peter parker – My Geek Wisdom

“It always fits… eventually.”

From: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Genre: Movies and Cartoons

Who said it?: Stan Lee

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the 2018 animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The film takes place in a different “universe” and follows Miles Morales, a young pre-teen who is bitten by a genetically modified spider and gains spider-like powers. This universe’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man dies attempting to prevent the multiverse’s destruction and the cataclysm accidentally brings in different Spider-themed heroes into Miles’ universe.

The quote comes right after Spider-man’s/Peter Parker’s death. Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) buys a Spider-Man costume in tribute to the hero. He asks the store owner, who just so happens to be Stan Lee, if he can return it if the size is wrong. This is when Stan Lee delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: Being great isn’t always instantaneous. You generally have to work on it.

“Don’t watch the mouth. Watch the hands.”

From: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Genre: Movies and Cartoons

Who said it?: Peter B. Parker and Miles Morales

The quote is said a couple of times during the film. The first time this happens is when Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) meets and captures Peter B. Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson), a Spider-Man from a different universe. This Peter Parker distracts Miles by talking to him long enough to get free. This is when he delivers the quote.

The second time it’s said is near the climax of the film. Peter B. Parker says he’ll stay behind to stop the device as he has the item needed to deactivate it. It turns out Miles manages to pickpocket him and steal the item. This is when Miles says the quote to Peter B. Parker.

Geek wisdom: Always look at the entire picture and don’t get too distracted by the other things around us. Try to focus on the important things around you.

“If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.”

From: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Tony Stark/Iron Man

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Spider-Man: Homecoming. The film is essentially a reboot of the previous Spider-Man films and, although it was made by Sony Pictures, it was made by Marvel Studios in a licensing deal to allow the Wall Crawler to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Oddly enough, it doesn’t come from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, though.

The quote comes fairly late in the movie. Spider-Man tries to foil an arms deal but something goes wrong and Tony Stark/Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.) has to come in and save the day. Tony tells Peter Parker/Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland) that he’s taking the Spider-Man suit back. Peter pleads to his mentor/idol that he needs the suit. This is when Tony delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: It shouldn’t be the suit that makes the man. It should be the man that makes the suit. It’s kind of fitting that it’s Tony Stark that tells Peter Parker this as, although he’s widely known as Iron Man, he doesn’t have to rely on that suit of armor to fight the good fight. A good person has to have a good heart, code of honor and the will to fight the good fight, not a fancy suit filled with gadgets.

“I believe there’s a hero in all of us…”

From: Spider-Man (specifically, Spider-Man 2)

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Aunt May

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Spider-Man 2, the 2004 film starring Tobey Maguire as the Marvel superhero Spider-Man. The plot has Peter Parker giving up his role as Spider-Man as he has been having difficulty taking on his regular/normal life and balancing it out with his role as protector of New York.

The quote comes from the middle of the film. Aunt May (played by Rosemary Harris) is moving out of her house when Peter drops by to apologize for dropping a bombshell that he part of the reason why Uncle Ben was murdered. Aunt May forgives her nephew and comments that he was brave to do so.

The kid that was helping Aunt May pack recognizes Peter as the man who takes pictures of Spider-Man and asks Peter what happened to the superhero. Aunt May then comments that Spider-Man inspired the kid as well as herself. This is when she delivers the quote and that Spider-Man was an example for us to follow.

Geek wisdom: It may be cliche to say but you don’t need superpowers to be a hero. Heroism is doing the right thing and the brave thing, even when things look hopeless. Being a hero means that you have to keep on fighting when you know what you’re doing is righteous.

“One man can make a difference.” AND “I guess one person can make a difference. ‘Nuff said.”

From: Knight Rider and Spider-Man 3

Genre: Television and Movies

Who said it?: Wilton Knight and Stan “The Man” Lee

The story behind the quote: Okay, this is going to be rather difference as these two quotes have pretty much the same meaning so I’m giving them it’s own entry. The first is Wilton Knight from the hit ’80s television show, Knight Rider. The second is from the prolific comic book legend, Stan “The Man” Lee

The quote was said in Knight Rider during the first episode of the series. When Michael Knight (played by a legend in his own right, David Hasslehoff)

gets his new identity, he meets up with Wilton Knight, the man who rescued him. Wilton, while on his death bed, pleads to Michael to use KITT (a highly sophisticated car equipped with gadgets and a rather advanced AI) to fight crime because he feels that, even though he is one person, he can still change the world for the better.

The second quote is much more recent as it came from the 2007 superhero movie, Spider-Man 3. As Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire) walks along Times Square, he sees a news flash saying that Spider-Man will receive the key to the city. It just so happens that, as he stopped to read the news bulletin, Peter Parker was standing next to Stan Lee. Stan Lee then turns to Peter and delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: We sometimes feel helpless and that whatever we do will not have an impact in the world. However, we can still influence the world around us. Even if it is the smallest change, we are still making an impact on the world. The only time when we won’t make a difference in the world is if we don’t even attempt to make an impact on the world. The point is, we have to keep on trying.

“We are who we choose to be!”

From: Spider-Man (2002)

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Norman Osborn/Green Goblin

The story behind the quote: The Spider-Man film that was released in 2002 was both a critical and financial hit. And it came at a very opportune time since it was released at a time when superhero films were hitting a slump in terms of ticket sales.

The film tells the story of Peter Parker and how he was given the abilities of a spider, enabling him to become the superhero known as Spider-man. However, his best friend’s father, Norman Osborn, performs an experiment on himself and, while it does give him enhanced strength, speed and agility, it also drive Osborn mad and takes on the guise of the Green Goblin.

In his quest to destroy Spider-man, the Green Goblin kidnaps Peter’s girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson and a cable car full of children. The Green Goblin threatens to drop them both from the top of the Queensboro Bridge and says Spider-man must have to choose who to save. While Spider-man pleads for the villain to not go through with it, the Goblin delivers the quote and releases them.

(Sorry for the obviously poor quality of the clip; it was the only one I could find online.)

Geek wisdom: The quote is pretty ironic since this doesn’t only apply to Spider-man, but also to the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn actually had the choice to become a force for good but he decided to take the darker path. Spider-man, while he initially used his new powers selfishly, he changed his ways because of his Uncle Ben’s death… which he could have saved earlier.

Even though it may seem that fate might push us to do bad, we always have the choice to do the right thing.

“Face it, tiger… you just hit the jackpot!”

From: Spider-Man

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Mary Jane Watson

The story behind the quote: Wow, when it comes to comics, I seem to either go to Batman or Spider-Man… but this is a bit different since it isn’t the hero that gives the quote. Rather, it’s the love interest of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson.

We have to get into a lot of backstory regarding this quote to really get the full impact of the wisdom from it. Prior to her first (official) appearance in the comics, she was just this faceless girl that Aunt May kept on trying to set Peter Parker up for a date (initially mentioned in Amazing Spider-Man #15). Peter kept blowing it off since he assumed that, since his aunt liked her so much, he wouldn’t really like her. This actually kept on for a really long time and it became somewhat of running joke of the series.

Finally, in Amazing Spider-Man #42 (around two years after she was initially mentioned), Peter does meet Mary Jane, who turns out to be a bombshell of a red-head who jokingly mentions how lucky he is.

Geek wisdom: You shouldn’t be afraid to try new things once in a while. Sure there’s going to be a chance that the experience is awful. However, unless you try it, you’ll never know if its something that’s plain god-awful or something given from God. Imagine if Peter Parker never met Mary Jane. He wouldn’t have had met the love of his life. Remember, you may hit the jackpot, too, if you try something new.

“My Spider-Sense is tingling!”

From: Spider-man

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Spider-man

The story behind the quote: One of the most popular, yet misunderstood, powers of Peter Parker/Spider-man is his Spider Sense, mostly because the hero himself doesn’t know how it works as well. In general, this ability gives him the ability to feel danger. One of the problems of this is that it doesn’t really tell him what the danger is. It could be as simple as a punch coming at him while he’s fighting a bad guy but it also could manifest if his secret identity is also in danger of being exposed. However, even with this small drawback, it has been really useful in saving his butt in a lot of instances.

Spider-man has been able to use this in conjunction with the Spider Tracers he’s invented. Initially, the tracers would have to be tracked by a small device he carried. However, in later stories, he managed to adapt the tracers to work with his Spider Sense. So, while it’s still a mystery on how it works exactly, the Web Head does have some sort of handle on it.

Geek wisdom: Actually, if you really think about it, we all have this ability (even if we haven’t been bitten by a radioactive spider). It’s called a gut feeling. We’ve all felt at one time or another to go against conventional logic and just go with our instincts and what feels right. Realistically, sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. However, the point is it does pay off from time to time!

Against all logic and reason, your gut feeling is correct sometimes. The point here is that while logic is good and all, sometimes we gotta go with our instincts.

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

From: Spider-man

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Uncle Ben

The story behind the quote: Although the quote is usually attributed to Peter Parker/Spider-man’s Uncle Ben, this is actually wasn’t true in the first appearance of the web-head in Amazing Fantasy #15. In the original version of the story by Stan Lee, this was the moral lesson that Peter Parker took away since he let a mugger get away and this same mugger killed his Uncle Ben. If he only stopped the man earlier, his uncle wouldn’t have died. Also, the original quote was actually “With great power, there also must also come… great responsibility.”

Later versions of Spidey’s origin revised the story. The story now is Uncle Ben would usually tell a young Peter Parker this lesson while he was alive and Peter Parker would remember this. These revisions also shorten the quote to the current version, which comes off as more poetic.

Geek wisdom: A lot of people think that, once they have some form of power, they can usually laud it over people and abuse it. History has a lot of people showing them becoming corrupted because of great power: Napoleon and Hitler are just a couple to name a few. Even in a small scale, we do see powerful people beat down on the weaker ones. Bullies, abusive spouses, and corrupt politicians are just a few examples of the kinds of people we see every day that use their power the wrong way.

“With great power comes great responsibility” has a simple meaning; if you have the ability to do something, make sure that you do it for the good of others. Highly admired people like Ghandi and Ninoy Aquino have done things that follow the spirit of this message. If you can stop something bad from happening, do it. You don’t have to be a superhero to follow those words of geek wisdom. It’s possible to do small actions that have a big impact in the world.