Blog #138: How I View the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a Representation of the Autism/Neurodiversity

The Spider Man trilogy as seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

For this 4th part of my blog on why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a strong representation of the Autism/Neurodiversity Community, I want to cover a character that I sort of connect to in a way be we are both the youngest in our respective families…Peter Parker aka Spider Man.

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Mr. Parker Goes to Washington: Spidey (Tom Holland) scales the Washington Monument in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Now going into the story of Peter Parker, he became Spider Man sort of by accident. He got bitten by a radioactive spider and became the friendly neighborhood Spider Man. But what I connect to Spider Man in the MCU is that we are both the youngest in our respective families. Peter is the youngest of the Avengers and not just because he is only a kid. He has to have elder Avengers mentor him sort of like what I do in my life.

The thing between me and Peter Parker is that when we try to do the right thing, we end up screwing up and making things worse. We think that we have something that makes us invincible, but in reality, it’s just another round of arsenal in our system.

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Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark in “Spider Man: Homecoming.”

Case in point? Peter’s Spider Man suit in the first film “Homecoming.” After doing something stupid with a ferry, Parker’s mentor in the film, Tony Stark, takes the suit from him but not before saying that if he is nothing without the suit, then he shouldn’t have it.

In a way, I knew from the moment Tony said that, Peter was going to get the suit back eventually. He just needed to be tested and he got that test in his homemade suit in the climax against Vulture. Parker felt like he had a safe space in the Spider Man suit, but he got so hooked up in it that he was beginning to lose touch with the changing world around him and it was beginning to hurt others around him.

Naturally, Parker took it hard when he got demoted to just being a normal human being. However, he needed to have a splash of reality thrown at him. Same way with neurodiverse individuals because we get so wrapped up in our own little bubble of fantasy that we began to reject any good change in our lives.

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Peter Parker’s homemade suit in “Spider Man: Homecoming” (2017)

If I do say one good thing about Parker’s lesson in “Homecoming,” is that he was learning these hard lessons as a teenager. I had to wait until after I got out of high school to learn about the real world in terms of being flexible and open minded.

Part of my mission as an autism/neurodiversity self-advocate and public speaker at “Going the Distance” is to ensure that neurodiverse teens are taught lessons about change and the fact that you are not above everyone else while they are still in school or in vocational programs.

But if you want to get neurodiverse high school students that early dose, then “Spider Man: Homecoming” is that early dose.

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Join me in the next blog as I continue talking about Peter Parker/Spider Man in the next film in the trilogy, “Far from Home.”

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Catch you all later!!