It’s become so ubiquitous that you almost don’t see it anymore — but there’s no real reason for Spider-Man to have a hyphen. So why did Stan Lee put that little “-” in? Just to drive the grammar police nuts?
Nope, it turns out Excelsior had a pretty good reason for that one, and it dates all the way back to when he created Peter Parker’s alter ego in 1962. At the time, DC’s Superman was one of the biggest funny books out there, and Lee was worried his new hero (who wears those similar blue and red colors, and has a name that starts with an “S”) would be glossed over as too similar.
That was when he inserted the hyphen, so the cover of Spider-Man comics would have the two words broken up to create a look distinct from Superman. The difference essentially persists to this day, as Spider-Man is among the only major superheroes to have a hyphen randomly inserted into his name. Think about it: Batman, Superman, Wolverine, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern. What do they all have in common? No hyphens.
Lee explained his reasoning in a Twitter post back in 2010, excerpted below:
As aggravating as it might be to some people now, the gimmick apparently worked — and now Spider-Man is a property that rivals Superman himself.
Hyphen or not.
(Via Newscastic)
And check out these other little-known sci-fi facts:
S.H.I.E.L.D. almost had a VERY different acronym
What Tolkien REALLY wanted to call the 3 Rings volumes
Whedon spent 7 weeks rewriting 'generic' Waterworld script
Originally, Wonder Woman was the JSA's secretary
The Thing once had a happy(ish) ending
Lucas wanted Indiana Jones 2 to be a dinosaur movie
Stan Lee thought Marvel's readers would HATE Iron Man (at first)
Know Yoda's original first name, we do
Uhura's famed Trek kiss wasn't meant to be with Kirk
Studio execs pushed for Chewbacca to wear pants
Millennium Falcon appeared in Blade Runner
Ripley was supposed to DIE at the end of Alien
Homeless James Cameron sold Terminator script for $1
Why Tron's FX got snubbed for an Oscar
Jewel Staite played Amy Pond in Supernatural
Toshiro Mifune turned down Vader role
How a mime saved the original RoboCop
Lucas originally wanted FOUR trilogies
Why Soylent Green was called Soylent Green
R2-D2 appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Gandalf wasn't going to be named Gandalf
A computer glitch almost killed Toy Story 2
The incredibly filthy joke hidden in Willy Wonka
Kirk wasn't Wrath of Khan's only father
The accident that gave us the lightsaber
Scully stood on a box to film X-Files
Kirk's Trek hot rod was Catwoman's, too
James Cameron played the Alien Queen
Why HAL 9000 sang 'Daisy' in 2001
What inspired Alien chestburster scene
3 ways George Lucas' wife saved Star Wars
The brawl that got Mel Gibson the Mad Max gig
James Doohan was shot six times on D-Day
Tolkien killed a Beatles LOTR movie
How Ghostbusters pissed off Isaac Asimov
The lyrics to Star Trek's opening theme
The famous "Wilhelm scream"
Make Your Inbox Important
Get our newsletter and you’ll be delivered the most interesting stories, videos and interviews weekly.
