10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Spider-Man

4) There’s A Mystical Element To His Powers

Everyone knows how Peter Parker got his powers. It was a random accidental spider-bite, right? Well, actually, there’s a mystical element to it that makes Peter more of a “Chosen One” type.

Back in the early aughts, it was revealed that the spider that bit Peter didn’t give him powers because it was radioactive. It was actually the vessel for an ancient, mystical force which had chosen Peter as a Spider-Totem, avatars that protect the multiverse from other animalistic totems (hence why so many of Spidey’s foes are animal-based). Each Spider-Totem is connected to the Web of Life And Destiny, which is basically a physical model of the entire multiverse. It’s this that gives Spider-Man and his fellow Totems their Spider-Sense.

You might be surprised to find out that this concept is still totally part of canon. In fact, the idea was key to 2014’s Spider-Verse storyline, when Morlun and his family, the Inheritors, sought to wipe out the various Spider-Totems across the multiverse.