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Character Spotlight: Spider-Man

Spider-Man showed me my future self as a teenager.

By Don Anderson IIPublished 5 years ago 2 min read
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Seeing Spider-Man as a kid was like looking in a mirror that showed me years later as a teenager.

When I found out that Stan Lee died, I was really sad because I really wanted to meet him, but at the same time, I couldn't help but notice how happy I was getting. He left a legacy of his work behind for the world, continuing to remember him by, and I realized that there are some characters that people relate to. My older brother relates to Iron Man and a good friend of mine relates to Thor, but for me, I have and always will relate to Spider-Man.

When I was a kid my dad introduced me to the character of Spider-Man when we watched the cartoon that came out in 1994. The only thing that I remembered was the theme song, but at eight years old, the live-action Spider-Man movie came out with Tobey Maguire in 2002. I thought it was awesome, but I still didn't fully understand the character yet.

Two years later Spider-Man 2 hit theaters, and I still didn't understand the character fully, but I was catching on because I ended up inheriting some of his personalities that I didn't become aware of until I was a teenager.

I was becoming more awkward with people, and I'm pretty smart, but I'm not a scientist or anything—plus, I ended up wearing glasses and a lot of people were comparing me to Spider-Man because of how awkward I am. But I like to make a lot of jokes when I'm hiding something about myself... I even learned that Spider-Man wears a mask to not only protect his loved ones, but he also wears the mask to hide his fear from his enemies.

After Tobey Maguire played Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield got the mantle of Spidey and I was already excited when I heard about it because he is one of my favorite actors. But I wasn't sure about the movie itself, though, so I still saw it on my birthday and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Ever since The Amazing Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield has been my favorite Spider-Man. In fact, I thought he was the best one. I know this makes me a little biased, but it was like I saw myself, and while everyone is all over Tom Holland as Spidey (I'll admit that he's growing on me), I'm still considering Andrew as the best Spider-Man.

I'll always be Peter Parker, but most importantly, I'll always have the heart of Spider-Man, and what makes me appreciate the character more is that he has normal problems like an everyday person. He has to find a way to come out on top every chance he gets, and I can relate to something like that, especially when it comes to his love life since it's hard for him to be normal. He's Spider-Man, after all.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created such a relatable character that I still find it hard to believe how close I feel to the character of Peter Parker/Spider-Man—and what's even crazier is that my friend's kids will know who Stan Lee is and their kid's kids will know who he is, too. He left an entire world of characters that we can all look and relate to.

superheroes
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About the Creator

Don Anderson II

Movies, memoirs, music lover, graduate of community college, and university

Quiet writer but I'm sure my stories from years ago are still of interest

Tips are welcomed

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