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This guy built a working Spider-Man web shooter

Well, except for the "web" part.

 

Kevin Morris

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Posted on Apr 20, 2014   Updated on May 31, 2021, 11:00 am CDT

Pretty much anyone who’s seen Spider-Man would love try out his famous web-slinging wrist doohickey—you know, that thing that rockets out a matrix of spidey goo whenever Peter Parker flicks his wrist just right.

Well, comics fans, you can thank Germany, YouTube, and lasers for bringing about the closest real-world equivalent to the web shooter yet. (And it’s just in time for the latest Spider-Man blockbuster, no less.)

Admittedly, this guy’s custom-made apparatus kind of misses the whole “web” part—it’s basically a mini-harpoon, good for little more than snagging a styrofoam box and then yanking it back. So maybe it’s more Scorpion from Mortal Kombat than Spider-Man? Well, regardless, it’s just a prototype! And as far as we’re aware, super-hero grade spider silk is still just a glimmer in the eye of mad scientists the world over.

And besides, with a few tweaks, that harpoon could be made into a nasty little weapon. I mean, just imagine what the comic books been like if, instead of covering the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus with harmless web stuff, Spider-Man simply had impaled them with a harpoon. Certainly would have made his job a lot easier.

That giant laser gun-looking thing in the background, by the way, is actually a giant laser gun. The guy who made the spidey shooter also runs an online storefront that specializes in steampunk-style weaponry.

H/T GeekOSystem / Screengrab via AnselmoFanZero/YouTube

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*First Published: Apr 20, 2014, 4:00 pm CDT