One of the things that set Spider-Man apart early on was that he was younger than most other superheroes in the early 1960s. He was, in fact, an actual high school student.
And given the fact that superheroes often confront enemies that are either mirror images or reverse mirror images of themselves, it was probably inevitable that at least a few of Spider-Man’s foes would be atypically old.
The theme of innocent youth versus aged corruption was established early in the series.
In Amazing Spider-Man 1 (March 1963), Peter Parker learns a bitter truth about public figures and propaganda. Even though he has saved the life of the son of J. Jonah Jameson, the envious newspaper publisher continues his campaign of lies and vilification against the young superhero. That magnitude of ingratitude would shock anyone, and certainly brought readers back for the second issue to see what might happen next.
And what they found in Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 1963) was Spider-Man fighting not one but two geriatric villains, a fact that’s particularly striking when you consider that older people were rarely represented in superhero comics at all.
The lead story introduced the elderly villain, the Vulture. And in The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!, Midtown High’s top science student gets a chance to work with electronics expert Dr. Cobwell (earning the envy of Flash Thompson, who accuses Parker of being a “teacher’s pet”).
The professor asks Parker to pick up a radio for him at a repair shop on the way over. Parker is puzzled to find that the proprietor of the Tinkerer’s Repair Shop charges only a dime for his work (not even enough to buy a comic book in 1963).
“What’s his angle?? Nobody gives anything for nothing,” thinks the teenager who constantly rescues people without compensation.
In Cobwell’s lab, Parker’s spider sense warns him that something is wrong with that radio. Returning to the repair shop as Spider-Man, he discovers that it’s a front for an alien vanguard.
The green, vaguely reptilian humanoids — drawn with that delicious preternatural quality that was artist Steve Ditko’s specialty — are using the repaired electronic equipment to spy on “important Earthlings” to research the strengths and weaknesses of the planet’s defenses.
Remember, this was before Americans were comfortable with the idea of having electronic devices in their homes constantly spying on them.
Spidey bounces about in battle, accidentally setting the alien base on fire and ultimately driving the invaders off the planet in their spacecraft.
In the struggle, Spider-Man pulls a lifelike mask off the elderly Tinkerer, revealing that he, too, was an alien.
Single-handedly thwarting an alien invasion was standard operating procedure for superheroes in the early 1960s — the Hulk and the Fantastic Four also did it in their second issues.
The Tinkerer was later presented as a human criminal inventor who merely disguised himself as an alien, but there’s no indication that was the intent in the original story.
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