Considering how
personal responsibility and consequence is the crux of the
Spider-Man mythos, it should be of no surprise that some characters who come from the roughest circumstances
don't get a free pass for making unsavory choices:
Comic Books
- Flash Thompson wasn't truly a villain, but this was the reason he was such a jerkass in high school. His dad was an angry alcoholic who abused both him and his mom. A story arc in the 90's involved Flash — directionless, lonely and increasingly bitter — developing a drinking problem like his father before him, leading to a car crash that got Flash arrested again and cost him his job as a school gym teacher. By this time, Flash had begun blaming much of his troubles on his family in general and his father in particular, but a violent confrontation with his father finally forced Flash to realize that he had become the same sort of self-deluded wreck his father was and that only he could take responsibility for fixing his life. Flash sobered up and started trying to turn his life around.
- The second Venom, Angelo Fortunato, was bullied and ridiculed his whole life, as well as abused by his father, who bought the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock and gave it to his son in the hopes of getting him to man up. During his fight with Spider-Man, he ends up killing a cosplayer dressed like the web-slinger, to which Spidey decides to stop holding back and give him a verbal beatdown, rebuking Angelo's crappy past and pointing out he himself was a bully magnet but didn't become a killer.
Spider-Man: You weren't bullied any more than I was, Angelo. You weren't punched or kicked or spat upon any more than me. You were given great powers and you used them to kill people, you little freak.
- Kaine Parker, one of Spider-Man's clones, is noted to have suffered in the past. When the Kravinoffs embark on a warpath against Peter's "spider family" in the "Grim Hunt" storyline, Kaine is fully prepared to bail out, insisting to Peter that they can't win and they should just "run and screw the rest." In response, Spidey actually punches Kaine in the face, telling him that the difference between them is the fact that he doesn't use his life's misery as an excuse to give up the good fight.
Spider-Man: I know you've had a crappy life, and done bad things, I get it... but I never realized what a piece of garbage you were until this moment. How can you share my DNA and be so damn selfish? We've all been hurt! We've all suffered! But the real difference between us is that I never used it as a crutch. You call it "guilt"... I call it responsibility. And by God, even if it means walking into the lion's den and not coming out... I'm not going to stand by and let people die to save myself.
- In an Anti-Bullying PSA Comic, Spider-Man faces a new antagonist called the Brace. Peter soon recognizes the Brace as someone from his school days, who he remembers getting bullied. He later admits this to a Police Officer, and feels responsible for the Brace’s downfall, by being too scared to stand up to the bullies back then. The Police Officer responds by pointing out that she too was bullied in her youth, but that only encouraged her to become a Cop, so she could be there for other victims and give them the help which she never got. She also recognizes that Peter himself was bullied, but he still made the good and right choice in becoming a Hero, too.
Police Officer Allen: I've heard that song a million times on this job. Every creep blames other people for bad things they do. I'm not buying it. I never had anyone step in to save me... but I decided, if I ever got the chance, I'd be there for other victims, make sure they got the help I didn't. And, we all have that choice.
That power. That responsibility... for me, it meant becoming a cop... and some thing tells me you made your choice... a good one. But the Brace made his choice, too.
- Norman Osborn's abusive father is brought up several times in Revenge of the Green Goblin, but it doesn't excuse his horrific actions at all.
Films — Live-Action
- Spider-Man: Homecoming: When Spider-Man confronts the Vulture after the two of them discover each other's Secret Identity, Vulture defends his actions by telling Spidey he had to start his illegal weapons business to support his family. Spidey responds that, regardless of his reasons, selling illegal weapons to criminals is still wrong.
Video Games
- Spider-Man (PS4): Dr. Octopus was once a good scientist who wanted to help people (as well as himself) but was betrayed by Osborn, and now wants revenge on him instead. He blames everything on Osborn for betraying him and led Peter to believe that it was the tentacles' A.I. making him evil. After leading Peter to believe that Otto only thought that Peter was Spider-Man's assistant, he finally reveals in the climactic battle that he was never fooled and knew all along that Peter and Spider-Man were the same people. In actuality, Otto was always in control of his actions and the A.I. simply removed his inhibition. Otto's vengeful drive, his sociopathic outlook on life, and the abuse of his tentacles were always things he had desired to do, and the loss of his inhibition from the A.I. simply gave him a stronger will to do so than he had originally. Especially since Otto shows no remorse for what he's done, how he's tried to kill Peter despite their history together, and how he genuinely believes the civilian fatalities are acceptable losses as long as Osborn suffers more than he did. Peter, finally realizing that who he thought was his friend and mentor was actually an evil person who deliberately infected others with a dangerous disease, drops the special treatment and defeats him after a brutal fight.
Otto: You should be on
my side!
Peter: I WAS!
Western Animation
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Max Dillon's crimes are motivated by the psychological damage inflicted on him by years of bullying and loneliness and his transformation into a horrific abomination. Spider-Man frequently points out to him that this is no excuse for hurting innocent people.
