With arguably the most star-studded (and expensive) cast in film history on deck for the final battle in Avengers: Endgame, the Russo brothers made damn sure that heroes like Spider-Man and Black Panther got some of the spotlight after getting sidelined for a good chunk of the film.
There was the Peter Parker meeting Captain Marvel scene, Starlord meeting 2014-Gamora, and of course, the “she’s got help” scene. But not everyone was onboard with how certain characters were portrayed during the final battle.
Spider-Man writer Dan Slott tweeted his thoughts on how Peter Parker was handled in Endgame and pointed how the character’s decision to kill in the film didn’t sit well with him.
It’s a pretty mild criticism – if you even want to call it that – and Slott acknowledges it as nothing more than a personal opinion on a fictional character and shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Having said that, he’s got a point with the whole “Peter Parker shouldn’t kill” thing.
The character has been traditionally portrayed as a struggling kid who gets by on his wits and ingenuity while adhering to a strict moral code. This sort of innocent charm was blunted somewhat when he was given a heap of Spider-Man tech from Tony Stark, which took away a lot of the urgency to embrace his own problem-solving abilities.
Throw in his little “instant kill mode” moment in Homecoming and it just doesn’t quite ring true that Peter Parker would use the mode without hesitation in Endgame, even if it was against Thanos’ minions.
Adaptations of comic books don’t strictly adhere to the source material and there’s always some compromises that may not sit well with certain writers, which is something Slott acknowledges.
And hey, Far From Home sort of rectified whatever gripe Slott (and I) had with Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Endgame as the character is seen designing a brand new suit with no “instant kill mode” that’s more suited (pun intended) to his personal taste than the one he got from Tony Stark.
Everyone is going to nitpick these Marvel films until the end of time so let’s get ready for what’s going to spill over when Black Widow comes out in 2020.