The life of a superhero is inevitably going to lead to some awkward, oftentimes precarious situations and Spider-Man is no exception to that rule. However, there's a somewhat infamous panel from the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #215 in which some very questionable design choices left the Wall-Crawler in what looks like it might be his most compromising and awkward position to date. And, oh boy, does it look uncomfortable.
The 1981 book opens with Spidey and Namor already in bad shape, having faced off against the Frightful Four (The Wizard, Trapster, Llyra and Sandman) in the previous issue. The heroes writhe on the floor in pain after taking a blast from The Wizards' latest superweapon. Seeing the heroes' temporary incapacitation as an excuse to get a few licks in, Sandman and Trapster continue to pummel the helpless duo.
Still disoriented from The Wizard's blast, our heroes try to rally. Though neither of them are yet back in fighting condition, the pair leap back into action, mustering every last bit of strength and energy within them to counter their attackers' blows and take down this villainous quartet for good. But that didn't go so well and then this happened...
Okay, so there's a lot to unpack here. While the characters' positioning in the panel probably could have been given a second glance, dedicated Spidey fans would know that what appears to be a volcano erupting from Spider-Man's rear end is actually a blast of sand, and that Sandman's missing fist is due to the character's malleability. But to people not intimately familiar with the universe and its characters, the action taking place here - and the exact whereabouts of Sandman's fist - could easily be interpreted as, well, something else entirely. Since children read this website that's as vivid a description as that potential misinterpretation will get, but without the proper context, it's pretty understandable how the image could maybe be seen as something it's decidedly not.
So the obvious question is how was this allowed to happen? With Spider-Man being one of Marvel's flagship characters, how many writers, editors and artists had to have seen this panel and not at least raised an eyebrow over it? Regardless of how this remarkable image made it's way into print, The Amazing Spider-Man #215 gifted the world with one of the most absurd and borderline NSFW mainstream comic book panels of all time. Let's just hope Jameson over at The Daily Bugle doesn't find out about this.