What martial arts does Spider-Man use?

Spider-Man has been known to use various martial arts moves whilst fighting. To the untrained eye, you may think that his fight moves are fairly random, yet if you know martial arts and have knowledge of certain disciplines, then you will know that actually, Spider-Man uses a variety of martial arts. As a result, he has a successful hybrid style that works perfectly when fighting bigger, stronger opponents. Known for utilizing his speed, it’s fair to say that Peter Parker is a very skilled martial artist. Here’s what martial arts Spider-Man uses.

Spider-Man uses Kung Fu

During one part of his crime fighting career, Spider-Man looses his spider senses. As a result, he can no longer use his web slinging abilities and loses his agility too. In counteracting this, he starts training Kung Fu with Shang-Chi. If you’re unfamiliar, Shang-Chi is also a superhero in the Marvel universe and is a master of Kung Fu. In fact, Shang-Chi’s main fighting syle is Kung Fu, so it’s fair to say that he’s well versed in Kung Fu.

Throughout this period, Spider-Man could only use his Kung Fu to fight crime. Whilst this worked to an extent, obviously he lost his superhuman abilities so he wasn’t as effective in combat as before. Luckily for him, his spider senses eventually returned. This led Spider-Man to be a greater martial artist than ever before, because he now combined his special powers with his newly acquired martial arts skills. For those wondering, Kung Fu is an umbrella term, but Shang-Chi mostly uses striking, so a variety of kicks and punches.

Spider-Man uses Capoeira

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that has roots in the African slave trade. Whilst it’s not known if Spider-Man ever actually learned this martial art, he does use it when fighting. For instance, Spider-Man often pulls off impressive Capoeira kicks by spinning mid air and landing his blows with great effect.

In general, Spider-Man uses his speed to his advantage and is simply too quick for his opponents. Whilst he may not be the most powerful, his speed is simply too much. This doesn’t just go for kicks either. He also uses his Capoeira to dodge punches too and has some pretty athletic skills.

Spider-Man uses Krav Maga

Again, it’s not known if Spider-Man was formally taught Krav Maga, but he still uses it on a regular basis. This comes in handy against armed attackers, whether they’re using guns or knives. Basically, Spider-Man has expert skills in disarming opponents by using his own hands. Again, this relies on speed so it’s fair to say that Spider-Man definitely plays to his strengths.

Spider-Man would often disarm goons and low-level street thugs using Krav Maga, before putting them in a web. However, in some of the comics, it also shows him fighting the Green Goblin who also used a pistol that Spider-Man eventually disarmed. Even though he has superhero powers, this very human martial art has probably saved his life countless times.

Spider-Man uses grappling

Whether you want to call it wrestling or Judo, it’s fair to say that Spider-Man also knows how to grapple which is very important when he’s being held by stronger opponents. Once more, in these tight situations, Spider-Man uses his speed and physique to grapple out of bad spots, and mostly prefers to fight at a distance where he can use Capoeira and Kung Fu strikes to avoid getting grappled.

However, when it comes to close-range fighting, he knows how to handle himself. In the comics, Spider-Man also enters into a pro wrestling competition to win some money. During this scenario, he successfully throws his opponent to the floor by using a wrestling takedown. This proves that if Spider-Man has to grapple, then he’s more than capable. Having said that, it seems that he still favors striking.

Is Spider-Man a martial artist?

Based on the above, Spider-Man can definitely be considered a martial artist. As mentioned, he is formally trained in Kung-Fu which is where his elite level striking comes from. One thing to note is that a lot of his fighting styles are also seemingly self taught. This is never quite covered in the comics or movies, but it’s just assumed that Spider-Man knows various disciplines such as Krav Maga and wrestling. Of course, this would take people years to learn, but Spider-Man typically knows a lot of this stuff to begin with.

Interestingly, Peter Parker is meant to be 15 years old when he’s first bitten by a spider and gains superhero powers. It also takes him a few weeks to acclimatize and learn how to use his web-slinging abilities. Thinking about it, he could have trained high school wrestling throughout the years which is fairly common for American kids. However, it still doesn’t explain his extremely skilled abilities in Krav Maga and Capoeira. Throughout his time as Spider-Man, he’d certainly learn and pick up various skills but it’s also a bit unrealistic that he naturally began with such skills so early on in his career as Spider-Man. This differs from the origin story of Batman for instance, who is known to learn martial arts over the years and refine his skill.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s fair to say that Spider-Man knows a few different martial arts styles and in that sense he can be considered a mixed martial artist. He is a very well-rounded fighter who has striking skills, weapons training, and also grappling experience. To add to this, he’s also unnaturally quick and can jump and run like a spider which certainly helps. Further, he’s also incredibly strong for his size.

Whilst Spider-Man may not be as strong as Rhino or Kingpin, he’s also got the ability to throw people around and send them flying with his punches. Therefore, when you put all of these skills and attributes together, the result is that Spider-Man is a very dangerous martial artist who should not be underestimated.

Want to learn more about Spider-Man and his martial arts training under Shang-Chi? Check out this Stan Lee comic book from 1979 where the pair team up to save earth.