Spider-Man's VERY intriguing origin story revealed: How shy artist Steve Ditko created web-slinging superhero with brash Marvel boss Stan Lee before their tragic falling out

For generations, the tale of an orphaned teenager who moonlights as a web-slinging superhero has captivated comic book and movie buffs alike.Spider-Man, the high school student who begins fighting crime after a spider's bite bestows him with superpowers, has been turning the actors who portrayed him on the big screen into household names since 1962.It also helped make Stan Lee of Marvel, the publisher of the Spider-Man comic books, an international superstar. Yet the artist who helped bring the Spider-Man to life was just as mysterious as the character he drew. Enigmatic artist Steve Ditko created Spider-Man with Lee and drew the web-slinger for the first 38 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. A man who shunned the spotlight his work afforded others, Steve died at age 90 in 2018, leaving behind an illustrious legacy which includes Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Atom, Mr. A, and more. But to his relatives, Steve wasn't just a comic book artist but a 'fun uncle' who made drawings for his nieces and nephews. Now, as Spider-Man returns to the big screen with Tom Holland as the masked crime fighter, Mark Ditko, Steve's nephew, spoke with The Daily Mail about his uncle's legacy as 'one of the founding fathers of the comic industry,' the rift he endured with Stan Lee, and the worlds he straddled as a family man and notable comic book artist. The nephew of Spider-Man comic book artist Steve Ditko has demystified his uncle in an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail Ditko is the artist who brought Spider-Man to life in the first 38 issues of the comic book The adventures of Spider-Man have turned the actors who portrayed him on the big screen and Marvel Comics boss Stan Lee into household names'He was just one of our fun uncles,' Mark recalled. A comic book artist living in New York and an uncle visiting his family in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Steve straddled two worlds during his life – both of which he kept at arm's length from one another. 'We had no idea that he even lived in New York,' he said. 'I thought he still lived in Johnstown, because every time we had a barbecue or a family get-together, he was there.' 'The parents, all the adults, they got the memo that, "No, we don't bother Uncle Steve... we don't talk about that." So we didn't even know, as kids.' In fact, the children stumbled upon their uncle's artistic gift by accident. Unbeknownst to Mark, he was even reading a comic book written by his uncle, Konga. 'There were comics all around the house all the time. And as a four-year-old, I'm reading Konga, and there's Spider-Man,' he said. 'I'm not reading the credits and going, "It doesn't say Uncle Steve."'The connection was never made even when a young Mark asked his uncle to draw for him. To his nieces and nephews, Ditko was their 'fun uncle' who they all turned to for drawings - and were unaware of his second life as an accomplished comic book artistDitko created Spider-Man with Stan Lee, but their working relationship disintegrated The beloved superhero has turned the actors who portrayed him into household names'I see that Uncle Steve clearly knows something about drawing. So I said, "Hey, can you draw me a gorilla?"'And he whips out this gorilla. Well, I was like, "Whoa, you could draw really good!" But not knowing that he was actually drawing the comics that I was reading, Konga.'Eventually Mark came to learn about his uncle's profession in a moment he called 'such a non-event.' 'It was probably my early teens,' he said.'He just wanted to do artwork. He didn't see himself as a celebrity and this kind of gets into his basic demeanor,' Mark said. 'He loved what he did.'And unlike Stan, Steve averted the spotlight. 'He didn't want people shouting his name from the rooftops. He wasn't Stan Lee, he didn't have that demeanor,' Mark said. Indeed, Steve and Stan had their differences. Steve's nephew, Mark Ditko, spoke with The Daily Mail about his uncle's impact on one of America's most beloved comic book characters Tom Holland is the latest actor to play the web-slinging superhero on the big screen, and his new movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is now out 'Stan and my uncle weren't even talking. They had stopped talking,' Mark told The Daily Mail; pictured 2011 Stan conceived of the idea of Spider-Man but Steve was the artist behind the pen, drawing the artwork and coming up with the superhero's wrist web-shooters and distinctive blue and red costume. Yet tension between them grew; their working relationship eroded and they eventually were no longer on speaking terms.'Stan and my uncle weren't even talking. They had stopped talking halfway through his Spider-Man run,' he said. The rift prompted Steve to leave Marvel, a move Mark stressed was due entirely to his relationship with the head honcho and not the company. In a series of essays titled the Mini History of Comics, Steve revealed why he parted ways with Marvel – citing creative differences between himself and Stan. 'He writes in his essays, "Why would I continue to work somewhere where my boss won't speak to me?" Mark recalled. 'If you read these essays, one thing that you will find that will be a major takeaway, is that Stan wanted to do a lot of things in the comics, in the early Spider-Man issues, that my uncle just disagreed with,' Mark said. 'And ultimately just didn't do. So I think, and if you read those essays, you could tell, Stan is getting more and more and more like, "Why am I here telling… wasting my breath talking to him?"' Ditko's nephew also shared artwork created by his uncle with The Daily Mail Disagreements abound over character development, with Steve even directly defying Stan's suggestions. 'He talked about wanting to make [The Daily Bugle editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson] nicer to Peter [Parker].'And my uncle was like, "No,"' he recalled. 'When a good person comes on stage, everybody cheers. When a bad person comes on stage, the audience boos. That's the dynamic. So, the next issue, he made him angrier, meaner to Peter. 'Because he's creating a story. He's creating a story that you could develop and has legs.'All these things that literally in the first couple issues, he wanted to bring in Spider Girl or Spider Woman. And my uncle's like... "We just started this character."''He built a foundation and he disagreed with some of the things that Stan said. So I think there was just a rift, and eventually, Stan publicly said, "I don't know, you know, Steve Ditko thinks he's the genius of the world, you know, I'm gonna let him just plot this stuff from now on. We'll see how it goes."'If I was Stan and I was the boss and all of a sudden my employee's not listening to me, yeah, I'd probably stop talking to him. I'm wasting my time.'According to Mark, his uncle was prompted by 'three instances of something that Stan did' to write the essays – including one in which the Marvel icon allegedly took credit for a character Steve created, Dr. Strange. Sketches provided to The Daily Mail include a portrait of a man smoking, along with Ditko's signature 'I think in the late 90s, somebody asked Stan in an interview, "What was your favorite character that you created?" And he said, Dr. Strange,' he said. 'Which Stan had nothing to do with.'Stan also allegedly claimed to have given Steve the idea for an iconic scene from the Amazing Spider-Man 33. 'Stan did not give him that idea. At that point, they weren't even talking,' Mark said. At the heart of their issues was a dispute in the direction they wanted to take Spider-Man in, Mark said. 'If you read these essays, one thing that you will find that will be a major takeaway is that Stan wanted to do a lot of things in the comics, in the early Spider-Man issues, that my uncle just disagreed with and ultimately just didn't do.'Stan passed at age 92 in 2018, less than a year after Ditko died. Yet their impact remains and their work will be returning to the big screen. Marvel has also involved the Ditko family in their Spider-Man ventures: 'I get invited to the movie premieres,' he said. Ditko worked on numerous other stories in addition to Spider-Man, including The Shrieking Man (pictured) 'I've talked to Kevin Feige a couple times,' he said. 'They know who I am. I'm engaged.'And the Ditko legacy will continue in Brand New Day: 'There's something on this new movie that I can't talk about,' Mark teased.Tom Holland is the latest actor to portray Peter Parker, following in the footsteps of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, and paid tribute to Steve when he passed in 2018.'We all want to leave our mark on the world - this guy crushed it,' the UK native wrote on Twitter. 'He made so many people so happy and changed lives - most of all, mine! Thank you Steve - your life lives on man, thank you.'