Thwip Thwip

Spider-Man got me into comic books. When I was in college, my best friend lent me the introductory volume of the Ultimate Spider-Man series by Brian Michael Bendis, and from the moment that I finished the first issue, I was hooked. The writing was snappy and exciting, the art was electric, and as I breathlessly raced down the hall of our dorm to grab the next paperback, I could feel a new addiction burning within me. I had tasted the first droplets of the ambrosia I so desperately needed coursing through veins, and the resulting years have transformed me into a perfectly content junkie with no hope of rehabilitation.

While Ultimate Spider-Man gave me the first look into who Peter Parker was on the page, I had known about him throughout my adolescence. Our friendly neighborhood web-slinger had recently been splattered across the silver screen in Sam Raimi’s monstrously successful franchise, action figures had been strewn vigorously across toy aisles since long before my inception, cartoons laced with quips and thwips had entertained me throughout elementary school, and the death of Uncle Ben had practically been cemented as a landmark event in American history. Spider-Man’s legacy has been intricately linked to the national consciousness and beyond since those precious pages of Amazing Fantasy 15, and for all of the possible grudges the nerd community may hold against him, we are forever indebted to Stan Lee for this and myriad other creations.

Essentially, Spider-Man is not new. I know that. I am keenly aware of it.

So everyone can stop telling me that.

This past week, Marvel Entertainment announced that Spider-Man will be officially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2016 thanks to a special agreement that they worked out with SONY. For those of you that do not know, SONY has owned the film rights to Spider-Man for years, and ever since the overwhelming success of the MCU began to reveal itself, Marvel has desperately been attempting to negotiate a deal with SONY to bring the wall crawler back home so he can have some face time with Captain America and Iron Man. This announcement allows that to happen, and for millions of fans across the globe, this was an announcement of monumental—even historical importance.

However, this news was simultaneously accompanied by groups of people outraged by the idea of even more Spider-Man after the relative plethora of movies that have been released about him over the previous decade and a half. Accusations of laziness were ferociously slung around the internet as people cried out in anger over the seemingly endless repetition of Spider-Man movies, and to all of those people that screamed those words of annoyance to the heavens, I say this:

Then don’t see it.

Nobody in the world is forcing you to see any of these movies, so kindly save your hard earned dollars to see another film. For people like me, we adore seeing these characters that entertain and inspire us flying across movie screens, and there is no logical reason why our indescribable pleasure should bring you offense. Spider-Man may be a character that you have seen too much lately, but I relish any opportunity to see him swinging across the streets of New York, and the fact that he may be able to play a crucial role in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War – a role which helped define the character in 21^st century comics – brings me unparalleled elation. There may also be a little girl or boy that’s never seen Spider-Man before, and maybe their parents want to share that moment with them using this next batch of movies, and how dare you rip that opportunity away from them?

Spider-Man movies get made, biopic movies get made, Transformers movies get made, and indie films get made, but the prevalence of one does not negate the existence of the others. Support the art in any way that you wish, and if you’re not seeing films that are aimed precisely at the itch you can’t scratch, we live in an age where you are free to make them yourself, and I encourage you to do so. Creation in the modern day is explosive and exciting, and I will fully exercise my rights to be vigorously excited about the revolutionary direction of Birdman as well as the energetic exuberance of Spider-Man, and whether our new Peter is black, white, purple, or orange, you can bet that I’ll be there opening day waiting to see my wall crawler with the same amount of joy as the eight-year-old three rows down.