Spider-Sense

*"This grass spider... hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction velocity so fast... that some researchers believed it almost borders on precognition. An early awareness of danger. A Spider-Sense."*
―Lab Tour Guide[src]
The **Spider-Sense** is one of Spider-Man's abilities, which warns him of imminent danger.

## History

### 2002

*"There's so much to do, though, and I'm doing it all alone. I also started practicing with the webbing. It's going to be of absolutely no use to me if I can't find a way to make it go where I want, when I want. Heck, it could wind up hitting me in the face, and I don't think I'm ready to depend so completely on my weird "spider sense" that I'd want to get into a fight with my eyes closed."*
―Peter Parker in Chapter 7[src]
The scientists at Columbia University synthesized transfer R.N.A. to encode an entirely new genome, combining the genetic information from a grass spider and two others into 15 genetically designed super spiders. The lab tour guide noted the grass spider for its ability to sense danger. One of the 15 spiders bit Peter Parker, giving him the attributes of a spider, including the grass spider's "Spider-Sense." In the novelization, however, the ability was attributed to the crab spider (family Thomisidae, genus Misumena).

Parker felt a minor buzz in the back of his head when he woke up after getting bitten. When he stopped chasing his school bus, he felt a stronger sensation when a truck was behind him and he leaped out of the way. Mary Jane Watson commended his reflexes when he caught her and her food after she slipped. A warning of danger buzzed in his head when Flash Thompson came after him, and the warning signals sounding in his head went off with even greater strength and clarity, allowing him to see outside of himself and be aware of everything around him all at one time, including Thompson attacking him.

Parker felt his Spider-Sense when he stepped in the ring with Bone Saw McGraw. He felt it again when Dennis Carradine was shooting at him through the roof of Ben Parker's Oldsmobile. When he chased Carradine into a warehouse, his Spider-Sense guided him through the darkness to find the carjacker and avoid his gunfire.

At his high school graduation, Parker felt a slight sensation from his Spider-Sense when speaking with Norman Osborn, although he could not figure out the reason.

Some time after becoming the hero "Spider-Man," Parker felt his Spider-Sense warn him when Curt Connors unknowingly almost slammed a door in his face. He also felt his Spider-Sense "tingling" at the base of his skull once more when Norman Osborn visited his and Harry's apartment in Tribeca, although he could not understand it.

At the World Unity Festival, Parker used his Spider-Sense to navigate through the crowd, and his Spider-Sense kicked into high gear when the Green Goblin attacked the festival. His Spider-Sense warned him again when the Goblin flew at him on his Goblin Glider.

Spider-Man chose fought to override his Spider-Sense when he entered a burning building. Back at the apartment for Thanksgiving dinner, Parker felt his Spider-Sense again when Osborn entered his room and felt it on a much more extreme level when Osborn saw his bleeding arm and knew the danger was gone when Osborn departed.

Spider-Man felt his Spider-Sense when the Green Goblin slammed into him during the Battle at the Queensboro Bridge and when he pulled him away with his cable. Spider-Man also saw all around him simultaneously when the Goblin's glider was rocketing towards him.

### 2005

*"My Spider-Sense is tingling... if you know what I'm talking about."*
―Eddie Brock to Spider-Man[src]
*To be added*

## Capabilities

*"Peter glanced left and right and saw that he was alone. Then again, somehow he had already known that. He had a feeling that if someone had been watching him, had posed some sort of danger, he would have... well... sensed it. Spider sense."*
―Narrator in Chapter 7[src]
The Spider-Sense was initially described as a minor buzz in the back of Parker's head. As he explored his power, it was described as something pounding through his head with such force that it almost split his skull in two. It is a warning, a sensation, a fight-or-flight response. As his Spider-Sense grew stronger, the very movement of air was an alert to Parker, allowing him to see Flash Thompson's fist quickly coming in at him from behind in his mind's eye. The Spider-Sense was described as a "nearly psychic ability" and he can perceive his enemies in slow motion if the feeling is intense enough. He can operate purely on reflex and see all around him simultaneously.

## Trivia

* According to IMDb, the extended cut of *Spider-Man 2* features a scene where Peter sketches an image of his own face with half of it covered by the Spider-Man mask. This image has been used countless times in the comics, often to indicate Peter's Spider-Sense, as seen in *The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!* (Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #2, May 1963).

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Spider-Man*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Spider-Man 2*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Spider-Man 3*
4. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 3
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 5
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 6
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 10
8. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 11
9. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 13
10. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 15
11. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 17
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 18
13. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 22
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 23
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 25
16. ↑ *Spider-Man (novel)* Chapter 7