“Pete look, you're changing.
I know, I went through exactly the same thing at your
age.”
“No.
Not exactly”
An awkward teenage boy grows muscles overnight,
discovers how to shoot a sticky white substance out of his body
and starts feeling like a big, adult hero.
Is the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man story
really just about a superhero teen --
or is this all actually a romanticized metaphor for male puberty?
“What happened to your voice?”
[Spider-Man muffled] “What do you mean what happened to my voice?”
“I heard you by the bridge, I know what a girl sound like.”
“I’m not a girl, I’m a boy!
I mean, I’m a-- I’m a man!”
“I know it’s really hard to fit in,
with all the changes your body is going through.
It’s flowering now.”
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In Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man,
Peter is bitten by the genetically modified spider
right after interacting with his crush.
So it’s almost like this bite is a symbolic erection --
it happens as Peter is having these feelings of lust
and it triggers an intense physical reaction.
Later, he learns to shoot webs --
and we’re not the first to observe that this substance could be a stand-in for
semen.
[Whispers] “How far can you shoot your webs?”
Be warned that seeing Spider-Man as a puberty metaphor
will definitely change your experience of these movies.
“I see the web, and it’s his signature,
and I know Spider-Man was here.”
We tend to think of spiders as being creepy-crawlies --
but being Spider-Man is a cool, masculine version of the spider thing
“Easy, bug boy.”
And likewise the Spider-Man story makes puberty, which often feels horrifying,
into something aspirational and exciting.
“Yeah!
A kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands!”
Peter has a lot of fun experimenting with his new ability
to produce this white substance -
[Offscreen robotic woman] “Web grenade.”
[Peter] “Web grenade!!”
and while we usually think of having fun with yourself in your room as kind of embarrassing,
Peter makes it into something badass.
Real teen boys have to contend with things like acne, B.O.,
and awkward facial hair during puberty.
But in the Spider-Man story, a fun side-effect of Peter’s mutation is
that he actually becomes more attractive and athletic.
In the 2002 Spider-Man, his vision improves,
so he no longer needs to wear glasses,
he bulks up conveniently without having to lift a single weight.
[Offscreen woman] “Any better this morning?
Any change?”
“Change?
Yeah, big change.”
So all this plays on the fantasy that,
at the height of our physical awkwardness,
we could magically turn into the most gorgeous or confident versions of
ourselves.
“Wow!
Great reflexes.”
You could say it’s the male version of the ugly duckling/makeover story
that’s often aimed at teen girls.
It’s also significant that Peter’s love interest
develops a crush on Spider-Man,
and she doesn’t realize this is actually Peter,
“Oh my God, she's crushing on Spider-Man.”
“No way.”
[Hesitatingly] “Kind of…”
This girl is drawn to post-puberty Peter.
“He’s saved my life twice and I’ve never even seen his face.”
“You’re the Spider...Ling?
Crime-fighting spider?
You’re Spider-Boy?”
“S-Spider-Man.”
Peter Parker’s transformation into Spider-Man isn’t just physical --
it’s also about developing an adult masculinity.
Spider-Man explores this process through father figures,
or their absence.
“No really, where is he?
Where’s my dad?
He didn’t think it was his responsibility to be here and tell me this himself?”
Peter doesn’t have an actual dad who’s around in the Spider-Man movies.
Instead, he may have a father figure he can’t fully open up to
“I know I’m not your father.”
“Then stop pretending to be!”
or who he wants to be just like, even though he’s not there yet.
“I just wanted to be like you.”
“And I wanted you to be better.”
Peter also comes up against some negative examples
of what it means to be a man.
“And those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose
of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders.”
“And I... will be like a god to them.”
For Peter, defeating these bad guys is rejecting negative models of masculinity
“Peter, you're young.
You don't understand how the world works.”
“Yeah, but I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong!”
He’s trying hard to figure out for himself how to become a man.
“Maybe he's too embarrassed to tell me what it is.
Maybe I'm too embarrassed to ask him”
Peter’s story reflects how growing into your manhood can be lonely,
“I know you sneak out of this house every night.
That's not fine.
Peter, you have to tell me what's going on!”
and is something you largely have to do on your own,
even if you do have better models than Peter does.
In the end, he has to father himself
and create his own ideal of what he thinks adult masculinity should look
like:
earnest and sweet, not aggressive or power-hungry,
light-hearted and not taking oneself too seriously,
“Sup guys!
Got your PIN number?”
and most of all, always showing up in times when you’re needed.
“Someone’s gotta look out for the little guy, right?”
The Spider-Man story has a lot in common with Captain America: The First Avenger --
like Peter, Steve Rogers starts out as a scrawny but morally good person,
before he’s transformed into a strong, buff version of himself.
“How do you feel?”
“Taller.”
This physical change is necessary for him to become a superhero,
but the core identity that makes him Captain America
was there all along -- in his good heart.
“You will stay you are: Not a perfect soldier;
A great man.”
“Peter Parker, if there's one thing you are, it's good.”
If this is a story about puberty,
it’s underlining that puberty isn’t just about the physical changes
and being able to get girls --
it’s also about developing emotionally into the adult identity
you want to present to the world.
“Peter... these are the years when a man changes into the man
he's gonna become the rest of his life.”
And Spider-Man -- like Captain America --
emphasizes that this means holding onto the essence of who you are,
while evolving into the best version of yourself.
“I'm nothing without this suit.”
“If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it.”
For Peter, that best self is sincere, sensitive, heartfelt,
and makes sacrifices for the greater good.
“Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words:
With great power, comes great responsibility.”
But in the end, it’s also okay for Peter
to take his time growing up,
“Stay close to the ground.
Build up your game helping the little people.”
because we don’t have to be in such a rush to be adults overnight.
“You can’t treat me like a kid all the time.
It’s not cool!”
“But you are a kid.”
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