Warning: Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #74!
In Superman’s first DCEU movie might have been divisive on its own, but with Spider-Man taking a fairly contentious moment from that film and applying it to his own story, the significance of Spidey’s iconic catchphrase takes on a whole new potential meaning.
Touched on in the second story of The Amazing Spider-Man #74, “In Memory,” by Christos Gage and Todd Nauck, comes after the epic conclusion of Nick Spencer’s massive Kindred Saga which also happens to double as the final story of his long and winding Spider-Man run as well. Slowing things down a bit as a plain-clothed Peter Parker pays his respects to the late and great Uncle Ben, Peter is met at Ben’s grave by one of Ben’s old acquaintances from years ago and strikes up a conversation with the man in the process.
Introducing himself as Dave Sullivan, or Sully as he likes to call himself, recounts a point in his life where Uncle Ben offered a helping hand while he was at his lowest, only to eventually be saved by the kind actions and words Ben instilled in him during these tough times years and years down the road. Drawing attention to an important quote that Peter might have been misunderstanding for years, Sully touches on Uncle Ben’s habit of “always talking about responsibility,” while simultaneously giving fans a parallel moment to what a young Clark Kent goes through with his own parental figure during the events of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel film.
Telling Peter all the amazing and selfless things his Uncle Ben used to do to help the community around him, Sully continues by saying, “And sometimes, when we’d get to talking, he’d wonder whether he could’ve given you and May a better life if he’d focused more. Worked harder, fought for promotions. Stuff that wasn’t really him, but…He wondered if all the helping was a way of running away from his responsibilities,” Sully gives Peter pause as to whether he’s “had it wrong this whole time” referring to his famous motto.
Much like how in the DCEU's Man of Steel film where Superman was controversially told by his father, Jonathan Kent, that it might be better if he doesn’t help people in cases where it risks his secret identity, Peter struggles with the idea that Ben might have bestowed his iconic saying on him with the hopes that Peter would spend more time with his family, not helping random people and avoiding his real responsibilities. Just like a young Clark experienced in his own way in Man of Steel, Sully flipping what Peter’s always believed and lived by on its head is an interaction that makes him rethink his superhero career, and acts as a controversial moment for a hero that only wants to use his power for the greater good.
So while Peter concludes by the story’s end that Ben’s tagline always meant that he should help the people around him — strangers or otherwise — if he has the power to do so, this conversation brings up some valid points about what the quote originally might have meant. The Man of Steel film might have controversially stopped Superman from doing all he could with his powers at first, but as with Spider-Man, the heroic intentions of both characters eventually trumps all.
