Read the Full StoryThe history of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in print is more than 55 years old and nowhere close to stopping. Every year, the scope and reach of the character continues to expand, attract the imaginations of people young and old, and wrap modern pop-culture more firmly in its web. And yet, it took a film like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to push Peter Parker, as a character, into a territory that Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe seem terrified to go. As a thirty-something adult, older than nearly every interpretation of Peter Parker, it moved me to tears.
When choosing a favorite, non-Miles Spider-Man from the new film, it’s hard to look further than Jake Johnson’s Peter Parker, given that he’s got enough screen time to essentially be the co-lead of the film. But suggesting that he’s the best non-Miles character in the film purely because of screen time would be to do him a great disservice. This Parker Parker stands as a stark rebuke to the Marvel Comics and film interpretations of the character, which have him stuck in a sort permanent adolescence.
