Why do we love Spiderman?

In 1962 Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced us to a character, who the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Fiege said is not only the biggest Marvel character but also the greatest superhero of all time. His name is Spiderman. Since then, Spidey has become a true pop culture icon who is loved across the world. But why? As Spiderman swings into the big screens for the seventh time, in Spiderman - Into the Spider-Verse, let’s talk about why Spiderman is so special.

What makes a character special is often what makes them different. In 1960s all young superheros were relegated to the status of side kicks of full fledged heros. Spiderman turned this trend around by making his youth the focal point of his character. He was young, inexperienced and therefore lacked judgement. He was a kid fighting in a man’s world and through his determination and desire to do the right thing by helping others he inspires people of all ages, especially the younger fans, to also want to do the right thing and be heros. Having a younger protagonist in an action story raises the stakes and adds relatability for the younger fans. It also goes wonderfully with the coming-of-age themes like finding who you are, what you are capable of, how you fit in and what your purpose in life is.

Spiderman isn’t perfect. He is always learning from his experiences as Spiderman and the mistakes he makes. As he becomes Spiderman, he discovers things about responsibility and his identity. He learns how to find a balance between saving the day, earning enough money to survive and study for tomorowys physics test he has to give as Peter Parker.

The seemingly mundane existence of Peter Parker helps ground the character in a unique way. Because even though Spiderman can stop the Green Goblin from destroying New York, Peter Parker can still be bullied and called names. It makes Spiderman himself the fulfillment of a power fantasy. Kids like Peter, who don’t really fit in, nerds and outcasts, can see someone like them become a superhero. Under the mask he’s still that kid, he’s still Peter Parker. But he uses what he’s given to do his best to help others and attempt to get home in time to finish his homework. Peter loves being a superhero and his journey of maturation from desperately wanting to leave his mundane life behind to accepting this duality in his life is a compelling one.

Spiderman has always thrown quips and jokes at his enemies throughout the comics to bolster his own self confidence and to make things seem less scary (considering he is a kid putting himself in mortal danger). But I think this joking nature translates to Spiderman’s tone as a whole which is, in short, fun. His suit is bright colours, he swings across beautiful city landscapes and saved the day while equipping jokes. Spiderman stories can get serious at times but Peter always strives to be positive and most of the time this revels in being pure escapism in a lot of ways. It’s got melodrama, it’s got humour, it’s got a kid who’s main problem is managing his schedule and making sure New York is not completely destroyed by psychopaths. It’s everything you could want from a light hearted but still meaningful superhero story.

Speaking of psychopaths, one thing that makes a great hero is a great villain and God bless Spiderman because he’s got plenty of those. Spiderman has one of the best and most recognisable list of villains. there’s Doctor Octopus, Venom, Green Goblin, Shocker, Kingpin, Rhino, Sandman, Lizard, Electro, Mysterio, the list goes on. The character design of these characters are interesting, very diverse and fairly iconic. What’s most interesting is that Peter and most of his villains are both just ordinary people who were given abilities yet they responded in drastically different ways. This is very compelling as the villains also think that they are doing the right thing.

A superhero has to have powers to fight such villains. As one of the best superheros ever, of course, Spiderman has really cool abilities. Whether he is swinging past New York skyscrapers holding spiderweb or climbing buildings with his bare hands, Spiderman can do pretty cool stuff. Compared to the simple and boring flight or super strength abilities, Spiderman’s powers open a gateway to more creative and entertaining action scenes. Abilities of a bug are pretty unique as far as powers go and hence it is wonderfully iconic.

I think this one line by Aunt May from the movie Spiderman 2 sums up the spirit of Spiderman better than I ever could. She says

With all that said, in the end it comes down to this. We love Spiderman because we love Peter Parker. Because we relate to the struggles of his day to day life. We relate to how he doesn’t always get things right and he doesn’t always get what he wants but he still always wants to help people and make a difference. We love the fun of a good hearted exciting adventure. Most importantly, we love to see that anyone can be a hero.

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