Spider-Man and the Avengers might be inseparable today, but it took Peter Parker a long time to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
As Marvel’s most iconic character, it was only a matter of time before Spider-Man joined the Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. For the past few years, the web-head has maintained a strong connection with The Avengers, in comics, movies and animation. It’s funny to think, then, that it took decades for Spider-Man to become a full-fledged Avenger.
For the first few years of his existence, Spider-Man was a loner and an outcast. Peter Parker was also very protective of his secret identity, a trait that wasn’t exactly conducive to being part of a team. The web-slinger received terrible publicity from The Daily Bugle, making him a mysterious and untrustworthy figure for other heroes.
In Avengers #11, by Stan Lee and Don Heck, Kang The Conqueror took advantage of Spider-Man’s enigmatic image, creating a robot duplicate of the wall-crawler to infiltrate The Avengers. This Spider-Man impostor expressed a desire to join the team, before systematically defeating each of its members. Fortunately, the real Spider-Man arrived just in time to save his fellow heroes.
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Shortly afterward, in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3, by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr., The Avengers invited Spider-Man to join their ranks. As a test, Spider-Man was tasked with finding the Hulk and bringing him to the Avengers. The web-head succeeded, but, upon learning that the Jade Giant was really Bruce Banner, took pity on the Hulk and let him go.
Spider-Man didn’t take another shot at joining the Avengers until Avengers #236, by Roger Stern and Al Milgrom. Upon learning that active members earn $1000 a week — quite a lot in 1983 — Spider-Man arrived at Avengers Mansion to request a full Avengers membership.
Before he could receive an answer, the priority alarm sounded, sending the Avengers to Project Pegasus. In an attempt to prove himself, Spider-Man stowed away on the Quinjet, joining the team on their mission. Although his teamwork skills left much to be desired, the wall-crawler was a great help in fighting off the invading Lava Men. The Avengers officially made Spider-Man a trainee member, impressed by his abilities.