Spider-Man Leaps Across the Rooftops

About this drawing

Spider-Man rooftop jump scenes show his favorite way to get around. Up high, he can watch the streets, stay out of sight and change into his costume without anyone learning his secret.

New York rooftops have a look all their own. Many still have round wooden water tanks with cone-shaped tops, used to keep water pressure up on the top floors of older buildings. Chimneys, antennas and metal fire escapes are everywhere too.

In the comics, Peter Parker often stashes his regular clothes on a rooftop before suiting up. Every so often he comes back to find them stolen or soaked by rain, one of those small, everyday setbacks that make him so easy to root for.

Traveling across roofs is safer for everyone else as well. By swinging above traffic instead of racing through it, Spider-Man avoids putting people on the sidewalk in danger and gets to emergencies faster. Video game versions of the city even let players run, jump and swing across hundreds of these rooftops. Those virtual rooftops are modeled closely on the real ones, right down to the water towers.

• spider-man
• rooftops
• new york
• marvel