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Unpopular opinion: It actually isn't Peter's fault that Uncle Ben was murdered

posted 2 years ago by TMC-4 (19416)
4 replies | jump to latest

At least pertaining to the general "with great power, comes great responsibility" concept of Spider-Man's origin story. Peter at the time of Uncle Ben's death, didn't or couldn't have really known the full extent of his spider-powers. All that we know for context, is that he defeated a professional wrestler, when he otherwise shouldn't or couldn't have.

Peter isn't as of yet, out there playing a vigilante, so it isn't like stopping criminals is in his personal wheel-house or whatever you want to call it. It's within justifiable reason, that any sensible person, would allow matters such as armed robbery in the hands of the police.

And yet, we're asking a kid, I mean literally a kid, who isn't even bulletproof, to go after a criminal, when that's not even a job or duty that he's signed or trained to do. Peter couldn't have possibly known or suspected that his uncle was going to be caught in the crossfire (both literally and figuratively).

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7401) 2 years ago

I disagree. The whole point in both the comic and this is that if he stopped the robber, his Uncle Ben would have lived. Of course that was ruined in Spider-Man 3 where if Peter stopped him, Flint Marko would've been startled by Peter and still killed Uncle Ben. Though a huge difference between this movie and the comic is that Peter wasn't wronged by anyone in the original comic. He simply didn't stop the robber because he didn't think it was his job to do so.

[–] punkrockgirl (1153) 2 years ago

I don't know if that's an "unpopular opinion" necessarily. it isn't peter's fault that there was a criminal on the loose that chose to shoot his uncle, but in a way it is his fault that Uncle Ben died because he did not try to stop the killer. While he could've prevented it, his attempt may have not guaranteed the man to not get away.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7401) 2 years ago

It's too bad like I said in other topics that they retconned it so that even if Peter stopped the robber, Flint Marko might have still gotten startled and shot him. Just with Peter startling him because he sees him pointing a gun at his Uncle Ben and tells him to get away from him. I have no interest in a Spider-Man 4 with Raimi after that happened.

[–] punkrockgirl (1153) 2 years ago

Reading back on my previous comment, I'd like to add something. I had considered this before, that Peter was not really at fault even if he seemed to be but came to the conclusion that the blame can be placed on him and others.

As for Spider-Man 3, it's one of the many problems with that film. I think it almost ruins the "lesson" of the first movie when Uncle Ben dies. Peter taking the responsibility. There's a lot I could say about the third Spider-Man movie. That isn't entirely Sam Raimi's fault since he had little creative control with Spider-Man 3. Still, he made the calls with the storylines he wrote.