THE A-Z OF SPIDER-MAN SECTION B

Although computer effects play a large part in recreating SpiderMan's high-flying feats, Tobey Maguire and a team of four stuntmen also played their part in Spider costume, spending plenty of time suspended high above the ground by cranes to give the illusion of rooftop leaping.

Vis for Versions of Spider-Man.

Since his launch in 1962, there have been a number of TV adaptations, including a brilliant Sixties cartoon series (which included the nowfamous theme song), a far less brilliant Eighties cartoon series, and an even worse Nineties one.Worst of all was a short-lived and unintentionally camp live action series.

Wis for Web slinger. In the comic book, Peter Parker created home-made wrist shooters to shoot the web that enables him to swing from skyscraper to skyscraper. But in the movie, the effect of the geneticallymodified spider bite means that our Pete now spurts the white clingy stuff from openings in his wrists.

Xis for X-Men and other comic book movies. After the initial success of the Superman and Batman movies, the superhero movie seemed to lose its way. Then the successful X-Men film came along and now everybody wants a piece of the superpowered action. Heroes soon to be getting the Hollywood treatment include The Hulk, Daredevil, the return of the X-Men and, of course, another SpiderMan movie.

Yis for Why has it taken so long for Spider-Man to make it to the big screen? Although a Spider-Man film has been on the books for more than a decade (at one time it was rumoured to be directed by James "Titanic" Cameron), legal battles, rights disputes and creative differences have meant that for years it was stuck in something of a web. But it's been worth the wait.

Zis for Ground Zero. With the destruction of the World Trade Center, the Spandex zentai makers of Spider-Man began to get a little jumpy. Not only did their soon-to-be-completed movie feature plenty of action and destruction among New York's skyscrapers but a key scene that appeared in an early trailer featured a web-slinging rescue attempt between the Twin Towers. It was quickly cut.