[quote=@Master Bruce]
<Snipped quote by Retired>

Spider-Man's history is so convoluted that you might aswell throw in the towel right now. I'd probably outright skip the 80's and 90's. 

Superman's is pretty zigzagged too, given all the various retcons and Electric Supermen and the entirety of the Silver Age being batshit insane and such.

[/quote]

This is why I pretty much ignore canon altogether and treat the A-list superheroes (Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, and maybe one or two others) like a buffet.  Comics, movies, cartoons, etc, I just pick up the things I like, leave the things I don't, and whatever ends up on my plate by the time I sit at the table is 'canon' to me.  That's more or less what you have to do to avoid going insane.