Web-Shooters - Marvel Database - Fandom

After a radioactive spider bit Peter Parker, injecting its irradiated venom into his bloodstream and giving him its powers in the instant of its own death, Peter realized that he had in effect become a human spider - "Spider-Man".

Peter decided that Spider-Man was nothing without a web, thus he invented the wrist-worn devices he called his "web-shooters".[5]

Initially meant to be tools of the professional stuntman's trade, Peter had initially hoped to pursue, they have instead become his chief weapons as a crusading adventurer since after he came to believe that he could have prevented the murder of his uncle, Benjamin Parker, his reluctant abandonment of those professional ambitions in favor of the unpaid work of fighting crime, which he pursues on the principle that "with great power, there must also come--great responsibility".

Sophisticated enough to be useful to Reed Richards,[6] the web-shooters have remained the same throughout most of Spider-Man's career. When he was transformed and given organic web-shooters, Peter modified his mechanical web-shooters into bracelets for Mary Jane Watson to wear. However, that seems to have been retconned after the events of One More Day and Brand New Day. Ben Reilly donned modifications of them that he wore outside the wrists of the costume's gauntlets and allowed him to fire other web-like projectiles. Spider-Girl wears her own versions of the web-shooters.

One of the few modifications Spider-Man has made to the web-shooters is a red LED light, that will blink and let him know when he is about to run out of web fluid. Another upgrade is a small launcher on the back of the hand, which allows him to fire off his spider-tracers. In recent years, he has modified the shooters to fire on voice-command.[7]

Creation Of the shooters and Spider-Man's webs[]

Spider-Man's web-shooters are twin devices, which he wears on his wrists beneath the gauntlets of his costume, that can shoot thin strands of a special "web fluid" (the chemical composition of which is not known, but which is described--see below--as being a "shear-thinning" substance) at high pressure. (Note: The fluid itself is officially described as being pressurized at 300 psi, but the actual number has been known to change.)

The spinneret mechanisms in each web-shooter are machined from stainless steel, except for the turbine component, which is machined out of a block of Teflon, and the two turbine bearings, which are made of amber and artificial sapphire. The wristlets and the web-fluid cartridges, the latter of which Spider-Man wears on his belt beneath his costume's tunic, are mainly nickel-plated annealed brass. The wristlets have sharp steel nipples, which pierce the bronze caps when the cartridges are tightly wedged into their positions.

The hand-wound solenoid-needle valve on each web-shooter is actuated by a palm switch; this, in turn, is protected by a band of spring steel which requires a 65-pound pressure to trigger it. The switch of each is situated high on Spider-Man's palm to avoid most unwanted firings. An additional safety measure, to prevent misfires while Spider-Man is making a fist or carrying things, is that the trigger has to receive a double-tap from Spider-Man's middle and third fingers. The small battery compartment is protected by a rubber seal.

The effect of the very small turbine pump vanes is to compress (shear) the web fluid and then force it, under pressure, through the spinneret holes, which cold-draws it (stretches it: the process wherein nylon gains a four-fold increase in tensile strength), then extrudes it through the air, where it solidifies.

As the web fluid exits the spinneret holes, it is attracted to itself electrostatically, and thus can form complex shapes. The spinneret holes have three sets of adjustable, staggered openings around the turbine which permit a single, incredibly strong line; a more complex, spreading spray; and a thick, tremendously adhesive liquid.[8]

The web line's tensile strength has been estimated to be 120 pounds per square millimeter of the cross-section. The 300 p.s.i. pressure in each cartridge is sufficient to force a stream of the complex web pattern an estimated 60 feet. (It goes significantly farther if Spider-Man shoots it in a ballistic parabolic arc.)

• Spider-Man's Web Uses.
• Spider-Man's Other Web Uses.

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Peter Parker devoted many hours of practice to weaving his webs in many different ways: as a shield, a parachute, a safety net, a barrier, skis, a raft, a club, a ball, or "plain, simple, sticky glue."[9] He could also make web wings that allow him to glide through the air.[10][11][12][13]

By weaving his webs into discs beneath his feet, he can walk across water,[14] or fire.[15] Given enough time, Spider-Man can even create sculptures out of his webbing, which will turn into a sticky mess on anyone who takes a swing at them.[10]

One of Peter's problems with his web-shooters is getting them past metal detectors. At one point, he had to disassemble them and put the components amongst his camera equipment to get through airport security. As a result, he contemplated making them out of another material.[16][17]