Warning: SPOILERS for Amazing Spider-Man #19.Marvel Comics has finally answered a 60-years old question: how do Spider-Man's Web-Shooters actually work? While Peter Parker's miraculous gadgets have been "scientifically" (by Marvel's standards) explained a few times already, many questions remained, especially regarding the webbing's ejection system.

Spider-Man's Web-Shooters are the most iconic feature of the character. Making their debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, they were actually a last-minute addition to the character, who, in an original design created by Jack Kirby, was supposed to shoot his webs from a gun. The decision to have Peter shoot webs from a gadget and not from his body also served to emphasize his nature as a geek, which has always been part of the charm of the character. However, Spider-Man's webs quickly became capable of doing basically everything the story needed, which prompted various attempts at explaining the science behind them.

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Spider-Man's Web-Shooters Don't Work With Compressed Gas

spider-man explains how his web-shooters work

Amazing Spider-Man #19, by Joe Kelly, Terry Dodson, and Rachel Dodson, is the latest of these attempts. While Peter and his new girlfriend, Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat, are trying to enjoy a relaxing weekend in upstate New York, they run into the White Rabbit and her latest enterprise, which involves renting super-villains gear (modified to be "safe") at parties for tech industry people. Spider-Man gets to mingle with a group of fellow geeks, who ask questions about his Web-Shooters, thinking that they work with "hyper-compressed fluorocarbons". Peter replies that, if he was actually using compressed gas, his wrists would either weigh one thousand pounds or be blocks of ice, which is the most common criticism moved to the traditional explanations of how his Web-Shooters work.

Spider-Man's explanation that his unique design works with "compressed chain molecules that expand directionally based on the introduction of hydrogen" is probably also not very scientifically accurate, but at least it's an attempt to fix a decades-old plot hole. Over the years, Spider-Man's webs have become simply too fantastic in their uses for a relatively simple and small item like the Web-Shooters to explain them. While the formula for the actual webbing is canonically a secret, and can thus remain a "scientific mystery", the fluid still has to be ejected somehow, and the use of compressed gas in such small mechanisms did not make much sense. In fact, concept art for the upcoming Spider-Man: Freshman Year MCU animated series shows Peter's first costume having an oxygen tank connected to the Web-Shooters, which would be scientifically more believable.

The Web-Shooters Plot Hole Is Fixed...For Now

spider-man's web uses

An attempt was made, back in 2005, to give Peter organic Web-Shooters, which would have solved the issues, but fans perceived it as a way to capitalize on the popularity of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movie. The controversial One More Day story got rid of the organic Web-Shooters, along with Peter and Mary Jane's marriage and their future daughter. Comic books and science are a weird mix that doesn't always yield the best results, but it's commendable that the creative team behind Amazing Spider-Man #19 decided to at least address this 60-year-old plot hole about Spider-Man's Web-Shooters.

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Amazing Spider-Man #19 is available now from Marvel Comics.