Homecoming #2: Geek Mythology

Greetings, True Believers and Ticketholders!
Welcome to the second in a three-part lead-in to my review of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Though not titled as such, this will be a post in the spirit of New Piece Offerings, an essay of liberal format FROM my senior Mythology elective, Period 3, April 13, 2002. I earned a perfect score for this paper, a six-paragraph defense of what qualifies Spider-Man as mythological hero.

Sean Wilkinson

April 13, 2002

Period 3

Spider-Man

When one thinks of mythology, Greece is usually the first place that comes to mind; however, there are heroes of mythological stature much closer to home. One of these is the comic book superhero, Spider-Man. Given his tragic youth, unnatural powers, and controversial life, Spider-Man might be considered a modern day Hercules.

Spider-Man was first seen in the comic book, Amazing Fantasy #15. Peter Parker--Spider-Man's civilian identity--was born in New York City, the son of Mary and Richard Parker. When his parents died in a plane crash, Parker went to live with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter Parker was extremely bright and shy, and as made a social outcast, often ridiculed by jocks and pitied by others because of his personality and academic ability. Unbeknownst to Peter and those who picked on him, an unusual course of events would change his life forever.

Peter Parker's transformation into Spider-Man began at a public exhibition on radiation. A spider was accidentally bombarded by radiation, then fell onto Parker's hand, bit him, and died. In excruciating pain, Peter stumbled from the lecture hall and eventually passed out. Following a strange dream in which he had been turned into a spider, Peter Parker discovered he had acquired the abilities of a spider: super strength and agility, the ability to stick to walls and most other surfaces, a sixth sense that warns him of danger, and the knowledge of how to mix web fluid. Instead of using his new powers responsibly, Peter made himself a costume and pursued a career in show business. As "The Amazing Spider-Man," he became a circus performer, swinging from webs for the viewing public. Parker also used his Herculean strength to achieve fame as a professional wrestler.

Essaymaster's Note: When writing this, I had not read any Spider-Man comics, and was using a combination of knowledge from the 1990's animated series (hence the spider dream reference from the episode, "Make A Wish," perhaps an inspiration for the 2004 Spectacular storyline in which the Queen turns Spider-Man into a giant spider) and a now-defunct character biography page at Marvel.com.

Also, the spider sense has since been scientifically verified as not being an actual attribute of any known species of spider (spiders are extremely sensitive to vibrations in their webs, but are not known to possess any extrasensory abilities). It is either a cool extra ability that Stan Lee and his writing staff came up with, or can be explained by either the radioactivity or the supposed magical nature of the spider. Yes, it turns out the spider that bit Peter didn't have to be radioactive because it was magically destined to bite him and make him into the Spider Totem of his universe, hence all of Spider-Man's animal-themed villains (apparently cosmically destined imperfect animal totems that are supposed to exist as a power balance and source of good/evil dichotomy to keep the Spider Totems' power in check, or something), and the recent Spider-Verse storyline in which extra-dimensional beings are trying to kill the Spider Totems from each universe and eat their souls to gain enough power to rule creation or something. I wonder if Spider-Ham's soul tastes like bacon. On to the tragedy part....

After a performance, Parker (still wearing his Spider-Man costume) chose to let a fleeing robber escape without giving his choice a second thought. Peter returned home that night to find that his house had become the scene of a burglary and his Uncle Ben had been murdered. Learning that the intruder was cornered in a nearby warehouse, Parker donned his Spider-Man costume and went to seek vengeance for his uncle's murder. Using his amazing powers to capture and unmask the burglar, he realized that it was the crook from the arena, whom he had allowed to escape just hours earlier. Feeling guilty, Peter soon had a revelation in the form of his uncle's advice: "with great power, there must also come...great responsibility." Ben Parker's death left Peter and Aunt May with Social Security as their only source of income. To earn money, Peter tried for a second shot at show business, but was unsuccessful because of J. Jonah Jameson's  smear campaign against Spider-Man. Attempting to clear his alter ego's name and follow his late uncle's advice, Parker turned to crime fighting. At the same time, he got a job taking pictures of Spider-Man for the Daily Bugle newspaper. Ironically, Jameson (who hated Spider-Man) was the owner of the Bugle and Peter Parker's boss.

Although a controversial figure, Spider-Man has gained public support for his good deeds and the many super-villains he has thwarted over the years. However, what has helped his public image has also turned out to be bad for his emotions and his social life. Doctor Octopus, formerly Otto Octavius, was one of Peter's science professors in college. Another teacher, Dr. Curt Connors, turned himself into The Lizard. Venom, one of Spider-Man's most dangerous enemies, was a photographer for the Bugle before Peter and Spider-Man cost him his job. The Green Goblin, formerly Norman Osborn (and later his son, Harry Osborn), murdered Gwen Stacy (Peter's first love) and sent Mary-Jane Watson (Peter's future wife) into a limbo dimension. J. Jonah Jameson is responsible for financing the Smythe family and their Spider Slayer robots, as well as having a hand in creating the villain, Scorpion. The Kingpin (also known as Wilson Fisk) kidnapped Peter's friend Felicia Hardy and turned her into the Black Cat. The Kingpin is also credited with the creation of other notorious villains such as the Shocker and Rhino. In the Spider-Man comics, Peter and Mary-Jane are married, but they have separated because of the danger of Peter's crime-fighting career. In spite of all the danger and loss he has suffered, Peter continues to use his abilities for the good of society as the Amazing Spider-Man.

Essaymaster's Note: The bulk of this paragraph's information once again comes from the 90's animated series, especially regarding some of the villains' origins and connections to Peter, and the "Turning Point" episode in which the Gwen Stacy death is adapted into Mary-Jane's fall into said limbo dimension. Felicia Hardy's origin as a kidnapping victim of the Kingpin is detailed in the episodes, "The Cat" and "The Black Cat." In canon, she is already The Black Cat prior to encountering the Kingpin, and seeks him out as a way of acquiring powers so she can stay on par with Spider-Man.

Spider-Man may not be considered a mythological hero by today's standards because he exists only in the pages of comic books. But he has been, and still is, going through the heroic journey. He has experienced tragedy, heard the call to duty, had a revelation, fought formidable villains, received a gift, and is using his gift for the benefit of mankind.

Essaymaster's Note: The final sentence of this essay lists the common archetypes a mythological hero is said to go through on his or her journey. Peter's tragedy was his Uncle Ben's death, obviously, and his journey could be said to cycle back on itself, beginning anew multiple times with the deaths of George Stacy, Gwen Stacy, Jean De Wolff, Aunt May, and others. His call to duty has taken many forms, including Aunt May's financial struggles, Uncle Ben's advice (which is also Spider-Man's driving revelation), the Kingpin's rise to power, the Superhuman Registration Act, and pretty much any time a villain makes news by doing something villainous, hence the ensuing fights with formidable villains, some of whom are created as a response to Spider-Man's existence (partly because of that whole magical cosmic balance of destiny Totem nonsense), and some of whom Spidey attracts the future attentions of after he defeats them for the first time. So there's that whole question that comes up in comic books a lot about whether the hero is responsible for creating his own villains--and is therefore not a hero at all--or if the hero is created as a societal or karmic response to the amount of evil in the world. Superman and Batman have it. Even Goku from the Dragon Ball series has it (although by Dragon Ball Z, it becomes clear that Goku is a brainless super-villain magnet who can't help making his foes stronger so that he can get high or hard from as difficult a fight as he can possibly create for himself, but that's just become an escalation trope by now, so it kind of only halfway counts towards my point on the issue). Getting back to Spider-Man, his gift, of course, is the radioactive and/or magic spider-bite and all of the powers that come with it. An argument can also be made that even before getting his powers, the advice Uncle Ben gave him also qualified as an archetypal gift. If not for that advice, Spider-Man could have gone on a downward spiral into the dark side of show-business (the "rock star life" of drugs, alcohol, and unprotected sex that, according to one source that said Peter's bodily fluids were radioactive, would have left his multiple partners with something worse than your average STD), or even become a super-villain himself. Apparently, there are all kinds of alternate continuities where Peter has become the Lizard or remains the Man-Spider or allows himself to be taken over by Carnage because he didn't have Uncle Ben's advice to keep him on the right path. Meanwhile, in the main continuity, everyone else in his life is either dying, breaking up with him, or turning into a super-villain, so there's no shortage of opportunities to have "great responsibility." And what does it say about Peter's responsibility level that Mary Jane recently dumped him for Tony Stark?

I'll cut the rant short there and return next time with a look at the last two efforts to make a successful Spider-Man movie franchise, so tune in tomorrow for that.