Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man … The name of most superheroes is spelled in one or two words, but almost never with a hyphen. The only exception, and not the least: the famous Spider-Man! But why did Stan Lee decide, in the early 1960s, to use this punctuation mark to name the famous superhero?
In a post posted on social networks in 2010, Stan Lee explained why Spider-Man is written with a hyphen, and this since his second adventure, in the 16th issue of the Amazing Fantasy comic-book published in August 1962. “Spidey’s official name is hyphenated, it’s Spider-Man. You want to know why?” Asks the Marvel legend. “When I first imagined the character, I wanted no one to mistake him for Superman!”

It is therefore the popularity of Superman, at the beginning of the 60s, which gave the idea to Stan Lee to put a small line between the man and the spider in order to distinguish himself from the competing superhero of the team. DC. Without doubt a wise decision, especially since the names of the two characters begin with the same letter and that the color of their costumes is similar.
Over the years and the Spider-Man’s appearances in the pages of comic books, malicious reminders have been scattered to remind people that Spidey’s spelling was no joke. Thus, as Screenrant recalls, in 1964, in number 19 of the adventures of The Amazing Spider-Man, the superhero balks at thugs he has just returned to the police: “If someone ask what happened to you, be careful to spell my name correctly! There is a hyphen, remember it! ”