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In 1987, Marvel decided it was time for Spider-Man to get married. But first they had to plan his bachelor party. In order to promote the wedding, Marvel threw a real-life bachelor party at Toy Fair and gave the event the same level of drama and excitement found in their comics. It was a wild time, with heroes throwing zingers at one another, Mary Jane standing up to Captain America, the Green Goblin crashing the party, and more. If you missed the party, here’s what went down…

Spider-Man’s wacky bachelor party

In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 Flash Thompson throws Peter Parker a bachelor party. The party consisted of Peter, Flash, and Harry Osborn sipping champagne at the Coffee Bean. Yes, that’s the entire bachelor party guest list. After a brief pep talk, Peter leaves.

Amazing Spider-Man #638, which revisits the events of the wedding, contains a flashback where Flash Thompson reflects on the shindig. “Just to be clear, that was the worst bachelor party in history, right,” Flash asks Harry. “That would be a yes,” Harry replies.

Spider-Man’s comic bachelor party was kind of lame, but Marvel wanted to make sure his real-life party would be a sendoff to remember. When it was time for Marvel to plan their exhibits and itinerary for the 1987 Toy Fair trade show (held at Manhattan’s Toy Building on Fifth Avenue during February 8-14), editor-in-chief Jim Shooter saw the perfect opportunity.

“When our licensing department came to me and asked for a theme for the Toy Fair party, I suggested a bachelor party for Spider-Man. It was a business lunch on a grand scale with invitations and special decorations,” Jim Shooter writes in Marvel Age #54.

The event was planned by Marvel’s director of publicity, Pamela Rutt, and included food, drinks, Spider-Man and Mary Jane balloons, and huge blow-ups of panels featuring Peter and Mary Jane’s courtship. Oh, and live entertainment.

The bachelor party concluded with a skit featuring Spider-Man, Captain America, Iceman, and Firestar. Captain America attempts to give Spider-Man a best man toast filled with superhero puns, while Iceman and Firestar do some heckling. A cake is brought out, and the Green Goblin jumps out of it. Spider-Man is ready to attack the Goblin, but his archfoe says he merely came to congratulate him on his nuptials. Mary Jane then shows up (much to Captain America’s protests) and snuggles up with her fiancé.  

Dawn Geiger and Hector Collazo played Iceman and Firestar. Marvel Age #54 claims  Marvel secretary Karen Cobro and editor Don Daley also participated in the skit but doesn’t specify who the two played.  Green Goblin actor Stephen Vrattos believes Jerry Colpitts (Marvel’s go-to guy for Spider-Man appearances) played the Wall-Crawler, but a 2024 episode of the Very Special Episodes podcast claimed the role was played by an understudy.

“My biggest concern was the jumping-out-of-the-cake,” Green Goblin actor Stephen Vrattos writes on his blog. “The giant tiered confection would never have won any awards, nor struck fear in Entenmann’s stockholders. It was constructed of pressed wood—not very well either, if the splinters that covered my body afterwards were any indication—and the shoddy paint job was chipping. It was purchased that day, probably from a prop warehouse and probably after a desperate search, when the marketing wizard, who thought of the idea, got the thumbs-up from upper management. The top tier was hinged onto the base, which had no bottom, and the whole cake was put on a large, wheeled dolly.”

“Then, I got word that Stan Lee—creator of Spider-Man and a slew of other famous comic book characters, including the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil and The Fantastic Four—was in the house. I don’t know what bothered me more. The fact that one of my childhood heroes was just on the other side of the wall or I was moments away from making a complete idiot of myself in front of him whilst besmirching one of his creations. And of course, in my mind, all the superheroes were kibbitzing and having a grand ole time with Stan, and they couldn’t care less. I was the comic-book geek! If I didn’t know what my motivation was before, I certainly did now. That’s it, Stephen, ‘use it in your acting,’ the ubiquitous mantra of hopeless actors everywhere.”

After the performance, Vrattos hoped to mingle with the guests and join in the party, but he was disheartened to see just how quickly it ended. “The skit accomplished, I was free to mingle with the guests (read: find Stan Lee) or so I thought. I didn’t realize that my appearance was the Grand Finale to the ballroom festivities. The room emptied faster than a pensioner’s change purse at a slot machine. The only people to greet me as I exited from the dressing area were the wait staff deeply involved in stacking chairs and breaking down tables to clear the room so they too could go home.”

The bachelor party had over 600 attendees, including Stan Lee, Jim Shooter, Tom DeFalco, Peter David, Mark Gruenwald, Jim Salicrup, Steve Saffel, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and other Marvel staffers.

Months later, Stan Lee would boast about the event in his Marvel Age column (where he misidentified the venue as Oakland, California). “The festivities were so terrific that we may have to marry off a lot more of our costumed cutups just to give us an excuse for more parties.”

The bachelor party script

Pst….Hey, Popverse readers! Guess what? We can’t travel back to 1987 to attend Spider-Man’s bachelor party, but we have the next best thing – the script (courtesy of Marvel Age #54)! If you attended Spider-Man’s bachelor party, this is what you would’ve seen….

(Drum roll or attention getter)

Captain America: “Ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please! We’re gathered here this evening to honor a very special guy on the eve of his wedding. This fellow has driven off six alien invasions, averted nuclear holocaust twice, and seventeen times has thwarted the dastardly plans of the dreaded Green Goblin.”

Spider-Man: “All in one week!”

Captain America: “As I said, a very special guy. Let’s have a round of applause for our guest of honor, the Amazing Spider-Man!”

(Applause)

Captain America: “As you know, our web-slinging friend here is hanging on to bachelorhood by a thread. By the way, Spider-Man, just when is the wedding?”

Spider-Man: “June 14th.”

Captain America: “June 14th? Must be a strong thread.”

Spider-Man: “My specialty.”

Captain America: “Well, before we toast the upcoming webbed webbing, I’d like to introduce a few of our special guests…first, the Incredible Hulk!!”

(Applause, but the Hulk is not present)

Captain America: “Hey, he’s supposed to be here. Where is he?”

All: “Anywhere he wants!!”

Captain America: “Uh-huh. Okay, next. The hottest heroine in town. Anytown. Firestar!”

Firestar: “And we’re going to have a hot time tonight if I have anything to say about it.”

Iceman: “Yeah, yeah…cool it, red.”

Captain America: “And of course, every bartender’s best friend, the Iceman!”

Iceman: “Give me a break!”

Captain America: “Also, we are honored to have with us that other arachnidian adventurer, Spider-Woman.”

Spider-Woman: “No relation.”

Captain America: “And I, of course, am Captain America.”

Iceman: “I thought you were Henny Youngman.”

Captain America: “To think I risk my neck protecting his freedom of speech…anyway, Spider-man, we’ve arranged a little traditional bachelor party surprise for you. May we have the cake please?”

(The cake is wheeled in. Drum roll)

Spider-Man: “Oh, no…”

Iceman: “Oh, yeah!”

Captain America: “All together now…(sings) For he’s a jolly good fellow (etc…)

All: (Join in. Spider-Man looks suspicious. Senses danger)

(Song ends. Applause. When it ends, the Green Goblin bursts out of the cake!)

Green Goblin: “Ha ha ha!!!!”

Captain America: “It’s…the Green Goblin! Stand back, everyone!”

(Heroes rush forward, strike defensive poses. Spider-Man is especially agitated.)

Spider-Man: “It’s a trap! I knew it! Why didn’t I pay attention to my spider-sense - !!?”

Green Goblin: “Oh, relax, Web-Head. It’s not a trap.”

Spider-Woman: “What?”

Firestar: “Why not?”

Iceman: “Party poop.”

Green Goblin: “I’m just here to congratulate my old foe on his impending marriage…”

Spider-Man: “You want…a truce?”

Green Goblin: “Right. Shake. Stupid.”

(They shake. Applause)

Captain America: “Talk about unexpected guests.”

(Rim shot. Mary Jane enters)

Mary Jane: “Hiya, tigers!!”

Spider-Man: “Mary Jane!!”

Mary Jane: “In glorious living color, lover!”

Captain America: “But…you’re not supposed to be here!”

Mary Jane: “I do lots of things I’m not supposed to do.”

Spider-Man: “That’s her specialty.”

Mary Jane: (Taking Spider-Man’s arm, cuddling up) You bet. Well, are you people going to stand around with your mouths hanging open or are we going to party?!!”

Captain America: “You heard the lady, folks. Here’s to Spider-Man and Mary Jane. Long may they wave!!”

(Riotous cheering, drinking, carousing, etc…)

‘Nuff said!

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