Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Power And Responsibility Are Part Of His Story

I want to talk a bit about Amazing Spider-Man #627-629, with regards to power and responsibility. Spider-Man is, as you may have heard, all about using his power responsibly. Well, we could argue about whether throwing on spandex and leaving criminals webbed to light poles is the most responsible way for him to use his powers, but it's certainly more responsible than some of the alternatives. 

Alternatives represented by the other two players in the story, Juggernaut and Mr. William Nguyen. Though it isn't necessarily his concern, Spider-Man investigates who could trash the Juggernaut. When the guilty party shows up, Spidey throws himself into the mix to save the Juggernaut's life, but also tries to keep Captain Universe from weakening the Juggernaut's restraints. He recognized that this Captain Universe may be a loose cannon, but having the Juggernaut under wraps is a good thing, and it'd be better to keep it that way. During the ensuing battle with Captain Universe, Spider-Man works to keep innocents out of the line of fire. This results in a lot of hit-and-run tactics, trying to keep moving, especially if there are any bystanders nearby (the helicopter pilot, the folks in the gym), and seeking out a deserted spot*. 

Juggernaut has considerably more power than Spider-Man, but has most frequently used it for whatever selfish purpose he has at a given moment. Sometimes his motives are better, as he's tried to look after Black Tom at times when he's been in a bad way, and he's done some good, but mostly it seems he decides he wants something, and walks over or through whoever is in his path. Even when he joined the X-Men, I recall him talking about how part of the appeal was he got to be in a big fight and when it was over, he didn't have any cops or masked types trying to throw him in jail. He was able to come back to a big mansion, have a meal, catch some Zs, and not be hassled. His reasons may have changed over time, but eventually he decided it was more important to be unstoppable, regardless of the cost, than it was to be a good guy. 

But when gifted with even more power, he actually fulfilled the purpose set before him. There wasn't much penalty if he didn't, the Uni-Force would just find someone else, Spider-Man for example. While I imagine Nguyen's book told everyone the Juggernaut saved them from the earthquakes (though it may also have told them his tunneling out of that foundation caused them), Juggernaut wouldn't have known that at the time, so he wasn't doing it to earn accolades. His only gain seemed to be sticking it to Nguyen, showing him that for whatever insults he might hurl at the Juggernaut, Cain Marko still used the Uni-Force better than he did. 

William used the power for revenge for quite some time. He had to be distracted from his obsession with the Juggernaut by Spider-Man, and confronted with evidence of the problem he was supposed to be dealing with before he would hear the Uni-Force telling him what needs to be done. Even then, once he sensed the Juggernaut nearby, he dropped the important work of repairing fractures in plates, and went right back to revenge. By the time he figures out he's used the power poorly, it's gone, and he just has to learn from the experience. 

I'm not sure how the use of the Uni-Force by those two compares to Spider-Man's own experience. It was a long time before the Uni-Force communicated with Spider-Man in any way Spidey could understand, but that was apparently because an energy experiment at the university disrupted Peter's receiving the Uni-Force, so he gained the powers, but for a long time not the knowledge that comes along. So it wasn't a willful ignorance of what the deal was. When he did gain that knowledge, like the Juggernaut, he immediately set to trying to deal with the problem. In his case it was three prototype Sentinels merged into one by Loki, operating under his command to smash a nuclear plant and destroy New York City with radiation. 

A bit different from Juggy's situation, since Spider-Man was only the solution, as opposed to also being the cause. Spider-Man had the Uni-Force for longer than either of the other two, and he spent most of that time in two ways: Fighting villains he had little prior experience with**, or wondering if he should be doing more with the power. With the latter, I believe one of the thoughts that enters his mind was trying to end apartheid, or was it solve world hunger? Maybe both. He can't decide if that's a proper use of his power, or whether it would be going too far. I think it's framed as whether he has the responsibility to do such things with this new, greater power, but it really seems to be as much about if he has the right to do those kinds of things, and if so, how can he choose which actions he should be taking?

Since this is a Marvel comic, it never gets past the hypothetically, but to be fair, Spider-Man was having a hell of a time adjusting to all this power. He was constantly trying to rein himself in, because it was so easy to slip and hit someone harder than he expected, or to react on instinct when he needed to stop and think things through. So maybe that was the answer to what he should do. If he couldn't utilize the power more safely, then he was better off not using it, as he might make things even worse. I don't know if that's what the Spider-writers*** of the day were going for. I'll have to reread those issues and get back to you.  

* I like that Juggernaut's fought Spider-Man enough to know Spidey would try and lure his opponent to a deserted location. 

** This happened during Acts of Vengeance, where the whole idea was the villains switched opponents, expecting this would give them the advantage of surprise. So Spider-Man fought, let's Titania, Goliath, and Dragon-Man in Web of Spider-Man, Trapster, the Brothers Grimm, and TESS-ONE in Spectacular, and Graviton, Magneto, Mr. Fixit, and finally the Tri-Sentinel in Amazing

*** Michelinie on Amazing, Gerry Conway on Spectacular and Web.

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