Why Spiderman is the best loved super-hero
By Bezza 40 Comments
He isn't the strongest, the fastest, the wisest, best looking, most heavily muscled or all powerful character, but I think Stan Lee's genius was in any many ways best shown when he created Spiderman. You see I haven't yet found anyone who dislikes Spidey. He may not be in every one's top ten but I sense an enormous amount of good-will for the web-slinger. Why is that? Here are some reasons why..
1. As Pete Parker, he is the young hard up struggling man so many of us identify with.
2. He has cool powers but he isn't invincible. Punch him and he bleeds, shoot him and he goes down, his victories are hard fought through guile and effort. However, he is stronger than any normal person, faster and has those amazing webs! Every skinny teenager would love to be Spidey, kicking ten bells out of big guys!
3. He is New York's own and he isn't afraid of accepting a little help.. I love Spiderman 1 & 2, where the normal people group together to try and protect and help Spidey. Similar thing happened in the last film with the crane drivers. Other heroes, such as Superman don't have that connection because they are too powerful to need the assistance of normal everyday folk.
4. Unlike Batman he isn't permanently miserable, doesn't have a chip on his shoulder and more often than not has an upbeat outlook.
5. He is weak enough to be put in a good story with a non super powered character, but has sufficient powers and skills to give a super-powered character a run for their money.
6. Some will argue, but none of his films have yet been duffers. They were all massively successful. Sure, Spiderman 3 went a bit heavy and serious at times, but it was the first Super hero film to really delve deep into the psyche and insecurity of what it means to be a powerful hero and how this impacts those you care about.
7. His parents weren't gunned down and he did have the benefit of a loving aunt and uncle bringing him up. He is generally a well balanced individual, but he has seen tragedy with the death of his Uncle Ben.
8. You could put him with any other super hero group such as X Men, Avengers etc and he would fit in nicely and wouldn't over shadow them. The same cant always be said of the all powerful characters such as Hulk or Superman.
9. He was Marvel's first big hero, created to be a more human and down to earth equivalent of the all powerful DC heroes. Its worked!
10. Unlike some super-heroes, the actor isn't massively important in a spiderman film. Sure you need a good actor, but I don't remember many protests when Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were cast as Spidey!
I'm not saying Spiderman is the most popular hero, just that in many ways he is the most loved. Both Batman and Superman have those who really don't like them, but I have yet to find anyone who says "I really don't like Spiderman".
40 Comments