It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since the release of Captain America: Civil War. The 2016 film was a major turning point for the MCU as the Avengers are torn apart by the creation of the Sokovia Accords, which would basically force superheroes to sign with the government if they wanted to continue. While Tony Stark is for them, Captain America opposes them, with the sides soon drawn.
The movie was notable for two big MCU debuts. First was Black Panther, played by the late, great Chadwick Boseman. The second, of course, was Spider-Man. After years stuck under Sony ownership, Peter Parker finally made the jump into the MCU, played by Tom Holland. It was a spark that led to the highly successful MCU Spider-Man films.
In a special anniversary retrospective with CBR, Joe Russo, who wrote and directed the film with brother Anthony, discussed how the Disney-Sony deal was literally signed the day before Holland arrived on set, which meant more secrecy just in case things went wrong.
The movie has Peter already fighting crime as Spider-Man, skipping his classic origin story. Notably, his later films likewise skipped that origin completely. However, a notable part of the discussion (added via Comic Book Movie) was Russo stating that they went in with the idea that, rather than being killed by a thief, Peter’s Uncle Ben died in an accident that wasn’t Peter’s fault.
“Spider-Man was one of my favourite characters growing up, if not my favourite. And what I related to was this idea of a kid with incredible responsibility, right? And I think you could manifest that responsibility through accidental death, right? And feeling the pressure, and the sense of loss in your life in a way that would keep the spirit that we wanted. "[But] what Tom Holland is as an actor, if he blamed himself for his Uncle Ben's death, I think he becomes a very different character. So in our minds, no, he wasn't responsible for Uncle Ben's death. That would have been a different interpretation. A more intense interpretation of the character."
Russo is right in that this would be a radical interpretation for Spider-Man and some may argue it would be a bad one.
Why Spider-Man needs his tragic origin
The origin of Spider-Man remains one of the greatest Stan Lee ever came up with. After gaining his powers from a radioactive spider bite, Peter uses his abilities to gain fame. That goes to his head as he lets a thief run by him, figuring it’s not his problem. After his beloved Uncle Ben is killed, Peter tracks down the gunman only to find it was the same thief and had he stopped him before, he’d have saved Ben’s life.
It implanted into Peter his mantra “with great power comes great responsibility.” That guilt is what drives him on and both the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies used it well. It’s understandable that the Russos wanted to avoid redoing the origin once again when everyone knows it so we didn’t need to see Ben’s death once more.
However, to say that Ben just died in an accident robs Spider-Man of some of the magic that made the character work. In the comics and most forms of media, that guilt over his actions is what drives Peter to risk his life constantly and take on so much. It’s a major part of his psychology, explaining why he can’t quit being Spider-Man and shouldering perhaps too much responsibility than he can handle, but always trying.
Without that in the MCU, Peter’s reasons for becoming Spider-Man aren’t so important. It sounds more like he treats crime-fighting as a lark rather than the duty he assumes in the comics. Holland is a fine actor and could have handled the pathos of Peter well. Instead, it's just a quirky high schooler with powers who does want to do the right thing without the same determination fans know. It simply seems that without Ben’s murder and Peter’s part in it, it’s not truly Spider-Man.
No Way Home tried to fill that gap with Aunt May who is dying and that may play into Brand New Day. It does explain a few things about how different the MCU Spider-Man is and while it’s a different direction, fans may believe that taking away some of that responsibility doesn’t make the MCU Spider-Man as compelling as other versions.
Captain America: Civil War streaming on Disney+.
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