I completely disagree. I also want to see her become a superhero, but what I saw here was a real person with “low stakes” problems.
She wanted her friend back. That’s a relatable problem. Now… She makes a deal with the devil to do that, but I get it. I don’t think she’s being set up as a villain. She didn’t do anything villainous. She did some bad things, but I don’t think she is a villain.
She is a hero who hasn’t figured out her way.
Think of Spider-Man during Homecoming. Now Spider-Man has the benefit of Iron Man, but think about if he didn’t. He tracked down the bad guys to a ship, that ship got cut in half and… it’s a complete disaster. Spider-Man got lucky.
Now think of Spider-Man in Far From Home. He hands EDITH to Mysterio. He gets help from “Nick Fury” & “Maria Hill”. He barely saves the day and at the cost of his identity being revealed.
Now think of Spider-Man in No Way Home. He nearly kills, arguably attempts to murder, the Green Goblin. Only a multiversal version of him is able to stop him.
Riri doesn’t have that. That’s her story. Sure she has family, but they don’t know what to do, they don’t know how to help. Riri is willing to take on more risk.
You have to learn to be a hero. To learn you need help. Riri will get there, but she has to make A LOT of mistakes along the way.
In terms of her future, I hope it is a Young Avengers type movie. I want her alongside these other people. I want her to learn and grow to make the “correct” decisions. But it isn’t going to be free. She’s made some bad choices, but that’s ok. She can learn, she can grow.
I feel like the important distinction between this and all those Spider-Man examples is that all those Spider-Man examples take place in the context of Spider-Man being a superhero. He’s a guy who shows up to save people.
I’m fine with a story of a hero failing it succumbing to temptation. But a better analogy would be if in Raimi’s Spider-Man, Uncle Ben never died and Peter just direct the rest of the movie using his new powers trying to buy a car to impress MJ.
Maybe a better way to look at it is Tony Stark then.
Prior to the events of the Iron Man film his guide was Obadiah Stane. The Stark company leaned heavily into weapons manufacturing. For Peter Parker it is more chasing Tony, so he does lean more heroic as a starting point. But for Tony, he has to learn from his own mistakes. Obviously Riri is ALSO chasing Tony, but goes about it differently and ends up in a different situation.
I completely disagree. I also want to see her become a superhero, but what I saw here was a real person with “low stakes” problems.
She wanted her friend back. That’s a relatable problem. Now… She makes a deal with the devil to do that, but I get it. I don’t think she’s being set up as a villain. She didn’t do anything villainous. She did some bad things, but I don’t think she is a villain.
She is a hero who hasn’t figured out her way.
Think of Spider-Man during Homecoming. Now Spider-Man has the benefit of Iron Man, but think about if he didn’t. He tracked down the bad guys to a ship, that ship got cut in half and… it’s a complete disaster. Spider-Man got lucky.
Now think of Spider-Man in Far From Home. He hands EDITH to Mysterio. He gets help from “Nick Fury” & “Maria Hill”. He barely saves the day and at the cost of his identity being revealed.
Now think of Spider-Man in No Way Home. He nearly kills, arguably attempts to murder, the Green Goblin. Only a multiversal version of him is able to stop him.
Riri doesn’t have that. That’s her story. Sure she has family, but they don’t know what to do, they don’t know how to help. Riri is willing to take on more risk.
You have to learn to be a hero. To learn you need help. Riri will get there, but she has to make A LOT of mistakes along the way.
In terms of her future, I hope it is a Young Avengers type movie. I want her alongside these other people. I want her to learn and grow to make the “correct” decisions. But it isn’t going to be free. She’s made some bad choices, but that’s ok. She can learn, she can grow.
I feel like the important distinction between this and all those Spider-Man examples is that all those Spider-Man examples take place in the context of Spider-Man being a superhero. He’s a guy who shows up to save people.
I’m fine with a story of a hero failing it succumbing to temptation. But a better analogy would be if in Raimi’s Spider-Man, Uncle Ben never died and Peter just direct the rest of the movie using his new powers trying to buy a car to impress MJ.
Maybe a better way to look at it is Tony Stark then.
Prior to the events of the Iron Man film his guide was Obadiah Stane. The Stark company leaned heavily into weapons manufacturing. For Peter Parker it is more chasing Tony, so he does lean more heroic as a starting point. But for Tony, he has to learn from his own mistakes. Obviously Riri is ALSO chasing Tony, but goes about it differently and ends up in a different situation.
I dunno, for me it works.