The Amazing 4 Minute Spider-Man Trailer

by Aaron Boulding
in Family Entertainment · Featured
— 16 May, 2012

Well the character is supposed to be amazing, not this particular trailer, necessarily. Anyway, you’ll have a tougher time trying to keep the plot and pacing of the upcoming webtacular movie a surprise after you drink in the details of this long form bad boy.

A lot of questions that diehard Marvel comic fans might have are answered clearly and comprehensively in this one. You see the main villain, the main love interest and the main “insurmountable” obstacle Spider-Man will have to overcome. Anything they don’t show, you’re hearing in voiceover.

And we don’t feel bad describing all of this to you with text because the trailer is right here and will ruin any mysteries you’re hoping to preserve.

Okay, a couple of points here. Spider-Man is one of my very favorite comic book characters and I’m actually looking forward to using this movie as a teaching moment for our 12 (soon to be 13) year-old. You’ve got the science angle with Peter Parker’s penchant for inventing cool gadgets that work with his powers. In the books, he invented web shooters and web fluid and built them out of scratch immediately after gaining his powers. No other Marvel character ever bit this part of the Spider-Man legend and it ties into the second reason why I like Spider-Man as a teaching tool.

Part of Peter Parker’s appeal comes from the constant internal battles he has with himself. Belief in his ability to protect others and the constant guilt he feels over the death of his beloved uncle drive him like no other character. Parker is one of the smartest, most intelligent characters in the Marvel universe but he’s nowhere near as productive or practiced in the ways of science as Tony Stark (Iron Man) or Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). He’s never fulfilled his potential, or at least, never realizes how close he’s come to fulfilling his potential. Entirely separate from his identity as Spider-Man, Peter Parker has had to drop out of college, scrounge for living accommodations when he couldn’t pay his rent and struggled against many other challenges that we face in this “real world.” I don’t know about you, but our middle schooler seems primed to understand the life lessons Spider-Man can teach.

I’m just happy to have an old friend to help me out.

How comfortable are you with using comic book characters as teaching instruments? Sound off here or on Twitter using @playgroundad.