Ben Peterson was born on August 16th, 1982 to Richard and Mary Peterson, a pair of high school teachers living in New York. The Petersons lived modestly on their public school salaries in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens where they taught physics and math, respectively, and Ben grew up with the vibrant city as his playground. A result of a combination of genetics and environment, he displayed a natural aptitude for numbers and science from a young age and could often be found perusing through his parents' old textbooks. Being a skinny kid with glasses who was good at math made him an easy target for the jocks and bullies at school, and he quickly developed a quick wit and disarming sense of humor to help him defuse situations that could otherwise have left him crammed in a locker.

By the time he was in high school, Ben had learned to embrace his awkwardness. He got good grades, worked part time jobs in his spare time, and leveraged his growing interest in chemistry by entering his many inventions into science fairs to help save for college. When the chance presented itself to study at MIT, he didn't hesitate. The tuition would be exorbitant, but he had spent years saving up. With a combination of scholarships, student loans, and some help from his family, it became a reality, and he moved to Boston in the summer of 2001.

Although he worked multiple jobs throughout the next few years (often involving washing lab equipment, waiting tables, and tutoring rich kids) in order to pay his way through college, he thrived at MIT. He was around other people with the same interests, who thought the way he did and got excited about things like how proteins folded or how to colonize Mars, in the place where some of history's most groundbreaking scientific discoveries had been made. He immersed himself in the world of nanoparticles, tissue regeneration, and stem cell research, but beyond that, he began to grow into himself and figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

After graduating from MIT in 2006 with a bachelors degree in biochemistry and a masters in biomedical engineering, his love of science and helping people drove him pursue a career in medicine. He earned his MD from Boston University in 2011 and completed a four-year residency in emergency medicine at Massachussetts General Hospital where he was subsequently hired as an emergency room doctor. Having obtained some degree of satisfaction and stability in his professional life, although he is still up to his ears in student loan debt, he has now made Boston his permament home and lives in a single bedroom apartment close to work with an adopted cat for company.

ORPHANED AS A BABY WHEN HIS PARENTS WERE KILLED OVERSEAS IN A PLANE CRASH AS U.S. GOVERNMENT SPIES, ONLY CHILD PETER PARKER WAS RAISED BY HIS ELDERLY UNCLE BEN AND AUNT MAY. ACADEMICALLY GIFTED, PETER DISPLAYED AN UNCANNY AFFINITY FOR SCIENCE THAT WAS NOTHING SHORT OF GENIUS. SOCIALLY, HOWEVER, HE WAS PAINFULLY SHY AND THE TARGET OF MUCH CRUELTY BY HIS PEERS AT MIDTOWN HIGH SCHOOL. ATTENDING A PUBLIC SCIENCE EXHIBIT WHEN PETER WAS 15-YEARS OLD, HE WAS BITTEN ON THE HAND BY A RADIOACTIVE SPIDER ACCIDENTALLY IRRADIATED BY A PARTICLE BEAM, EMPOWERING PETER WITH THE ARACHNID'S PROPORTIONAL STRENGTH AND AGILITY, AND THE ABILITY TO CLING TO ALMOST ANY SURFACE. MOST INCREDIBLY, HE HAD GAINED A SIXTH SENSE THAT PROVIDED HIM WITH EARLY WARNING OF IMPENDING DANGER. DISGUISED, PETER TESTED HIS NEW-FOUND ABILITIES DEFEATING PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER CRUSHER HOGAN IN THE RING, AND EARNING SOME CASH. USING HIS SCIENTIFIC PROWESS, HE CONSTRUCTED A PAIR OF ARTIFICIAL WEB-SHOOTERS THAT ATTACHED TO HIS WRISTS. WITH AN AGENT, A COSTUME, AND A NEW NAME, SPIDER-MAN BECAME AN OVERNIGHT SENSATION ON TELEVISION. UNCONCERNED WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD, HE VOWED TO USE HIS POWERS ONLY TO TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF AND HIS AUNT AND UNCLE. AFTER HIS FIRST TV SPECIAL ENDED, HE ALLOWED A BURGLAR THAT HE COULD HAVE EASILY RESTRAINED TO RUN PAST HIM AND ESCAPE. A FEW DAYS LATER, PETER RETURNED HOME TO FIND HIS BELOVED UNCLE BEN HAD BEEN SHOT AND KILLED. WHEN SPIDER-MAN CONFRONTED THE KILLER HIDING IN THE OLD ACME WAREHOUSE AT THE WATERFRONT, HE DISCOVERED TO HIS HORROR THAT HIS UNCLE'S MURDERER WAS THE BURGLAR HE APATHETICALLY ALLOWED TO PASS. CONSUMED WITH GUILT, HE BECAME AWARE AT LAST THAT WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY, JUST AS HIS BELOVED UNCLE HAD ONCE SAID. (SOURCE) point of canon All cv information is based on Earth 616. comic tie-ins » first, middle, and last name are rearranged » parents' first names are the same » born and raised in queens, new york » aptitude for science » similar personality and sense of humor

= locked; = unlocked powers / abilities SPIDER PHYSIOLOGY   WALL CRAWLING   SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH   SUPERHUMAN SPEED   SUPERHUMAN STAMINA   SUPERHUMAN DURABILITY   SUPERHUMAN AGILITY   REGENERATIVE HEALING FACTOR   CONTAMINANT IMMUNITY   SUPERHUMAN EQUILIBRIUM   SUPERHUMAN REFLEXES   SPIDER-SENSE GENIUS-LEVEL INTELLECT EXPERT INVENTOR / ENGINEER MASTER ACROBAT MASTER HAND-TO-HAND COMBATANT equipment ITEMS   WEB-SHOOTERS   UTILITY BELT   SPIDER-TRACERS   SPIDER-SIGNAL COSTUMES   RED AND BLUE SUIT   SYMBIOTE SUIT   MK I ARMOR   MK II ARMOR   MK III ARMOR   MK IV ARMOR TRANSPORTATION   SPIDER-GLIDER   SPIDER-MOBILE   HYDRO-GLIDER memories peter parker spider-man powers battleworld and secret war spider island spider-verse events