Jeff Dunn - The Soul of Spider-Man. Unexpected Spiritual Insights Found in the Legendary Super-Hero Series

2010 Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Revell edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2489-7

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Other versions used are:

THE MESSAGEScripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

NASBScripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

NKJVScripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This book has not been approved or licensed by the creators of Spider-Man. Spider-Man is a registered trademark of Marvel Characters, Inc.

DEDICATION

From Jeffrey Dunn:
To my son, Mark.
From Adam Palmer:
For my children, who continually
hone my Spidey sense.

For many of us, Spider-Man is the ultimate superhero. There have been times where one of the authors of this book (youll have to guess which one) has extended a hand toward the remote control, lying on the table across the room, and, with an imaginary thwip! sent a make-believe bit of webbing from our wrist to retrieve it.

It didnt work, of course. But its nice to pretend.

We love Spider-Man. We wont deny it.

We also love Jesus. We wont deny that, either. (In fact, we love Jesus more, but Spidey is the ultimate in superheroes.)

As authors, weve conditioned ourselves to look for the spiritual in everything. Especially modern stories. We love to try to figure out what the story is telling us about spirituality, eternity, good and evil. We even try to catch a glimpse of Jesus in the script and see if it says anything at all about the way He wants us to live our lives.

We do this because Jesus often used stories to illustrate His sermons. To make His points palatable. To demonstrate the way we should live. And if Jesus used stories, then we feel like were on solid ground when we look into stories to find spiritual truths. We could even call them superhero parables! And believe us, we feel like theres a lot of spiritual truth in the Spider-Man mythology.

So heres the big question: What are we, as a culture, learning when we watch Peter Parker pull that mask over his head and go to work against the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, Venom and the parade of other small-time thieves and crooks he creams throughout the movie trilogy? Are we just seeing entertainment, a bunch of flashing lights on a screen, or are we peering behind the curtain of society and seeing something else altogether?

Is it possible to find God in the lumbering belly of this two-and-a-half billion-dollar beast?

We think so. We see spiritual insights all through the Spider-Man trilogy. And thats why this book exists. To let you see what we see. To encourage you to look beyond the crazy-good special effects, the heart-stopping action, the sharp dialogue and Tobey Maguires terrible crying, and touch the heart of God.

To find the hero within you.

Because its in there. And it isnt waiting for any crazy, one-in-a-million shot in a science lab to unlock it, either. The hero within you is just waiting for you to learn the truth about yourself, about God and about the world around you.

Like Spider-Man, youll find it amazing.

* In compiling this book, we made a deliberate decision very early on to stick to discussing only the Spider-Man films of 2002, 2004 and 2007. While the comics, the early campy movies with Nicolas Hammond as Peter and the various television incarnations of our favorite web-slinger are rich with spiritual material to mine, we didnt want to let our focus get too thin. So keep in mind, as we move ahead, that were only talking about what we see in the first three films of the Spider-Man saga. Now get your DVDs ready, find a comfortable chair, pour yourself a soda and get ready to travel through the films with us to discover the soul of Spider-Man.

INT. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH LAB - DAY

PETER nervously approaches MARY JANE. Shes finally alone, admiring the fourteen genetically modified spiders. He holds up his camera.

PETER
Can I take your picture?
I need one with a student in it.

Shes pleasantly surprised.

MARY JANE
Sure. Where do you want me?

(indicates the spider enclosure)
Over here?

PETER

(agreeing to anything)
Yeah! Yeah, thats great.

Peter backs up a few steps and begins taking pictures. Hes standing in front of a TELEVISION MONITOR that shows computer animation of the genetic engineering process at the lab. Mary Jane awkwardly gestures toward the spiders as she looks at the camera. Snap. Snap.

Peters enraptured at the idea of staring at the girl of his dreams through the lens. At this moment, he need not content himself with stolen glances. She is his. Snap. He keeps taking picture after picture, drawing the moment out.

PETER
Perfect.

CU on: The fifteenth SPIDER, dizzyingly descending on a gossamer thread from a web built directly above Peter. It is red and blue and clearly intelligent.

Mary Jane improvises some stage business, living in the moment of semi-stardom. Peter keeps snapping. Snap. Snap.

The spider keeps coming. We see its POV as it gets closer and closer to the unaware Peter. It touches lightly on Peters knuckle as his hand operates the camera, makes its way down his hand.

A female voice calls toward them. Another student.

VOICE (O.S.)
MJ! Lets go!

Without a cursory glance at Peter, or a word of any kind, Mary Jane turns to leave, looking almost embarrassed at having been caught at the other end of the nerdy photographers lens.

PETER

(calling after her)
Thanks.

ANGLE ON the spider, now near Peters thumb.

ECU: the spider opens its maw wide and, with violence, plunges it deep into Peters hand.

Shock! Peter is stunned and instinctively shakes his hand toward the floor. The spider falls off, and Peter watches it crawl away on the carpet. He examines the WOUND. It lies across a blood vessel and is already swelling, with two red dots indicating fang-marks. Peter looks simultaneously in pain and afraid.