# Spiderman: What’s the big deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2002, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810 "2002-05-02T07:07:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/21 "2002-05-02T21:31:43Z")
Thanks for the Eddie Brock info, I’m looking forward to how/if they create him… Spider-man’s problems make sense, it’s just, as I said, the angst can be, and is, a little overdone. I personally feel that there is a time to put a person’s morals aside if they endanger one’s life, which they obviously have for him, but your explanation was well thought out. I guess I just can’t relate ethically. Besides, villians get the cooler outfits (usually). I’d pick the symbiote over the blue-and-red anyday :-0 ---
**Author:** ![downbylaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@downbylaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/downbylaw)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/22 "2002-05-02T21:52:26Z")
hey, remember that spidey had that symbiote suit first… ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/23 "2002-05-02T21:52:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Well, originally it was an irradiated spider, before we realized that radiation does not give you superpowers. Unless you consider cancer a superpower. \*\* Heh, that just inspired me: “Caught too close to the testing of a revolutionary nuclear-powered microwave oven, young Ben Dover has been gifted with amazing powers: Spontanous Tumor Generation and Enhanced Sterility! Thrill to his adventures!”🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/24 "2002-05-02T23:02:25Z")
I just ‘dogged’ the story I knew. That’s what I meant, from what I knew it didn’t appeal to me… but I don’t know everything. I thought there might be something more. I ask because I’m basically going to have to see this tonight, and I really wanted to be fair, because I have respect for movies in general. I really might like it… I had not made up my mind. Like I said, I don’t know the whole Spider saga… as some of you people do. I didn’t come her to piss people off. I think I’ve pretty fair. Maybe I won’t like it, but I tried. I love movies, and if I were to go through the hellish process of making a movie (never will that happen), I would take criticism way too harshly… so seeing I have to see this movie, I’m trying to get people to rid me of my prejudice with theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/25 "2002-05-03T02:51:36Z")
For those of you who haven’t read the comics, there are versions of the Spider-Man origin available for free here: [http://dotcomics.marvel.com/menu\_flash.htm](http://dotcomics.marvel.com/menu_flash.htm) Granted, they’re updated for the modern era (Peter Parker is hired as a website guru for the Bugle), but the flavor’s still there. Scroll down to Issue 1 and read from there. It’s like being a kid again. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/26 "2002-05-03T05:55:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Spider-man’s problems make sense, it’s just, as I said, the angst can be, and is, a little overdone. Well, remember, he _is_, essentially, a kid. Angst is part of the whole teenager thing. But a good chunk of Spiderman’s psychological problems stem from the death of his Uncle… a death he could have easily prevented, if he had just gotten off his butt and fired a string of webbing at some stray burglar… ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/27 "2002-05-03T06:33:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*My fanboyish reasons why I’m eager to see the _Spider-Man_5. All indications so far are that the movie is _very_ faithful to the comic book (except for the web shooters). Another plus for us Spidey-comic fanboys. 😉 > \*\* What did they change about the web slingers? (they’re _proper_ name, I believe.) ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/28 "2002-05-03T07:02:59Z")
I don’t like Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson (-Parker?). Pardon my crudity, but she looks ridiculous as a redhead, and her tits aren’t big enough. And she’s too young. MJ is a sexpot. Kirsten is jailbait. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/29 "2002-05-03T07:17:25Z")
**bouv,** to tell the changes in the web-shooters (I believe those were the original names) would be spoiler material. Let’s just say that it makes more sense in the movie. And when I first got into comics, I always preferred Marvel over DC, because DC’s characters were all uber-perfect demigods, while Marvel’s were all-too-mortal _people,_ with disagreements, spats, shortcomings, and anxieties. And the poster boy of the Marvel-style real-world hero was (and still is) Spider-Man. Spidey proves that having super-powers is _not_ an automatic free ride into The Good Life. ---
**Author:** ![ScriptAnalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@ScriptAnalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriptAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/30 "2002-05-03T08:02:20Z")
I don’t think talking about the change in the web-shooters gives too much away, since the fans already know about it and director Sam Raimi talked about it more than a year ago. So I’m going to go ahead and talk about it, since it relates to the original question: what’s so cool about Spider-Man? According to Raimi: “[In] Stan Lee’s original conception, the great strength of Spider-Man was the fact that he’s a real person, unlike Superman from the planet Krypton or other fantastic heroes. He’s a kid from Brooklyn; he doesn’t have a lot of money; he doesn’t get the girls, he’s got acne. He’s a fairly average looking kid. He’s really a kid that we identify with. And this kid is vested with these powers, or perhaps cursed with this powers. But the important thing is he’s one of us. So it really broadened that base of people who could appreciate comic books. I think it completely changed the demographic at that point, because suddenly he was a real character with a love relationship, and sometimes two, and family problems. It wasn’t just about beating the [bad] guy. It was about a real human being." In the comic books, the web-shooters are an invention of Peter Parker’s; in the film, they’re part of his body. For Raimi, this relates to making Parker an ordinary guy who suddenly finds himself with these new powers that he has to figure out, instead of making him some kind of genius who can whip up a miraculous invention (synthetic spider web) in his apartment. (You can read more of Raimi’s comments here: [http://nemo.spoutnic.com/page.asp?id=260](http://nemo.spoutnic.com/page.asp?id=260)) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/31 "2002-05-03T08:23:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ScriptAnalyst \* > In the comic books, the web-shooters are an invention of Peter Parker’s; in the film, they’re part of his body. For Raimi, this relates to making Parker an ordinary guy who suddenly finds himself with these new powers that he has to figure out, instead of making him some kind of genius who can whip up a miraculous invention (synthetic spider web) in his apartment. Pardon my directness, but does this mean that (like a spider) the web shooters are now located in Peter Parker’s ass? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/32 "2002-05-03T18:33:30Z")
OK, that’s what I was kinda thinking the change was. And didn’t that happen in some series of Spider-man comic? Somehow, he got “changed” and could actually shoot webs? I know he has gone through many changes (mulitple arms, cosmic-spidey, etc…) so it makes sense if that happened. If not, then I’m remembering something wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DuhMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DuhMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhMan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/33 "2002-05-03T19:03:31Z")
Well, I just saw the movie. Caught the 11:15 show here, and I was very impressed. I’ll keep this review to a minimum, because I’m sure a new thread will pop up to cover the movie as the day goes on. Let’s just say that Tobey does a great job… fits the part perfectly. The story is great, and extremely well paced. At just over 2 hours, it barely felt like I was there more that 30 minutes. The special effects were great, and they did a good job of setting up for the sequels. Overal, I’d give it a solid 8. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/34 "2002-05-03T19:32:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bouv \* > \*\* > > What did they change about the web slingers? (they’re _proper_ name, I believe.) \*\* Nope. The gizmos are called “webshooters.” Spidey is the “webslinger.” ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/35 "2002-05-03T19:46:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > Pardon my directness, but does this mean that (like a spider) the web shooters are now located in Peter Parker’s ass? Spiders don’t spit webs from their (non-existent) anus, silly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/36 "2002-05-03T22:03:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bouv \* > OK, that’s what I was kinda thinking the change was. And didn’t that happen in some series of Spider-man comic? Somehow, he got “changed” and could actually shoot webs? I know he has gone through many changes (mulitple arms, cosmic-spidey, etc…) so it makes sense if that happened. If not, then I’m remembering something wrong. [ul][li] After Secret Wars, when he found the symbiote costume, he produced the webs out of the symbiote material, which regenerated itself over time. [/li][li] When he was Cosmic Spidey (I forget why he got inhabited by that cosmic thingy – it had something to do with stopping a nuclear meltdown or something? Who was the baddie? Master Mold or someone random like that, right?) he seemed to create them out of thin air. He had some intense molecular powers and stuff, but being just the regular kind of guy that he is, instead of using his newfound cosmic powers to fly around like Superman, he instead used them to create his webs and continue to sling around like normal. The issue where he’s practicing his powers and kicks the holy crap out of Magneto was one of my favorites ever.[/li][li] When they created the 2099 line of books, Spiderman 2099 develops these spinnerets on the underside of his wrists and generated the webs biologically. He also had these cool claws.[/li] That’s all I can remember, and it only covers the period between about '85 and '98. Anything that’s happened since I graduated high school I can’t comment on.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/37 "2002-05-04T03:25:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MGibson \* > Darvedevil was hit by some radioactive isotope while saving a man from getting hit by a car. You might think he’d get cancer or something but instead he goes blind while gaining all sorts of superhuman senses, go figure. IIRC, this was later changed from radioactivity to a mutagenic ooze. Of course, this retrocontinuity was explained in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – since the turtles were mutated by the same material that spilled from the truck that nearly killed Matt Murdock. Oh, and he was saving a _blind_ man from getting hit. How’s that for irony??? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/38 "2002-05-06T02:25:02Z")
I saw the movie on Saturday and I really liked it. My one problem was with the special effects. While Spidey was learning to swing around on his webs, his body was just ridiculous. He looked like the amazing floppy rubberman. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/39 "2002-05-06T03:21:22Z")
I just have to chime in on the movie. I never followed comics as a kid. Ever. However, I tend to like movies about comics characters…it’s usually just a fun ride I get to take for a few hours. And I absolutely loved this movie. I don’t know…I went in looking for a fun superhero movie, and I got it. It really delves into who Peter Parker is, which is cool, but doesn’t let that take up too much time that the action suffers. It really strikes a perfect balance. I might just have to go see it again. It was cool! ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810/40 "2002-05-06T04:35:23Z")
Some people will shake their heads, but this was one of those movies that I really felt compassion for the villain. Raimi did a good job of showing how Peter Parker and Norman Osborn were like the same person who took two different paths-they dealt with their pain differently. Norman Osborn seemed to be an extremely tragic figure whose world was spinning out of control. He took radical steps to do what he thought was right. The compassion he had for his son was touching. Harry seemed tragic too, wanting to fit in very badly but raised in such a way that it made it difficult for him to get along with some people. The tragic irony at the end of the movie makes you wonder how anyone is able to get on with their lives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderman-what-s-the-big-deal/106810.md?page=1)