Captain America: Civil War just came out in theaters yesterday and the buzz around it is that it is a good movie. The other buzz about is that it uses a specific character to good use and one these heroes is Spider-Man. Now this is a version of Spider-Man that has not been seen before. He is the youngest hero in the bunch. He is also the one that a lot of criticism has been lodged against in terms of age. I've heard people say that “oh they made him too young” which boggles my mind because he suppose to be young.
He supposed to be this 14 year old who is thrust into this extraordinary situation and has to go with the flow. Which is speaks to a thought that came which was: is Spider-Man a metaphor? The metaphor being a kid who is suddenly gets out into the adult world. This was the original intent that Spider-Man had back when he was first released. Which was to show the average teenager who is already worrying about school and other teenage issues having to deal with villains and bad guys along the way. Spider-Man is that hero which teens wished they could be instead of their boring lives. The downside being that because he is Spider-Man that he sometimes misses opportunities that can move him forward in life. This is where the anxiety that comes into play with young adults is that fear. The fear of missing out on things in life and also not living up to their potential and so makes them question what they are doing in life.
A strange turn from talking about superhero teenagers to the stresses of being a young adult in this day and age, right? But that just way things are. Spider-Man is a fictional character but the things that he represents are real and just wanted to shine a light on that subject. That even when you have superpowers you are still a person on the inside who has to deal with real things like rent money and bills. Which by the way Spider-Man is always worrying truly living up to being a broke college student. Which has actually been a running joke in the comics (also in the movie) that he needs money. It's hard being a hero out here.
A final note to say is that Spider-Man and really every teenage hero have one thing in common: it don't matter how old you are, you can still be a hero. If you have that drive, the ambition, the heart to seek out and achieve your goal that makes you something special. You might not be out here swinging on webs like spider, throwing lighting like static, but you still want to make a change for the world. Then you really are a hero on the making. You just need to keep going on your path and see how you to can change the world in your on way.
