Monday, 7 December 2015

Why isn't the killer of Uncle Ben killed by Spider man in The Amazing Spider Man?

Neither in the comics, nor in the Sam Raimi movie does Spider-Man kill the person responsible for Uncle Ben's death (in the comics he dies of a heart attack, in the movie he falls out of a window. Although Spider-Man 3 reveals that it was actually Flint Marko who shot Uncle Ben).



I think the important part is not the death of the culprit, but the following realization:




Peter Parker[Source]



The fact that he could have saved his Uncle Ben’s life by taking the time to stop the burglar, demonstrated to Peter Parker that with great power there must also come great responsibility.



His guilt over failing to prevent the death of Ben Parker became the motivating force behind Peter Parker's career as Spider-Man.



Peter vowed never to let harm come to an innocent person ever again if he could help, and so it was that Spider-Man became the crime fighter that he remains to this day





In The Amazing Spider-Man Peter also has this realization. When he sees the police sketch of Uncle Ben's killer he recognizes him as the thief he didn't stop earlier.



  sketch



Using a police scanner he hunts for his uncle's killer.



  Police Scanner



But things change when the Lizard wreaks havoc on the bridge and Peter manages to save people (including a child). The next day the talks to Gwen about it:



  Gwen




Peter: Last night, those people on the bridge... whatever was attacking them, would have killed them. So I gotta go after it.

Gwen: That's not your job.

Peter: Maybe it is.




Even though he hasn't caught Uncle Ben's killer, Peter has learned that he can't just look the other way when people need help. Stopping the Lizard is more important than looking for the thief who killed his uncle... at least for the moment (The Amazing Spider-Man is supposedly the start of a new trilogy).

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