Why do people consider Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker to be a jerk?

[Aura Blaize]

He doesn't seem like Peter, he's too self-confident, handsome and stuff during his school days when he's supposed to be the socially awkward Puny Parker until he gets the Spider Powers.

When he was in high school back in the 60s. Times have changed since then and every recent adaptation has him as a bit of a snarky smartass. The extremely timid nerd type that he was back then is extremely outdated now. Not to say they don't exist, but they aren't really seen as socially awkward anymore. Calling someone a geek back then was definitely an insult. Calling someone a geek now is more or less something to be proud of.

[jgprime]

The Andrew Garfield Peter is mainly based on the 1610 (Ultimate) Peter, who happens to be pretty outspoken and quickly comes out of his shell once he gets his spider powers. In the Ultimate comics he even stops being bullied and is surrounded by a lot of friends (Gwen, MJ, Kitty, Johnny, Bobby were pretty much his gang, he even became friends with Rock who at a time bullied Pete) and pretty much his entire high school knew he was Spider-Man. In the movie being Spider-Man and having a girlfriend that knows his secret identity brings out confidence in Peter, and besides in ASM2 we only see him interact with people he knows very well as Peter Parker: Gwen, Aunt May, and Harry.

Of course his kissing Gwen & being very outgoing was a product of everything in his life going well at the time. When Peter's confident, the differences between his civilian identity and his secret identity always blur. Then later in the movie his promise with Capt. Stacy then kicks in, his being ambivalent about handing out his blood to Harry makes him again doubtful, and losing Gwen exposes Peter's guilt and obviously sets his confidence back. This particular part in ASM2 is probably the lowest we have seen Peter in any movie. Peter then bounces back when he feels inspired by Gwen and realises that he has to go back to being Spider-Man. Obviously traits like these are the stuff people should focus on instead of whether he is still behaving like an absolute 60s nerd or not.

People really need to let go of the awkward nerd tag surrounding Peter Parker after he gets his powers (popularised by the Raimi movies and slight references to Amazing Fantasy 15). He wasn't even that awkward in the Lee-Ditko run, he was pretty outspoken and suave when he wanted to (his flirting with Betty in I believe ASM33, for example).

[Sardorim]

1) He was socially awkward and puny. He was still emotionally detached from the majority of his classmates because of his issues with abandonment. He was still chumped by Flash even when he stood up for the other nerdier kid.

2) The spider-powers didn't make Peter Parker more handsome in the comics. He just became more confident. He stopped dressing like his aged frail aunt picked out his clothes.

Also, how are people so accepting of Spectacular Spider-man's Peter Parker when he's no more awkward than Garfield's?

Dude grew muscles and the such, it did make more more pleasing to look at and attractive for sure.

[The4orTy67]

Do you want Peter to act like a saint? He is a teenager after all, they're cocky. I would have been too if I had such powers.

[Scott Taylor]

Ok first of all, the Hulk critic guy is annoying with those all caps. But I find it impossible to read through that without going into "Hulk voice" so I guess its all good.

WHY ISN'T ANYONE REALIZING THAT THIS PETER PARKER IS ACTUALLY A SOCIOPATH? CUE THIS GREAT QUOTE FROM "@joshraby The weird thing about ASM2 is how Peter discards the verbalized needs of every single person he comes into contact with." YUP. LIKE IT OR NOT, PETER IS THE MOST SELFISH ******* "HERO" EVER PUT ON SCREEN AND THE MOVIE DOESN'T KNOW IT. AND THAT'S THE WHOLE KEY. DID THEY NOT REALIZE A CHARACTER LIKE TONY STARK WORKS IF THE MOVIE (AND EVERY OTHER CHARACTER) ACTUALLY KNOWS IT?

Peter Parker is kind of a sociopath, though. He constantly makes lame excuses to run off and be Spider-Man. To be a hero, he'll blow off dates, visiting people in the hospital, work, school, any social activities in a heartbeat. Most of his interactions with other people last about five minutes, followed by six hours of being Spider-Man. "This" Peter Parker is "the" Peter Parker.

The mistake ASM1 made - he was not only a sociopath as Peter, he was also one as Spidey. In ASM2 he was actually pretty cool as Spidey. In ASM1, yes he saved that one kid, but then he zoomed off and left everyone else hanging. He saved the school, sure, but he also trashed it. He acted like a punk in stopping a carjacker. In ASM2 he was pretty jovial and witty as Spider-Man. Until the last part when things kind of fall apart.

[Peter Porker]

Ok first of all, the Hulk critic guy is annoying with those all caps. But I find it impossible to read through that without going into "Hulk voice" so I guess its all good.



Peter Parker is kind of a sociopath, though. He constantly makes lame excuses to run off and be Spider-Man. To be a hero, he'll blow off dates, visiting people in the hospital, work, school, any social activities in a heartbeat. Most of his interactions with other people last about five minutes, followed by six hours of being Spider-Man. "This" Peter Parker is "the" Peter Parker.

The mistake ASM1 made - he was not only a sociopath as Peter, he was also one as Spidey. In ASM2 he was actually pretty cool as Spidey. In ASM1, yes he saved that one kid, but then he zoomed off and left everyone else hanging. He saved the school, sure, but he also trashed it. He acted like a punk in stopping a carjacker. In ASM2 he was pretty jovial and witty as Spider-Man. Until the last part when things kind of fall apart.

You can't say Peter is a sociopath just because of that.
Pete does absolutely not appear as a sociopath and making excuses to run off and be Spider-Man doesn't make him a sociopath either. He's actually kind of the opposite of a sociopath, he has a higher empathy level than many other superheroes.
Hulk talks about all flaws and mischaracterizations in the movie franchise combined, not just one or two minor things.

[Scott Taylor]

You can't say Peter is a sociopath just because of that.
Pete does absolutely not appear as a sociopath and making excuses to run off and be Spider-Man doesn't make him a sociopath either. He's actually kind of the opposite of a sociopath, he has a higher empathy level than many other superheroes.
Hulk talks about all flaws and mischaracterizations in the movie franchise combined, not just one or two minor things.

If Peter cared that much about people in his life, he would have quit being Spider-Man. What benefit is there to any of his supporting cast? Maybe this is one of those controversial opinions.

[Peter Porker]

If Peter cared that much about people in his life, he would have quit being Spider-Man. What benefit is there to any of his supporting cast? Maybe this is one of those controversial opinions.

Yes, this has already been issued quite often.
He gave up being Spider-Man for a few issues in Volume 2 (which was 1999 or something??), because he wanted to focus on his life with MJ and Aunt May. He went back to becoming Spider-Man because a young girl pretended to be Spidey and put herself and many others in danger out of inexperience and cockiness.
Peter has also said before that he sometimes wished he wasn't Spider-Man so that he could spend more time with his loved ones, but it's his whole guilt-tripping thing, sense for justice and responsibility that always makes him go back to being Spidey.
We saw that SpOck thought it was a major flaw of Peter to abandon his loved ones and when Peter came back he was surprised to see how much SpOck cared about his family. And that's the funny part, because Doc Ock is the sociopath and not Peter.
But when Peter stops being Spider-Man, he will think that he's responsible for people dying and getting hurt. Because if he'd be out there fighting crime, he'd prevend that from happening. So his conflict is more like "I have important people in my life, but actually everyone is important and I don't know what to do. I wish I could save everyone and make my loved ones happy like they deserve it."

That's the whole thing about Spidey - he cares too much.
But yes, he's self-centered, because he always thinks it's HIM who has the responsibility and it's only HIM who can stop bad things from happening. His logic isn't very rational, because he puts emotion and empathy into everything and even though he's a genius and a superhero, he isn't exactly Tony Stark (btw. the psychological differences between the heroes were so interesting in Civil War, it's a fantastic resource to psychoanalize characters).

[Captain Haddock]

He's really not all that bad at all, no better/worse than the Ultimate comics Pete, or Spectacular Animated version, but unfortunately Raimi cemented Peter in live action terms as utterly pathetic even after he got the powers he was so passive and weak it was infuriating - didn't even stand up for himself with a few smart quips at the expense of JJJ or that weaselly dude he owed rent to, MJ and Harry pretty much walked right over him without even slowing down whenever there was an argument. Of course I can see why he wouldn't be exactly the same in and out of the costume but he's got no self respect and instead of pitiable, he was pitiful.

ASM Pete was more of an outsider by choice it seems pretty much, the 60s style nerd glasses and dorky outfit just doesn't make any sense at all. He's not cool, he's not one of the 'in crowd', he just doesn't care about that stuff. It wouldn't be the first time that Peter Parker has been a pretty good looking dude even without the spider-upgrade, doubt it will be the last. The kiss with Gwen seems pretty in character for someone who knows he is blowing the joint and never seeing 99% of these people he won't miss again.

[SpideyZERO]

I don't have problem with ASM Peter Parker (I thought the kissing Gwen on stage was really hilarious), but his scenes with Harry really bugged me. It's like he had completely giving up on his so called best friend, rejected him twice in different identities and practically left him to die while Peter was going to go to England with Gwen.

[CrimsonEchidna]

Because he's only Peter Parker if he lets people dump on him.

[Qrx2]

Well as Spider-man he does kinda act like a jerk at times but that's what Spidey does. It's part of why people love him. He's got a real smart mouth. As for Garfield I think it comes from the scene in the first movie where he stops the car jacking and is just a total jerk even going as far as to tell the police officer he did 80% of his job for him. He's clearly still hurting from Uncle Ben's death and doesn't feel the police are doing enough. Follow that up with the conversation with Gwen's father where he loses his cool because of him going after Spidey and I could see how it rubbed people the wrong way. Frankly in the first movie the only people he's nice to are Aunt May, Dr. Conners, and Gwen. Not a bad thing. He's a teenager who is morning and clearly full of guilt. Being nice to everyone wouldn't be true to how someone would act in that situation.

[jgprime]

Well as Spider-man he does kinda act like a jerk at times but that's what Spidey does. It's part of why people love him. He's got a real smart mouth. As for Garfield I think it comes from the scene in the first movie where he stops the car jacking and is just a total jerk even going as far as to tell the police officer he did 80% of his job for him. He's clearly still hurting from Uncle Ben's death and doesn't feel the police are doing enough. Follow that up with the conversation with Gwen's father where he loses his cool because of him going after Spidey and I could see how it rubbed people the wrong way. Frankly in the first movie the only people he's nice to are Aunt May, Dr. Conners, and Gwen. Not a bad thing. He's a teenager who is morning and clearly full of guilt. Being nice to everyone wouldn't be true to how someone would act in that situation.

Besides that cop opened fire on Pete (he's clearly pissed by that) & at the end of ASM1 he's actually friendly around Flash. In ASM2 we don't see him interact with a lot of people as Peter besides his supporting cast (Aunt May, Gwen, Harry) so we don't really know how would Peter behave now around people he doesn't know.

[Qrx2]

Besides that cop opened fire on Pete (he's clearly pissed by that) & at the end of ASM1 he's actually friendly around Flash. In ASM2 we don't see him interact with a lot of people as Peter besides his supporting cast (Aunt May, Gwen, Harry) so we don't really know how would Peter behave now around people he doesn't know.

Right but to answer the question as to why do people consider him a jerk that's why. They show him acting like one. They don't go out of their way to show him being super nice to a lot of people so I can see how the character can rub people the wrong way. I don't think it's a bad thing. It's him acting like a teenager which is what he is. He's a smart mouth who is a little cocky once he gets his powers who trips over himself around the girl he likes. In the comics I always thought the death of Gwen Stacy is what made Peter grow up. It will be interesting to see if he does the same in the in the next movie.

[CrimsonEchidna]

They don't go out of their way to show him being super nice to a lot of people

Accept defending two kids Flash was bullying in the first movie. Or helping the kid with his Science Project in the second.

On that note, how many people did Maguire's Peter Parker actually go out of his way to be "super nice" to?