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I used to live on Treasure Island. Many years prior, some of these radioactive ships had been docked there. Recently I googled my old Treasure Island address & discovered the living room of the house in which I had been living had been flagged for higher than normal levels of radiation.

I'm still waiting for my superpowers to manifest.




Maybe you already have them - the proportional strength and agility of... a living room.


I am exceptionally good at being a couch potato.


Volunteering to be your "guy in a chair behind several computer screens"...if you need/want one.


It’s fun to be that guy until he gets killed in the sequel. But at least his death motivates the hero to keep fighting.


Is this a spoiler ?


No, it's a play on the "superhero whose best/close friend is an unpowered but helpful colleague to the main character gets killed/maimed by the villain" trope.

E: Wait did I get whooshed?


No, I genuinely thought you were spoilering the upcoming Spider-Man Far From Home (where the guy is put to sleep by Nick Fury in trailers, but by the end of the movie, who knows?). The previous Spider-Man has the guy-in-chair joke, so...


Don’t get why everyone’s been so precious about spoilers for the latest crop of superhero films.

As they’re built on such well-established tropes and character beats, it’s probably possible to guess 90% of the story up front. Also these films are so huge that the actual plot isn’t really that important compared to everything else.


I vote that if the twist is so cliche that someone jokingly riffing on tropes can accidentally "spoil" it, then it's not really a twist and hence not a spoiler.


Ah yeah, they were riffing the same trope and that’s why I phrased it like that initially heh.

But I certainly hope Ned doesn’t meet his demise in Far From Home. He’s such a loveable character, though the “Missing Mission Control” trope is well manifested in the superhero genre


For the record - I haven’t seen any of the current spiderman movies and have no idea who Ned is.


Short answer: Peter Parker's best friend. He (excellently) serves as the audience's vehicle into the narrative, many of his responses and reactions to things are written to be the John Everyman along for the ride.

I'm probably a little biased in that Spider-Man (respect the hyphen, darnit!) is my favorite super-hero, but Homecoming is just a really nice and charming 'coming of age' movie that even people who aren't comic book/super-hero fans would enjoy if you like a little bit of Die Hard with your Ferris Bueller--I appreciated that Homecoming showcased far more of Parker's raw intellect and creative thinking than what we've gotten previously.


What? Wasn't this the New Green Goblin? There's another one?

I thought the point of Peter Parker was that he was a friendless loner.

PD: My only source are the Raimi films.


Spider-Man has been rebooted twice in live-action movies since the Raimi version. The last and current incarnation, starring Tom Holland, debuted in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is getting a sequel this year (Spider-Man: Far From Home). The other reboot, starring Andrew Garfield in two movies, was eminently forgettable.

"Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse" is an alternate-reality version (where SM is a black/latino teenager) in animated form. Somewhat surprisingly, it's also qualitatively better than any live-action version to date. It will probably get a sequel, again in animated form, in the next few years.


There's technically two more...from a certain point of view. Spider-Man: Homecoming, the latest live action Spider-Man film and there was a brilliantly done (both story and the use of CGI and visual effects to enhance and supplement the story) animated movie "Into the Spider-Verse". Coming soon is the sequel to said live action movie.

They're not connected to each other, beyond the two live action movies, and none of the above are connected to the Raimi Spider-Man movies--if that helps your frame of reference.


Sometimes he is promoted to part-time sidekick when the hero needs help, then proceed to hang on to a ledge in an elevator shaft, or zipline down from a tall building and reconsider their life choices. A variation of the Peter principle.


A variation of the Peter principle.

I prefer the "Dick Grayson" principle, in this context ;) but you're entirely correct in expanding the trope.


Let's not forget the non-guys who also rock the command & control role. I love Felicity Smoak in Arrow!

^^^ serious question... as white dude, is this what they call being an ally? I've never gotten a good breakdown of what an ally is in this context.


Might not be that complex, you might just like the character.


Treasure island is basically a superfund site. But they dont want to talk about it.


Maybe some rich company, like Salesforce, might clean up the whole island with their super funds.




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