Spider-Man, Class and Militarization in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

I go full freakin breadtube feral in this one, sorry lmao! I grew up loving Spider-Man, and I still enjoy the MCU films, but that SJW loser in me just has to find something to complain about! Also Iron Man. He is in it. It's just...you know how quarantine can be. I spent a weekend obsessively rewatching all the Spider-Man films as well as tv shows including, of course, all Tobey McGuire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland films. I watched...8 Spider-Man films, and then the Avengers and all that other stuff. And I came out like...the world needs to hear my opinions LMAO! I can't control where my focus goes. I have no control. I have no idea what is happening ever. Who knows if they'll all be in Spider-Man: No Way Home together...but they certainly are all in this video! Support my patreon lol!

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[samquik]

Wow, I always knew that Tony was kinda manipulating Peter but when you worded it that way... he really did blackmail a child into working in his private army lol

[pierresosa]

"If the rich didn't have all the money, where would we even put it? My girl jeans don't even have pockets."
HA HA HA HA HA. Solid. Perfection. More!

[katherinemorelle]

You have definitely put your finger on why I don’t like this new Spider-Man anywhere near as much. Tom Holland is adorable, I love Zendaya as MJ, and I don’t even mind the hot Aunt May.

But the lack of him being a working class hero does hurt. I loved the Tobey Maguire movies. That train scene is my favourite of all Spider-Man movie scenes. I love the working class solidarity.

This Spider-Man, as much as I want to pinch his little cheeks, just doesn’t do that for me.

[pythonjava]

You've actually describes why I dislike elon musk. He's a guy who regularly takes ALL of the credit for the work done by his employees and in return his employees are forced to work during a pandemic, prevented from unionising and can be fired at their boss' discretion

[noahjameson]

I totally agree. It didn’t make sense for them to re-establish a father figure for him when a lot of messaging in previous renditions were about him having to provide for himself and his aunt without a father figure. Dialogue in the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie made this very clear when green goblins identity is revealed to be Dr Osborne (a character not unlike Mr Stark)
“I’ve been like a father to you.”
“I had a father, his name was Ben Parker, ”
This shows Peters unwillingness to let someone else take over that role. Instead of getting a new ‘father’ he has to support himself now. Thats the way it’s always been.

[amiera]

For anyone who didn't know, this is exactly what Marx meant when he talked about capitalism meaning that art and media will always morph into the rich's ideologies, which even affects our individual art :)

[redactedredacted]

I'm really not a fan of MCU Peter's storyline and it's nice to be validated.

[joyuna]

Now I'm imagining the plotline we COULD HAVE had, where Peter realizes that Stark is leaving this string of minor villains in his wake wherever he goes. The allure of Iron Man swooping in and saving his family from poverty is potent, a little too potent, but after a couple of movies he finally realises what's going on and has to make a choice. The student has to face his teacher, Tony's death is not just Peter losing a mentor but even more bittersweet because he's losing his mentor-turned-enemy that never had a chance to make amends. Maybe he dissolves Stark Industries on his deathbed, or turns it worker-owned or something. And not that Spiderman's going to defeat capitalism in one fell swoop, but I get a nice vicarious thrill from Marvel's Elon Musk going down.



I guess what I'm trying to say is... Send anticapitalist Spiderman fic pls

[harrypottero]

I never realized how sinister the changes to this plot were....

[Donovaneagle]

I would also like to point out that Stark basically forces Peter, a poor, working class kid, to fight someone who also started out as a poor working class kid, Steve Rogers. In the comics Cap's lofty morals came from him being lower class and how his father took out his frustrations on being denied work for being Irish out on his family. So why is Peter not drawn in by Cap's side? Other than Cap would be morally opposed to dragging a child into the fight?

[juls_krsslr]

Dressing for dinner? Haha... I'm eating dinner on the sofa, watching this video, wearing yoga clothes. I didn't realize that the US military had an influence over movie scripts, but I'm not surprised. Very interesting.

[andreallanos]

This finally explained to me why I was so unsatisfied w the new Spiderman film's conflict
Spiderman defeated the villains but only through violence, and not by proving them wrong, both the vulture and mysterio won in an ideological way, Peter really is just a cop now

[mimipeahes]

Wish the fandom like, acknowledged this an any shape or form! Instead i will have to slog through hundreds of “Team Tony was Right” fics i guess woo!

[princessjellyfish]

This video is so refreshing! I'm a massive MCU fan and I find the moral cognitive dissonance in a lot of the films really tonally confusing but also incredibly fascinating. It's so strange to watch a film like Captain Marvel, where the plot surrounds colonialist aliens systematically oppressing another group of aliens who are clearly migrants?? And then the hero of the film escapes that colonialist society to help the migrant aliens by returning to Earth and fondly remembering her past...in the US military??? The two sides of that film in particular are so obviously at odds with each other, it makes you wonder how it got military approval in the first place (I mean all the gross ads certainly do help them I guess). Tony Stark as a character really epitomizes this idea, since every time he learns a lesson in these movies, or is faced with an alternative perspective to his own, whether it's a Spider-Man villain, or a genocidal robot that HE created, or even the other Avengers, the way his story ends in Endgame essentially vindicates him and his actions. I'm excited to see if any of the future films under somewhat new creative direction (now that the Russo Brothers are out) decide to address his character at all. Far From Home certainly chose to sanctify him, even though that movie also has him giving a superweapon kill satellite to a child?? The exact same type of satellite that Captain America spent an entire movie trying to shut down?? Idk where this comment is going but thanks for sparking my brain on this topic with your great video <3

[jimmymagma]

the only spider man media ive consumed has been the mcu. i never realised how integral class is to his character. thank you for this video!!

[darklessian]

I always read into the "Spidey Sense" power as an adaptation of a spider's ability to see around them with all of their pairs of eyes. Kinda like the "have eyes in the back of your head" adage, but more metaphysicially than having tons of eyes.

Spiders have tons of eyes, some of which detect things above and behind them. Some chelicerates, like scorpions, have an eye on their tail that can only detect UV light!

[CharlotteEarney]

literally watched far from home the other day and the whole time was just shocked at the absolute neglect and mistreatment of a literal child spiderman in that movie. of course, he's always had his personal struggles, but they felt within his agency, but in that he just felt at the whim of adults the whole time. he was given military equipment with no briefing or training or even context. What an absolute mess (love all the cast though they did a good job, just a very flawed concept)

[verilybitchie]

Some of you are asking my opinion of Spider-Man: No Way Home. I don't like to talk about videos while I'm working on them so all I'll say is...check back here soon 👀

[SciSarhan]

Went off on a rant about the uncomfortable ramifications of literal child soldier Peter Parker just the other day and delighted in getting recommended this video that articulates it so perfectly. Also I hope you had thermals on under that Spider-girl suit! Braving the cold in spandex for a video essay... truly braver than any US marine...

[upchuckles]

That's to say nothing of the parallel between Tony Stark manipulating a child into joining a private army and the actual tactics used by actual military recruiters on actual children.