High-school senior Peter Parker lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and is a school outcast and bully victim. On a school field trip, he visits a genetics laboratory with his friend Harry Osborn and unwitting love interest Mary Jane Watson. There, Peter is bitten by a genetically engineered "super spider." Shortly after arriving home, he becomes ill and falls unconscious. Meanwhile, Harry's father, scientist Norman Osborn, owner of Oscorp, is trying to secure an important military weapons contract. He experiments on himself with an unstable performance-enhancing chemical. After absorbing the chemical, he goes insane, kills his assistant and destroys the laboratory.
The next morning, Peter finds that he is no longer near-sighted, and his body has metamorphosized into a more muscular physique. At school, he finds that his body can produce webs from the wrists, and his quickened reflexes let him avoid injury during a confrontation with Flash Thompson. Peter discovers he has developed superhuman speed, strength, the ability to stick to surfaces, and a heightened ability to sense danger.
Brushing off Ben's advice that "with great power comes great responsibility," Peter considers impressing Mary Jane with a car. He enters an underground wrestling tournament and wins his first match, but the promoter cheats him out of his prize money. When a thief suddenly raids the promoter's office, Peter allows him to escape as payback. Moments later, he discovers that Ben has been carjacked and shot, dying in Peter's arms. Peter pursues, subdues and confronts the carjacker, only to realize it was the thief he let escape. The thief attempts to flee but falls from a window and dies. Meanwhile, a crazed Norman interrupts a military experiment and, using weaponry from his research, kills several scientists and the military's General Slocum.
Upon graduating, Peter begins using his abilities to fight crime, donning a costume and the persona of Spider-Man. J. Jonah Jameson, a newspaper chief editor, hires Peter as a freelance photographer, since he is the only person providing clear images of Spider-Man.
Norman, upon learning Oscorp's board members plan to sell the company, attacks them at the World Unity Fair. Peter intervenes as Spider-Man, but not before Norman kills the board members. Jameson quickly dubs the mysterious killer the Green Goblin. The Goblin offers Spider-Man a place at his side, but Spider-Man refuses. They fight, and Spider-Man is wounded. At Thanksgiving dinner, May invites Mary Jane and the Osborns. During the dinner, Norman sees the wound and deduces Spider-Man's identity. Shortly after he leaves, the Green Goblin attacks, and hospitalizes May.
Mary Jane admits to Peter she is infatuated with Spider-Man, who has rescued her on numerous occasions, and asks Peter whether Spider-Man ever asked about her. Harry, who loves Mary Jane, arrives and interprets that she has feelings for Peter. Defeated, Harry laments to his father that Peter loves Mary Jane, unintentionally revealing Spider-Man's weakness.
The Goblin kidnaps and holds Mary Jane and a Roosevelt Island Tram car full of children hostage alongside the Queensboro Bridge, challenging Peter to another confrontation. He forces Spider-Man to choose whom to save, and drops Mary Jane and the children. Spider-Man manages to save both Mary Jane and the tram car, while the Goblin is pelted and heckled by civilians who have sided with Spider-Man. The Goblin then redirects the fight into an abandoned building where they battle. After a severe beating Peter manages to overpower the Goblin.
Norman reveals himself to Spider-Man to halt the fight. He begs for forgiveness, but at the same time programs his glider to impale his foe from behind. Sensing the danger, Spider-Man instinctively dodges, and the glider impales Norman. As he dies, Norman asks Peter not to tell Harry of the Green Goblin's identity. Spider-Man takes Norman's body back to his house. Harry arrives to find Spider-Man standing over his father's body and believes him to have murdered his father.
At Normanâs funeral, Harry swears vengeance toward Spider-Man, whom he deems responsible for his father's death, and asserts that Peter is all the family he has left. Mary Jane confesses to Peter that she is in love with him. Peter, however, feels that he must protect her from the unwanted attentions of Spider-Man's enemies. He hides his true feelings, and tells Mary Jane that they can only be friends. As Peter leaves the funeral, he recalls Ben's words, and accepts his new responsibility as Spider-Man.
Who does Peter want to impress with a car?
Mary Jane