Hero Profile: Spider-man

Love him or hate him,
He's got a great mode of transportation.

I do not think there is a superhero more beloved, and at the same time despised, as Spider-man. The Web-head has a way about stirring up strong feelings in people it seems. I kind of get both parties and regardless of your stance on Spider-man I hope to better inform you about the character overall. Without further ado, the Amazing Spider-man!

Peter Parker was your run of the mill nerd before being bitten by a radioactive spider. Instead of making his hand fall off or give him super cancer it instead bestowed upon him many spider themed superpowers. After getting a handle on his new abilities, Peter does what most people would do, try to turn his talents into cash! He attempted to be a professional wrestler, and make some money on it. After not stopping a robbery at his venue because it “wasn’t his problem,” Peter’s Uncle Ben was murdered by said man. Vowing to live up to the great responsibility that his great power gives him, Peter Parker became the Amazing, Spectacular, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man!

Spidey has quite a few powers. He is incredibly strong and agile. It's said that he has the proportional strength of a spider, but I don't recall ever seeing a spider doing half the heavy lifting he does. His borderline clairvoyant Spider-sense allows him to react to most threats to his physical self. It can be beaten by exceptionally fast foes, or by the Venom Symbiote (the black suit alien from the movies for those who don’t know). At time Peter has had the ability shoot his webs through silk glans that developed in his wrists, but for most of his comic book incarnations he has the web shooter gadget. Spider-man is also a very gifted scientific mind. It’s how he makes all of this spider-themed tech, from the web shooters to Spider-man themed tracing devices.

On his left Venom, on his right Carnage, two monsters that
have all of his power and can't be detected by Spidey-sense
Does he stop fighting? Heck no.

Now, I like Spider-man, but I can see why he can get on some peoples nerves. For starters, he’s a bit of a whiner. At least his movie incarnation was (The original 3 movies). Think about it, each movie had him sobbing like a wimp for no real reason. Batman’s parents were killed in front of him. A good percentage of Captain America’s friends are either dead, dying, or Wolverine.  Superman’s planet was destroyed.  Spidey’s dated figurative and literal models. Your life’s not that rough boyo. Also the Great Power line gets really preachy depending on the incarnation.We get it, being a superhero is rough, you don't need to finish the line every single time.
At the same time, Spider-man has a nobility to him that I really like. Regardless of the challenge, or his own personal desires, Peter has time and again chosen to give up what he wants for the betterment of others. At times he stumbles, and has tried to throw in the towel a few times, but he never really stops trying. During all of his years as a hero, despite major changes to his appearance , supporting cast, and enemies he at his core has remained the same.

He's got Wolverine's respect, just thing about that.

For me the original three Spider-man movies decline with each movie. Loved #1, liked #2, #3 I wish was never ever made. More bad guys don’t make a movie better guys. Remember that! The two new movies has also been pretty good. #2 of Amazing Spider-man stumbles a little with the movie climax, but it wasn’t awful.

In terms of TV, it’s kind of a mix bag. The Spider-man TV show from the 90’s was decent enough. Peter was a bit too buff looking in design for me, but it was overall an okay show. Didn’t really watch The Spectacular Spider-man of 2008-9 I’m told was okay, but I didn’t watch enough of it to have an opinion. I only watched two episodes, centering on Spider-man fighting Venom, and both of those were good interpretations of the characters.

Then we get to the most recent incarnation, Ultimate Spider-man. The show is bad, but also good. I like some of it’s character designs, and their original story lines. As I said in the Deadpool character profile, they did a good job toning down the psycho for TV. … What no comment from the Deadpool gallery? Alright, so-

I’M AWESOME! DEADPOOL SOLO!!!!

Deadpool, air guitar doesn’t work unless music is playing.

Great Spider look
Still not the best Spider story.

You don’t know that! Deadpool Encore!!!!

Whatever, moving on. Another example of a good the show did was how it handled the Venom story, specifically how the Venom suit went from creating psychotic monsters to being the powers behind the superhero Agent Venom. In this version the Venom suit is a mass produced bio-weapon that coats a number of characters. It hitches a ride on Scorpion, the second most recent host, before attaching itself to Flash Thompson, Spiderman’s frienemy and the most recent Venom host. It's not how the comics did it, but it is a reasonable change to fit the character into a universe where the rules have been shifted around a bit. It's also the first time Agent Venom has been shown on screen, which is pretty cool. I'll do a spot on his sooner rather than later, but if you can't wait, Google him. His design is awesome.

In other instances it’s horrible. The forced “I learned something today” moments have made me gag more than once. There is only so many times that I can believe super genius Peter Parker needs to learn the importance of team work or honesty. The fourth wall jokes get really annoying sometimes. The Spider-man “team” aspect pops up pretty randomly as well. If you want to make a Spider-man show with a team, show the team. It’s not hard, dang it.

Spider-man is an interesting character. I hope that they can figure out how to make a good movie for him again, and get him into the expanded Marvel-verse. It’s irritating to know that they can’t do some of the biggest Marvel wide story lines because Parker and his biggest nemesis Green Goblin are owned by Sony. Deal dang it!

Spider-men Unite! Time for a Jet and Shark style brawl with the Batmen!

http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/sasori-vs-spiderman-1573231/
http://screenrant.com/venom-movie-carnage-rumors/
http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/hugh-jackman-came-very-close-to-spider-man-cameo-as-wolverine/
 http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,MediaProductsTax:MovieSpiderMan,00.html
http://whateveraspidercan.com/2014/06/10/gamelofts-spider-man-unlimited-mobile-game/