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So Spider Man shows up a solves a petty crime. He starts doing this once a week. Although he avoids law enforcement (since he is technically a vigilante, which is illegal), he otherwise doesn't try to hide himself. Many people get pictures of him (including Peter Parker), and publish them. How long will it take until people accept that Spider Man is real, if ever?

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you asking in the Marvel universe or in our universe? You mention Peter Parker, which makes me think Marvel universe, but in the Marvel universe people are already used to the idea of costumed superheroes, so it wouldn't be as big of a deal for them as it would be for us in our universe. $\endgroup$
    – John Robinson
    Mar 24, 2016 at 23:15
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    $\begingroup$ Accept is real do you mean believe "there is a man who dresses weird and solves petty crimes"(the character, who might have super powers or not) or "there is a man who has super human powers due to a spider bite"(his supernatural back story) $\endgroup$
    – sdrawkcabdear
    Mar 24, 2016 at 23:17
  • $\begingroup$ @JohnRobinson It's our universe, except there's this guy named Peter Parker, and people make jokes about him being Spider Man. We know about Spider Man, but only in fiction, whereas this guy is real Spider Man. $\endgroup$
    – PyRulez
    Mar 24, 2016 at 23:17
  • $\begingroup$ @sdrawkcabdear Hmm, I guess an answer would involve both (I suspect the answer to the second part is either a really long time, or never.) $\endgroup$
    – PyRulez
    Mar 24, 2016 at 23:17
  • $\begingroup$ what do mean by "people?" It cant be everyone. There are always people who will deny things even though conclusive evidence is put in front of them. There are people who wont believe it until they see it with their own eyes, yet the reality is not to many people will actually see Spider Man. $\endgroup$
    – Keltari
    Mar 25, 2016 at 5:29

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Since you clarified in the comments that you're asking about our universe, it's going to take something a lot bigger than petty crime for people to believe.

Spiderman is a well-established part of popular culture. So well-established, in fact, that jokes have been made about other superheroes pretending to be him as kids. At this point, Spiderman is such a well-known character that anyone claiming to be him would probably be treated like someone claiming to be Jesus.

If all he's doing is stopping petty crimes (muggings, carjacking, robbing convenience stores, etc), nobody is going to pay attention. At absolute best, some videos pop up on YouTube: "Guy Dressed as Spiderman stops Robbery".

Now, if something big came up where he was not only seen by a lot of people (like in Amazing Spiderman 2 when he fought Electro in the middle of Times Square), but more importantly seen using his powers, then people would start to believe. One video is a fluke. A few pictures can be photoshopped. A hundred videos of the same event from different angles? Now that's proof. But until then, not a chance.

It would honestly be easier for him to be believed if he took a whole new identity and started calling himself something else, simply because "Spiderman" is so ingrained into our culture.

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    $\begingroup$ I think though that if he does it consistently, even petty crimes would eventually make us at least somewhat believe him. Especially the web slinging part. Also, police would probably wonder what criminals are covered in. $\endgroup$
    – PyRulez
    Mar 24, 2016 at 23:31
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    $\begingroup$ The police would eventually get there due to the webs, sure. But the rest of the population? Nah. Problem is that petty crimes don't make the news. How many robberies do you think there were in NYC in the past week? A lot, but they don't get reported on. Even if one got stopped by someone in blue and red spandex, well, from a news outlet's perspective that's even less of a story because you'd be reporting that something didn't happen. And if he's staying out of the spotlight, there wouldn't be anything TO believe other than "Some guy is dressing up as Spiderman". $\endgroup$
    – John Robinson
    Mar 24, 2016 at 23:41
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Pretty soon (within 6 months).

Security camera recordings.

Dozens of eye witnesses, photos and cellphone videos.

And most importantly, the gooey web which some criminals would have on them, would be sent for DNA analysis and it would reveal a human genome mixed with a spider's.

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    $\begingroup$ I prefer the Origional orientation on that, after gaining his strength, wall climbing and spider sense, he created a web slinging device. $\endgroup$
    – Xandar The Zenon
    Mar 25, 2016 at 15:12
  • $\begingroup$ Spidey's webbing dissolves in a matter of hours. They would have to do the tests really fast. $\endgroup$
    – Xavon_Wrentaile
    Mar 26, 2019 at 23:36
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Very soon. Comic books have been preparing people for years. Millions of people want to believe Spider-Man is real. While the first reaction would be one of disbelief, once they see the pictures and hear the stories, they will eventually come to believe it's real because deep down they want to. People believe in Bigfoot and aliens with even less evidence, so why not Spider-Man?

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