If you’re a young adult whose still in college or probably graduated recently, you probably remember a little about growing up in the early 2000’s.The time where American Idol had just started, ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys were still around, and the United States was recovering from the aftershocks of 911. Around this time however, there also was the emergence of the first Spider Man movie, with Toby Maguire being selected with much controversy as the first Spider-Man. While Spider-man originally started out as a comic, the first spider man movie introduced the concept of a person getting spidery superpowers through a radioactive spider, and is able to protect New York City from villains while running around in a red and blue vigilante costume all while set in a modern-day environment. The main character in Spider man,( for those who haven’t already seen it), is a young adult in his late teens by the name of Peter Parker. While Peter is portrayed as a near-sighted, scrawny boy who is more brains than brawn, the power’s he receives gives him perfect vision with a muscular physique and high-end sensory system that Parker refers to as “His Spidery-Sense”. He also has the ability to shoot webs out of his hands, stick to buildings, and has reflexes faster than even the most adept humans. Since the first Spider-man movie, there are two prequels and several spin-offs of the original movie, with the new versions being referred to as “The Amazing Spider-man”. Getting back to the first movie however, one of the main influences when Parker first receives his superpowers is his surrogate father and uncle whom is referred in the film as “Uncle Ben”. Ever since Peter’s parents died when he was younger, Uncle Ben has acted as Peter's mentor. While Ben isn't Peter's real father, he depicted as the main father-like influence in Peter's Parker's life.

While the character of Uncle Ben is unfortunately, (SPOILER ALERT) killed off before he can be developed any further in the movie, he does deliver one line that changes the entire course of the movie. When Peter is experimenting with his new-found power by beating up his old, long-time bully, Uncle Ben tells him that he needs to keep in under control. He claims that while he can beat up his own bully if he wants to, it doesn’t mean he should. He then states “Remember, with great responsibility comes great power” and reminds Peter that young adulthood “are the years where a man changes into the man he is going to become for the rest of his life”. While Peter ignores this advice at first, these words become his mantra for the remainder of the trilogy. While Uncle’s Ben death (AGAIN ALERT) is one of the greatest tragedy’s in the Spider-man story, it is a necessary death in he plot of the movie. Without it, Peter wouldn’t have become Spider-man, and could have taken a much different path than what would have been if Uncle Ben hadn't died.

Now in how this quote translates into real-life, what Uncle-Ben says is very true of young adults, particularly males. While young adults (like myself) are experimenting with different styles, personalities, and appearances, we are ultimately shaping the person who we are going to be form the rest of our life. Whether we try a new hairstyle, try a new job, go out for a school sport, or even watch Netflix for five hours straight, all of this activity molds us into the people we are developing into. While we make a lot of mistakes down the road just like Peter Parker had, we understand that the amount of freedom we have as adults’ means that we have just as much responsibility for what we do with that freedom. While as a young adult, I admit I have more freedom now than I ever have beforehand, but I’ve had to be more responsible about what I did with my freedom. If you are a college student who is getting to live on their own for the first time without the help of their parents, you realize that you have to become more responsible for your actions now that your parents are gone. In the end however, Uncle Ben’s message to the world is relatively clear, and that young adulthood is tried but tested opportunity for young people to shape the world that is going to exist around them for the decades to come. While Uncle Ben didn't get to live to see the man Peter Parker become through Spider-Man, it is clear that Peter had learned to understand the effect of Uncle Ben's statement the last time they had a full conversation.

Here is a video showing the scene that this article is on. It is also where I got my quotes.