Web spinning out of the Hulk Purple Pants thread, Jason Schulman said Peter Parker was a genius because he invented artificial web-fluid.

I agree.

Was young Peter Parker a wunderkind? He helped cure (however temporarily) Curt Conners when he was still in high school. He defeated the Vulture with a sonic frequency device in their first battle. He came up with spider-tracers. He came up with afformentioned web-fluid and the mechanism to fire it with.

How come we never really see that aspect of his personality anymore? Right now, today, just how smart is Peter Parker?

My take was always that Peter was poised to become one of the great hero scientists joining the ranks of Banner, Pym and Richards...but that this was still years in his future.

Of course, now his character has aged from teenager, and he's obviously not doing the scientist thing...and so the writers have to downplay (if not ignore) Pete's brilliance.

I loved how Howard Mackie and JB gave Pete a job that involved being a scientist...great way to incorporate this characteristic in the "older" Peter. There was also a cool scene in an Avengers storyline by Roger Stern in the 80s (the Project Pegasus issues) where Spidey's scientific knowledge and training helped save the day.

Peter is probably just as intelligent as Tony Stark or Hank Pym, but less intelligent than Reed Richards (nobody's smarter than Reed!).

The difference is that Peter's entire appeal lies in the fact that he is always the underdog, so he didn't have all the advantages that Stark, etc. had before beginning their costumed careers.

I don't think writers have to downplay Peter's intelligence at all. There are many extremely intelligent people who have occupations that are not typically associated with intelligence.  It all depends upon the circumstances of one's life, and we all know the hand Parker has been dealt. It doesn't make him any less intelligent.

It's one of the bigger hurdles to jump over when you start aging Peter too much.

If you're really smart when you're 17 and you have all the potential in the world to do great good, you're a bit of an outcast because you're nerdy and you might be a little less socially adept than the popular, jock type character.

If you're 28 and you have a part time job as a photographer and you still have trouble paying rent, you're not nerdy or smart - you're a loser.

Peter should be a bright guy - no excuses, no "well, he's had a hard life." With Great Power there must also come Great Responsibility. Peter is smart, gifted, and his entire reason for being Spider-Man would and should be his entire reason for using that intelligence to do good in the world.

Barry Allen was a forensic scientist, using his smarts for good even when not running around saving people at his other "job." Peter, currently, is a bit of an ass, and he's certainly not living up to the memory of Uncle Ben or his parents or even Aunt May, who he should be able to help out financially as she's getting up there in years and is presumably on a fixed income.

I have no problem with a 20 year old college student Peter Parker with the potential to be the next Stark, Pym, or McCoy. I have a huge issue with a 25-30 year old Parker that hasn't made anything of himself when he's so clearly advanced in his scientific ability.