Read the New York Post today?
Apparently the New York Post has run an article today revealing a pretty major change to a well-loved superhero's status quo, and it has more than a few people upset. It involves the Marvel character Spider-Man, so if you don't want to know, don't read on and don't pick up today's New York Post.
What is revealed is that Spider-Man, who has long kept his human identity a secret, reveals that he is Peter Parker before members of the press, pulling off his mask and saying, "My name is Peter Parker and I've been Spider-Man since I was 15 years old. Any questions?"
As soon as that detail hit the web, fans blew up. Comments like "I'm never going the movies or reading a Spider-Man comic again" were very common this morning. Honestly, I don't get it. I'm as big a Spider-Man fan as the next guy, having read a lot of his comics growing up and having seen (and loved) both movies. I'll be first in line to see SM3. So I say, if you think for one minute that Peter revealing his identity goes against his character, you don't know a thing about him.
Remember his mantra? The one about great power giving great responsibility? The reason he unmasks himself is because in the comic in question (Civil War #2), the government tells superheroes to register their identities because they can be as big a threat as any villain with all their web-shooting, hammer-throwing, city-destroying abilities.
Personally, I think DC (the Washington one, not the Distinguished Competition) would have tired a lot sooner than this of having the Hulk smash through yet another city on one of his rampages. The legislation would actually have happened about a year (or less) after the first superhero was zapped with a mind control ray or went amuck and threw a few cars into a building. That's just the country and times we live in. So the registration part makes sense. And Peter's obedience to such legislation also does. He's always been a straight arrow, an honest Joe. That's what makes him likeable. And the fact that he does think that he has a responsibility to do what's right means that he will reveal his identity to the public. It's that simple. He'd be first in line to comply.
Now, from a story-telling perspective, this is ripe with possibilities. Even if you've never read the comic, and have just seen the movies, you know that his employer at the Daily Bugle, cigar-chomping J Jonah Jameson, likes Peter Parker but HATES Spider-Man. Can you imagine the heart attack JJJ suffered when he saw that announcement on the news? Or what about the immediate danger this puts wife Mary Jane and his Aunt May in? Suddenly every enemy Spider-Man has knows how to hurt him - through his family.
At the very least, shut up on the whining and wait and see what happens before you decide you hate all things Marvel and Spider-Man, and give some writers the chance to explore what that means to the web-shooting superhero. Or, you could just realize that we're talking about a fictional character in a fictional universe and just grow up already.
The picture below, taken from the last page of Civil War #2, and showing SM reveal his identity to the press, was drawn by Steve McNiven.
What is revealed is that Spider-Man, who has long kept his human identity a secret, reveals that he is Peter Parker before members of the press, pulling off his mask and saying, "My name is Peter Parker and I've been Spider-Man since I was 15 years old. Any questions?"
As soon as that detail hit the web, fans blew up. Comments like "I'm never going the movies or reading a Spider-Man comic again" were very common this morning. Honestly, I don't get it. I'm as big a Spider-Man fan as the next guy, having read a lot of his comics growing up and having seen (and loved) both movies. I'll be first in line to see SM3. So I say, if you think for one minute that Peter revealing his identity goes against his character, you don't know a thing about him.
Remember his mantra? The one about great power giving great responsibility? The reason he unmasks himself is because in the comic in question (Civil War #2), the government tells superheroes to register their identities because they can be as big a threat as any villain with all their web-shooting, hammer-throwing, city-destroying abilities.
Personally, I think DC (the Washington one, not the Distinguished Competition) would have tired a lot sooner than this of having the Hulk smash through yet another city on one of his rampages. The legislation would actually have happened about a year (or less) after the first superhero was zapped with a mind control ray or went amuck and threw a few cars into a building. That's just the country and times we live in. So the registration part makes sense. And Peter's obedience to such legislation also does. He's always been a straight arrow, an honest Joe. That's what makes him likeable. And the fact that he does think that he has a responsibility to do what's right means that he will reveal his identity to the public. It's that simple. He'd be first in line to comply.
Now, from a story-telling perspective, this is ripe with possibilities. Even if you've never read the comic, and have just seen the movies, you know that his employer at the Daily Bugle, cigar-chomping J Jonah Jameson, likes Peter Parker but HATES Spider-Man. Can you imagine the heart attack JJJ suffered when he saw that announcement on the news? Or what about the immediate danger this puts wife Mary Jane and his Aunt May in? Suddenly every enemy Spider-Man has knows how to hurt him - through his family.
At the very least, shut up on the whining and wait and see what happens before you decide you hate all things Marvel and Spider-Man, and give some writers the chance to explore what that means to the web-shooting superhero. Or, you could just realize that we're talking about a fictional character in a fictional universe and just grow up already.
The picture below, taken from the last page of Civil War #2, and showing SM reveal his identity to the press, was drawn by Steve McNiven.
posted by The Shadow at Wednesday, June 14, 2006
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