Spidey and His Web of Faith

(BEWARE: The following post may spoil the movie for you if you haven't seen it yet.)

Last night I watched Spider-Man 3. I give it all eight thumbs up -- not just for its amazing action, but for its Christian themes. I did some World Wide Web-crawling of my own, and apparently I'm not the only one who saw Christian elements within. In this movie, it's just plain obvious.

Spider-Man 2
When I saw Spider-Man 2, I detected what I thought to be Christian imagery. In this movie, the miracle-working Web-Head fell out of favor with the populace, the hearts of which were hardened against him.

But Spidey loved them while they were yet sinful citizens, and he was willing to sacrifice his life to save them from a train wreck. The method he employed to do this was with arms outstretched and his hands bound, enduring great pain and suffering by his own free will. Notice, too, the hole in the side of his costume.

True, this is all cruci-fiction, but there is nothing fictitious about what it portrays: the power of love. The passengers' ride on the Gospel Train was a turning point in the movie.

The Web-Slinger acted as a selfless savior. As shown in the picture, He was fully Spider-Man and fully Peter Parker, one person with two natures. He collapsed as if dead, and then "came back to life," as it were, when he regained consciousness before a host of witnesses in the train, who came back around to believe in him.

Spider-Man 3
In the third movie, which I just viewed, I saw Peter Parker acting out the Christian life.

Because of his successful crime-fighting career and all the accolades he received, Parker swelled with pride. This opened the door to sin's overpowering darkness, represented by the black, creepy-crawly extraterrestrial symbiote that enveloped him and increased his capacity for doing evil.

His conscience, however, was a law unto itself. Despite the gravity of his sins, something inside tugged at him. Finally, when he hit his low point (when he hit his beloved Mary Jane), he felt a strong conviction, realizing what kind of monster he had become.

When he stepped outside, he gazed upon the cross. This cross was at the top of a nearby church -- a Catholic church, I might add. He webbed his way up the church and sat prayerfully on the side of the church tower underneath the cross.


He then entered the structure and attempted to tear off the black "sin-biote" that had overtaken him. He was successful only during the sounding of church bells, which symbolize a call to worship.

It seemed odd -- but fascinating to me -- that, immediately following the church scene, Peter Parker basked in and found great comfort in taking a shower. It looked like a deliberate reference to the cleansing waters of baptism, after which his repentance continued to deepen.

Some time after Peter's sacramental shower, the real killer of Uncle Ben offered a confession of his murder to Peter. After the killer expressed remorse, both were in tears, and, as if serving a priestly function, Peter confidently spoke the words, "I forgive you." The killer went away knowing he was truly forgiven.

We also saw two people who died in the end: one who repented and one who did not:

1. Harry, who had been Spidey's enemy, changed his heart and became Peter's friend again. It turned out as was foreshadowed earlier in the film: he gave his life for Peter.
2. The other person, Brock (or "Venom"), loved the sin of the symbiote that attached itself to him after Peter had ridden himself of it. Brock had full opportunity to be freed from the symbiote, but as it was about to meet its end, Brock ran toward it and thereby shared in its fate of incineration -- a type of hell.

Even the shadiest of moviegoers find themselves at least inwardly rooting for Peter Parker to triumph over evil in all its forms, whether they be outside forces or internal temptations.

For no matter who we are, we all admire goodness and the integrity of truth. What not everyone realizes is that Jesus is the embodiment of truth, and that as Catholics we are blessed with the full revelation of that Truth.

As we reflect on this, we are provided with plenty of reasons to Marvel.