After initially debuting at San Diego’s Comic-Con Museum in 2022, Marvel’s traveling “Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing – The Exhibition” landed in Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in May 2025. With artifacts such as rare comic sketches, costumes and props directly from the various Spider-Man movies, and larger-than-life statues of characters across the Spider-Verse, the “Beyond Amazing” exhibit condenses and celebrates over 60 years of Spider-Man history within two expansive galleries.
With Chicago officially being the exhibit’s final stop before it closes indefinitely in August 2026, EnVi took a tour and spoke with the museum’s head curator, Dr. Voula Saridakis, on the evolution of Spider-Man and his multi-generational appeal that continues to stand the test of time.
Hey Spidey, Welcome to the ‘60s!
Created in 1962 by Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Spider-Man was initially only meant to be a throwaway character — one that would debut in a single issue and fight a little crime just so Lee could “get it out of his system.” But evidently, the concept of a teenage web-slinging superhero resonated in a way neither creator could fathom, leading to Peter Parker and his masked alias Spider-Man becoming one of the most beloved comic book characters of all time.
“The exhibit is designed as a sort of parallel between the fictional and non-fictional side of Spider-Man and the Spider-Man universe,” Dr. Saridakis explained as she led me into the first gallery. “So the narrative is that you’re experiencing both the story itself and how the story came to be at the same time.” She also goes into detail about how, since this is a traveling exhibit, every artifact comes as is. It even has its own curator (Patrick A. Reed), who’s a big Spider-Man fan himself and even loaned a few of his own personal items to the exhibit.
Upon entering, attendees are immediately thrust into the world of Spider-Man, with blue lights illuminating the dark room and a red Spidey signal (similar to the Bat Signal) reflecting on the floor from the lights above. As iconic images of the web-slinger are displayed across the walls, one of the many Instagram-worthy statues comes into view: Spider-Man swinging out from the walls through what appears to be a hole in a comic book panel. Here, fans are encouraged to pose and snap photos with their favorite hero as he comes to life in vivid and lifelike detail.
Similar statues of other iconic characters, such as Doc Ock and Miles Morales, are placed throughout the exhibit.
As expected, the exhibit is designed in chronological order, starting with Spider-Man’s inception and gradually expanding the lore throughout the decades. But before there was Marvel Comics as we know it today, the company was known as Timely Comics from 1939 to 1951, and rebranded to Atlas Comics until 1961. And before there was Spider-Man, there was simply a spider. The exhibit displayed an original issue of Journey Into Mystery #73 (1952), a story written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby, featuring a giant mutated spider as the main antagonist. “This is where we see the first creature that kind of resembles Spider-Man,” Dr. Saridakis stated. “It’s a creepy spider character with powers, and we see Stan Lee become so instrumental in creating the character.”
This would lead to an official copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, the introduction of Spider-Man to Marvel Comics in 1962. If you’re a die-hard fan or even a casual Spidey enjoyer, you’re guaranteed to have seen this cover — or at least an homage to it — somewhere throughout Spider-Man media, as it’s considered one of the most recognizable and iconic covers in comic book history. But there’s nothing like seeing an actual hard copy in real life to reignite the magic of the character.
The exhibit also includes a few rare finds, including an original typed-out script written by Stan Lee himself. “When he wrote scripts, they weren’t detailed — they were usually one-pagers as you see here,” Dr. Saridakis noted, pointing to the framed script on the wall. “And the writers and artists would come in and use this to write and draw all these large pages that would eventually be colored in, shrunk, and used as what you would print to make the comics.”
Unfortunately, Lee never saved the majority of his scripts, so only a small handful have survived over the years. Surprisingly, the Marvel Comics writer was also never super thorough with his notes, which was not the industry standard at the time, but became a Stan Lee norm. He would only provide a general narrative with light suggestions so that the artists and other writers had more creative liberty to flesh out these stories as they saw fit.
While seeing the script up close was already inspiring, Lee’s note at the bottom of the page did get a nice little chuckle out of me: “Please notice that I’m trying, in this story, NOT to use exclamation points when they’re not really called for. I wanna try using PERIODS from now on, and see if this’ll give the mags a classier look.” Even back then, exclamation points had a reputation for being less than professional — poor things.
Costumes & Props & Villains, Oh My!
Although Saridakis didn’t grow up reading the comics, her first introduction to Spider-Man was through the 1967 animated series, which aired on Saturday mornings on ABC. “Each episode was half an hour, and it ran alongside some of my other favorites like Bugs Bunny,” she recalled. She then showed me a screen on the wall that was playing the original ‘60s Spider-Man animated show. If you pick up the little phone on the wall and hold it to your ear, you can hear the iconic theme song playing. “I had not heard this song since I was a kid, so to hear it, it was like, ‘Oh, it’s bringing back memories,’” she said with a smile. “There was also a live-action show called The Amazing Spider-Man in the ‘70s that starred Nicholas Hammond — it was short-lived, but I loved it.”
While the historical aspect of Gallery 1 focused on Spider-Man’s evolution from the ‘60s and ‘70s, there were also plenty of 21st-century artifacts sprinkled throughout, including the actual home-made suit worn by Tom Holland at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. “From what I’ve observed, a lot of people love to stand there looking at the Spider-Man costumes and other props from the movies,” Dr. Saridakis said, confirming it’s also a personal highlight for her, too. And she was right — I could’ve spent an entire day just admiring every little detail of the suit, from the iconic lenses of his mask to the web-shooters around his wrist.
In addition to the No Way Home suit, “Beyond Amazing” also managed to snag Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin mask, costume, and pumpkin bomb from 2002’s Spider-Man, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock glasses and a singular claw from 2004’s Spider-Man 2, and the head sculpt of the Lizard used on the set of 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, which Dr. Saridakis explained more in detail.
“So how the head sculpt works is, of course, you have the actor [Rhys Ifans as Lizard] physically on set while they’re filming, but they use this sculpt as a reference for when Spider-Man [Andrew Garfield] is speaking to the Lizard,” she said. “Then they go in to replace the physical sculpture with the digital version that moves and talks, so that Spider-Man can engage and look at something actually real rather than nothing.”
A Turning Point and Industry Shift
Another major moment in Marvel history in the late ‘60s was when Steve Ditko left Marvel Comics in 1966 after being so integral to the company over the years. He was replaced by artist John Romita, who brought in a new visual take on Spider-Man. “After John Romita came in, the character evolved a little bit more visually in the comics and became a little bit more human looking, closer to what we see now,” Dr. Saridakis stated. Similarly, Spider-Man’s stories began to evolve, too, with Stan Lee incorporating more real-world topics and themes in his writing.
“The stories are starting to resonate, especially with the times changing in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s,” she explained. “There were riots and people questioning things like drug use and the war in Vietnam — a lot of controversial things were happening, and Stan Lee wanted that to be reflected to a certain degree in the comics.” Of course, it wasn’t easy at first, with Lee being met with a lot of resistance, but he pushed back, resulting in the first time readers saw comics reflecting the times in which they were being written.
Additionally, the ‘70s also introduced New York as Spider-Man’s canonical city after years of the character being set in a fictional metropolitan area. “Another artist named Ross Andrew came along and wanted Spider-Man’s world to reflect an actual, identifiable city,” Saridakis explained. “So he chose New York and photographed actual buildings in Manhattan as reference for his art to make it more realistic and truly match what was there.” The decision turned out to be one of the best additions to the character, as Spider-Man is now forever intrinsically associated with New York as its Friendly Neighborhood hero.
Another shift the comic industry took note of was the rise of licensing deals. Manufacturers were granted the rights to produce Spider-Man merchandise, ultimately bringing in even more money for Marvel Comics. That brought us to one of the most fascinating parts of the exhibit: an entire glass case filled with toys, action figures, comics, and other products that became popular throughout the ‘70s and into the ‘90s.
“There were movies or TV shows that had a few [merchandise] items here and there. For example, Planet of the Apes, when it first came out in the 60s, there was a lunchbox,” the curator noted. “But licensing for movies and films wasn’t a big deal until you had something like Spider-Man, and Star Wars was also a big game-changer in licensing toys, figurines, erasers, lunchboxes, games — anything you could possibly imagine.”
As far as Spider-Man merchandise on display, the exhibit included a “Flying Web” frisbee, unbreakable plastic lenses to mimic the character’s mask, the original sketch of the character’s first appearance at the 1987 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and, my personal favorite, Spider-Man music CDs. What types of songs are on these albums? I have no idea, but as a CD enthusiast myself, I was just elated to know they exist.
With Great Power & All That Jazz
So, we’ve talked a lot about how Spider-Man came to be and how he became a crime-fighting icon, but another reason why the character is so beloved is his civilian identity as Peter Parker. When he’s not off fighting the Sinister Six or getting webbed into adventures with other Marvel heroes, the Queens-native lays low and just tries to get through everyday life, whether it’s high school, college, or freelancing at the Daily Bugle newspaper as a photographer.
While Spider-Man is confident, quick on his feet, and full of quips, Peter is awkward, nerdy, and unsure of himself, which usually means he keeps a small circle of friends and has trouble talking to girls. However, Gwen Stacy’s introduction changed everything for the character. The fierce blonde becomes his first major love interest in 1965’s The Amazing Spider-Man #31, which “Beyond Amazing” honors and uses to pay tribute to the pair’s relationship. But as Peter finds love and settles into a groove, this becomes one of the many times we learn that being a hero takes sacrifice.
“Here’s another thing that deviates from your typical happy, rose-colored glass story of superheroes: Gwen dies in the comics, and we know it was adapted in one of the movies, as well,” the curator commented. “He tries to save her, and unfortunately, with his webs, her neck snaps, and he winds up killing her. So it’s very tragic, but again, it’s portraying everyday realistic things that may or may not happen, rather than always a happy ending for these superheroes.”
The death of Gwen Stacy reinforces the lesson that Peter Parker and every Spider-Man after him have had to face: with great power comes great responsibility. But with great responsibility also comes great sacrifice and oftentimes, loss, which becomes something of an inner turmoil within the character. “You’ll see, every so often, he just wants to throw it all away and go back to being a normal teenager and young adult, but he doesn’t — these are the moments in his life that define who he is.”
Swinging Through Modern Times
As we head into Gallery 2, we start catching up on more recent Spider-Man history, with the second half of the exhibit exploring the character’s lore from the ‘80s and into the current age. Here, other prominent characters start to pop up, like Jessica Drew, the first Spider-Woman, and, of course, Peter Parker’s most famous and longest love interest, Mary Jane Watson.
Although MJ initially appeared in the ‘60s Spider-Man comics, she didn’t seriously start dating Peter until the ‘70s. It wasn’t until 1987 that the couple married in what Marvel dubbed “The Wedding of the Century.” The celebration was so big that there was an entire PR event staging the fictional wedding with real actors playing Peter and MJ — a testament to the characters’ relevance in pop culture even then.
“The wedding took place during a baseball game at New York’s Shea Stadium — that’s how popular Spider-Man had become,” Dr. Saridakis explained. “It was covered on the news, and we actually have this sketch of Mary Jane’s dress by the late fashion designer Willi Smith.” There’s an entire wall dedicated to the marriage, with the most adorable spider-shaped hearts on and around the poster of Peter and MJ in their wedding attire, a sweet ode to their love story.
After spending some time with the lovely couple, we passed through the start of Spider-Man’s gaming era (“From Panels to Pixels”) with the first Spidey video game released in 1982 for the Atari 2600, which the exhibit displayed in a glass case. On the wall behind it was a TV screen that flashed various scenes from different Spider-Man games throughout the last 40 years. My eyes immediately caught the inclusion of the more recent Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020) games for the PS4 — two spectacular games I’ve recently played and can’t praise enough for their earnest storytelling and riveting action.
Into The Spider-Verse
Speaking of Miles Morales, this was when the exhibit started getting into the “Spider-Verse” of it all, with a slew of variant Spider-People and creatures becoming more prominent both in the comics and, of course, the movies. “What’s really cool about that is that it’s not just the Spider-Man universe — it’s many universes, many different earths, some of which crossed over with other characters and plotlines, and it was ingenious what they did,” Saridakis said. “Now we have hundreds of characters, like a T. rex that becomes Spider-Man, and Spider-Cat. It really is incredible.”
But the Spider-Verse wouldn’t have become the massive success that it did without Marvel’s first Spider-Man of color, Miles Morales. The Afro-Latino character made his first appearance in 2011’s issue of Ultimate Fallout #4, following the death of Peter Parker and Miles taking over the mantle. The exhibit showcased a framed poster of the issue’s cover and a patch piece that hid Miles’s identity until the comic’s official release.
“When they came out with the original cover and comic, you don’t see who this character is — they wanted to keep it a secret the first time they published this issue,” the curator clarified. “And when they re-published it, they added the Fallout patch of Miles Morales on there and introduced the character to the public.”
Next to the cover is a rare sketch of Miles’s face and upper body, which became even more special after realizing this was one of the only times the character had been drawn by hand. “There aren’t many physical sketches of Miles’s character, and you might wonder why,” Saridakis explained. “That’s because now, we’re seeing the rise of digital art in the comic industry — fewer people are drawing these characters with traditional pencil and ink, and it’s actually kind of sad to think about, but [Miles] became a huge turning point in the world of Spider-Man.”
With that in mind, it was an even more emotional moment to see the statue of Miles right across his introductory wall, with the character crouching in his signature Spidey pose and pulling up his mask to reveal his face.
Since his induction into the film industry with 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and 2023’s Across the Spider-Verse, Miles’s popularity and importance in Marvel have skyrocketed. With his authentic biracial heritage on full display, the character became an even bigger symbol of hope, self-confidence, and independence, specifically for Black and Brown fans of all ages. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a deeper sense of pride and adoration while sitting next to his statue for photos — that’s my Spider-Man.
From there, the rest of “Beyond Amazing” is dedicated to the dozens of Spider-Verse characters throughout publication history, including two walls filled with all the different variants; an interactive touch screen delving into each variant’s identities and backgrounds; and two final statues, one of Gwen Stacy taking a selfie as Ghost-Spider and the other of Spider-Ham (the anthropomorphized pig variant of Spider-Man).
In the exhibit’s closing moments, there are several tables of arts and crafts for kids and other Spidey fans to learn how to draw Spider-Man, with a TV mounted on the wall giving a step-by-step tutorial. Finally, on the wall next to it is a mural for the character’s latest animated adaptation on Disney+, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
There’s A Spider-Man In (and For) Everyone
“Oftentimes, we’re asked, ‘What makes Spider-Man so popular?’ And [it is that] this is the first time you’re seeing a relatable teenager front and center as the main superhero,” Dr. Saridakis told EnVi. “He’s not a sidekick like Robin is to Batman or any secondary character — he is the primary character, and it’s just amazing how people latched on to the idea of this unknown hero who they could see themselves in.”
It’s the reason why Stan Lee created the mask in the first place — so that anyone could imagine themselves in the character’s shoes and feel invincible.
By the end, you wholeheartedly feel like you’ve been enlisted and transformed as an honorary Spider-Person, becoming fully immersed in the characters’ rich history and feeling like you know them first-hand; it’s every fan’s dream.
“I don’t think the Spider-Man character or the multiverse is losing any steam,” Dr. Saridakis concluded. “It’s still going strong.”
Due to popular demand, Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing — The Exhibition” will be extended one last time at Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry through August 16, 2026. Last chance for tickets can be found at the museum’s website here.
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