“With great power, comes great responsibility.” We all know the line, as it’s one of the most iconic phrases in superhero history. In fact, it was used so well in Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man movie, and echoed in the next two installments of the trilogy, that both The Amazing Spider-Man films and Spider-Man: Homecoming steered clear of it. As it turns out, however, the recent Marvel movie originally included an irreverent reference to it.
Speaking to Yahoo!, screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein revealed that they cut the line from an earlier draft, but here’s when it would have featured:
“At the end when Happy (Jon Favreau) is in the boy’s room in school we had him say, ‘Oh yeah, Tony wanted me to tell you, ‘With great power comes… something, I forgot.’ It was a little too meta.”
Honestly, it’s too bad that they cut this, as twisting the famous line in this way would have been in keeping with the rest of Homecoming’s revamp of the familiar parts of Spider-Man lore. For instance, the hint that Zendaya’s Michelle is the MCU equivalent of Mary Jane Watson and Marisa Tomei’s youthful version of Aunt May.
That being said, it no doubt would have been controversial with many fans. Turning the most important lesson of Peter’s life into a joke might have ruffled some the wrong way. Not to mention that it came from Tony Stark and not dear old Uncle Ben. Maybe it’s best, then, that Daley and Goldestein removed the line. That way fans can assume that Ben had previously told it to Peter off-screen.
Alternatively, maybe the line will appear in the sequel? We don’t know much about it yet, but it’s likely that director Jon Watts will return, as he’s just entered into talks with Marvel.
While we wait to hear more about the studio’s future plans for the hero, you can catch Spider-Man: Homecoming again (go on, you know you want to) in theatres, as it’s still playing nationwide.
