‘Spider-Man’ Director Nixed ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’ Line

'We played around with the idea of using it, but ultimately it felt like it was in the subtext of the film,' Marc Webb says.
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz


Andrew Garfield in "The Amazing Spider-Man"
Photo: Sony Pictures

There has always been a handful of iconic images, story arcs and lines essential to the tale of Peter Parker and his transformation into Spider-Man: his blue and red suit, Aunt May, the death of Uncle Ben and of course, his mantra, "With great power comes great responsibility." But for director "The Amazing Spider-Man," that motto appears nowhere in the film.

When MTV News sat down with Webb to discuss the movie, he explained that he considered adding the line but ultimately cut it because of the phrase's ubiquity, among other reasons.

"We played around with the idea of using it, but ultimately it felt like it was in the subtext of the film in so many places," Webb said. "I think we've all heard it so many times that I didn't think that it was necessary to use."

Since the saying is essential to the kind of hero Peter becomes as Spider-Man, the same ideas are still very much a part of the new movie. "Uncle Ben, of course, issues a statement using some of the similar words to kind of convey that idea," Webb said.

Ultimately, even though the line is important to fans and Spider-Man mythos, Webb had a hard time fitting it into his vision of the hero. "There were moments where we thought about using it, but it didn't feel as emotionally honest to the scenes and to the sequences. We were trying to create something more naturalistic," Webb said. "Because we had seen it so many times before, I didn't think it was absolutely necessary."

Check out everything we've got on "The Amazing Spider-Man."

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