Warning! This post contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home!
The iconic line "With great power comes great responsibility" has been a defining part of Peter Parker's origin story for decades, with Uncle Ben immortalizing it for a new generation in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man—here's how the line is subtly changed in the MCU's MCU appearances of Tom Holland's Spider-Man established the wall-crawler as the Avenger's youngest hero, an inexperienced kid with an unbreakable spirit and much to learn. The MCU skipped Spidey's origin story, as it is well-traversed territory in previous Spider-Man movies. Now that Marvel's Homecoming trilogy has come to an end, it's clear that Peter is only just beginning his journey as the established hero comic book fans know and love.
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy had all the freedom to explore Peter Parker's story from the very beginning, which allowed the first movie to devote plenty of screentime to Peter's classic origin story: being bitten by the radioactive spider, his transformation into a powerful superhero, and the pivotal death of his uncle Ben Parker (Cliff Robertson). Uncle Ben's death had a huge impact on Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, not only because it made him feel guilty for letting the murderer run free, but also because Uncle Ben's famous words defined the entirety of his double life as a superhero.
Tom Holland's MCU debut in Marisa Tomei's Aunt May finally utters, "With great power, there must come great responsibility."
In comparison to Uncle Ben's iconic line from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, the updated versions feel like a mouthful. However, Aunt May's line in No Way Home actually uses the exact same words from the last of the 1962 comic book Amazing Fantasy #15, where it appears as a caption instead of spoken dialog. It makes sense that No Way Home brought back the original line, as the movie serves as a bookend to nearly 20 years of live-action adventures for the web-slinger, and it does so while bringing back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective iterations of Spider-Man.
Aunt May's "great responsibility line" also plays a role in the conclusion of the previous two Spider-Men's stories. When Tom Holland's Peter Parker mentions it, the other two Spideys acknowledge that they also heard it from their respective Uncle Bens. Now, it was their time to teach a younger hero what it meant. In seemingly every universe, the deaths of Peter's loved ones is a constant staple of the hero's origin story. It was only a matter of time before the MCU's own Spider-Man lost everything he had, allowing him to understand the true connection between power and responsibility.
No Way Home manages to include virtually every Spider-Man reference and call-back any Marvel fan could wish for. By this point, Tom Holland's Spider-Man has already experienced a large number of the hero's most famous stories from the comics, but there is still plenty of inspiration to draw from. The MCU has already adapted his adventures with the Avengers, the events of Civil War, the Spider-Verse unleashed and now, Aunt May's "great responsibility" line. Where they go next is wide open, but Spider-Man: No Way Home's post-credits scene has teased an altercation with the black symbiote brought over from Tom Hardy's Venom universe, so Peter's troubles could just be getting started.
