In 1962 a young cartoonist, Stan Lee, came up with an idea for a new comic superhero. During an era in which most of our superheroes were muscle-bound adults, young Peter Parker struck an unlikely figure.
An adolescent -- a pimply Telvin Smith Jersey , gangly short-sighted teen you would expect to be the last kid picked for sports -- Peter Parker was no typical hero. However, his shortcomings struck a chord with a comic-book audience living through those same difficult times; victims of bullies who dreamed of waking up one morning with the power to stop them, to make a difference, to be someone -- anyone -- other than the nerdy kid they saw in the mirror.
Despite being rejected by Marvel Comics, Stan Lee persisted in selling the idea of Spiderman and was picked up by the struggling title "Amazing Fantasy" -- and the rest is history. Within a few years "The Amazing Spiderman" was a mainstream comic book.
Flash forward forty years to the release of Spiderman the movie. Following the success in 2000 of another superhero adaptation, the first X-Men movie Blake Bortles Jersey , expectations were high for Spidey's first big screen outing. Not one to disappoint, Spiderman became the first movie in history to take $100million in its opening weekend, and the only movie ever to deny a Star Wars film the top spot at the box office.
The second instalment of the Spiderman series did just as well, taking $88million in its opening weekend and setting a record for highest takings on an opening day at over $40million. If enormous profits and critical acclaim weren't enough, Spiderman 2 went on to win the Academy Award for Visual Effects.
So, considering that the Spiderman series has so far taken almost $800million at the US box office -- and much more overseas and in the rental market -- next year's Spiderman 3 has some mighty big boots to fill.
