thepassionateone

shall I read comics?

shall I write fanfics?

shall I watch a tv show (based on aforementioned comics)?

I believe that the very core of Brand New Day lies in Peter's perception of his own identity. We see him reaching his lowest and darkest places and it's after embracing it all that he can finally start to climb back up and rise to a brand new day. That's how he grows from a kid to man.

But how does it happen? The way I see it, the fact that everyone forgot who Peter was kinda made him forgot that as well. No one cares about Peter Parker and only cares about Spider-Man, why would he care about Peter Parker? There's no one he can share his life under the mask with, only with the mask on (with the police chief, with vigilantes, with other superheroes or villains). So if not a single person in the world knows his identity, what is it of it? Well, it becomes irrelevant. His entire identity ends up being Spider-Man, and Peter Parker just the alter ego. That's his lowest and is when the Spider really starts to take charge. It's not just the stress and the neglecting of his own physical and mental health, it's the fact that Peter Parker is slowly fading in the background of Peter's life too. He's a blank page in everyone's existence and is dangerously starting to become one in his own too. And that gives the green light to his deeper animal side to emerge.

But then thankfully the people he cares about are forced to come back into his life (in a different way than he expected it, but maybe that's also for the best) and he finally understands. He can't do everything on his own and prioritising Peter Parker is as important as prioritising Spider-Man.

As Tom Holland said in a red carpet interview (and as May tells Jean in Peter's memory), it's not Spider-Man who makes Peter special, it's Peter who makes Spider-Man special! It's the humanity and kindness and optimistic nature of Peter which prevents the Spider to take over and get unrestrained and dangerous. The creature within him could make him a monster but Peter Parker doesn't allow it. The Spider throws people at a wall of blades, Peter shoots a web and grab them just in time so they won't get hurt. The spider can kill, Peter wants to save. That's why he became a superhero: not to seek revenge or power, but to save people, to give them hope, to cease the suffering. That's the responsibility his powers gave him

And that's the whole point: Peter needs the Spider as much as the Spider needs Peter.

In the end of the movie he finally understands it and he learns to welcome all that comes with it, the good and the bad, and how to balance them out: the Peter Parker who is a human being and sometimes need to catch a breath, who has lost so much and feel lonely and depressed and confused at times, but is always capable of love, always capable of finding the strength to never give up, on himself and on anyone... and the Spider, which can sometimes feel like a burden, which can be frustrating, and odd, and so powerful it's actually frightening...

But he's both and he needs to be both. He's everything that he is and he's made peace with that.