Silly Spider-man question…
- Thread starter Funky
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That’s interesting!
This is the same Raimi who rewrote the character gave Peter organic web-shooters because a high schooler inventing mechanical ones wasn't "realistic". Um...yeah. In a movie about a guy who climbs walls and has a danger-sense.
The bottom line is that Lee and Ditko took steps to keep the character from seeming too creepy, and things like the organic webs and the barbs go against that. Peter looks like a normal guy. His powers aren't creepy or gross, and they just work. It's a basic conceit of the character which one should accept, or move on from.
So, how long until we get a Brundlefly-esque deconstruction of all that, with a creepy and gross Spider-Man which completely misses the point?
CadetTK2386
Sr Member
The current, official explanation in the Comics is:
"Spider-Man's exposure to the mutated spider venom induced a mutagenic, cerebellum-wide alteration of his engrams resulting in the ability to mentally control the flux of interatomic attraction (electrostatic force) between molecular boundary layers. This overcomes the outer electron shell's normal behavior of mutual repulsion with other outer electron shells and permits the tremendous potential for electron attraction to prevail. The mentally controlled sub-atomic particle responsible for this has yet to be identified. "
"Spider-Man's exposure to the mutated spider venom induced a mutagenic, cerebellum-wide alteration of his engrams resulting in the ability to mentally control the flux of interatomic attraction (electrostatic force) between molecular boundary layers. This overcomes the outer electron shell's normal behavior of mutual repulsion with other outer electron shells and permits the tremendous potential for electron attraction to prevail. The mentally controlled sub-atomic particle responsible for this has yet to be identified. "
Thank you
That’s just the explanation from the old OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE entry. Marvel’s current writing and editorial staff don’t have the brain cells to come up with an explanation like that.
To be fair, how much did web-shooters add to being in the films that had them beyond just being comic accurate? They typically don't add any drama or have much to do beyond being an accessory. After having them for so long, especially in film, if he forgets to load them, it makes your hero look even less heroic.
As a matter of fact, the only film that used him loosing his ability to shoot webs effectively was Raimi's film. That was a whole thematic subplot of the second film as Peter was loosing confidence in himself (something that's more character accurate than anything later Spider-Man films have done) and it's actually better because of it.
Setting aside the fact that it helps establish Peter’s intellect (and the buried creativity—and ego—that the spider-bite unleashed), it also avoids that creepy/body horror factor, and is a wee bit more plausible than the organic webs (how does he generate them? Why do they come out of his arms? Does he have to eat all the time? Shouldn’t his forearms look like Popeye’s? Why do the webs project out of his arms at high velocity? What happens to him when he runs out of webbing?).
The mechanical web-shooters, being a fantasy technology, help sidestep some of those questions, and also add in story potential involving their being damaged/Spider-Man running out of cartridges, and their being adjustable for different situations (a fine spray, a thick blob of glue, a strong line or net, etc.).
The whole psychosomatic bit in the second film is just a riff on Spider-Man seemingly losing his powers in the first Lee/Ditko annual, and the organic webs were not at all necessary to that plot point, except maybe as a jokey erectile disfunction riff. Having him generally seem to be losing his other powers (as in the annual) would have worked just as well, had the mechanical web-shooters actually been in the films.
But, at the end of the day, Raimi’s reasoning was “I couldn’t build these things when I was a teenager, so it’s not realistic”, which is rewriting the character. And that’s really the bottom line with so many of these adaptations—rewriting and rethinking the source material. “How much can we throw away?” Instead of “How much can we keep?”.
If I squint, the Raimi films are reasonably on-model, but I still have a laundry list of problems with them. And the subsequent films have gone more and more off the rails. I haven’t even bothered with the two most recent films, despite Spider-Man being my all-time favorite comic character. It’s become abundantly clear that the tail now wags the dog, and the movies can and will do anything they want, with the notion of respecting the source material a distant afterthought. Familiar names stamped onto unrecognizable characters (be it due to legal issues or poor writing) and presented as mass-market “content” for the benefit of a soulless megacorporation. No, thanks. I much prefer the punk-rock artistry of the classic Marvel Bullpen.
I’ll stick to my old comics, thanks.
Ditko’s design is the greatest costume in the history of the genre, but I also love that black suit.
Curious in the next one if hollands suit gets blacked..
gundammrw
Active Member
In the comics I always assumed the soles of his shoes were fairly thin but at the end of the day its one of those things you just need to ignore in the canon for comics and movies to work like how Caps shield just shouldn't work. If it absorbs all vibrations then it should bounce off of things, it should just hit something and then fall straight to the floor.
Ah, but in the comics, the shield is a mix of adamantium and vibranium (with the bulk of its makeup being the former metal, rather than the latter), which gives it enough fantasy-metallurgy-leeway to allow for its unique bouncy-yet-indestructible properties. The movies just said it was fully vibranium, which should indeed absorb all vibrations.
As mentioned above, the organic web shooters have always bothered me for many of the reasons mentioned (then why aren’t the webs coming out of his butt?) Raimi is a dumbass. Just because HE couldn’t build a web shooter in school he just assumes NOBODY else could.
The mechanical web-shooters were often problematic in the comics (damaged, mis-fire, out of fluid, etc…) but it added to the drama.
However, as far as his feet sticking to walls, it’s a reach, but I think I can buy static electricity.
The mechanical web-shooters were often problematic in the comics (damaged, mis-fire, out of fluid, etc…) but it added to the drama.
However, as far as his feet sticking to walls, it’s a reach, but I think I can buy static electricity.
Agree
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