First Steps brings to the love to the Fantastic Four

 I am old enough to remember when the Fantastic Four was more important than the Avengers. (Although I am not old enough to remember when the Fantastic Four was more important than the X-Men lol) 

So, when I finally sat down to watch Fantastic Four: First Steps, I did have some emotional investment in the team, even though I haven’t read a Fantastic Four comic book in years.

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers 

Spoilers 

First of all, let me say that I have seen neither the 1994 or the 2015 films. And, while I have seen the 2005 and 2007 films, the only thing I liked about them was Michael Chiklis. 

Second, personally, I think a movie needs to be able to stand by itself and that it shouldn’t require familiarity with the material. I have enjoyed plenty of exceptions to that rule, but I still think it’s a good rule.

All of that said, I felt that First Steps was the most fun I had had in an MCU movie in a long time. I’m not saying it’s the best or the most emotionally moving or the most important. Just the most fun. I also felt that it stood on its own and you didn’t have to have seen any of the other 30 odd movies to understand it.

(Okay, Deadpool & Logan was more fun but the Deadpool films are their own weird beasts)

In particular, I liked how they made each of the four a rounded character, particularly taking into account that they are supposed to be the best of the best. The Fantastic Four was cape punk decades before the term existed, subverting so many superhero tropes.

Johnny wasn’t an idiot, for a change. Reed was given humanity. As opposed to leaning into the cranky side of the Thing, this Ben showed the caring side of the character. (It’s worth remembering that the Thing in the comic books is beloved in the wider superhero community) And Sue is shown to truly be the strongest member of the team on every level. 

And focusing on making the Fantastic Four as realized characters emphasizes the family part of the first family. A family has to come together to save their kid. Oh, and the world.

And this vision of Galactus makes him the stuff of nightmares. A purple giant who eats planets sounds pretty silly, but this one is clearly an eldritch abomination. When he rampages through Manhattan, the city literally crumbles around him. This Galactus is one octopus head away from being Cthulhu.

It’s a very back to basics approach. A family who loves each other has to save the world. Maybe that’s why it works.

Toy Story is still Pixar’s gold mine

 A question I asked myself before Toy Story 2, Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 5 was ‘Other than money, is there any reason this had to be made?’

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Well, Toy Story 2 ended up being so good I didn’t question Toy Story 3 existing. Toy Story 4, while I feel like it’s the weakest movie, is still heaps better than too many kids films.

And I thought Toy Story 5 was a step up from that. A good question with a sequel is ‘Did we tell everyone’s story already?’ And by the end of Toy Story 4, it did feel like Pixar had gotten the toys pretty well covered.

So Toy Story 5 shifted the focus to the kids.

While still told through the eyes and actions of the toys, the actual story is ultimately about Bonnie and newcomer Blaze. They are both creative, imaginative kids who struggle to find friends. (And, yes, of course they become friends at the end of the movie because this is Pixar, not Shakespeare)

For me, Andy was defined by his relationship with the toys. Heck, sometimes he felt like some kind of deity for them. I am going to argue that Toy Story 5 treats Bonnie as more of a complete character.

A key moment in the movie is her being cyber bullied. (The movie fails to give a simple answer to technology and screen time, which is fair) Her sadness and her withdrawal is very realized. It’s believable and, probably for too many, relatable. 

The toys do get plenty of focus. Jessie has an involved story arc, which includes her finding resolution with her original kid. It’s still _Toy_ Story. If you just came for the toys, you’ll still get them.

There is also a wonderfully insane subplot about a shippjng container of the latest Buzz Lightyear toys getting ship wrecked, resulting in a horde of confused Buzz Lightyears going across the land. I kept thinking it was the 1991 film Small Soldiers done right.

K-Pop Demon Hunters made me cry like it was a Pixar film

After enough people recommended it to us, we watched K-Pop Demon Hunters as a family. I mean, a work called K-Pop Demon Hunters would have to be pretty bad for _me_ not to like it.

But I’m going to argue it’s pretty good.

Spoilers 

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

I went in expecting fun songs and the movie had them. I was expecting stylized but strong animation. Yup. Solid and emotional voice acting? Had that too.

In other words, I went in expecting high production quality and I got it.

But that’s not what I want to talk about.

The actual plot structure was pretty boilerplate. You knew the girls were going to fall apart and get back together stronger. You knew the handsome demon boy would redeem himself. You knew the heroes would win and save the world.

But the individual beats were very strong. The way K-Pop Demon Hunters kept raising the stakes and convincing you to buy into the stakes? That’s good stuff.

At the start of the film, I was more invested in Mira and Zoey than I was in the protagonist Rumi. The other two hunters felt like they had more interesting quirks and personalities.

However, as Rumi was steadily developed as not just a workaholic but a half-demon whose demonic heritage was becoming more prominent, the film got me behind her as a protagonist. As the film explored the issues and traumas and flaws that her heritage brought her, it just kept making her a better character.

In Pocahontas and Moana, right before the finale, the protagonists meet with their maternal teachers who support them. In contrast, Rumi meets with her teacher and surrogate mother Celine before the final battle and their relationship completely falls apart. It’s a powerful scene and sets up Rumi having to go face the king of demons all alone. 

We all knew that she was going to turn it around but they really brought her low before she could start winning.

Two works ran through my head while we watched the movie. Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks (which makes sense since magic and music) and the web comic Sleepless Domain. A love letter and deconstruction to the magic girl genre, Sleepless Domain becomes much darker than it seems while remaining sweet, similar to K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Yeah, we all agreed we understood why people love K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Late to being disappointed by Raya and the Last Dragon

 Our son wanted to watch a Disney movie he hadn’t watched before to celebrate the last day of school. And that’s how we ended up watching Raya and the Last Dragon.

The kindest description I can make of the movie is that it is a _beautifully_ animated outline of a story.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a multi-piece McGuffin scavenger hunt where a new party member joins in every location. So, by the end, we have a ragtag bunch of misfits to save the world.

Man, we have all seen this more times than I can count in cartoon, comic books, movies, video games, and plenty of other media. And I don’t fault Raya and the Last Dragon for using the formula because it works.

But a big part of why it works is because it’s about the journey, not the destination. It’s about the cool action sequences along the way. It’s about how we get to know the characters and how they develop. And so much of that is skipped over and barely crammed in because Raya and the Last Dragon needs to be at least twice as long to pull it off. 

One tiny scene really struck me. Tong, the hulking, one-eyed warrior, is the only one who knows the con-baby’s name is Noi is because he checked her shirt for her name. It gives us a complete other side to the character, reminding us that he is a parent who lost his child to the Druun. And it is strong because it shows, not tells.

And the movie needs so many more little moments like that but we were lucky to get even one since the running time doesn’t give us time for that.

I have heard that Raya and the Last Dragon started out as a TV series, not a movie. I find that easy to believe. And while it would have lost the animation per minute budget, getting the time for character and plot development would have been worth it. Room to breath might have made Raya and the Last Dragon good.

Unfortunately, as it stands, it is too bland to remember.

I discover the Garfield Spider-Man twelves years late

I am definitely a key demographic for superhero movies. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I was an avid reader of comic books. 

But up until a week ago, I never watched The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield. At the time when it came out, it was part of a crowded field of superhero movies and word of mouth hated it. 

Now that I’ve seen it, I am absolutely bewildered by the bile that I’ve heard about it. Yeah, it isn’t Spider-Man 2 but it also isn’t Spider-Man 3.

Actually, I do understand why people were upset. The original Spider-Man movie, along with the original X-Men movie and original Blade movie, did a lot to set up the modern superhero movie movement, the idea that a movie about superheroes doesn’t have to be a toy commercial or a joke. (The first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies and the two Michael Keaton Batman movies also treated their subjects like films instead of shames but they were exceptions rather than trendsetters) Spider-Fans were invested in Toby McGuire and interlopers were not to be tolerated.

But I had been told that Andrew Garfield was the jerk Spider-Man, not the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man that everyone could love.

So, what did I find? A Peter Parker who is an orphan and a social outcast with all the damage and baggage that that implies. A Peter Parker who is awkward and uncertain and angry. A Peter Parker who lashes out and struggles to figure out what to do.

After a half hour, I said to myself ‘This is Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man!’

Now, I am not going to say there is a definitive Spider-Man nor that there is a best Spider-Man. Many people have worked with the character in many media and that is part of what makes Spider-Man such a wonderful cultural phenomena. Honestly, Ditko’s Spider-Man isn’t my favorite one. However, there is no denying that he created the most crucial Spider-Man. If he and Stan hadn’t made it work, there’d have been no Spider-Man.

I am not saying that the Amazing Spider-Man is my new favorite Spider-Man movie. Heck, for the reasons I gave, I don’t have one. However, I felt that the Garfield version of Spider-Man was one that was engaging and interesting. I am glad that I have seen it.

(And, yes, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy was a great interpretation of the character but everyone says that so that wasn’t a surprise)

Hey, I finally saw the third Guardians movie

 It took me five months to finally watch Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3, which for me is actually watching a movie quite close to its release. (I am much more of a reader than a viewer) I managed to be relatively spoiler free so it definitely manages to surprise me at times.

I’ll try to limit the spoilers but I do feel like commenting on the movie.

The Guardians of the Galaxy films manage to both denser and wackier than the rest of the MCU movies but, at the same time, manages to get in possibly the most emotional gut punches in there franchise l. In no small part because the Guardians fully embrace Tolstoy’s ‘every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’

(No, I don’t know what the second sentence in Anne Karenina is)

I think that the second movie has the best balance of comedy and tragedy. The third one leans heavily into the tragic side. Which isn’t inappropriate but definitely makes this the darkest movie in the trilogy. Maybe the the MCU which also had Thanos kill half of all life.

Okay, I want to just jot down some bullet point reactions but first:

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

• While I knew the movie would feature Rocket, I hadn’t expected it to be centered around him. But I’ve liked the character since the 80s so it’s cool. And, story wise, it works.
• Peter Quill’s arc wasn’t about him getting the girl but growing up. I like that he isn’t wish fulfillment but is used to address the issues of being a man-child.
• I hadn’t been a fan of the MCU Mantis. The comic version can go toe-to-toe with Thor and is always the adult in the room. In this movie, though, she clearly shows herself to be physically tough and very insightful so I was happier.
• Holy cow. The comic High Evolutionary is a borderline hero while this one was incredibly vile and reprehensible. Possibly the pettiest and nastiest villain of the MCU. 
• Okay. We still haven’t gotten Moondragon in the MCU. I’ll wait.

I am far from the only person who has felt that the MCU has struggled to find its voice post-Endgame. Which, to be fair, is unique as the culmination of a 23-movie arc.

But Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 succeeds because it makes part of being its own trilogy more important than being part of the greater MCU. It already had a voice so it could keep on exploring its theme of unhappy families.

The Sumikko Gurashi movie is a cuddly bedtime story

Sumikko Gurashi is a Japanese franchise whose primary goal is to sell stationary. But it is also a set of adorable cartoon animals that look like they are all shaped like dumplings. 

The name roughly translates to ‘life in the corner’. I assumed that had some kind of melancholy, depression vibe. Instead, it’s the idea of cuddling up in a corner and feeling safe. It’s actually a reassuring vision.

The most frequently merchandised characters include a polar bear who wants to be warm, a green penguin who isn’t sure he’s actually a penguin, an anxious cat, a dinosaur pretending to be a lizard to dodge scientists, and a leftover pork cutlet who wants to be eaten. I don’t really get that last one.

Our household quite likes Sumikko Gurashi but we hadn’t really looked into any of narrative media. But we took the jump and watched Sumikko Garoshi the Movie - The Pop-Up Book and the Secret Child.

In the movie, the characters are pulled into magical pop-up book at their local coffee shop and become parts of the stories. The stories include the legend of Peach Boy, the Little Mermaid, the Little Match Girl, Little Red Riding Hood and Arabian Nights. Yeah, just Arabian Nights. They also meet a baby bird who has no idea what story he should be in or where he belongs.

The movie is very sweet and gentle, despite having more drama and pathos than I was expecting. The characters are trapped after all so there is an actual danger. And the baby bird’s sense of loneliness and isolation is the centerpiece of the movie.

Of course, the characters are deeply invested in the baby bird’s plight. Penguin? is our son’s favorite Sumikko Gurashi character so them bonding with the baby bird over identity issues worked particularly well for us.

The Pop-Up Book and the Secret Child was better than we expected. In fact, it embodied we like Sumikko Gurashi. Gentle and suitable for small children but not condescending. 

Next on my delayed movie watching…

 Since I’m relatively caught up with the MCU, I decided to branch out into the DC movies and watch Birds of Prey. Because apparently, left to my own cinema tastes, I just watch superhero movies. Okay. I’m fine with that.

As I have said so often that I should get a t-shirt made, movies are not comic books (or books) and I’m cool with changes from source material if they work. Different medium, different needs. And, with a few reservations, Birds of Prey does that.

While the movie doesn’t have my favorite interpretations of Renee Montoya, Black Camary or the  Huntress (I’m old enough that I remember when the Huntress was Helena Wayne), they work in the context of thos story. Fans of Cassandra Cain have every right to have problems with this name-only version of the character, though.

But the point of the movie is Margot Robbie’s interpretation of Harley Quinn. The actual Birds of Prey are supporting characters in the movie that has their name as part of the title.

I didn’t think much of Harley Quinn in the original Suicide Squad movie (which, as a movie, I thought of even less of), feeling she was more eye candy than character. In Bird of Prey, Harley Quinn is a self-destructive train wreck, a hot mess and a generally terrible person. I wouldn’t want to be in the same zip code, let alone the same room, as this character. BUT she is interesting. This Harley Quinn is a constant source of conflict. She is an actual character.

Birds of Prey can only work if Harley Quinn is strong enough to carry the movie. And I think the movie does work. Harley Quinn is a horrible human being but she grows (but isn’t redeemed) and creates change as well as conflict. The audience can be invested in the character.

Birds of Prey isn’t a perfect superhero movie. But the tone on the movie is constant and it is both engaging and entertaining. I’d watch it again and I now feel prepped to watch the second Suicide Squad movie.

So, I liked the Eternals movie better than the comic books

 I am getting caught up my Marvel Ciniverse watching and just finished the Eternals the same day I’m starting this blog entry. And, like Shang Chi before it, I found myself asking the same two questions:

Did the scriptwriters ever look at the original source material?

And

Does that matter?

(To be fair,  neither movie was as extreme a shift from the source material as Big Hero Six. Of course, the movie version of Big Hero Six thankfully buried the comic book by virtue of being vastly better)

Before I say anything else, let me say that I think a work must take its medium into its consideration. Slavishly imitating the source material does a movie no favors.

Also, I’m going to do my best to avoid spoilers.

The Eternals were made after Kirby went back to Marvel after having what sounds to have been a miserable time at DC. You can disagree with me but they are not one of Kirby’s stronger works. For me, they just are not The New Gods.

Interestingly and purely anecdotally, when asking my comic book loving friends, only a couple others had read any Eternal comic books. If they had any exposure to the characters, it was from guest appearances or the times Eternals were part of the Avengers or Defenders. I myself only read the 80s series. I don’t know what the more recent series have been like.

And the only character who I am remotely invested in is Sersi because she is a strong, legitimately empowered woman. The movie kind of made every element of her note lowkey but it worked for the movie. (She is crazy over powered in the comics)

Honestly, I liked the movie from a plot and character-development viewpoint. The twists were pretty good. 

My problem with the movie was pacing. It went too slow, plodding even, without rewarding that slower pacing. That also meant that elements I’d have liked to seen fleshed out (the vastness of history and the nature of the Deviant) fell short changed.

I also have to say that the stingers were the only parts of the movie that felt like MCU to me. Which may not be a flaw. With 27 movies and a bunch of TV shows, the powers that be at Disney need to be able to stretch the genre.

So, I’d say it was a solid experiment and some things did click.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is our son’s Halloween

 In what is becoming a holiday tradition, we watched the Nightmare Before Christmas as a family. 

Honestly, as our kid grows older, I can see some holiday works beings ones that he grows out of. But Nightmare is probably going to be there for the long haul.

I think part of the movies strength is that it doesn’t talk down to the audience or pull its punches. The common denizens of Halloween Town, both their natures and their proclivities, are the stuff of nightmares. The Oogie Boogie Man is right out of the Festival by H. P. Lovecraft.

However, when our son says to me ‘This is Halloween is the Halloween song,’ I think he really nails a powerful part of the movie’s appeal. Outside of The Monster Mash and Werewolves of London (maybe Thriller?), I can’t think of any other Halloween anthems that have really made it into the collective consciousness. (Which still puts Halloween way ahead of Thanksgiving and Arbor Day)

There is a LOT that makes Nightmare work and the score is just one part of it. That said, it’s a musical that clicks even with people who don’t like musicals.

Honestly, I don’t feel like I can do Nightmare justice and I’m sure that no one reading this hasn’t seen it. Probably seen it lots of times. It is a children’s movie I don’t mind seeing over and over again. And I don’t mind hearing our son sing  This is Halloween constantly :D

My biggest takeaway from Coco

 As I am perpetually years behind watching even kids movies (and I have a kid so those are usually the only movies I watch!), it was only a month or so ago I finally saw Coco.  It only took me four years.

And everyone I know who watched it and didn’t force me to see it has a lot to answer for.

While Coco doesn’t knock Inside Out down from being my favorite Pixar movie, it is very high in my opinion and enjoyment. Not only is it ridiculously visually beautiful, I really enjoyed the music. I don’t know if Pixar has done any other musicals. 

And keeping with how rare their musicals are, all the music is diegetic (I had to look that word up), meaning all the musical numbers comes from the characters actually performing them within the context of the story. IE, there isn’t an offstage orchestra and the songs aren’t in theater of the mind.

I am not going to give away any spoilers because there must be some people like I was who haven’t seen the movie yet but would like to. But there is a takeaway I want to comment on.

The movie has two protagonists, Miguel and Hector. They both have their own character arcs and personal journeys to make.

However, I believe the actual hero of the story is Mama Imelda. (Okay, just saying that is a spoiler) While she has her own character arc, she is also the one who saves the family in life and in death. Imelda gets things DONE and she is magnificent for it.

I really enjoyed Coco, not the least for its kickass skeleton great great grandmother.

Artemis Fowl fails several fundamental requirements of being a movie

We recently watched the Artemis Fowl movie to vet it for our six-year-old. We didn’t think it would be inappropriate. We just weren’t sure if it would be something he’d enjoy. And we are glad we did because it is a really awful movie.

I am a reader first and foremost but I try very hard not to be one of those people who automatically say the book is better. Movies can be better. (The 1939 film version of the Wizard of Oz is not just better than the book, it is the definitive version of the work. Fight me.) Movies are allowed to be completely different than the book. A ‘name only’ movie version is just fine AS LONG AS IT STILL WORKS AS ENTERTAINMENT!

I’m actually not that big a fan of the Artemis Fowl books. I read the first couple when they came out (Wow, almost twenty years ago!?) and thought they were okay. Honestly, they struck me as kind of juvenile in the sense that the adults and adult-equivalents seemed dumb and incompetent and merciful so Artemis could seem smart and not get killed before halfway through the first book. (I recently read the first book in the Fun Jungle series and was surprised that that was not the case) They were amusing fluff but no Harry Potter.

So I wouldn’t have minded that the powers that be changed Artemis from an amoral and genuine criminal who slowly develops a moral compass to a bland hero if the movie would have made any sense. But the plot does not make any sense.

I don’t want to give away spoilers (beyond DON’T WATCH THIS MOVIE) but the framing device doesn’t make any sense, either from a story or a world building structure. Among other things, Artemis’s master plan hinges on LEPRECHAUN doing several incredibly specific things and someone very specific walking down just the right hall, when not even Artemis knows which hall that is. The fairy technology acts completely differently depending on what the drama needs. (I refuse to sully the word plot using it) And the end resolution that is supposed to solve most of the ongoing problems shouldn’t solve most of them.

And that’s not going into character development which is relentlessly told, never shown.

The only thing I can say for the movie is Josh Gad and Dame Judi Dench were fun to watch and that should go without saying so it doesn’t really count.

The movie I found myself comparing Artemis Fowl to was, of all things, Constantine. I felt that Keanu Reeves did not resemble to John Constantine that Jamie Delaney and Garth Ennis introduces me to (I bought issues 40 and 41 at the same time, boy was that the start of a wild ride) and the movie is meh. But it makes enough sense to make it watchable! (Mostly by using Garth Ennis’s Dangerous Habits storyline wholesale)

Like I said, I try not to be a purist. A movie can change things. Sometimes, it should change things. But, first and foremost, it has to be a good movie.

No spoilers initial impressions of Frozen 2

Okay. It’s been about twenty-four hours since I watched Frozen 2. So this is all about first impressions. I’m curious to where my thoughts will be six months from now.

No spoilers no spoilers no spoilers

Frozen was the first Disney movie our son saw and it remains his favorite movie. I have possibly seen it more than a hundred times and I still like Let It Go and think it is a great movie.

So, as a family, we are invested in Frozen and, as parents, we were afraid it would be bad.

But, in some ways, I liked it more than the first movie. Time will tell if that’s just because I haven’t seen it literally dozens of times or because it has some elements that I think were really well done.

Still no spoilers still no spoilers still no spoilers

Here’s a couple problems sequels can have:  the original work tied up all the loose ends so there isn’t more story to naturally tell; the characters did all their character development in the first movie and they are flat characters in the later movie. Worse, they repeat the same character arcs.

I firmly believe that Frozen 2 continued to the next natural stage of the story with higher stakes and the characters had further character development, leaving them all meaningfully changed by the end of the movie. It was also a darker movie than the first one with a couple deeper choices than I expected. I don’t know if I’d have let our son watch it at three-years old.

Frozen is a big deal. Not only did it have a once-in-generation song with Let It Go, it deconstructed the idea of love at first sight, which is a dangerous idea in real life. The sequel doesn’t recycle the story but instead explores how we grow older and sadder and wiser. Maybe that’s why it resonates with grownup me.

We liked the Dora movie more than we expected

Our five-year-old was really pumped to see Dora and the Lost City of Gold so we agreed to take him. Oddly, he’s not really invested in the franchise so we were both surprised he was so interested in the movie. Although his entry was Dora: Into the City so Dora as an older kid who hangs out with other human beings is his baseline.

Short version: it was not nearly as bad as we were afraid it would be. In fact, we enjoyed it as much as our child, albeit for different reasons. It wasn’t a perfect movie but, boy, have I seen some much worse kids movies.

For us, Dora worked because it threaded the needle of acknowledging the absurdity of Dora’s world and behavior without turning it into a parody. Yeah, acting the way she does is a strange and even unnerving in real life. On the other hand, the movie celebrates that she is true to herself and ultimately a positive influence on her friends.

In other words, the movie didn’t talk down to kids and it didn’t disparage things that are important to kids.

The plot was very, very predictable with almost every plot twist foreshadowed way in advance. But that’s kind of how these movies work so that didn’t bother us since the pacing was well done. 

One element that I did find jarring was the portrayal of Swiper the Fox. For the most part, the movie was grounded in magic realism, like Indiana Jones. Magic and such are real but they are hidden. Swiper, on the other hand, was a giant, fully anthropomorphic fox completely out in the open. Not even Boots the monkey was so extreme. Still, it’s hard to knock Benicio del Toro.

By no means would I call Dora and the Lost City of Gold a perfect movie. But recycling a show aimed at preschoolers from twenty years ago into a movie was a really dubious idea. Getting a fun family movie out it was a lot more than I expected.

The two sides of the Spider-Man story

Having a small child means never watching movies when they came out. Which, I got to say, is something I knew going in and, since we live in a world where giant flat screen HD TVs, I don’t care.

Spider-Man:Homecoming was a really fun movie and might beat out Spider-Man 2 for the best Spider-Man movie I’ve seen. It’s a real testament to the MCU that I also consider it a middle-of-the-pack movie in the series :D It’s fun and engaging but it’s no Thor:Ragnarok.

Spider-Man is one of my favorite heroes and for a very simple reason. He’s got all the normal people problems on top of the super hero problems. In fact, his Peter Parker issues are more stressful for him than his Spider-Man problems. Sometimes it gets too much and his life becomes a train wreck of misery that people hopefully can’t relate to.

That said, there are two other elements of Spider-Man that I like. One: he was the first really successful solo teen hero. He wasn’t a sidekick. He was a teen on his own, even supporting his geriatric aunt. Two: He is now one of the most experienced superheroes, having been everywhere and fought everyone while still able to joke about it. I like Spider-Man the teen and Spider-Man the seasoned expert.

And I understand why, for so many reasons, why every movie has Spider-Man the kid. First of all, it’s iconic. Second, it’s the starting point. Third, it makes him super relatable, particularly to a major target demographic. 

In the MCU, it makes even more sense since he was a later addition. And, while I understand why some people hate it because it flies in the face of Spider-Man the independent outsider, I really liked the relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker.

Still, I would like to see a movie version of Spider-Man where he’s the voice of experience and the mentor. And I know that’s been done in cartoons and other media and will probably happen in Into the Spiderverse so I really am asking to get my paradox cake and eat it too.

Anyway, while I hated the Clone saga and _despise_ One More Day, I love Spider-Man and Homecoming did the character justice while respecting the medium of movies.