Marvel's new Spider-Man character has recently been met with some criticism following the leak of some Sony emails detailing the superhero's specific characteristics.

In this, Peter Parker was said to always and indefinitely be white and heterosexual. Despite this being the original context of the character, fans are now claiming the studio is being racist or homophobic for not considering varying options.

The character's sole creator, Stan Lee came to the defense of Spider-Man in a recent statement to Newsarama.

"I wouldn't mind, if Peter Parker had originally been black, a Latino, an Indian or anything else, that he stay that way," Lee said. "But we originally made him white. I don't see any reason to change that."

He also addresses his origin.

"It doesn't have to be New York; it could have been Kokomo," he said. "I think the point is that having a fictional character come from a real place makes the character seem more real. When I was young, I loved to read Sherlock Holmes. And the fact that he lived on Baker Street in London, a real place, made me enjoy the stories more, with a greater feeling of authenticity."

"It has nothing to do with being anti-gay, or anti-black, or anti-Latino, or anything like that," Lee said. "Latino characters should stay Latino. The Black Panther should certainly not be Swiss. I just see no reason to change that which has already been established when it's so easy to add new characters. I say create new characters the way you want to. Hell, I'll do it myself."