Spider-Man Themes

The first words Peter Parker utters in Spider-Man are "who am I?" Good question. We'll give it a shot: he's a high school senior about to enter the real world, which, let's be honest, is pretty ter...

Quick, name a happily married superhero. You can't, can you? Superheroes and happily ever after don't really mix, and here's why: First, superheroes are married to their jobs. You think Peter can e...

If you're a good guy with power, it comes, like Uncle Ben said, with increased responsibility. There's a sense of obligation to others less powerful than you. For Peter, it's a royal pain in the sp...

What drives you? Maybe it's a desire to be the best tuba player in the tri-state area. Maybe you want to make your parents proud. Maybe you want to be rich and famous (with or without your tuba ski...

Spider-Man is fueled by his desire to do right. He didn't do the right thing one time, and his beloved Uncle Ben wound up dead because of it. You can bet your movie-loving butt he's not going to ma...

Underneath all its spandex suits and violently interrupted concerts, Spider-Man is a coming-of-age story—not just for Peter, but also for M.J. and Harry. Naturally, they don't all mature in the s...