Is Spider-Man Jewish?

[NC_Yankee]

That's true, but again that wouldn't apply here. Peter Parker, even if he is Jewish, hasn't experienced anti-semitism growing up, nor was he persecuted or denied employment because of that fact. He was bullied as a kid for being a nerd and that's not something specific to any ethnicity. Some people do say that experiencing anti-semitism is one of the facts which define and determine a social identity of Jewishness but that wouldn't apply to Peter.

That raises the interesting question of what would Peter's story be if he was actually a member of a minority? I mean how would that add to the story we already have? Does that mean that Peter was bullied as a kid because he was Jewish? Does that mean Flash Thompson was some kind of anti-semite who reformed? And again, it also makes Peter more like Miles Morales which is an issue because he's already stealing plenty from him in adaptations. Miles' story is all about being a minority and becoming a representative superhero for an entire society which also borrows from X-Men, "protecting a society that hates and fears them".

In actual Marvel history, Jack Kirby was the self-identifying and religiously observant Jewish man and the one character he wrote as consistently and intentionally Jewish was Ben Grimm. And Marvel only explicitly identified Ben as Jewish around 2007. And even then the first openly Jewish superhero in American comics is Kitty Pryde created by another Jewish writer, Chris Claremont. So making Spider-Man Jewish retroactively would also be taking the thunder away from Kitty and Ben Grimm. And you know it adds to the message that we can't have a female superhero also be the first of her kind.



Since Peter has Irish-American ancestry, wouldn't it be fitting for him to fall into Celtic pagan worship? And in any case, the discussion is mainly about Peter being ethnically Jewish, and not religiously Jewish.

I am sure Peter had Irish History taught to him by Aunt May and Uncle Ben, so he was aware that Irish were discriminated against trust me on that. How so? At the turn of the 20th Century, there were signs on businesses that said Irish need not apply" and the British tried to take away our heritage by giving us names of colors like Black or Brown. Personally speaking, Peter Parker does not have to show his Irish Heritage and ( or) religion ( this is from someone who is Christian of Irish Hetitage). Why? He is a cultural icon and provided he is written correctly, works very well as is. I do not want to see Peter marching in the St Patrick's Day Parade, or seeing Spider-Manom tbe wall attending mass at St Patrick's Cathedral anymore then him as an atheist, or James Bond as an American.