Spider-Man Just Turned 60 Years Old

August 10th marks the debut of everyone's favorite web-slinger (even if by default since there aren't too many options). Spider-Man turned the big 6-0 today, an amazing feat for a character that has remained somewhere between the ages of 16-20 the entire time.

The character has since gone on to become a pop culture fixture on par with the likes of Mickey Mouse or Homer Simpson, but like so many other momentous occasions, there are sometimes discrepancies within the historical record.

At some point in 1962, comic book legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the character. During their creative process, they probably looked at books about how spiders work and saw where the webs generally come from, then one of them may have had an epiphany and uttered the following sentence:

"Uh... I think maybe the webs come out of his hands instead."

And with that, a cultural icon was born.

Spider-Man has gone on to permeate all aspects of pop-culture

While Spidey appeared in other comics a couple of months earlier, the character officially debuted on August 10, 1962, in "Amazing Comics No. 15."

Need any more proof of how popular Spider-Man became? Copies of "Amazing Comics No.15" can fetch unbelievable prices at auction. In 2021, the New York Post reported that a copy of Spider-Man's headlining debut sold for $3.6 million.

From that 1962 debut came decades of comics, television shows, movies, video games, more movies that most people don't like, theme park attractions, additional movies that people seem to like, and countless too-tight Halloween costumes that leave nothing to the imagination.

Eventually, Spider-Man even found his way into the popular lexicon. "My spidey-sense is tingling," is a popular phrase that people use too much that has become part of our everyday lexicon.

Six decades' worth of Spider-Man is cause for celebration, and Marvel Comics is doing just that. They're offering special comics, video games, a museum exhibition, and of, course merchandise.

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