A choice by Stan Lee to ensure that readers won’t mistake Spidey for Supes

 Haven’t many of us wondered why Spider-Man has a hyphen, but no others don’t have it? Some don’t even care, but that’s not how it works. True comic lovers do care!

Stan Lee himself had stated this reason on an X post, confirming that the name wouldn’t be mistaken for Superman if the ‘hyphen’ existed before ‘Man’. 

More Reasons:

• To avoid confusion with Superman: Stan Lee wanted a unique identity for Spider-Man, and for that, he added the hyphen before ‘Man’ to differentiate him from Superman, another iconic hero at that time, in the early comic era, with a not-so-different name structure
• A subtle distinction: It emphasized the distinction between both the characters and served as a visual and textual cue

But the fans and creators think,

• To emphasize the human element: Some fans and creators suggest that this hyphen highlights the human nature of Spider-Man, i.e., Peter Parker, from his alter-ego 

In End of Spider-Verse #1, Parker stresses that his alter-ego name has a hyphen, to the criminals he’s fighting with, “You said it too fast. It’s not ‘Spiderman.’ There’s a hyphen in there.” He even sings a parody of the Spider-Man theme song, caroling “Hyphen-Man! Hyphen-Man! Does whatever a hyphen can!“

So, here we have it. “Spider-Man” is spelled with a hyphen breaking the words “Spider” and “Man,” and while other Spider heroes have followed suit.

^{Pic Credits: Marvel/X}