Why Spiderman is the GREATEST superhero ever
By: Jeffrey Fudolig
Tags: Superhero, Spider Man, DC Comics, Marvel, Essay

Photo by Dev on Unsplash

A superhero is a fictional character with superhuman powers who helps people in need. You ask anyone what is a superhero most of them would answer that question with something like that. But truly there are so many more things that superhero need to be. When you think of superheroes, you think of superman. When you think of Dc, you think of batman. When you think of marvel you think of spider-man. You can argue that Superman, Batman, or any other but truly Spider-man is the greatest hero because He’s no God, Wins to save, Inspires the masses.

Sure maybe Thor has saved the world more than Spiderman. Maybe Superman beats the strongest villains. But it’s easy to have the will to beat the villain or to save the world when you “feel like you live in a world made of cardboard”. Spiderman is no God, he’s a teenage new yorker. He’s not supposed to do this. His biggest problems should be high school and the drama it comes with but he chooses to get up every day and do the job you aren’t expected to do. Spider-man by far has the greatest willpower out of everyone. Even the green lantern corps. This is clearly shown in Spiderman’s homecoming. When he didn’t have anything to rely on, no stark technology, no Iron man to help. He gathers all the willpower he has to push past his limits and pushes the rubble off of him. Spiderman didn’t get that willpower from the spider but Peter Parker was born with it.

Batman fights every criminal to stop the criminal’s plan or to stop their crime spree. The villains win when Batman dies. Batman can’t kill the villain, Batman has to save the people that the villains threaten to win. Batman saves people to win while Spider-man wins to save people. The classic line uncle ben says to Peter is “with great power comes great responsibility”. I don’t think that line perfectly fits Spiderman, it definitely shows a lot but I think the best line actually comes from the amazing Spider-Man. In that movie Uncle, Ben says “if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things! That’s what’s at stake here. Not a choice. Responsibility”. Spider-man helps everyone he can. He doesn’t scare criminals, he protects the people he swore to protect. He doesn’t save people to thwart the villain’s plan, Spider-man thwarts the villain's plan to save people.

We established that Spiderman is not a God so what is he? Spiderman is an everyday man. He’s an everyman. Spiderman was the first teenage superhero. Sure there was Robin but he’s just a sidekick learning how to be a superhero like Batman. Spiderman never was taught how to be a great superhero. The one real mentor in his life was death, specifically the death of Uncle Ben. Death slapped him and forced him to jump headfirst into being a superhero. His story is about how to become a superhero because he never knew. That’s one of the reasons he’s so relatable because at the end of the day no one knows everything and we like to hide that fact because we want to be seen like we know everything. But we can relate to Spiderman, We can relate to a person not knowing how to do something. Learning how to do it.

Stan Lee says Spiderman wears masks because anyone could be under there anyone could have been bit by the spider. Spiderman isn’t white or black or Asian or heck Spiderman doesn’t have to be a man. You can imagine yourself as Spider-man. Spider-man doesn’t care if he’s fighting aliens to save half the universe or if he’s scaring off bullies to save one little kid. No job is too little for Spiderman. Spiderman inspires people from all walks of life to be better every day. His influence isn’t limited to a comic book page, a television, a phone, a computer, or a movie. Just by helping a person in need, you become just like Spider-man every day. “Everyone can wear the mask, you can wear the mask”