Monday, July 5, 2010

Spider-Man: Responsibility, Confidence, and the Difference between Right and Wrong

"With great power comes great responsibility." -Uncle Ben

WOW! I just realized that it has been way too long since I've posted on here, and I would just like to apologize to anyone who was looking forward to this sort of mini-series I mentioned in my last post, about 3 months ago. Hopefully you didn't all forget about me and are still interested in my thoughts.
Anyways, I thought that I should start off this comic-based mini-series with one of the most popular superhero of all: Spider-Man, the radioactive spider-bitten teen geek gone super hero. He has the proportional speed, strength, and agility of a man-sized spider, as well as a helpful "Spider-Sense" that allows him to sense impending danger in time to avoid it. Through reading of his comics and watching his movies, I have learned quite a bit about responsibility and sacrifice, humility and confidence, and the difference between what may seem right and what is right.
The first point is sort of obvious. The famous line from any Spider-Man comic/slash movie is "With great power comes great responsibility." This line is very true. Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man for the un-initiated) learns very quickly that when you are put in power, you have a responsibility to help those who don't have power. In an attempt to get back at a greedy T.V. executive who cheated him out of money, Peter allowed the executive to get robbed. The robber, looking for a quick ride, car-jacked and killed his Uncle Ben, who had raised him like his own son. Realizing that he could have easily stopped this from occurring if he had only put forth the slightest effort, Peter decided to quit using his abilities for selfish monetary gain and start using them to better the lives of those around him as the crime-fighting Spider-Man.
This is where the story gets sad. Spider-Man more than any other comic hero exemplifies how being a masked crime fighter can almost ruin your life. Having to be able to disappear and change into hero mode at any instant makes it almost impossible to hold a job or a relationship for very long. The job he has is as a photographer for a newspaper whose job it is to make Spider-Man look like a menace. One of the only steady relationships he has had (Gwen Stacy) was ended when the Green Goblin found out that she had a relationship with Spidey and threw her off a bridge. In his attempt to save her, Spider-Man shot some webbing to stop her fall, but ended up instead causing a whiplash effect bad enough to snap her neck, killing her. The other relationship ended when Spider-Man had to choose saving the world over his marriage to actress/model Mary-Jane Watson. Alone, working for a crappy newspaper company, and hated by the city, why continue to fight crime when a better life could be found anywhere else? It's because Spider-Man has learned what many of us have failed to: when we have the power to help someone, no matter how much it inconveniences us, we are obligated to help them, no matter what.
The second point comes from many of Spider-Man comics. Spider-Man is not the most powerful, fastest, or even coolest superhero in many people's opinion, including his own. In many instances, when faced with a seemingly impossible task, he will attempt to call in more powerful heroes than himself. Of course, the Avengers are always out fighting aliens or some other planetary threat, and the Fantastic 4 are always in a different dimension, so he ends up having to rely on his own smarts. One of my favorite things about Spider-Man is how similar he is to me. We both love a good laugh, and we're both decently smart, although we don't always see it. Spider-Man often does not believe that he is good enough for certain things, but always pulls through no matter what. In one issue of The New Avengers, Spider-Man felt as if he had nothing to bring to the table. All of the Avengers are high-powered heroes, and he's just a webbed-up geek. However, Captain America pointed out that one of his best qualities was one that wasn't super. He reminded Spider-Man that although he might not have been a Reid Richards (Mr. Fantastic) or a Tony Stark (Iron Man), he was very intelligent and that sometimes the way you can help best is by using the gifts that God gave you. This shows that although humility can be a good thing, you also have to look at the abilities that you have and have confidence that you can get over any struggle.
The final point came into play the most during the Civil War of the Marvel Universe. Super heroes are fighting over a law that has passed stating that all heroes must give their identities to the government and become licensed or they will be arrested. Unsure of which side was right (Spider-Man has probably one of the ferociously guarded secret identities), he was convinced by Tony Stark to become the figure head for the Registration Act and unmask himself on national television. After doing this, Spidey helped round up his former friends and send them to a special prison just because they were fighting crime illegally (ironic? Yes). This continued until he discovered that the Pro-Registration side was enlisting the help of notorious super villains (including the Green Goblin). Although Spider-Man wasn't completely sure of what was right, he knew what was wrong. He knew that using super villains to round up super heroes would end up not working out. He also knew the consequences of going rogue and teaming up with Captain America on the Anti-Registration side, but he did it anyways. In our lives we come to points where all choices seem to be good. However, when we see something that we know is wrong, we absolutely know it, and we must never choose to go against our morals, even if it would be the easier choice.
So that is what I have learned from reading Spider-Man comics. Keep checking in for the next installment of the Super Hero Mini-Series. I promise to get it in this month!