Shazam Fought "Spider Man" More Than A Decade Before His Marvel Debut
Long before Spider-Man debuted for Marvel Comics, a hyphen-less character named Spider Man (who was a total weirdo) fought Shazam in the '40s.
Long before Spider-Man made his Marvel Comics debut, a villain named Spider Man faced off against Shazam in a hilariously silly comic. Back in the late 1940s, the hero, then known as Captain Marvel, battled a grotesque bad guy named Spider Man (with no hyphen) who tied people up with plastic webbing. Unsurprisingly, Spider Man never caught on - leading the way for the Marvel version to permanently take the name a little more than a decade later.
Insect heroes weren't exactly a new concept when Stan Lee and Steve Ditko first created Spider-Man back in the early 1960s. In the early '40s, DC Comics created a hero named Tarantula, who had his own water-gun-like web-shooters which hardened over time. A few years later, Fawcett Comics published a story starring Captain Marvel where the powerful hero would take on his own version of Spider Man - albeit, the one he battled was much less cool than any spider-hero who came before or after him.
In Whiz Comics #89 by Otto Binder, C.C. Beck, Pete Constanza, and Will Lieberson, two pilots are about to fly a million dollars worth of gold to Fort Knox. However, before they're about to take off, a villain named Spider-Man (who wears a furry spider costume and an interesting headpiece) sticks them a web. He reveals he invented a liquid plastic that forms into a sticky solid - which he learned by watching spiders.
Thankfully, Billy Batson just so happen to be aboard the plane, as in some silly Silver Age storytelling, he was representing Whiz Radio to see how gold was transported to Fort Knox (Sure! Why, not?). After getting pistol-whipped, the plane lands to meet Spider Man. Transforming into Captain Marvel, Billy fights the new foe but gets hit by the sticky plastic, giving the villain enough time to fly away.
However, stopping Shazam isn't that easy. He catches up to Spider Man and, after nearly getting bitten by a tarantula, he gives his opponent a wallop and ties him up in his own plastic. Captain Marvel turns Spider Man over to the police.
Unsurprisingly, Whiz Comics #89 was the only appearance Spider Man would ever make. Ultimately, he didn't stand out as a villain enough for continued use in Captain Marvel's adventures and has largely been forgotten over time. Thankfully, Lee and Ditko weren't worried about also naming a character Spider-Man, as their take on the webbed comic hero was obviously much more interesting and stood the test of time. Although, you have to wonder if they ever read the Spider Man appearance or were at least partially inspired by the Shazam villain.