Spider Man; the Virtuous ” Essay by Hailey Winona Mullins

Spider-Man; the Virtuous

Essay by Hailey Winona Mullins

Peter Parker is a nerdy, girl-next-door-loving boy who finds himself with spider-like abilities after a trip to the museum. A spider had gotten loose in the exhibit and it bit Peter. Over time he had realized he could shoot webs, stick to things, and even possess a spider “sense”. Peter quickly realizes he must use his powers for good after he finds his uncle bleeding out after an armed robbery had occurred. Immediately after Uncle Ben took his last breath, Peter was off to find his murderer. Peter had every intent on killing the man who murdered his uncle, but when it came time to do it, he hesitated. The man tripped out the window and ultimately caused his own fate. Peter recalled the time his uncle had told him, “With great power comes great responsibility.” This is Peter’s driving force to make a change and be an ethical hero. But when faced with certain decisions how would Spider-Man choose what is and is not virtuous?

The Trolley Problem refers to a problem that tests your psych and how you view ethical dilemmas. You are faced with multiple hard questions, the main one being, who would you save? Would you save a larger number or one person? Whose life matters more, or are they all equal? The Trolley Problem goes as follows: a trolley is running down a track where it can either go one of two routes. The first route, there are 5 people tied down to the tracks. The second route, there is only one person tied down to the tracks. You have the ability to pull a lever and decide which route the trolley should take. There are many theories surrounding this ethical dilemma, and many questions you might have that go along with it. You might ask yourself how old are the people on the tracks? What do they do in life? Those things might affect your decision on how you may act. Now apply this to Spider-Man’s life.

On many occasions, Peter has made the ethical decision to save everyone’s lives, no matter how strenuous. For example, he saved the bus full of kids and Mary Jane at the same time. But unfortunately for Spider-

Man and his universe, it can’t always work like this. There will be moments where Peter must make an excruciatingly painful decision that could ultimately result in death. Peter has his reservations about killing, even villains. He did not want to kill the Green Goblin, his best friend’s dad, and tried to talk him down from his evil-doings. But he failed.

As I had mentioned previously, Peter gained abilities including a “spidey-sense”. This sense allows him to feel things around him before they actually come into contact with him. Green Goblin sent his glider from behind Peter, and he maneuvered it, ultimately killing the Green Goblin. This could be interpreted as Peter choosing to allow Mr. Osborn to die, as he could have stopped the glider with webs, or tried to take him to the hospital. But he sees this as an ethical decision to allow him to die in order to protect the city, and the people he loves. Just like when he came face-to-face with his uncle’s murderer and allowed him to fall to his fate, Peter had a justified look on his face.

Even while taking into account who those 6 trolley people may be, Peter’s superhero complex and structure will not allow him to choose the one over the many, even if the one is his family or loved one. If Peter knows there is no other choice, he will choose the many. As seen in Marvels Spider-Man game of 2018, Peter has a trolley decision to make. His Aunt May is dying and there is only one antidote. This antidote can be used only once on Aunt May, or it can be studied longer, and produce more to save multiple lives. But by the time they produce more, Aunt May will be dead. Peter struggles in this heart-wrenching scene, as his Aunt who is like his mother, suffers in front of him. He ultimately chooses to let her go, and save the antidote for the scientists to reproduce.

To be on this level of decision making is hard. Peter has capabilities far greater than ours, but he is still human, making these Trolley Problems far more spiritually damaging for him. He will always do his best to be virtuous and ethically good, even if that means the people he loves might suffer. That is why ultimately, he cuts Mary Jane out of his life to avoid her being harmed.

If we all lived this way and made our decisions in this super-hero-like way, we might not experience the joys in life. We are all searching for love that runs deep. We all want to feel something good, something that feeds us, and those things lie within deep connections to other humans. If we were all like Peter Parker and were forced to choose between our family and the world, we would have to choose the many every time, because that’s what super-heroes do, it is their job. Spider Man is afraid to love people because it can cause them harm, and it can also put him in terrible ethical decisions that always end badly, where he must choose the many. If we all lived like this, no one would have any strong bonds, worth living or dying for. You would have to be able to let them go.

I do not believe if everyone lived this way, it would be good. No one would be happy, and relationships between us would be severed for the sake of the many. But I do believe we need Spider-Mans in our world, to save the people who need it and who cannot be saved otherwise. SpiderMan is a self-less man who would give his own life to save the world, and that is needed in this life.

Specifically, regarding the Trolley Problem, Peter would ultimately save the many. Like many heroes, their goal is to stop crime as much as possible, and 5 deaths is far greater than 1. It would be upsetting to SpiderMan to have to choose, but when he wears his mask, he understands that his powers and his superhero title comes with a great responsibility.

References

F. (Director). (2017, August 29). Spiderman (2002) | chasing Uncle Ben's

Killer | Clip 4K [Video file]. Retrieved March 9, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZz7uksm9lM

L. (Director). (2019, November 05). The philosophy OF SPIDER-MAN:

How would Peter Parker solve the Trolley Problem? [Video file].

Retrieved March 9, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNvKkaVPDJk