Features of Spider-Man media
| Midtown High School | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Midtown High School (or Midtown Science High School) is a fictional school in the Marvel Comics universe located in Forest Hills. It is commonly depicted as the high school of Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, and Liz Allan in comic books and other media.
History
The fictional school is located in Forest Hills in New York City, New York.[1] The school first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.[2][3] According to comic book historian, Peter Sanderson, Lee based the fictional school on Forest Hills High School in New York City.[1]
Notable characters
Faculty
| Character | First Appearance | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raymond Warren | Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) |
Retired | The science teacher of the class. Parker was commonly depicted as his top student.[3] He was also revealed as Miles Warren's brother. |
| Andrew Davis | Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963) |
Retired | The principal of Midtown High School at the time when Peter was a student. |
| Mr. Del | Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #7 (July 1999) | Employed | Peter's science teacher who sympathizes with Peter's situation. |
| Daphne "Boomer" Smith | Peter Parker: Spider-Man Vol. 2 #27 (March 2001) | Employed | Peter's fun science teacher from the 10th grade. |
| Coach Kyle Jacoby | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #30 (June 2001) | Employed | Gym coach when Peter Parker worked at MHS. |
| Roger Harrington | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #32 (August 2001) |
Deceased | The principal of Midtown High School who hired Peter Parker to be the science teacher. He was later killed by Chameleon of Earth-9500.[4] |
| Miss Arrow | Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #11 (October 2006) | Deceased | The school nurse. Later it's revealed that she is a spider monster called 'Ero'[5] and later 'The Other.' |
| Mr. Pettit | She-Hulks #2 (February 2011) | Employed | The school's stern and gruff principal. |
| Mr. Flannigan | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1.1 (July 2014) |
Unknown | The school guidance councilor.[6] |
Students
| Character | First Appearance | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Parker | Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) |
Graduated | Parker was the high school nerd and the wallflower of the high school. Despite not being popular with the students, he was an honored student there. After attending Empire State University, he was depicted as a teacher for the high school for a while.[1][2][3][7] |
| Eugene "Flash" Thompson | Graduated | Football star and meanest bully of the class.[3][7] He was Peter Parker's nemesis and would bully him the most among the other social underlings. Flash's bullying would cease and eventually the two would become good friends. He returned to serve as the high school coach. | |
| Liz Allan | Graduated | Flash's girlfriend all throughout high school. She was also harsh on Peter, but soon developed a crush on him as well. She never dated Peter, but still admired him. | |
| Sally Avril | Deceased[8] | A high school gymnast obsessed with superheros and became one called Bluebird. She gave up the identity when she realized that super heroics were dangerous. She was killed in a car crash while chasing a fight involving Spider-Man. | |
| Seymour O'Reilly | Deceased[9] | Friend of Flash's who bullied Peter. He never grew out of his bullying ways to the point that he was jealous of Peter's marriage to Mary Jane Watson. He was killed by the second Venom. | |
| Charles "Charlie" Murphy | Amazing Spider-Man #17 (October 1964) |
Graduated | Peter's ex-friend. Became part of Flash's group. |
| C.J. Vogel | Amazing Spider-Man Annual #17 (November 1983) |
Graduated | A student who loved to tell jokes and looked after Peter. Years later, he was in deep trouble and Spider-Man helped him out. |
| Barry Hapgood | Graduated | A shop class expert who ironically became an electronics engineer. | |
| Louie Minelli | Graduated | A talkative insurance salesman who was voted "Most Likely to Succeed." | |
| Stanley Stackmeyer | Graduated | Considered himself lower than Peter due to his poor hygiene, but went through a radical change and became a handsome, successful married man. | |
| Steven Petty | Web of Spider-Man #35 (February 1988) |
Unknown | Son of the creator of the Living Brain. Becomes the super villain Phreak.[10] |
| Jenny Carson | Marvel Super Heroes: The Revenge of Kang (January 1990) | Unknown | Briefly dated Flash. |
| Jason Ionello | Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1 (September 1995) |
Graduated | Popular student who was close with Sally. He was always pulling pranks on Peter. When Sally died, he became depressed and took his anger out on his friends and blamed Spider-Man for the incident. |
| Brian "Tiny" McKeever | Graduated | Use to bully Peter due to his frustrations at home, but became friends with him afterwards. He moved on and became a security guard. | |
| Blake | Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #7 (July 1999) |
Graduated | Peter's rival for the Empire State University scholarship. |
| Carl King | Spider-Man's Tangled Web #1 (June 2001) |
Deceased[11] | Bully to Peter who became a hive of spiders called Thousand. |
| Joey Gastone | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #30 (June 2001) | Expelled | Student bullied by other students. Starts a fire to get back at his tormentors. |
| Jennifer Hardesty | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #32 (August 2001) | Enrolled | A homeless student who looks after her drug addicted brother. |
| Jessica Jones | Alias #1 (November 2001) |
Graduated | Real name was Jessica Campbell. She was involved in a car accident that killed her family, but gave her powers. She had a crush on Peter, but never told him. Years later they would be teammates and she would marry Luke Cage. |
| Paul Patterson | Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #1 (January 2005) | Enrolled | A troubled, yet powerful mutant nicknamed Golden Child. He received help from Spider-Man whom he deduced was Peter Parker. |
| Charles "Charlie" Weiderman | Amazing Spider-Man #515 (February 2005) |
Graduated | A fellow student of Peter who was also bullied. He gets coated in liquid vibranium and becomes a villain. |
| Laurie Lynton | Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #13 (June 2005) |
Graduated | An overweight girl who had a crush on Peter. Years later, she lost weight and worked at the Daily Bugle with Peter. |
| Vanna Smith | Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 (April 2006) | Graduated | Girl who thought Spider-Man was stalking her and puts a restraining order on him. She eventually grows up into a lonely, feeble woman with no friends or family. |
| Lyra Walters | Hulk: Raging Thunder #1 (August 2008) | Unfinished | Lyra posed as an average student at Midtown and made friends, but was forced to leave after her school was attacked by Wizard. |
| Amelia Hopkins | She-Hulks #1 (January 2011) | Unknown | A goth who initially disliked Lyra, but befriended her after learning she was She-Hulk. She somberly lied about knowing Lyra's identity to the school. |
| Jake Constantine | Unknown | A young boy that Lyra befriends and potentially falls in love with. During the school dance he was blasted by the Wizard. It was left ambiguous whether he survived or not. | |
| Andrew "Andy" Maguire | Amazing Spider-Man #692 (October 2012) |
Enrolled | An average student who gains energy powers and names himself Alpha. Becomes Spider-Man's sidekick briefly. |
| Christine "Chrissy" Chen | Enrolled | Former girlfriend to Andy Maguire. | |
| Cindy Moon | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #1 (June 2014) | Unfinished | A former hockey player for the school, she attended the field trip along with Peter. After the spider bit him, it bit Cindy's ankle giving her similar powers. Years later she meets Peter and becomes the superhero Silk.[12] |
| Clayton Cole | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1.1 (June 2014) |
Unknown | An average student who admired Spider-Man and became a super villain named Clash. Had a crush on Polly McKenna. |
| Polly McKenna | Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1.2 (August 2014) |
Unknown | A friendly student who befriends Peter and head of the A.V. Club. She turns on Peter when he steals equipment.[13] |
| Lawson | Unknown | A.V. Club student who befriends and then later turns on Peter.[14] | |
| Martin | Unknown | A.V. Club student who befriends and then later turns on Peter.[14] | |
| Hector Cervantez | Silk #1 (April 2015) | Graduated | Former boyfriend to Cindy Moon. Years later he gets engaged and becomes the superhero Spectro. |
Other versions
Ultimate Spider-Man
Midtown High School appears in Ultimate Spider-Man. Just like the mainstream comics, it depicts Peter, Flash and Liz Allan as students. Unlike the mainstream comic book, characters such as Gwen Stacy, Eddie Brock, Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn also debut in the high school instead of the Empire State University. X-Men member Kitty Pryde is also depicted as attending the high school. The comic also depicts a new character called Kenny "King Kong" McFarlane, who is depicted as best friend of Flash in high school. Mark Raxton is also depicted as a student who attends Midtown High school.
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Midtown High School appears in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Student faculty includes Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Liz Allan, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy. Felicia Hardy appears as a tough transfer student. Jessica Jones is a former friend of Mary Jane's who became a goth. Luke Cage has a brief cameo where he flirts with Mary Jane. Ned Leeds and Betty Brant are older students with the former being Mary Jane's ex. A new character named Lindsay Leighton is the school's drama queen who envies Mary Jane's acting ability. Though Firestar appeared in the series, it is unknown if she too is a student.
In other media
Television
- Midtown High School is a major recurring setting in The Spectacular Spider-Man. Unlike most other depictions, this version of the school appeared to be located in Midtown Manhattan judging from Spider-Man's commute in an earlier episode. The series debuts both Principal Davis (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) and Aaron Warren (voiced by Brian George) in other media. Other staff included are the class's coach Coach Smith (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), and the theater teacher St. John Devereaux (voiced by Jeff Bennett). The recurring students depicted in the series are Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, Sally Avril, Kenny "King Kong", Hobie Brown, Rand Robertson, Glory Grant, Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Sha Shan Nguyen and Mark Allan. Eddie Brock was also a graduate of the school before attending Empire State University. The series also debuts students from the comics, Seymour O'Reilly (voiced by Steve Blum) and "Tiny" McKeever.
- Midtown High School appears in Ultimate Spider-Man. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury appointed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson to be the Acting Principal. Another notable staff member is a janitor named Stan (voiced by Stan Lee) who is one of the original S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. During Season Three, Stan becomes the Acting Principal at the time when Phil Coulson was away on a special mission.
Film
- Midtown High School appears in the 2002 feature film Spider-Man, where Parker is depicted as a high school senior until graduation. Both he and Harry Osborn appear as best friends while Flash Thompson is depicted as the class bully. Instead of Liz Allan, Mary Jane Watson is depicted as Peter's high school crush and once girlfriend of Flash. It is mentioned that Harry had to go there after flunking out of many private schools.
- Midtown Science High School appears in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 along with the viral marketing of the films. The students in the film are Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, Gwen Stacy, Sally Avril and a shy student named Missy Kallenback.
- Midtown School of Science and Technology also appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Peter as a sophomore. His classmates include Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, Ned Leeds, Cindy Moon, Jason Ionello, Seymour O'Reilly, Tiny McKeever, Sally Avril, Abe Brown, Betty Brant, Charles Murphy and a new character named Michelle Jones. Liz is a Senior as opposed to being in the same grade as her friends. In this version MSHS is a STEM school with many of Peter's classmates, who are usually depicted as being unenthusiastic about science, being depicted as science graduates. Faculty includes Roger Harrington, Coach Wilson, Mr. Cobbwell and a female version of Raymond Warren. The school's principal is Principal Morita, who is implied to be a descendant of Howling Commandos member, Jim Morita.[15]
References
- ^ a b c Sanderson, P. (2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. Gallery Books. p. 30. ISBN 9781416531418. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- ^ a b Saffel, Steve. Spider-Man the Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon (Titan Books, 2007) ISBN 978-1-84576-324-4, p. 21.
- ^ a b c d Lee, Stan (w), Ditko, Steve (a). Amazing Fantasy, no. 15 (Aug 1962). New York City, New York: Marvel Comics.
- ^ Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #33
- ^ Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1.1
- ^ a b Reece, Gregory L. (18 June 2015). "It's Time to Hear the Truth After Growing Up Spidey". PopMatters. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- ^ Untold Tales of Spider-Man #13
- ^ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #7
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #36
- ^ Spider-Man's Tangled Web #3
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #4
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #5.5
- ^ a b Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #4.5-5.5
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Homecoming
External links
- Midtown High School at Marvel.com
- Midtown High School at Marvel Wiki
- Midtown High School at Comic Vine
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