Midtown High School (comics)

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Midtown High School
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceAmazing Fantasy #15
(Aug. 1962)
Created byStan Lee (writer)
Steve Ditko (artist)

Midtown High School (also known as Midtown Science High School or the Midtown School of Science and Technology) is a fictional school appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The school is depicted as being located in Queens, NYC. It is commonly depicted as the high school of Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, and Liz Allan in comic books and other media.

The Midtown School of Science and Technology appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe live-action films of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

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] In the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, the Midtown High School closely resembles an actual elite NYC public high school: the Bronx High School of Science.[4] Director Jon Favreau is an alumnus of Bronx Science.[5]

Notable characters[]

Faculty[]

Character First Appearance Status Description
Raymond Warren Amazing Fantasy #15
(Aug. 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 The Amazing Spider-Man #4
(Sept. 1963) 		Retired The principal of Midtown High School at the time when Peter was a student.
Mrs. Winterhalter Untold Tales of Spider-Man #11 (July 1996) Unknown An English teacher who Peter describes as making English "almost as fun as science".
Coach Murch Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual (July 1997) Unknown A gym teacher when Peter Parker attended high school and who disliked him.
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 The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #30 (June 2001) Employed Gym coach when Peter Parker worked at MHS.
Roger Harrington The 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.[6]
Kelly Cox Spider-Man and Wolverine #1 (Aug. 2003) Unknown Newly hired assistant principal.
Lynn Nelson Spider-Man Unlimited vol. 3 #11 (Nov. 2005) Employed Head of the science department and Peter Parker's boss.
Miss Arrow Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #11 (Oct. 2006) Deceased The school nurse. She is later revealed to be a spider monster called 'Ero'[7] and later 'The Other.'
Mr. Pettit She-Hulks #2 (Feb. 2011) Employed The school's stern and gruff principal.
Mr. Flannigan The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #1.1
(July 2014) 		Unknown The school guidance councilor.[8]

Students[]

Character First Appearance Status Description
Peter Parker Amazing Fantasy #15
(Aug. 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 honor student there. After attending Empire State University, he was depicted as a teacher for the high school for a while.[1][2][3][9]
Eugene "Flash" Thompson Graduated Football star and meanest bully of the class.[3][9] 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[10] 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[11] 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 The Amazing Spider-Man #17
(Oct. 1964) 		Graduated Peter's ex-friend. Became part of Flash's group.
C.J. Vogel The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #17
(Nov. 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 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
(Feb. 1988) 		Unknown Son of the creator of the Living Brain. Becomes the super villain Phreak.[12]
Jake Dorman Unknown Jock who would bully Steven Petty
Ronda Kramer Unknown Jake Dorman's girlfriend who sympathized with Steven Petty
Jenny Carson Marvel Super Heroes: The Revenge of Kang (January 1990) Unknown Briefly dated Flash.
Jason Ionello Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1
(Sept. 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[13] Bully to Peter who became a hive of spiders called Thousand.
Joey Gastone The 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 The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #32 (Aug. 2001) Enrolled A homeless student who looks after her drug addicted brother.
Jessica Jones Alias #1 (Nov. 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 (Jan. 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 The Amazing Spider-Man #515
(Feb. 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
(Aug. 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 (Jan. 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 The Amazing Spider-Man #692
(Oct. 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 The 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.[14]
Clayton Cole The 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 The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #1.2
(Aug. 2014) 		Unknown A friendly student who befriends Peter and head of the A.V. Club. She turns on Peter when he steals equipment.[15]
Lawson Unknown A.V. Club student who befriends and then later turns on Peter.[16]
Martin Unknown A.V. Club student who befriends and then later turns on Peter.[16]
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 was a former friend of Mary Jane's who, surprisingly became a goth girl. Luke Cage has a surprising and brief cameo where he flirts with Mary Jane. Ned Leeds and Betty Brant are older students with the former being Mary Jane's ex boyfriend. A new character named Lindsay Leighton is the school's drama queen who envies Mary Jane's acting ability.

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, Gwen Stacy, 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.
  • Midtown High School is featured in Marvel's Spider-Man. Its known teachers include assistant chemistry teacher Anna Maria Marconi and science teacher Sal Salerno (voiced by Sean Schemmel in season one,[17] Phil LaMarr in season two[18]).

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. Allan does appear in the film, but is only named in the novelization. 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 (portrayed by Hannah Marks).

Marvel Cinematic Universe[]

  • In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Midtown School of Science and Technology is introduced. Peter Parker is a sophomore and his classmates include Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, Jason Ionello, Liz Toomes, Cindy Moon, Seymour O'Reilly, Tiny McKeever, Charles Murphy, Abe Brown, Sally Avril, and a new character named Michelle (portrayed by Zendaya) whose nickname is revealed to be MJ. The school 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 (portrayed by Martin Starr; same character was seen in a brief cameo in The Incredible Hulk[19]); Coach Wilson (portrayed by Hannibal Buress), Mr. Cobbwell (portrayed by Tunde Adebimpe), Monica Warren (portrayed by Selenis Leyva) and Barry Hapgood (portrayed by John Penick), the shop class teacher. The school's principal is Principal Morita (portrayed by Kenneth Choi), who is shown to be a descendant of Howling Commandos member Jim Morita, also portrayed by Choi in previous MCU media.[20]
  • In Avengers: Endgame, the school is seen when Parker and Leeds return from the Blip and have an emotional reunion.
  • In Spider-Man: Far From Home, the school's daily news footage shows students returning from the Blip while recognizing the Avengers and those who died for their actions. A new teacher named Julius Dell (portrayed by J. B. Smoove) is introduced as well as new students Brad Davis (portrayed by Remy Hii), Zach Cooper (portrayed by Zach Barack), and Josh Scarino (portrayed by Joshua Sinclair-Evans). Other students include Zoha Rahman, Yasmin Mwanza, Tyler Luke Cunningham, and Sebastian Viveros whose characters are named after them. It is revealed that a majority of Parker's classmates from Spider-Man: Homecoming survived the Blip and had already graduated with only Parker himself, Ned Leeds, MJ, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant and Jason Ionello among main characters having been blipped and then brought back.
  • The school returns in Spider-Man: No Way Home. With Parker's identity as Spider-Man becoming public knowledge, the teachers and students have created a shrine to the hero, presenting it to Peter on his return to school.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Sanderson, P. (2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. Gallery Books. p. 30. ISBN 9781416531418. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b c d Lee, Stan (w), Ditko, Steve (a). Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), New York City, New York: Marvel Comics
  4. ^ "Spider-Man's high school's resemblance to a certain NYC STEM school is uncanny". theverge.com. 13 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Alumni Hall of Fame". bxscience.edu.
  6. ^ Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #33
  7. ^ Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4
  8. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #1.1
  9. ^ a b Reece, Gregory L. (18 June 2015). "It's Time to Hear the Truth After Growing Up Spidey". PopMatters. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  10. ^ Untold Tales of Spider-Man #13
  11. ^ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #7
  12. ^ Web of Spider-Man #36
  13. ^ Spider-Man's Tangled Web #3
  14. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #4
  15. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #5.5
  16. ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #4.5-5.5
  17. ^ "Venom". Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 13. October 21, 2017. Disney XD.
  18. ^ "The Road to Goblin War". Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 47. November 3, 2019. Disney XD.
  19. ^ Houghton, Rianne (May 17, 2019). "Spider-Man: Homecoming and Incredible Hulk crossover confirmed by Marvel boss Kevin Feige". Digitalspy. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  20. ^ Bryant, Jacob (July 17, 2017). "10 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed". Variety. Retrieved April 14, 2018.

External links[]

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