The Best Superhero Ever: What Makes Spider-Man So Good
Less a man, more a boy, and more a man than a spider, yet arguably more a hero than anything else. Today, we’re going to be talking about the one, the only, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and what exactly it is that I think makes him so good.
Now, the TL;DR answer to this question is usually something along the lines of he’s the most relatable hero and that with great power comes great responsibility. These are all fine, if not vague, ways of answering that question. After all, Peter Parker isn’t a wandering martial artist, a vengeance-fueled former Marine, or a golden adamantine-plated ultra-billionaire playboy. You get what I’m saying. Right out of the gate, he’s a lot more relatable than a huge swath of the Marvel or DC hero lineup.
Yet, despite this, I truly believe that what makes Spider-Man so great is something that transcends his everyman appeal, or at least encompasses it. Sure, we all love the mild-mannered, awkward, humor-loving nerd that is Peter Parker. But do we really love mild-mannered, awkward nerds in general? I mean, I guess kinda, but I’ve got bad memories and stretched underpants that would argue otherwise.
Let’s do a quick recap of that classic Spider-Man story in the hopes that it helps to identify what it is about Spider-Man that we all love—or I guess you could say what makes Spider-Man so good, really.
Peter Parker, Spider-Man, the little bastard, how about just an ordinary nerdy kid who has a fateful encounter with a supercharged arachnid during a school field trip. He’s bitten and bestowed with great, vaguely spider-themed powers. After trying to use these powers to help himself a bit and letting a criminal he could have easily stopped escape in the process, he is brought to a greater perspective by the death of his Uncle Ben, who was coincidentally killed by that very same criminal. All this because Uncle Ben did what his nephew wouldn’t and stood in the man’s way.
After hunting the man down in vengeance, Parker has an epiphany and comes to truly understand and ultimately live by the last sentiment shared with him by his beloved uncle: with great power comes great responsibility.
Unique Appeal of Spider-Man
It’s a great backstory, but still not really super unique. Batman experiences something similar, though he is less culpable. While the man in the bat suit has his own rabid following and is arguably the hero who built the house of DC, his appeal and Spider-Man’s are very, very different, even if it doesn’t always seem that way. So what is it that makes Parker so inspiring? Well, I think I figured it out, and it may seem obvious at first, but bear with me here. The quality that truly sets Spider-Man apart from most other heroes is self-sacrifice.
Self-Sacrifice
But, all heroes practice self-sacrifice. It’s practically in the name, yes, but what makes Spider-Man’s self-sacrifice so notable? Peter Parker is super strong, super fast, can climb walls effortlessly, and has Spider Sense. Aside from some manned spider quirkiness later on, no part of that combination is inherently self-sacrificing or bad. Contrary to self-sacrificial powers, Spider-Man could actually be rich through a variety of different avenues, industries, and gimmicks just by using the powers that he currently has. He could be a super genius and create technology worth millions, or maybe be a world-class spy or a super soldier who could rival the likes of Cap and Bucky themselves. He could even be a world record-setting poker player with the Spider Sense. And, of course, we’ve all heard about his long-lost wrestling career. But he isn’t any of these things.
Do you know why? It’s because he’s too busy saving our asses from the larger burdens of our everyday lives, plus the supervillains and insane natural disasters that just so happen to afflict New York on any given Sunday.
Saving Others
Think about this: in Thor 1, the whole plot revolves around Thor being forced to lose most of his powers and learning to be self-sacrificing for the good of others despite his own desires. That’s basically the whole goal and plot of the entire narrative arc. But nearly every single Spider-Man story includes these themes even before the rest of the actual plot arrives on the scene.
Spidey was given incredible powers, and from nearly day one, he’s dedicated his life to using them at nearly every opportunity to help others and not himself. Many heroes do this, but many of those heroes are also billionaires, already in law enforcement, freaking gods with subjects and kingdoms, magical overlords who can conjure whatever they need, space adventurers who get to go and do things that most people couldn’t dream of, kings or otherwise leaders of their own countries, super scientists who are provided for by huge companies or the government, and outcasts from society who never even had a choice when it comes to living an ordinary life.
The True Sacrifices of Spider-Man
It’s that last one that you should really focus on. Peter Parker does have the option of a normal life, like you or me, or even a better life through the self-serving use of his own powers and natural intellect. Yet, he consistently sacrifices his own potential for a comfortable and carefree life to help people, even people who hate him and would otherwise wish him dead or incarcerated.
The guy has so little, less than many of us in developed countries do. His parents are dead or vanished, his father figure was murdered and left for dead in the street, he lives in one of the most expensive cities on the planet with a job that barely allows him to make ends meet, with only a small handful of often on-again, off-again friends or relationships. Most of the people who “know” Peter either think he’s a huge slacker because he’s never on time anywhere or that he’s too focused on being a hero to ever settle down and have a true family. Yet, despite how few people exist to help him stand when he’s down, he always gets back up. When he sees you about to lose your wallet in a mugging, he sacrifices his paycheck and potentially his job to rescue you. When your loved ones are in danger and about to be engulfed in fire or rubble, he’s willing to lose his girlfriend, be evicted, or lose the respect of a colleague all so that you still get to hug your daughter, son, father, or parent the next day.
He doesn’t just give to us the benefits he could have with his powers; he sacrifices his own life as Peter Parker.
Conclusion
We’ve seen so many heroes willing to die in the line of duty saving lives. But Spider-Man isn’t just ready to die for you; he’s ready to live his ordinary life as Peter Parker in a constant struggle for you. What little he has, he gives freely, offering no condition, demanding nothing—not even admiration, respect, or goodwill in return.
Peter Parker, the Spider-Man, is not just so good because he’s the best person in each of us but because he’s the best person we hope and pray will be out there in the world, ready to rescue us, ready to jump in front of certain death to save us, ready to plant his feet into the ground and demand his will be done even if it tears him to pieces to achieve it.
More than any idyllic super being or jacked-up mutant, Spider-Man is a true hero, a title he doesn’t even ask for, even while he breaks every benchmark for self-sacrifice and selfless behavior. What pulls all of this together? It’s all his choice, and it is not an easy one. Again and again, we see Spider-Man debating with himself, fighting with his better half to become someone who can look after themselves first and the world second. He struggles, he agonizes, he feels the emptiness of each aspect of his own personal life that he sacrifices to be a hero for us, and he suffers the loss of his regular life with the same pain that we would if we were in his shoes.
This is partially the reason why he feels so relatable and yet at the same time so idyllic. And yet, when the cards are dealt and the choice is difficult, who would you bet on over Spider-Man to be a hero who selflessly and instantly throws himself between you and your troubles regardless of what that may cost him? For other heroes, sacrifices like this are the pinnacle of the heroic representation. For Peter Parker, it’s just another day of being your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
