Spider-Man is the American comic-book hero who was bitten by a radioactive spider and got a spider's powers: he sticks to walls and ceilings, he climbs buildings, he senses danger before it happens, and he shoots strong sticky web from his wrists to swing between skyscrapers and to tie up criminals. Under the mask he is Peter Parker, a New York teenager with money problems and homework — that ordinary-kid part is why the character became so loved. He first appeared in 1962 and has been in comics, cartoons and a long line of films since. The official spelling has a hyphen, Spider-Man, and that is what you should write; 'Spiderman' as one word is very common in everyday writing but is technically wrong, and fans will tell you so. In ordinary talk the name is also used for a real person who climbs something high: newspapers call a free climber 'the French Spiderman'. And parents say it of children: 'He's been Spiderman all week' — meaning he is wearing the costume and refusing to take it off.