Spider-Man's Reign Built on Relatability, Not Superpowers
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- "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is likely to become the top-grossing movie of all time, the essay contends, despite the author's view that it is merely a "solid and well-executed adventure"
- "Spider-Man: No Way Home" grossed $814 million in the U.S. alone at the end of 2021, overcoming comic-book-movie fatigue through a reunion of Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire
- Tom Holland now owns the role of Peter Parker "even more than Tobey Maguire did," while Andrew Garfield looked "glum and a bit lost" in his sub-par franchise chapter
- Christopher Reeve's first two "Superman" films remain the most perfect live-action embodiment of a superhero ever filmed, the essay argues
- Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is called the greatest comic-book movie ever made because Batman — the only superhero with no powers — uniquely "speaks to our alienation"
- Spider-Man succeeds because of "relatability" — Peter Parker starts as an ordinary high schooler whose spider-bite symptoms resemble the onset of puberty
- Peter Parker is described as the perfect "spiritual fusion" of Superman's optimism and Batman's masked, furtive trauma — a mirror for "these scary days of American turmoil"
Why it matters: For Hollywood studios chasing the next billion-dollar superhero property, the essay reframes 50 years of comic-book cinema around a counterintuitive thesis: audiences in an anxious era gravitate toward a hero who mirrors their own discombobulation rather than transcending it. Spider-Man's relatability, not his Olympian powers, is what positions 'Brand New Day' to surpass every film ever made at the box office.
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