Spider-Man outs himself to the press, says the current front page of Yahoo!

I was, to say the very least, surprised to read further that our favorite web-slinger had publicly revealed his identity to the mass populace of the Marvel universe by unmasking during a press conference in New York City. It is almost unthinkable to envision the rather awkward and nerdy photographer Peter Parker facing the media and the public as a whole and admitting that he is Spider-Man.

Marvel admits that this turning point in comic book history took off in the seven-issue Civil War series launched last month.

In the story, the government passes The Super-Hero Registration Act, which requires all masked crimefighters to register, revealing their identities in the process. This surprising piece of legislation was triggered by a showdown between super-powered heroes and villains that caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians.

Spider-Man belongs to one of two (2) bitterly conflicting factions. That is, he and other superheroes sharing his sentiments are championing the aforementioned Registration Act.

On the other hand, other crime-fighters such as Captain America are not keen on giving up their cloaks of anonymity, literally and figuratively.

I can recall that there is also a similar Mutant Registration Act that was tackled in the pages of the X-Men family of titles years ago. This caused various mutant groups – the Mutant Liberation Front comes to mind – to resort to violent acts akin to terrorism against those who initiated this law.