Richard and Mary Parker were created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. For many years before The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 (November 1968), there had been no explanation of why Peter Parker was being raised by his aunt and uncle, with his parents only appearing in flashbacks and photographs. That issue finally answered the question: Richard and Mary Parker were murdered by Albert Malik, who was one of Johann Schmidt's successors to the persona of Red Skull.
In The Amazing Spider-Man #365 (August 1992), Spider-Man's 30th anniversary, they reappeared. Two years later, however, in #388 (April 1994), they were revealed to be Life Model Decoys created by the Chameleon and were destroyed.
In the novel Mary Jane, it is said they died in a plane accident while going to Switzerland to turn in some important discovery that Richard made. Peter tries to figure out what the discovery was but fails, as he cannot figure out the things Richard has written on his board. In July 1997, Untold Tales of Spider-Man #-1, part of Marvel Comics' "Flashback Month" event, written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Romita, Sr., the characters' origins are expanded. Since then, they have rarely been mentioned.
Mary Fitzpatrick was the daughter of O.S.S. agent "Wild Will" Fitzpatrick. She attended the best schools and eventually followed in her father's footsteps, becoming a C.I.A. translator and data analyst.
Richard and Mary met on the job, fell in love, and married. Originally they eloped, later having a more elaborate service, fooling many. Mary became a field agent like Richard, giving them both an easy cover as a married couple. They were assigned to investigate Baroness Adelicia Von Krupp, who had captured an agent of a "friendly power" (who turned out to be Logan, aka Wolverine, then a Canadian operative called "Agent Ten" and who would eventually become an ally of their son Peter who would grow up to become Spider-Man). They rescued Logan from the Baroness and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. After that mission, they discovered Mary was pregnant; Logan was actually the first person to congratulate the Parkers, commenting later that he never saw an agent as tough as Richard Parker go that white that fast.[1]
Their son, Peter, was often left in the care of Ben and his wife May when Richard and Mary were away on missions. When Richard and Mary ultimately died, Peter was raised by them.
While on a mission to investigate Albert Malik, the third Red Skull, they posed as traitors and double agents to infiltrate his criminal organization in Algeria, ultimately being discovered. Malik had an assassin kill the two by sabotaging their airplane and causing it to crash.[2] They were subsequently declared missing in action/presumed dead, as two burnt bodies were found in the remains.[3][volume&issueneeded]
After death
Richard and Mary's son, Peter, grew up to become Spider-Man. Although he has only vague memories of his parents and no memory of their militaristic history, his aunt and uncle share photographs and happy memories with him, but not their belief that they had been traitors to their country. When Peter discovers this, he travels to Algeria. He finds Malik who sends the Finisher to kill Spider-Man. When the Finisher fired a missile at Spider-Man, the wall-crawler was able to lead the missile back to its source. The subsequent explosion killed the Finisher, but before he died he was able to reveal that Richard and Mary were in fact innocent. Spider-Man returns to America with evidence and clears his parents' names.[2]
Richard and Mary Parker were revealed to have a daughter named Teresa Parker.[4]
Life Model Decoys
Years later, the Chameleon, working for Harry Osborn, created Life Model Decoys of Richard and Mary. These LMDs were near-perfect robotic replicas of Peter's dead parents, and managed to convince him that they had in fact been held captive overseas for most of his life.[5] Aunt May retained some suspicions, as there were some things they did not know, such as Richard and Mary's elopement. When Peter discovers that they were fake,[6] he suffers a nervous breakdown. When the decoys were ordered to attack Parker, the Mary duplicate—sharing the original's love for her son—saves him instead. Neither LMD survives the incident. After battling the Chameleon, Spider-Man discovers that Harry Osborn was behind the whole thing, as an effort to avenge his (supposedly) dead father, Norman Osborn.[7] Spider-Man then becomes mentally unhinged over time, until having a near-death experience. May Parker eventually learns the truth about the Life Model Decoys, via learning the truth about Spider-Man. May draws strength by talking to the graves of Mary, Richard, and Ben about Peter's life. The cynical mindset of Harry Osborn and the Chameleon was present in the LMDs, particularly during Maximum Carnage:[8] When Aunt May advises Peter to "listen to your heart", (the pseudo) "Richard" tells a very different lesson:[9]
Strip away the veneer of society and civilization and you'll find a devil inside all men. ... That prison was overrun with devils, Peter. Sadistic evil men who'd do anything—no matter how twisted, how immoral—to break a man down. Destroy his soul ... Oh, sure there are good men in the world. Your uncle Ben was one of them. And look where it got him. Dead. Shot down like a dog. And knowing my brother, he was probably looking up at the scum who did it—trying to understand why. But when it comes to the devils, Peter—there is no why. No rhyme or reason. ... Use whatever means possible to stop the madness—before it swallows you up. ...
—Richard Parker
When Shriek uses her psychic powers to turn the whole town against Spider-Man and the other super-heroes, "Richard" remarks that the "moral, orderly" world he remembered while in prison "was just an illusion! The evil was here—all along — festering beneath the surface!" — inviting a sharp rebuke from Peter's wife, Mary Jane[10] (when exposed as frauds, some of his "parents'" cynicism rubs off on the "son" — with Spider-Man becoming unusually brutal against his enemies and developing a "Spider" alternate personality).
Ambiguities in Marvel documentation
The nature and timing of Richard and Mary Parker's fate are somewhat ambiguous in Spider-Man documentation. For one thing, the very fact that Harry Osborn and the Chameleon were able to fool the State Department, Peter, and (for a time) Aunt May into thinking Richard and Mary had "returned" after 20 years implies that the government was never able to solidly confirm the bodies found in the original plane crash were theirs.[11] This uncertainty was exploited by Harry Osborn and the Chameleon: When explaining how he and Mary "survived", the false Richard Parker asserts that the bodies found were of Russian spies who stayed on the plane while they were forced to jump out.[5] According to Spider-Man: Unmasked, "young Peter was orphaned at an early age when his parents were declared missing in action".
It is also ambiguous how old Peter was when his parents mysteriously disappeared: some accounts have it happening in his infancy;[12] others say he was as old as six years[13]—particularly, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man, 2004. The latter view is supported by Spider-Man's musing, during The Child Within,[14] that he remembers his parents, yet "they were practically strangers to me", as he prepares to fight Green Goblin and Vermin.[15] During the fight, Harry drugs Peter and subsequently discovers that Peter blames himself for his parents' death;[16] Harry conceives the LMD scam to "avenge" his own father shortly after.[7] Another, more comprehensive book on the Marvel Universe (also released in 2004) asserts that Peter's only clear memory of his (real) parents was of the moment they were boarding the fateful plane and he promised them he would be a "good boy" for Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Most Spider-Man stories in the main continuity are vague about Peter's exact age when he was effectively orphaned.
Other versions
Bullet Points
Alternate universe variants of Richard and Mary Parker make a minor appearance in Bullet Points #1.[17]
Marvel Mangaverse
An alternate universe variant of Mary Parker named Kiri appears in Marvel Mangaverse: Spider-Man. This version is a spider demon called the Spider Queen and the leader of the Spider Clan. She initially attempts to name her son, Peter, her successor until he rejects the position. Nonetheless, she appoints her pupil Venom instead.[volume&issueneeded]
Trouble
Characters based on Richard and Mary Parker appear in Trouble.
Ultimate Marvel
Alternate universe variants of Richard and Mary Parker from Earth-1610 appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint. The former, also known as "Ray Parker", was a biologist who worked with Eddie Brock Sr. on a biological suit capable of repairing the host's body that would go on to become Venom as well as Hank Pym, Franklin Storm, and Bruce Banner in an attempt to recreate the super-soldier serum.[18] Additionally, Richard and Mary were severely injured amidst an explosion.[19] Artist Mark Bagley based Richard Parker's likeness on that of Peter Parker as drawn by John Romita, Sr. and Gil Kane in the late 1960s and early 1970s, feeling he had not captured Peter's appearance during his earlier run on The Amazing Spider-Man in the 1990s.[20]
Spider-Geddon
Alternate universe variants of Richard and Mary Parker from Earth-83043 appear in the Spider-Geddon tie-in Vault of Spiders #1. The plane carrying these versions was provided by Wilson Fisk, who rigged it to crash. Additionally, the plane crashed in the Savage Land, where their son Peter was adopted by giant spiders and went on to become the Savage Spider-Man.[21]
In other media
Television
Illusionary versions of Richard and Mary Parker make non-speaking appearances in the Spider-Man episode "Doctor Strange".
Richard and Mary Parker appear in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), portrayed by Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz respectively. Richard was a former Oscorp employee who used his DNA to create genetically-engineered spiders and left the company to prevent his work from being used as biological weapons.
Richard and Mary Parker appear in Ultimate Spider-Man (2005), with Richard voiced by Loren Lester while Mary has no dialogue.
Miscellaneous
Richard and Mary Parker appear in the Sinister Six novel trilogy, by Adam-Troy Castro. These versions previously worked with Logan through joint missions between the U.S. and Canadian secret services. Additionally, the Gentleman partially contributed to their deaths by exposing the Parkers' identities to the Red Skull in retaliation for them foiling one of the former's schemes.
Richard and Mary Parker appear in the novel What If... Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings?. These versions adopted an infant Wanda Maximoff while on a mission.
↑ Spider-Man Unlimited #1–2; Web of Spider-Man #101–103; The Amazing Spider-Man #378–380; Spider-Man #35–37; Spectacular Spider-Man #201–203. Marvel Comics.
↑ The Amazing Spider-Man #366. The entire Richard-and-Mary-Parker LMD storyline lasts from The Amazing Spider-Man #363 (last page) to The Amazing Spider-Man #389.
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