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MAJOR spoilers for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, season 1, episode 10 to follow.

Greetings Popversians, and welcome to Lore Corner! Each week, video producer Ashley V. Robinson and staff writer Grant DeArmitt are going to take you deep into the preexisting lore behind some of pop culture's most exciting adaptations, such as Marvel's latest take on its most enduring character,Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Enjoy! 

Well, we certainly didn't see that coming.

Before I talk about what the "that" is, I'm going to give you one last chance to not spoil for yourself theend scene in the season 1 finale of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Seriously, reader, this is absolutely the biggest reveal of the Disney+ series so far, and we're gonna talk all about it. So if you don't want it revealed, do not read further. OK?

OK.

Now, WAS THAT PETER PARKER'S DAD?

That certainly seems to be what Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is confirming, as we spent the last few seconds of the series with a man claiming to be none other than Richard Parker, the scarcely-seen biological father of the kid we'll come to know as Spider-Man. While most Spider-Man stories barely feature the character, as he is usually dead by the time Peter goes to live with Aunt May, he has made a handful of comic book appearances and even, in two memorable case, live-action showings. 

But before we get to all of that, let's ask:

Who is Richard Parker?

Richard Parker is the younger brother of Ben Parker, who Spider-Man fans know as Uncle Ben. First introduced all the way back in 1968's The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 and created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, Richard and wife Mary were part of a twisty espionage tale in which Spider-Man himself must investigate whether his parents were secret operatives of the villainous Red Skull. Richard and Mary are exonerated by story's end, but the espionage angle stuck with the characters, and Peter's parents have been objects of mystery ever since.

Why did Richard Parker leave Peter Parker?

Since we first met the character of Peter Parker, we've known that his parents died early in his life, and ever since '68's Annual #5, the story has gone that Richard and Mary died fighting the Red Skull (a Communist iteration, not the original Nazi). However, as Spider-Man's mythos has expanded, so too have the stories of Richard and Mary, and as it turns out, even in Peter's early life his parents were absent.

As revealed in comic series such as Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Family Business, and the 2016 run of the Avengers, Richard and Mary had a lot to deal with besides raising little Peter. The pair were active members of both the C.I.A. and S.H.I.E.L.D. at various points, going up against villains such as Baron Strucker and the Deadmaker. At one point, the pair even had to stand their ground against Kang the Conqueror, who had traveled back in time to make sure that Peter would not become Spider-Man.

With the canon of the Marvel Universe ever-changing, it's quite possible that more about Richard Parker's mysterious past will be revealed in future comics, and it's possible that the character will even have different histories thanks to concepts like the Spider-Verse and Ultimate Spider-Man. But since we don't have nearly the time to get into all that, let's move away from comics and ask...

Is Richard Parker in the MCU?

Nope! Though we know the Peter Parker played by Tom Holland has to have parents somewhere, we still don't know what their deal is, or even if their names are Richard and Mary. In fact, the MCU has proven that it's ok with rewriting some pretty huge pieces of Spider-Man's origin, as they killed off Aunt May before even introducing us to an Uncle Ben.

Though it was pretty badass to have her deliver the "with great power there must also come great responsibility" line.

All that to say, Richard Parker is certainly not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the way things stand with his son's relationship to that reality, it's doubtful that he'll be showing up there any time soon. Fortunately for Richard, though, he's already played a not-insignificant role in a live-action Spider-Man adaptation.

Who played Richard Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man?

Yes, true webheads will recall that Peter's father Richard played a part in the plot of The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, in which rather than being a spy for the US government, Richard was a scientist working for Oscorp. In this significant reworking of the Spider-Man mythos, Richard was one of the people responsible creating the spiders that would ultimately change his son's DNA. However, due to the sinister machinations of that universe's Norman Osborne, both Richard and Mary were assassinated.

In both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, produced by Sony, Richard Parker was played by Campbell Scott.

Who is Richard Parker in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

Although  we now know the cloak-and-dagger backstory of some different universe's Richard Parkers, we can still only guess at what kind of person he'll be in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. What little we know of him so far is that he is A.) alive, B.) in jail, and C.) known about by Aunt May, and unfortunately, that's pretty much it. How Richard will reappear in his son's life (or even more likely, in the activities of his son's super alter-ego) is a question for seasons 2 and 3.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 1 is streaming in its entirety on Disney+ now.

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's 10 best Spider-Man comic books, our Spider-Man movie watch order, and if you want our opinions on the subject, read our articles ranking Spider-Man's actors and Spider-Man's girlfriends.