Let's jump right on in. Who is The Hornet?
The Hornet is an alias used by three different fictional characters in the Marvel Universe: Scotty McDowell, Peter Parker and Eddie McDonough. For simplicity in this assignment, I will be focusing on the Peter Parker version of the Hornet.
Every red blooded American has heard of Peter Parker. Web-slinger, Wall-Crawler, Web-Head, Spidey, that's right: your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Spider-man is one of Marvel's most popular superheroes, but there are a few things about the non-caped crusader that few know.
Let's start at the beginning. Oh, and spoiler alert.
Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive/bio-engineered spider, which gave him the proportional speed and strength of a spider yadah yadah yadah. Everyone who has even pretended to watch the Toby Maguire Spider-Man trilogy knows this. But what some people don't know is Spider-Man's motives.
Batman fights crime for revenge. Captain America fights crime for freedom. Spider-Man (yes, there is a hyphen) fights crime out of guilt. He blames himself for his parents leaving him when he was young. He blames himself for his father figure Uncle Ben dying. And Peter would blame himself if he didn't try to save people when he had the power to. This guilt drives Peter Parker to do good, even when times are hard.
Something the movies don't tend to get right, is New York sometimes hates Spider-Man. Not all of New York. And of course there are times when they even tend to like him. But between the Daily Bugle (the fictional paper of New York City) and anti-Spider-Man police forces who claim he is an outlaw/vigilante, spreading bad press about him, half the town tends to be against Spider-Man. But still, Peter tries to fight crime, using his wise-cracking alter ego for good despite the cries against him.
There is a time when New York is about 80% anti-Spider-Man: Spider-Man was wrongly accused of murder
Enter The Hornet.
Peter gets fed up with the bad press, and people trying to shoot him on site (Spider-Man being a wanted murderer is did not do well for his relationship with the police). However, guilt-driven-Peter cannot simple let those in need down, even if they don't want his help. What is the solution? Simple really. Create a NEW alias. A NEW hero... or hey... why not four? This story like was dubbed "Identity Crisis" and was published in May of 1998.
Peter created 4 new aliases, and cycled from one to the other when needed. One of these aliases was the Hornet.
Peter still had his super strength, speed and agility. He disposed of his web-shooters in this get-up, so he wouldn't raise suspicion, and replaced them with tranquilizer-dart-launchers. He also wears a harness with hornet-like wings, allowing him to fly. (Fun Fact: this harness is too heavy for normal people to wear, but Pete has super strength, so he can.)
The Hornet was a successful hero for several days. Thy city loved him. However, one of Spider-Man's enemies the Vulture (and old guy with a flying harness of his own, classic Spider-Man villain) managed to expose the Hornet as Spider-Man, and the town disowns him. A few weeks later however, Spider-Man is able to clear his name and becomes liked again.
So, the Hornet's life span is short-lived, but does that make it any less epic? Kind of. But not so much that it's not worth doing a project on!
The Hornet is an alias used by three different fictional characters in the Marvel Universe: Scotty McDowell, Peter Parker and Eddie McDonough. For simplicity in this assignment, I will be focusing on the Peter Parker version of the Hornet.
Every red blooded American has heard of Peter Parker. Web-slinger, Wall-Crawler, Web-Head, Spidey, that's right: your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Spider-man is one of Marvel's most popular superheroes, but there are a few things about the non-caped crusader that few know.
Let's start at the beginning. Oh, and spoiler alert.
Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive/bio-engineered spider, which gave him the proportional speed and strength of a spider yadah yadah yadah. Everyone who has even pretended to watch the Toby Maguire Spider-Man trilogy knows this. But what some people don't know is Spider-Man's motives.
Batman fights crime for revenge. Captain America fights crime for freedom. Spider-Man (yes, there is a hyphen) fights crime out of guilt. He blames himself for his parents leaving him when he was young. He blames himself for his father figure Uncle Ben dying. And Peter would blame himself if he didn't try to save people when he had the power to. This guilt drives Peter Parker to do good, even when times are hard.
Something the movies don't tend to get right, is New York sometimes hates Spider-Man. Not all of New York. And of course there are times when they even tend to like him. But between the Daily Bugle (the fictional paper of New York City) and anti-Spider-Man police forces who claim he is an outlaw/vigilante, spreading bad press about him, half the town tends to be against Spider-Man. But still, Peter tries to fight crime, using his wise-cracking alter ego for good despite the cries against him.
There is a time when New York is about 80% anti-Spider-Man: Spider-Man was wrongly accused of murder
Enter The Hornet.
Peter gets fed up with the bad press, and people trying to shoot him on site (Spider-Man being a wanted murderer is did not do well for his relationship with the police). However, guilt-driven-Peter cannot simple let those in need down, even if they don't want his help. What is the solution? Simple really. Create a NEW alias. A NEW hero... or hey... why not four? This story like was dubbed "Identity Crisis" and was published in May of 1998.
Peter created 4 new aliases, and cycled from one to the other when needed. One of these aliases was the Hornet.
Peter still had his super strength, speed and agility. He disposed of his web-shooters in this get-up, so he wouldn't raise suspicion, and replaced them with tranquilizer-dart-launchers. He also wears a harness with hornet-like wings, allowing him to fly. (Fun Fact: this harness is too heavy for normal people to wear, but Pete has super strength, so he can.)
The Hornet was a successful hero for several days. Thy city loved him. However, one of Spider-Man's enemies the Vulture (and old guy with a flying harness of his own, classic Spider-Man villain) managed to expose the Hornet as Spider-Man, and the town disowns him. A few weeks later however, Spider-Man is able to clear his name and becomes liked again.
So, the Hornet's life span is short-lived, but does that make it any less epic? Kind of. But not so much that it's not worth doing a project on!