Identity Crisis

Brief History

When Spider-Man was wanted for murder and he had a 5 million bounty on his head, he decided it would be best if he stopped being Spider-Man, and so created 4 new identities. Thus four new heroes were born: Dusk, Ricochet, Prodigy and Hornet. Each identity represented a different aspect of Spider-Man's identity. The reason he had four identities was so that if any of them got exposed, he would have another three to fall back on. This was also done so that he'd have a different identity for each of the four Spider-Man volumes at the time. After he cleared his name, the identities were revived in the form of the Slingers. 

Hornet

The Hornet identity was used in the Sensational Spider-Man book. It represented the smart, geeky side of Peter Parker. It used a jetpack designed and invented by Hobie Brown, a.k.a. the Prowler, as well as sedative darts.
 
The Hornet made his debut stopping the Looter from stealing the $5 million reward which was for the capture of Spider-Man. Despite the Looter's superior strength, he managed to shoot him with some sedative darts, knocking him out. Following this, Hornet was briefly interviewed by the media. When asked if he was in New York to stop Spider-Man, the Hornet replied "I don't think you'll have to worry about Spider-Man any more." 
 
Unfortunately for Peter, this remark was misinterpreted by several people: the Human Torch confronted Hornet and warned him that if he'd done anything to Spider-Man, he'd pay. The Vulture, wanting revenge on Spider-Man, also assumed that Hornet had killed him, and so attacked Hornet. During the fight, he recognised Spider-Man's fighting style and taunts, and so exposed him to the media as Spider-Man. Peter was forced to give up his Hornet identity.
The Hornet identity was later used by Eddie McDonough.

Ricochet

The Ricochet identity was used in the Amazing Spider-Man book. Ricochet represented the funny, joking side of Peter Parker. The identity used Peter's athletic abilities and acrobatics, as well as some discs which could ricochet wildly when thrown.
 
In his Ricochet identity, Peter tried to take down the Black Tarantula, who he had recently fought as Spider-Man. Ricochet pretended to be a criminal, wanting to make money, and in the process took out some of Black Tarantula's men. He was then attacked by Delilah, an assassin of the Rose, who also wanted to take out the Black Tarantula. After a fight with Delilah, she deemed that he had the necessary skills to help her fight the Black Tarantula, and so asked him if he wanted to join her. Peter reluctantly accepted.
 
Ricochet and Delilah later found two operatives of the Black Tarantula, Roughouse and Bloodscream. Delilah and Ricochet attacked them, but in the process Delilah was badly injured by Bloodscream. Ricochet then attacked Roughouse and Bloodscream at their hideout, a boat, on his own, and switched between his different identities during the fight so that he could practise the different fighting styles. After defeating both of them, Bloodscream revealed to Ricochet that they had been hired to take out a certain person, and in return for their freedom, gave Ricochet a picture of Mary Jane and her friends. (This plot was continued in the following Amazing Spider-Man issues). 
The Ricochet identity was later used by Johnny Gallo.

Dusk

The Dusk identity was used in the Spider-Man book. Dusk represented the mystery that came with being a super-hero. Using a costume which he obtained in the Negative Zone, Dusk was able to blend in and out of shadows, making it seem as though he could turn invisible.
 
At the suggestion of Arthur Stacy, Dusk befriended the Trapster, the man who had framed Spider-Man for murder. In order to stop Trapster from telling anyone that he had framed Spider-Man, Norman Osborn had put a price on the Trapster's head. Dusk managed to save Trapster from an attack by Shocker, and so gained his trust in the process. He said that his reason for helping Trapster was because he had also been used by Norman Osborn. Dusk then started hanging out with Trapster, in order to try and get some evidence showing that he had framed Spider-Man.
 
Arthur Stacy later provided Dusk with a tape recorder to try and get a confession out of Trapster. That night, Trapster took Dusk to go and kill Norman Osborn, in revenge for using him. Dusk managed to stop Trapster from killing Norman, as he didn't want to be an accessory to murder, but destroyed his tape recorder (which had Norman admitting he had hired Trapster to frame Spider-Man) in the process. Dusk then convinced Trapster to confess in court to the framing, so that Norman's life would be hell. Trapster did so, and so this partly cleared Spider-Man's name.
The Dusk identity was later used by Cassie St. Commons.

Prodigy

The Prodigy identity was used in the Spectacular Spider-Man book. Prodigy represented the traditional super hero. In his Prodigy identity, Peter used his super-strength to leap long distances (which looked like flying to viewers) and wore a bulletproof costume.
 
Prodigy managed to stop some men who had been hired by a man named Conundrum from capturing the ambassador of a fictional Middle East country. However, this turned out to be a ruse by Conundrum, as his real target was the ambassador's daughter. He said he'd only return her if he was given the Hand of Mumthazi, a treasure said to possess infinite powers. Unfortunately, the Hand had been stolen by Jack o' Lantern, who wanted the ambassador's daughter for reasons of his own. Whilst he and Conundrum fought, Prodigy burst in on both of them, only for them to team up to try and stop them.
 
Although Prodigy was almost defeated by both of them, he managed to stop them using his spider-sense to see past their illusions. However, when freeing the ambassador's daughter, he was attacked by Jack o' Lantern, who still wanted the girl. Before he could do anything, Jack was shot by Norman Osborn,  who had arrived on the scene. At a press conference later, Prodigy produced a Spider-Man costume, and claimed that either Jack o' Lantern or Conundrum had recently attacked Norman Osborn. The public accepted this, and so Spider-Man's named was cleared, letting Peter resume his normal identity.
 
It was later revealed that Norman Osborn had hired Jack o' Lantern to steal the Hand, so that he could save the ambassador's daughter and thus they would owe him a great debt.
 The Prodigy identity was later used by Ritchie Gilmore.