Lack of curiousity about Spider-Man's powers among the public

[bat39]

Something that occurred to me recently during my pre-NWH marathon of the old Spider-Man movies.

It seems that the public in-universe don't really seem to have much curiousity about Spider-Man's powers, irrespective of the continuity.

Like, here's someone who's strong enough to lift a car, can leap across buildings and shoot spider-webs and crawl up walls...but no one seems to really care how he does all that. Even when there's a smear campaign against Spider-Man led by JJJ, or he's wanted by the authorities, no one really seems to care about his abilities. Not his enemies, not his detractors, not the authorities and not even his fans!

It gets even weirder when you consider the shared universe aspects. Take the good ol' 616. Even before Spider-Man came on the scene, you had the Fantastic Four, whose origins and abilities were publicaly known (and celebrated). When Spidey shows up not long after, doesn't the public in-universe wonder how Spider-Man got his abilities, and whether he too was the result of a scientific mishap, like the FF?

And, when some time after that the existence of mutants becomes public knowledge, doesn't anyone wonder if Spider-Man is a mutant? Hell, wouldn't any superhuman of unknown origins be suspected of being a mutant?

I'm frankly surprised that none of Spider-Man's detractors thought to discredit him by tagging him as a mutant (hell, for all they know, he probably is one).

Or, after Iron Man came on the scene, didn't anyone wonder if maybe Spider-Man too wears a hi-tech suit that gives him powers?

In the pre-MCU movies, where Spider-Man is seemingly the first superhuman who shows up too, there is a total lack of curiosity about his powers. Hell, at least in TASM2, Harry Osborn correctly deduces that Spider-Man is probably a product of OsCorp's genetics program (a nice touch in an otherwise messy movie)!

The one universe where this doesn't matter much is the MCU, where superheroes are so ubiquitous by the time Spider-Man shows up, that his powers are just something people take for granted and don't even think about so much

I give props to the Ultimate Universe for being the one continuity that addresses this. A lot of people assume that Spider-Man is a mutant, and of course, those in the ''know'' are aware that he's the product of one of the many many offshoots of the Super-Soldier program that created Captain America (as are most superhumans in the Ultimate Universe).

Anyway...thought it'd be interesting to hear some thoughts about this!

[Frontier]

I could have sworn he at least told someone on public record that he was bitten by a radioactive Spider.

[PCN24454]

There are plenty of stories where your point is addressed.

People do investigate, but there's so much information that no one knows what's right.

I would argue that it's a knock on TASM2 that Harry could figure it out so easily since it would require a couple leaps in logic in order to do so.

[Vegeta]

I think they did have a story or two where Spider-man was mistaken and attacked for being a mutant. ("Untold Tales of Spider-man" maybe?) Magneto also thought he may be a mutant when he gained the Captain Universe powers during "Acts of Vengeance" but realized that his new abilities were far too varied to have originated through mutation.

[bat39]

There are plenty of stories where your point is addressed.

People do investigate, but there's so much information that no one knows what's right.

I would argue that it's a knock on TASM2 that Harry could figure it out so easily since it would require a couple leaps in logic in order to do so.

On the contrary, it makes perfect sense in context.

This is a universe where the concept of superpowers and superheroes doesn't seem to be existed before Spider-Man and the Lizard showed up. Since Harry knows that the Lizard was the product of OsCorp's research, and about the center of the cross-species genetics program being spiders, it's a pretty easy deduction to make that Spider-Man too is someone who was exposed to the spider's genetically altered DNA (him figuring it was through a bite was a lucky guess but not totally improbable).

But honestly the public, or at least the authorities, in-universe should have figured that Spider-Man too had something to do with OsCorp's genetics program. But the question of how Spider-Man got his powers just never comes up!

I think they did have a story or two where Spider-man was mistaken and attacked for being a mutant. ("Untold Tales of Spider-man" maybe?) Magneto also thought he may be a mutant when he gained the Captain Universe powers during "Acts of Vengeance" but realized that his new abilities were far too varied to have originated through mutation.

I guess it's easier in hindsight to retroactively address some of the obvious implications of the X-men sharing a universe with the other Marvel heroes that tended to get ignored in the early years (namely that more superhumans should be suspected of being mutants by the public). That's one advantage that the Ultimate Universe has - right from almost Day 1, the implications of this being a world where mutants exist are addressed, and Spider-Man is suspected of being a mutant by criminals and by sections of the public.

[Pattern_Maker]

Usually, the only people who are interested in Spider-Man's powers are those who try to recreate them, which more often happens more in other media than the main comics.

[John Venus]

In the MCU, the public probably thinks it's all in the suit or that he is a super soldier.

The fact that they already despise Spider-Man and believe Mysterio's lies over the truth already shows us the MCU can credibly sell the mutant xenophobia in the MCU by the time the X-Men debuts. The Avengers themselves having a spotty track record helps as well.

[Huntsman Spider]

Usually, the only people who are interested in Spider-Man's powers are those who try to recreate them, which more often happens more in other media than the main comics.

Uh-huh. There are a few examples thereof, like pretty much every version of Miles Morales (except maybe Into/Across the Spider-Verse) getting their powers from attempts by Oscorp to recreate Spider-Man, whether because Oscorp was directly responsible for Spider-Man in the first place or wanting to create its own, more controllable Spider-Man after having too many clandestine operations interfered with by the web-slinger. In the comics themselves, if not necessarily always in the main continuity, there's Spider-Man 2099, who wouldn't exist without experiments commissioned by Alchemax, the most globally dominant megacorporation in the future, to recreate Spider-Man as a superpowered "corporate raider." Speaking of incredibly morally dubious corporations, the Life Foundation wasn't just messing with symbiotes back in the 1990s, its last appearance then was the Arachnis Project miniseries, with a weaponized cancer cure harvested from experimenting with spiders that turned the CEO Carlton Drake into a Man-Spider-like monstrosity called Homo Arachnis. Funny enough, Spider-Island showed the Jackal using Spider-Man's DNA to create a virus spread through genetically engineered bedbugs that gave people spider-powers while gradually mutating them further into humanoid spiders under the control of the Queen, so with that in mind, if he wasn't so unbalanced in his obsessions, he could easily turn a profit from making spider-powered super-soldiers in the underworld market.

[Huntsman Spider]

In the MCU, the public probably thinks it's all in the suit or that he is a super soldier.

The fact that they already despise Spider-Man and believe Mysterio's lies over the truth already shows us the MCU can credibly sell the mutant xenophobia in the MCU by the time the X-Men debuts. The Avengers themselves having a spotty track record helps as well.

Especially in light of Wanda Maximoff's actions in WandaVision, or Clint Barton/Hawkeye going on a vigilante murder spree as Ronin during the five-year time-skip in Avengers: Endgame, or even the Avengers' actions as a whole in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. In light of all that, Zemo's words in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier concerning the tendency of the public and masses to put heroes on an overly high pedestal, ignoring their flaws and failing to question their actions until an unignorable disaster is caused or an outright atrocity is committed by one of them, have a certain resonance. And yes, with that in mind, it is very likely that by the time the X-Men make their MCU debut, that same public will be all out of patience or charity for yet more "unaccountable superhuman menaces posturing as heroes."

[Lukmendes]

I think they did have a story or two where Spider-man was mistaken and attacked for being a mutant. ("Untold Tales of Spider-man" maybe?) Magneto also thought he may be a mutant when he gained the Captain Universe powers during "Acts of Vengeance" but realized that his new abilities were far too varied to have originated through mutation.

I don't know the issue, but back when X-Men's O5 had that X-factor thing going on, JJ hired them to go after Spidey 'cause he accused Spidey of being a mutant.

X-Men/Spider-Man mini also has Kraven accusing Spidey of being a mutant in the first issue (And that would take place during the 60's/70's, Peter was in college and Gwen was still alive)

Haven't read Untold Tales yet, but I do know Magneto went after Spidey in Acts of Vengeance.

Basically it was a semi consistent thing to say about Spidey lol.

[Huntsman Spider]

I don't know the issue, but back when X-Men's O5 had that X-factor thing going on, JJ hired them to go after Spidey 'cause he accused Spidey of being a mutant.

X-Men/Spider-Man mini also has Kraven accusing Spidey of being a mutant in the first issue (And that would take place during the 60's/70's, Peter was in college and Gwen was still alive)

Haven't read Untold Tales yet, but I do know Magneto went after Spidey in Acts of Vengeance.

Basically it was a semi consistent thing to say about Spidey lol.

Pretty much. Because he was widely disliked and distrusted by the public and the authorities and demonized by the media for "having creepy powers with a creepy appearance," so they figured, "He must be a mutant! Real superheroes are shiny and good-looking like Iron Man, Thor, and/or Captain America!" It says a lot more about people's tendency to judge based on appearance and the preexisting prejudices against mutants than it does about Spider-Man himself.

[Lukmendes]

Pretty much. Because he was widely disliked and distrusted by the public and the authorities and demonized by the media for "having creepy powers with a creepy appearance," so they figured, "He must be a mutant! Real superheroes are shiny and good-looking like Iron Man, Thor, and/or Captain America!" It says a lot more about people's tendency to judge based on appearance and the preexisting prejudices against mutants than it does about Spider-Man himself.

Well, it'd be harder to say if Iron Man is good looking, since for a long ass time he was just Tony's body guard, he was as bitchy as Spidey about keeping his secret identity, he even avoided telling it to the Avengers.

But yeah, Spidey put himself is a weird loop, since he worked for the guy who kept demonizing him for a long time, and the public started to believe those things more and more, and Spidey himself barely did anything to make his public image better, Avengers were at least supported by the government, and F4 were liked 'cause they were more or less celebrities, Spidey and X-Men just were the unluckier ones who were targetted more for a reason or another, with Spidey not doing much to improve his image, and X-Men being hated 'cause racism is just that unfair.

[Huntsman Spider]

Well, it'd be harder to say if Iron Man is good looking, since for a long ass time he was just Tony's body guard, he was as bitchy as Spidey about keeping his secret identity, he even avoided telling it to the Avengers.

But yeah, Spidey put himself is a weird loop, since he worked for the guy who kept demonizing him for a long time, and the public started to believe those things more and more, and Spidey himself barely did anything to make his public image better, Avengers were at least supported by the government, and F4 were liked 'cause they were more or less celebrities, Spidey and X-Men just were the unluckier ones who were targetted more for a reason or another, with Spidey not doing much to improve his image, and X-Men being hated 'cause racism is just that unfair.

Fair points as well, though I'd say Iron Man in his armor was at least shiny and golden (and hotrod-red), so from that angle, he fit the public's image of what a superhero should look like. Come to think of it, he was gunmetal gray at first, which scared the people he was rescuing, so he repainted himself gold, then streamlined the armor and added red to it.

[Hypestyle]

people in every universe can be kind of doofy. as long as their house doesn't get blown up, they don't care.

[PCN24454]

people in every universe can be kind of doofy. as long as their house doesn't get blown up, they don't care.

So, like real life?

Real talk, the existence of mutants means that anyone can just develop superpowers, and it wouldn't be weird. (This is naturally because Lee got tired of writing origin stories so he decided to make mutants as a catch-all.)

I really don't see why people would be curious as to how Spider-Man got his powers in that context.