsibility over stopping a thief from burglarizing the television studio he’s at until days later, the same burglar breaks into the Parker household, holding Ben and May at gunpoint. A brief altercation between Ben and the thief results in Ben being shot before the thief flees the scene, leaving Peter’s uncle to die from his injury. Peter realizes then and there how important it is to always do the right thing if you have the power to; his uncle’s lectures to him over the years concerning this very thing becomes Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s mantra: with great power, there must also come great responsibility. He carries the guilt of his uncle’s death with him in every heroic act he makes as Spider-Man from here on out, and every loss that he experiences after his uncle becomes tied to what he could and couldn’t do.

Over the rest of his career as Spider-Man, he develops a few methods of coping with his own personal guilt and pain as he makes himself New York City’s neighbourhood superhero, namely: humour as a defense mechanism. Spider-Man has a tendency to resort to taunts and quips against his enemies as a way of masking his own fear and to lighten a situation. He is but an on-the-ground hero in skin-tight spandex; it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and out of one’s depth, but bolstered overconfidence by way of a bad joke can help him to feel a little more in control.

Peter also grapples with his double-life as ‘Peter Parker’ and as ‘Spider-Man’, as the two identities often clash, causing turmoil in his personal relationships, contradicting his uncle’s advice, and sometimes inevitably winding up with another loss or two on his hands. This was the case of his relationship with George and Gwen Stacy, leading to their deaths. This has also put both his aunt May’s life in danger as well as that of his long-time on-and-off-again relationship with Mary Jane Watson. Keeping his two identities separate in order to protect his loved ones, few as they are, often puts great strain on his relationships as leading a double life means keeping secrets from one party or the other. This has led to Peter Parker having a string of very contentious, short-lived relationships. On the one hand Peter longs for something long-term and stable, something he can feel comfortable in, but on the other he feels it is his “responsibility” to keep everyone at arm’s length for their own protection.

I decided to take Peter Parker in fresh from having just met an alternate version of his costumed persona, and learning that other Peter Parkers exist in the multiverse for a reason! Essentially it’ll prepare him for all of the Peter Parker alts already in-game, as well as smooth over the surprise of knowing multiple alternate versions of the people he’s familiar with from home exist.

Outside of his own personal history with some of these characters, it would be interesting to see just how he interacts with them and explore working out some of his own personal issues/grudges. I’m not wholly interested in the ‘shock’ of learning that alternates exist for the first time and would rather see what kind of relationships could arise from this common displacement factor. Overall, I’m treating his entry into this game as “another comic book adventure”, and then seeing what kind of shenanigans he might get up to while here, so I’m very much open to seeing what happens and playing it by ear.