Peter Vs Flash in New ASM Clip

23 Comments

1. @21 – Picking on someone to make them look foolish fits the very definition of bullying!

   You seems to think bullying is only a physical thing. It is not!

   I don’t fins someone being picked on to make look foolish particularly funny. Especially when it’s supposed to be Peter Parker doing the picking on.

2. personally i like the scene. if it takes place where i think it does which would be shortly after understanding his new powers and before the death of uncle ben then its exactly what i want to see from a spiderman origin story. this isn’t peter bullying flash at all but instead is just him non violently getting back at a guy who more than deserves it if you’ve one of the clips that i have. i really don’t see how this is out of character either considering that in the original comics however brief it was shown peter was more or less a cocky, arrogant, jerk after getting his powers and even after becoming spiderman. it was that cocky attitude that got uncle ben killed and only then did he realize how great responsibility comes with great power. lets not forget in the original story peter didnt bother to stop the burgurlar just because he didn’t feel like it. the raimi trilogy softened it to him being cheated and then getting revenge to make it more sympathic to the audience. and as for the whole not caring about his secret identity thing im assuming at this point he doesn’t have one yet and even still the whole breaking the glass thing looks like a surprise to peter himself. for context though a shy guy sudden displaying hidden basketball talent is way less conspicuous then doing a full suspended 360 midair backflip in front of a hallway full of classmates

3. @ #17

   I will presume to tell you what bullying is as long as you continue to misname what Peter was doing in this video. By calling this bullying you are demeaning the term because bullying is a pretty specific thing and you seem to think it can be used in any situation where one person is giving another person a hard time or picking on them or trying to make them look a little foolish. Peter was messing with Flash here. He wasn’t beating Flash up in front of the school. He wasn’t dunking his head in a toilet. He wasn’t mocking Flash based on his sexual orientation or religious beliefs. He didn’t pants Flash in front of the entire student body. He played a super powered version of keep away. From what I can gather about where this scene takes place in the movie I would say it is pretty soon after he gains his powers. In the comics, since you brought them up, Peter was kind of a jerk before Uncle Ben got killed. Is Peter acting like a jerk here? A bit. I would concede on that point. He’s not being a nice guy. But, if the Flash of this movie has been a jerk to Peter and Peter is getting a little get back I wouldn’t call that bullying. I’d call it Peter getting even, which is something I won’t begrudge the character just as I didn’t begrudge the Peter of the Raimi films his fight in the hallway or the Peter of the Ultimate universe accidentally breaking Flash’s hand.

   K-Box brings up an interesting point that in the end I really don’t agree with. I don’t think Peter gained any kind of victory by what went on in this scene. In fact I have a feeling that (again) like the Raimi film this will make Peter even more of an outcast because usually when the teenager that is picked on retaliates in any way against a popular kid it is looked on with disdain and scorn. While I applaud Peter’s actions I don’t think they will get him anywhere. In the Raimi film just about all of the characters looked at Peter like he was a freak and then there was that scene in Peter’s backyard where Mary Jane made that asinine comment about how he freaked them all out by punching Flash across the room. Peter could never win by “becoming” Flash just as he could never convince the other students that the nerds don’t deserved to be picked on no matter how weird they may be.

   In the end I think we are reading more into this scene than is intended. It’s a few minutes out of a two hour film and from the score I get that this is supposed to be a funny scene and I certainly thought it was.

4. I really don’t have a problem with the idea behind this scene. I’m fine with Peter being a little arrogant and selfish with his powers after he first acquires them (after all, that’s a big part of his origin story) and using them to maybe dish out a little payback against his tormentors, but in a subtle way so he doesn’t give himself away too much. And frankly, if a teenager gets bullied, tormented and humiliated badly enough, well I don’t care who he is, I have a really hard time believing that if he gained powers he wouldn’t initially use them to get a little revenge.

   But the problem I have with this scene is that he displays his powers too openly, he gives himself away too much. Unless it turns out that this is all in his imagination, I don’t see how he’ll be able to keep his identity a secret and have it make any logical sense. This is just as bad as that scene in the original movie when he fought Flash in the hallway, did a somersault in the air and punched Flash clear across the hallway. Maybe it’s even worse.

   I’d really hoped that this film would avoid all the dumb mistakes made in the crappy Raimi films, but this scene didn’t do much to instill me with confidence.

5. Add me to the number of guys who were bullied nerds as high school kids.

   On the one hand, I always hated it whenever Peter Parker or Clark Kent would have to feign weakness to protect their secret identities, because it basically sent the message that they weren’t allowed to fight back against their own mistreatment (indeed, it was often implied that it would be selfish or unheroic for them to defend themselves socially).

   On the other, while I’m sure that this film will give us plenty of context in which Flash has earned getting shut down by Peter, this still feels slightly … off, somehow, and I think I’ve finally figured out why:

   The clear implication is that Peter achieves social “victory” over Flash by BECOMING like Flash — brawny, mouthy, arrogant, taunting — rather than by proving that quiet nerds don’t deserve tormenting, no matter how “weird” or outside the supposed social “norms” they might be.

   It’s as insulting as all those “ugly duckling” movies in which the dorky girl with the huge glasses and the unkempt hair and the unfashionable outfits gains social acceptance by becoming conventionally pretty, as if anyone would find Rachel Leigh Cook hideous whether or not she wore paint-stained overalls and Lisa Loeb horn-rims.

   It’s like the worst aspects of Horatio Alger, except for social outcasts; rather than challenging the unfair, unequal, cliquish system that pushes around so many nerds like yourself, just grow some muscles and practice your trash-talk, and you too will be privileged enough to be a Big Man On Campus.

6. @17 But if someone did see this clip without knowing about Flash bullying Peter, they wouldn’t have the full details of the piece and would be viewing the scene out of context. I think Peter’s actions are justified and reasonable. I remember that Peter agreed to a boxing match with Flash Thompson in the gym, in issue 8 of Amazing Spider-Man. That must have been payback of some sorts.

7. @ #12 – I was bullied too. And from the sounds of it, much worse than you. So don’t presume to tell me what bullying is.

   What I always admired about Peter is that he would NEVER stoop to bullying someone back. And humiliating someone in front of a crowd IS bullying. I think you will find that in the comics the type of bullying Flash Thompson did to Peter was all about humiliating in from of people. It is that type of bullying that leads to people committing suicide.

   When the strong pick on the weak with either physical torment or humiliation, it’s bullying. Peter is BEING A BULLY in this clip. Plain and simply. Just because you bully a bully, does not make it right! Satisfying? Sure. Right? No. Anyone seeing this incident without experience of anything Flash had done to Peter would come to a single conclusion, “that Peter guy is a dick!”.

   Stan Lee’s Peter parker would never do this!

8. I liked the clip…except for the end. The dunking of the ball and breaking glass is ridiculous. Does Peter even care about his secret identity? Wouldn’t Peter have cuts all over his hands and face? Anyway, other than that, I thought the clip was amusing, and I liked how Peter played with Flash. I just hope the hoop-smashing is edited out of the movie.

9. AWESOME! Remember, people in the comic book universe are too oblivious to connect super heroes with their alter egos. I think Peter’s pretty safe on this one. Oh man… can’t get over how great a clip that is.

10. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN! Now that’s what I call a slam dunk!

11. I’ll keep on saying it:

    They cast a perfectly good Harry Osborn as Peter Parker.

12. Alright, the Peter is a bully comment got to me.
    then
    As someone that was bullied (not horribly so but still it’s not a good feeling) any time you can get your get back in a non-violent way then you are doing it right. Even if Flash was beating Peter up or physically assaulting him in any way the humiliation being picked on can produce is pretty severe. From the clip it looks like Peter is giving back a little of what Flash has dished out. That’s not bullying. That’s justice.

    More so if you think this is bullying then there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with your perceptions of what bullying actually is.

    Moving on…

    I liked the clip. I’ve liked pretty much all of the clips I have seen. The thing that struck me most about this one and the one where Peter is fleeing the police is that the music is very…old school as far as being a super-hero score. As dark as they have tried to make this film look the score takes a little of that darkness away and makes it more fun, which I like quite a bit.

13. I’m assuming that this is when Peter was just getting the hang of his powers but with none of the responsibility involved. He probably didn’t have a secret identity yet to hide, so he wanted to get back at Flash a little. Scene seems reasonable to me.

14. So now Peter is the bully?

    I’m sure in the movie Flash will have done something to deserve this, but Peter is outright bullying him in this. Very out of character. Not to mention the idiotic over the top slam dunk.

    And people are like “awesome clip”?

    Really sad to see people accept this as who Peter Parker is. In the real comics (don’t quote the garbage “Ultimate” comics”) Peter was happy to let people think he was a wimp and would NEVER bully someone, even if that person was a bully. Worst he would do would be to out quip Flash and make him look dumb, but only when Flash was mocking him first. Most of the time, if Flash was bullying Peter, Peter would walk away.

    Not to mention Flash plays football, not basketball.

    This movie just does not care about any form of faithfulness to the source material.

    Oh and the music is terrible, makes the whole scene feel off. Come back Danny Elfman!

15. That was fun.

16. Seriously, this is getting to be like Spider-Man 3, too much from the movie is leaked before the movie release

    At least I didn’t see half of this movie, Spider-Man practically released what’s worth 60 minutes of footage before the movie release in theaters, and somehow that didn’t get as many negative views as the full movie

17. Sigh….so much for not repeating the stupid mistakes of the Raimi films.

18. In the Ultimate Spider-Man short story anthology book, Pete beat Flash in a full on basketball match. Peter David himself wrote that story.

19. Aww he’s just foolin around with him : p

20. I hope that clip is just Peter imagining what he would like to do.

21. #2 – Exactly. As entertaining and satisfying as the clip is – Peter would NEVER have done that.

22. Secret Identitiy…blown.

23. Such an awesome clip. Admittedly, it ruins some of the tension behind Flash bullying Peter, since this scene is supposed to be Peter getting back at him, but I liked what happened, and I’m curious how they’ll follow up on it.