James Meehan - 3 Reasons Spider-Man is One of the Greatest Super Heroes of All Time
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Spider-Man is one of the most successful and popular superheroes of all time, and for really good reason. Like when he was introduced, he broke the superhero mold in significant ways. And since then, he has faced off against memorable villains, had tons of deep and emotional character moments, and time and time again, he has overcome the odds to save the day, which has cemented himself as everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Now here's the question I wanna answer today, why is Spider-Man so awesome? Like, stop and about it for just a minute.
If you just look at him on paper, he doesn't really seem like a character with a winning formula, like he's a regular teenager, which, you know, I love teenagers, but there's a lot of them, what makes him special? He gets bit by a radioactive spider and then he develops spider like powers and calls himself Spider-Man. Compare him to Superman, Superman's like a really cool hero, right? He's an alien refugee from a far off planet, he's devoted his life to protecting not just the neighborhood, but the world, he is super in every sense of the word. He can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, he's invulnerable. And one time, he flew around the world so fast and so many times that he literally reversed time. Spider-Man has the powers of a spider, you know, the bug that most people hate, so much so that they pay people to spray their houses to get rid of them. And yet Spider-Man has outsold Superman in just about every single category, why?
I wanna give you three reasons Spider-Man is one of the greatest superheroes of all time. Are you ready for them? Reason number one, Spider-Man is the hero most deserving of a happy ending, and he almost never gets one, but he never loses his way. He suffers and struggles more than just about anyone and he never gives up hope. Like some characters have plot armor, Spider-Man has whatever the opposite of that is. Like if you've seen the movies or read the comics, you know that over and over again, the dude just gets messed up and left out to dry, but he's still a hero at the end of the day. That's reason number one. Reason number two is that Spider-Man's entire character arc is about learning how to use his power responsibly. That's why the quote, "With great power comes great responsibility," is so significant to his storyline, because he's a regular teenager given superhero powers, and he's gotta figure out what to do with those powers.
Which is why I think any Spider-Man story that involves the Venom Symbiote suit is extra good, because there Spider-Man gets even more power than he's ever had before. And he has to wrestle with can he use that much power responsibly? And eventually he figures it out. He figures out how to use his powers, not just to serve himself, but to serve others. And the third reason I think Spider-Man is one of the greatest heroes of all time is that he will never sacrifice the one to save the many. He always tries to save both, even if it means sacrificing himself, that's the kind of hero he is. And here's my favorite thing about all of this, is that Spider-Man's most heroic qualities are a reflection of Jesus's character. Like the things that make Spider-Man, Spider-Man, are the same things that make Jesus so compelling.
Jesus is the only person who has ever lived, who never did anything to hurt another person or disobey God. He is the most deserving figure in history to get a happy ending. But his life ended with one friend betraying him, his best friend denying him, and the rest of his friends abandoning him before he was tortured and killed on a cross. Not only that, but Jesus understands what it means to use power responsibly, he is God in human form. He had all the power in the world, in the universe, but he never just used it to serve himself, he used it to save the world. And the other thing about Jesus is that he also will never sacrifice the one just to save the many. Well, I guess unless that one is himself. Because the way that Jesus saved the world, the way that Jesus made it possible for you and me to be forgiven of our sins and experience a new life with God was by sacrificing himself on the cross so that we could be saved.
See, all of Spider-Man's greatest and most heroic qualities are all a reflection of Jesus's character. So here's the thing, when you watch Spider-Man, I want you to look for those things, I want you to see how the things that make him a hero are the same things that make Jesus so worth following. Quick shout out, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is by far the best Spider movie to see all three of these pillars perfectly at work in the character And I'm not gonna spoil it, I'm just gonna tease it out for you. If you think about Spider-Man's three antagonists in that movie, each of them represents what happens when Spider-Man falls short in one of these three ways.
So next time you watch it, check it out. But all of that being said, Spider-Man is a really awesome superhero because of how his heroic qualities reflect the character of Jesus. Because Jesus is somebody who always used his power to serve others, Jesus is somebody who deserved good things happening to him, but allowed bad things to happen to him so that good things could be given to us, and Jesus never sacrificed the one to save the many, but he sacrificed himself to save the world. So why is Spider-Man so awesome? Yes, great writing. Yes, good dialogue. Yes, awesome villains. But more than anything, I think it's because of the way that Spider-Man's most heroic qualities reflect the character of Jesus. Well, if you liked this video then make sure to check out some other videos from our "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," series, I think it'll be helpful for you.