With the red carpet premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man in London earlier this week, we've taken a look into the vault to come up with our top 10 Amazing Spider-man records.
1. Fastest marathon in superhero costume (male)
The fastest marathon in superhero costume was 2 hr 34 min 56 sec by Michael Wardian (USA) dressed as Spider-Man at the 2011 Lower Potomac Marathon in Piney Point, Maryland, USA, on 13 March 2011. Wardian placed first out of 166 competitors in his full webslinger costume, giving him his second victory in the marathon in the last four years.
2. First playable villain in a Spider-Man video game
The first game to allow players to control one of Spidey's deadly foes was Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage, published for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis in 1994. In the game, Spider-Man teams up with Venom to stop Carnage, and the game allowed players to choose which character they played as, enabling them to control Venom for the first time.
3. First Spider-Man video game / First official Marvel Comics game
Spider-Man's games debut came in 1982, in the appropriately titled Spider-Man on the Atari 2600. The game required players to guide Spidey up the side of a skyscraper, avoiding the Green Goblin's bombs. It also has the distinction of being the first official Marvel Comics game.
4. First Spider-Man arcade game
Spider-Man's arcade debut came in 1991 in Spider-Man: The Video Game, a scrolling fighting game with occasional platform elements. Up to four players could join in, playing Spidey, Black Cat, Hawkeye and Namor. The storyline involved Doctor Doom creating an army of alien symbiotes - a plot that was recently re-used in the Mighty Avengers comic book.
5. Most buildings climbed unassisted
As of 2010, Alain 'Spider-Man' Robert (France) had climbed more than 100 towers, monuments and skyscrapers without ropes, suction devices or safety equipments. A dedicated solo urban climber (although he suffers from vertigo), Alain uses pipes, window frames, cables and the gaps between brickwork to scale structures that often measure more than 400 m (1,300 ft) in height. He has been arrested and imprisoned at locations all over the world for his unannounced and illegal ascents, but has also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity with his climbs.
6. Most expensive comic - Silver Age
The most expensive Silver Age (1956 - 1970) comic book ever sold is a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, first published in 1962. The comic, which contains the first appearance of Spider-Man, was graded a Near Mint+: 9.6 by the Certified Guarantee Company (CGC) and was purchased by an anonymous buyer via the US auction website ComicConnect.com for $1.1 million (then £687,659), inclusive of the seller's premium, on 8 March 2011.
7. Most expensive theatre production
"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark", the musical based on the legendary comic superhero, is the most expensive production in the history of the theatre. As of 14 June 2011, the show's record cost climbed to $75 million, the largest investment ever for not only a Broadway production but for the West End or anywhere in the world where there has ever been a stage.
8. Most Oscar nominations without winning
Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 sound mixer Kevin O'Connell (USA) has received 20 Oscar nominations for Sound starting with Terms of Endearment (USA 1983) in 1984, but has never won.
9. Most movies adapted from the work of a comic book creator
The comic book creations of Stan Lee have been adapted into Hollywood films a record 15 times as of 11 September 2011, inlcuding 2002's Spider-Man, 2004's Spider-Man 2, and 2007's Spider-Man 3.
10. Most popular video-game superhero
Spider-Man is by far the most popular superhero for videogame adaptations. From 1982 to Spider-Man: Edge of Time (Activision, 2011), he has so far starred in 37 solo video games across 32 formats and appeared in nine other titles with other Marvel characters. He has also featured on pinball tables, handheld LCD games, PC activity packages and a plug-and-play TV game.
