Spiderman continues to be as popular today as he ever was in the past. He has achieved the status as one of the great superheroes appealing to young and old alike, with Spiderman costumes continuing to be top sellers for costumes shops and web sites.

As you would expect with every well established character, spiderman costumes are available in a huge range of options.They even cater for fully grown males. Perhaps these are men who are reliving their childhood fantasies of always wanting to be a super hero. Whatever the reason sales continue strongly.

A fourth installment of the big-screen version of the comic book is due to be released in 2011, with the film’s producers promising many more Spiderman films to follow. It has been established that Spider-Man 1 and Spider-Man 2 are among the top twenty biggest grossing films of all time in the world, so why stop at number four? It obviously makes sense to stick with a winning formula.

Surprisingly a musical based on the superhero is being set up, called “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” which will be, according to reports,the most expensive production in Broadway history. The film will feature songs from U2, and is sure to be a great hit.

Now it even seems that Spiderman can also take the credit for a real-life rescue. A Bangkok fireman dressed in a Spiderman costume rescued an eight-year-old autistic boy who had climbed out of a third-floor classroom window. Efforts by the teachers to coax the child back inside had failed and a chance remark by the boy’s mother regarding his passion for Spiderman prompted one fire fighter – a fellow Spiderman fan – to rush back to the fire station where he just happened to keep his Spiderman costume in his locker!

When the boy saw the fireman he smiled and promptly threw himself into his superhero’s arms. It transpires the fireman keeps a Spiderman costume in his locker to liven up fire drills in schools.

Spiderman also hit the Israeli news headlines this year, when it was reported that Highway police were called to apprehend a man in a Spiderman costume, who was startling commuters by throwing ropes at their vehicles (presumably improvised “web-shooters”) and jumping on top of cars.

AS expected the police arrested him very quickly. Under questioning later, he recounted that he had woken up in hospital and found himself dressed in the costume. He remembered nothing else. So doctors were called in to asses his mental health. If they profiled many of us they would realize many have a secret desire to dress up and become Spiderman.