Originally Posted by
K. Jones
An aphorism.
I must admit, while I like any good nerd love the old Stan Lee one-liner from Uncle Ben, it's an aphorism that I don't think has a lot of real clarity. What does Ben Parker mean when he says that? "With great power comes great responsibility." In this usage, great indicates scale. But what does he mean when he says "power", and what does he mean when he says "responsibility" - because both of those concepts are scalable, nebulous, and frankly mean different things to every single individual and organism and atom in existence.
Does he mean to imply that with "Great Strength comes the need for Restraint"? No. But it's a totally legit interpretation. It's also basically the Superman Argument, and thus, by extension, the JLA argument. Superman has the most POWER in the comic book "POWERS" sense, and thus has a responsibility to save the Earth from cosmic threats, but then you get the grey line of "does he have a responsibility to save the world from itself?" Which is nice when they juggle every once in a while but makes pretty boring Superman stories.
Or does he mean to imply that with "Great Influence comes the need to Influence Others, Positively"? The Wealthy Savior - but I don't necessarily mean "financially wealthy", although that's one tact one might take, one takeaway somebody might get. Money = Power, thus Wealth = Responsibility, a slippery slope away from "I am entitled to make decisions for those with less." He's so strong, but how could Spidey, a 16 year old kid, be responsible for the actions and safety of so many others? Grown-ass adults? Officials! Scientists! You name it. He can't be. Initially he couldn't even be tried as an adult.
Or did he mean "With Great Competence & Ability Comes a Need to Step Up and Do Good and Fight Evil Where Other Men Dare Not?" THIS is of course what Ben Parker meant. It's a variation of the "Evil wins when good men do nothing" philosophy. This is an old bit of noble acumen that's not necessarily distilled down to its purest, most articulate, unable to be misconstrued reduction, but it's part of HERO TALES back beyond the Middle Ages and earlier, the notion of STEPPING UP, basically. We use words like noble, self-sacrificing, step up, do the right thing, and on down the line. But it's ostensibly more about like ... be the OPPOSITE of a BULLY. If you're bigger, tougher, smarter, more capable than the other guy ... don't punch down. Hell, defend the rest.
Captain America symbolizes this, too. Generally speaking, Super-Heroes who wear RED & BLUE almost ALWAYS represent this. Superman, Captain America, Spider-Man, Supergirl. It's as likely to be the case as a Super-Villain that wears GREEN & PURPLE being a Mad Scientist/Diabolical Genius.