What makes Spider-Man so special?

[StarRider1701]

I agree with many of you. I loved (still do) Spiderman/Peter Parker because he was a real person. He had real person problems just like everyone else. He had realistic powers unlike many of the DC heroes. I read most of the comics and for a time even had a good collection back in the 70's and early 80's. I never really got into watching the cartoons on tv, but did watch the short lived prime time series. It was pretty bad, FX totally sucked. I've loved the movies, they were all great and I recognize how they took the storylines from the comics.

My favorite thing was that Spidey could use his webs and his speed to beat a bad guy or gal who was stronger than he was. Juggernaut for instance. One of my favorite mags was a DC/Marvel team up of Spidey and Superman. Lex Luthor kidnapped Lois and MJ, disguised as Supes. When the two heroes came to the rescue, Spidey came after Supes and Lex hit Spidey with Red Sun Radiation, temporarily making him as strong as Superman. What a Battle! Until it wore off, Spidey knocked Supes from one end of that town to the other! I loved every second of it!

One battle I would personally love to see would be Batman vs Daredevil. Neither has any super strength, both are just good, trained fighters. I think I might have to give the edge to Batman because he has more gadgets, but that would be one heck of a good fight, too!

Spiderman was, is, and always will be my favorite Super Hero. Because of his "humanity" he will continue to have a following because normal people will always be able to relate to him.

 

[drwayne]

In the comics, his "Spider Sense" was a sublte but integral part of what he did. In the early 80's,
there were a number of issues where he didn't have it, because of a gassing by the Hobgoblin,
and it impacted almost everything he did, including things like web swinging.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

That's a neat twist. I stopped reading the comics after about 1977 so I didn't see that.

I can't remember where, but I read somewhere that Peter Parker suffered from extreme acrophobia before he was bitten by the radioactive spider. They really should have gone into that for the "Origin of Spiderman" episode and comic books. Being afraid of heights and not having his 'spider sense' are sort of similar.

Without his 'spider sense' he would have trouble navigating hundreds of feet up while on his threads, maybe. Perhaps his human weaknesses would overwhelm the spider power at times. But if he was afraid of heights, he wouldn't make a very effective 'Human Spider'.

 

[brandbll]

What makes Spider-man so special? Well here's my two cents worth:

He was the first TEENAGER super-hero who was NOT a sidekick of an older super-hero.

He isn't some chic, fabulously rich billionaire, nor was he from another planet. He's one of us.

Peter Parker is, although a genius, an out and out nerd. There's a little 'nerd' in everybody. He's one of us.

Like most 18-year-olds, Spiderman is a smart-ass. [Contrasted with Superman, who was just TOO perfect. And too invulnerable.]

And what has always been really cool about Spiderman to me- besides the web and sticky- is that he could fall a thousand feet onto concrete or steel, and while it didn't kill him, it fazed him solid. In the original comic book and 1967 Animated Series, he would fall 90 stories-to the tune of a plunging, spiraling ditty- and smash on the ground with a loud THUD!! The artists convey a time elapse of a couple of hours. Spidey wakes up, while still flat on his back, and starts rubbing his forehead and moaning in hangover-like pain. He'd say to himself: "Ohhh man...[still rubbing his head] uhhh. Feels like Saturday morning at Harry's."

Maybe he's not quite as cool as Batman, and, while Batman's outfit is a bit kinky( he's got bat-cuffs ladies), and Spiderman's outfit might be somewhat gay (I mean come on, neon red and blue spandex tighties) that's ok because Spiderman is genetically altered. :lol:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5P8lrgBtcU[/youtube]Your thoughts?

Spiderman benefits from what all good superheroes benefit from, good supervillains. I never really liked Superman myself. His villain was Lex Luther and whatever machine or krypton crap he could wrig up. And no offense to batman(not the movie which was badass) but the Joker was his main enemy? You see, Batman and Superman could have easily rid themselves of their main nemesis by simply killing them. Spiderman's main nemesis was Venom, THE most badass comic villain ever! He couldn't have simply killed venom if he wanted. And on top of that they introduced Carnage who was just as badass.

The movie is a whole different story. Those morons RUINED Venom. You have one of the greatest villains ever and you chose Eric Foreman, the skinny tall white kid from That 70's Show, to play him?!?!?!?!?! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?!?!?!

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Venom was indeed badass, and a very interesting character. The fact that the alien 'venom' incorporates and stores certain traits of whatever being it gets hold of was very cool. Once created, different writers could do whole array of stuff with Venom.

Imagine Venom, after getting hold of Spiderman and incorporating the spidey powers, then getting hold of Doc Ock or Electro for a spell. (I don't know if they ever did a story like that as I stopped reading the comics around 1977.)

The whole Batman/Joker thing was a bit more sublime. The did do a great job of going into that in 'The Dark Knight'. Batman can't kill the Joker because of his moral code. But it's deeper than that, as any philosopher knows that one can't define 'good' unless he has relative 'evil' to compare it to, hence the Joker's line, "You compliment me. I couldn't exist without you," or something like that.

I never cared too much for Superman either, he was too perfect, too invulnerable. (Unless someone had a pound or two of Kryton hanging around.) But I thoroughly enjoyed the original Superman movie. I thought Marlon Brando was absolutely superb as (Jarel?) Superman's father. (Kalel?)

Maybe a future director and team can do a better job with Venom vs Spiderman. IMO, they tried to do way too much in Spiderman 3. There was too much going on. SP-3 could easily have been another two or even three films. It was like watching a movie that was a WinZip file, an airless baloon suddenly blown up to the size of a Zeppelin!

 

[drwayne]

One personal note, Peter started grad school within a year or two of when I did.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

One personal note, Peter started grad school within a year or two of when I did.

And you're both groovy swingers!!

How'd you like the 'Ramones/Spiderman' vid?

 

[Eman_3]

People, especially kids love to live vicariously through others. And of all the current mainstream fictional superheroes, Spiderman is very, very easy to identify with.

He's just another kid, a bit geeky, and with his own personal problems that many of us can relate to. Girlfriend problems, financial problems, crappy job, etc. But when he assumes the Spiderman personna, he's faster, quicker, stronger, and has a few magic tricks such as the ability to spin webs and his "spideysense". And it's just not as much a difference as in the case of Superman or Batman, where they were born to money or superhuman abilities. Those characters are much more difficult to relate to, if at all.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Yes. When I was 10 or 11 I wanted to be Spiderman. But by the time I was 17 I wanted to be Jimmy Page (along with 10 million other guys).

By the time I was 21 I wanted to be Hugh Hefner! By the time I was 30 I finally settled on being me. :lol:

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Hey Spiderman fans!!

I just re-watched the Spiderman trilogy, and I have to say again that Raimi and Co. did a great job of bringing the whole thing to the screen. Although they are a bit 'tear-jerky' at times, and IMO a little too many Aunt May conferences going on, they are well-done renditions. (Which is weird, as I'm usually the one harping about special-effects overkill and not enough story.)

Out of the three, if I had to choose, I'd say the second movie with Doc Octopus is the best. But they were all good and it's always hard to beat the original, Spiderman 1.

So obviously they're going to do some more movies judging by the end of SM-3. I guess we're going to have a thermo-nuclear Venom terrorizing New York, and I suspect that the Sandman will come to the aid of Spido!

ps- I hope that Harry didn't REALLY die. IIRC, he didn't really die in the comic books. Maybe Dr.Wayne can chime in on that.

 

[drwayne]

I lost the comic book bubble sometime in the late 80's, early 90's. I think the last I knew was
the second Hogboblin...

 

[ZenGalacticore]

I lost the comic book bubble sometime in the late 80's, early 90's. I think the last I knew was
the second Hogboblin...

Perhaps it was Bernard the Butler? :lol: Man, I loved his character and Raimi's sense of humor.

Bernard had the high-pitched voice similar to the Mr. Martian guy in the Warner Bros cartoons, or somewhat like Senator Joe Lieberman:

BERNARD- "Your father only stressed about his work."

HARRY- "Good night Bernard."

HARRY - "Do I have a girlfriend, Bernard?"

BERNARD- "Not that I know of, sir." :lol: