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Amazing. Ultimate. Spectacular. Spider-Man has been described using many superlatives over the years, and deservedly so. I mean, if I were to ever see a high-flying, wall-crawling, web-spinning, motor-mouth like that, God knows what adjectives I’d be penning next to his name. In fact, no matter the hero, or the medium, seeing their extraordinary feats brought to life is, and always will be, a treat. However, what truly makes Spidey remarkable, what earned him a life-long special place in my heart, isn’t so much so what the red and blue can do, but what lies underneath.
Peter Benjamin Parker. Plain. Common. Ordinary. A man constantly facing an uphill battle, Peter is an individual at life’s mercy, no different than any of us. The biggest obstacles he faces come not in the form of alien symbiotes, pumpkin bombs, or a tentacled mad-scientist, but in the form of a late payment warning in the mail. Not in the form of flying bird-men, but in the form of approaching a girl he likes. Experiencing his story was like peering into my own self. Seeing him constantly facing situations where he took 1 step forward and was pushed back 5, but still relentlessly doing all he could to come out on top, and having full faith that what his beliefs will serve him good, inspired me to do the same in a way no other superhero had ever done for me.
Most comic-book characters only truly become themselves when they don their suits, but Peter does not. His red and blue spandex is, quite literally, a mask over what he truly is. And sure, all superheros have issues and characteristics that are varying nuances of those I have, but that’s all they are; nuances. What made Peter Parker different is that his essence was an all-encompassing mirror of my own and following his story not only showed me the boy I was, but the man I needed to be.
Peter Parker isn’t special because he’s secretly Spider-Man. Spider-Man is special because he’s secretly Peter Parker.
Written by: Adel Naqvi
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