Marvel Memories: The Spider-Mobile Saga

Every good Super Hero worth their tights needs a cool car, right? Actually, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man got along just fine without one for years, except for that brief moment in his history when a Spider-Mobile seemed like a necessity and not just a goofy dream.

Buckle up for this one: If you don’t already know this story, you’re in for one wild ride.

So, two executives from Corona Motors got it into their tiny heads that Spider-Man, of all celebrities, would be the best spokesperson for their new non-polluting automobile engine. They approached the webslinger with the concept for a “Spider-Mobile” in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #126, but despite their offer to hire him, our hero proclaimed the idea “world-class dumb” and swung away. A few pages later, the whole crazy thing suddenly, and a bit inexplicably, sounded much better to him.

Spidey checked in with his old pal the Human Torch and asked Johnny to help him build the Spider-Mobile. Appealing to the hothead’s love for cars, the wallcrawler sealed the deal and left his friend to begin dreaming up the mechanics of it all. In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #127, the two heroes got down to business and with Spidey’s design and the Torch’s engineering know-how, they started building the car.

With New York City buried in snow, Spider-Man took possession of the finished Spider-Mobile in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #130. Unfortunately, beyond the spider-signal projector, the web-shooters, and the seat-ejector Johnny built into the buggy, the one thing it truly lacked came down to a driver’s manual. One quick driving lesson later, Spidey debuted his new wheels in a brief battle with Hammerhead and his armed-and-dangerous lackeys.

Then, he sort of forgot about the Spider-Mobile until eleven issues later when in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #141 he drove it into the river due to a sudden fog whipped up by Mysterio. There, under the water and stuck in the muck, the Spider-Mobile languished until recovered by the Tinkerer to be rebuilt with “special modifications” in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #159.

Previously, the wallcrawler desperately searched for the car when Corona Motors threatened him with a lawsuit if he didn’t return their motor and investment, but to no avail. That is, he didn’t find the Spider-Mobile until it attacked him in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #160 and captured him for the Tinkerer. Our hero escaped the villain’s clutches, of course, but washed his hands of the webby wheeled—and now wobbly—wonder by hanging it up for Corona Motors to recover and end the saga of the Spider-Mobile once and for all.

Admittedly, rumors surfaced of the car appearing in a museum years later and even the “merc with a mouth” Deadpool finding it and rechristening it the Dead-Buggy, but we prefer to remember the 1970s-style dune buggy as it first hit the scene with a mighty KAAAROOOOOM from its engine and the thwip, thwip of its web-shooters…and “behind the wheel, the laughing form of Spider-Man!”

It’s better that way.