Characters / Spider-Man Trilogy: Spider-Man

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For tropes applying to his appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, see MCU: Peter Parker Variants

Peter Benjamin Parker / Spider-Man

"Sometimes, to do what's right, we have to be steady, and give up the things we want the most. Even our dreams."

^{Click here to see Peter as Spider-Man in his red and blue suit}
"I'm the sheriff around these parts."

^{Click here to see Peter as Spider-Man in his black symbiote suit}
"This is something else!"

^{Click here to see Peter as the Human Spider}
"No, he got my name wrong!"

Played by: Tobey Maguire

Voiced by: Luis Daniel Ramírez (Latin-American Spanish dub), Roger Pera (European Spanish dub), Manabu Ino (Japanese dub), Damien Witecka (European French dub), Hugolin Chevrette-Landesque (Canadian French dub), Evgeny Ivanov (Russian dub), Manolo Rey (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Spider-Man | Spider-Man 2 | Spider-Man 3 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ^note Archive footage from Spider-Man

"Whatever life has in store for me, I'll never forget these words: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man."

Peter Parker was once a nerdy awkward teenager, but after being bitten by a genetically altered spider during a class field trip, he gains spider-based powers. At first, he uses these powers for the same thing any other teenage boy would use them for: self-profit and to impress girls. But, after indirectly causing his uncle's death, he learns a life lesson he'll never forget and swears to use his new powers to protect the city of New York as Spider-Man.

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A-F

• Accidental Murder: Throughout the entire trilogy, only three villains (Dennis Carradine, Green Goblin, Eddie Brock) died in a direct battle against Spider-Man, but their deaths were never intentional by Peter's hand, making him only legally, at worst, guilty of negligent homicide, involuntary manslaughter, and assistant suicide. Carradine, frightened when Peter broke his hand, tripped and fell to his death, the Goblin was impaled on his own glider when Peter dodged it, and Eddie was killed trying to save the symbiote after Peter threw a pumpkin bomb at it.
• The Ace: Once becoming Spider-Man. He is quite handsome, skilled in science, and has superpowers beyond any normal human being. That said, Peter's low self-esteem and moments of weakness downplay this somewhat. Played straight in Spider-Man: No Way Home though, since he has grown more experienced and mature by then.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: Any time where Peter's typical "Parker's Luck" gets better, he'll have a bad habit of letting the positives get to his head.
  • In the first film, he starts to become confrontational and arrogant when discovering his newfound superpowers, leading him to monopolize it by entering a wrestling match to win $3000 as well as eating up the praise received by the audience.
  • In the third film, he starts regressing back into arrogance due to the fame and reputation of being Spider-Man getting better, which only gets worse after bonding with the symbiote. Although he eventually realizes that his It's All About Me attitude and the corrupting effects of the symbiote hurts his loved ones.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: His comic self famously suffered from a case of I Let Gwen Stacy Die, while here he and the Trope Namer aren't as close as they were in the comics and only go on one date. As a result that is not a tragedy this iteration of the character experienced. Spider-Man: No Way Home reveals that he does suffer from a mild case of "I let Norman and Harry Osborn die".
• Adaptational Backstory Change: A minor one but according to the novelization, Peter originally lived in Wisconsin until he was four when his parents died. His comic self was born in Queens and therefore always lived in the state of New York. That said, whether or not this is true for the film version is debatable, as in Spider-Man 3, he refers to himself as "a nerdy kid from Queens", though given he was raised there pretty much his whole life, it would still make sense for him to call himself that even if he wasn't born there.
• Adaptational Curves: Traditionally, Spider-Man is usually depicted as lean-muscled. Just like in the 1990s cartoon, this version is more heavy-muscled.
• Adaptational Dumbass:
  • Downplayed, since this version of Peter is still a scientific genius like in the comics, but some of the choices he makes really tend to shine out some idiocy on his part. This is particularly noticeable in the second movie where he tries to win Mary Jane over by quoting poetry to her, even though he now knows she's in a relationship with John Jameson, and later tries to test to see if he has his powers again by jumping off a tall building and nearly killing himself.
  • In regards to his actual intelligence, Peter comes across as a more realistic highly intelligent person as opposed to his comic self's level of genius which made him a Science Hero. He's clearly very smart and understands several difficult scientific concepts, usually those that relate to physics, but he never shows the inventing talent of his comic self, who showed knowledge of chemistry and mechanics with designing his web shooters, which was nearly the always the reason for his victories and instead usually wins through brute force which leaves his intelligence being an Informed Attribute. This is fixed in his appearance in No Way Home where he shows that he is just as intelligent as his counterparts, both of whom had to build their own web shooters and understand chemical formulas.
• Adaptational Dye-Job:
  • Peter has brown eyes in the comics and most versions; here, he has blue eyes instead due to being played by Tobey Maguire. Although in the comics, they flip-flop between brown and blue so much that eventually Marvel officially stated they were hazel as a compromise.
  • The web design of his costume is silver rather than black, along with the web design of his symbiote costume being black rather than white.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In the comics, Gwen Stacy died because Spider-Man tried to web her to safety without accounting for the whiplash, which led to her neck snapping. His Webb-verse counterpart also makes a similar mistake. This incarnation, however, has to deal with such a situation Once per Episode (MJ in the first, Aunt May in the second, and Gwen herself in the third), but he never tries to web them to safety directly, instead using different, creative ways to reach them and then decrease the speed using his webs. The result: he succeeds in all three scenarios.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In his original comics debut (Amazing Fantasy #15), Peter is portrayed as a bullied nerd with an understandable chip-on-his-shoulder. However, upon gaining his powers from the spider bite, he immediately took this as an opportunity to become famous and rich, and became a huge Attention Whore as a public sensation, leading him to not intervene against the robber from escaping, since it's not his problem. Furthermore, in the The Amazing Spider-Man run, Peter always has a hard time grasping the lesson of responsibility, with most of his heroics still being motivated by self-centeredness, and he even acts like a bully himself whenever he gets provoked (which is something that's really easy to achieve) or if he gets a mild suspicion of someone being guilty. In the films, Peter was less motivated in becoming famous but still took the wrestling gig as a one-time gig in order to afford a used car to impress MJ (and become rich, partly to help his family)^note though he considers taking wrestling up more often in the novelization after winning. While he still let the robber get away, he only did it because he got stiffed by the sleazy manager. After losing Uncle Ben, however, Peter took the man's lessons very seriously and avoided doing any frivolous activities as Spider-Man, no matter how tempted he felt when hitting rock bottom.
  • To be fair, at least part of this stems from their difference in age. whereas comic Spider-Man was 15 years old at the start of his crusade against crime, this version is around 18 years old by the first movie. Also, comic Spider-Man's temporary retirement as a superhero partly stemmed from feelings of guilt toward Aunt May, as well as feelings of doubt whether his vigilantism is even sane at all. In fact, while retired, he still saved a person in peril, whereas this Peter hesitantly ignored an innocent bystander being assaulted.
• Adaptational Seriousness: Generally in-and-out-of costume, this Peter is more serious, especially since Sam Raimi toned down his Motor Mouth tendencies. That said, it does hew somewhat closer to The Amazing Spider-Man where Peter out-of-costume was quite moody and angsty, owing to his typical luck and Friendless Background.
• Adaptational Skill: While in the comics Peter was able to design his own suit, it's unknown whether he was artistic when it came to drawing. This version is definitely skilled in that, as the first film showed him making a very impressive drawing of his suit. The third film would reveal that at some point in his life he learned to play the piano, a skill his comic self hasn't shown.
• Adaptational Superpower Change:
  • His web-shooters are natural. Prior to that, the comics had him use gadgets, while the Venom suit gave him unlimited webbing as a power, an effect which is lost in Spider-Man 3 when Peter gets the black suit and doesn't seem to gain special advantages from the symbiote. While the original concept art and an early trailer show Peter creating the mechanical web-shooters, the idea was scrapped in the official movie release due to the trilogy being more grounded in realism, with Sam Raimi stating that something as sophisticated as the mechanical web-shooters would be unrealistic for a high school teenager to create on a budget. However, later iterations of Spider-Man would run with it anyway, most likely to clarify that they're in separate continuities, which leads to a humorous moment in No Way Home where it's acknowledged that he's the only Spider-Man with organic webs which his counterparts are jealous of.
  • The first film establishes that his wall-crawling ability is the result of his skin growing small but sharp "barbed" like material. This is different from the comics where the spider bite essentially gave Peter the power to control electrostatic force to cling to surfaces.
  • In the comics, Peter was given Super-Strength as part of his power set, and had to build up his muscles on his own. In the film, Peter receives a Heroic Build as part of his powers altering his DNA.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • One departure from the comics (both original and modern) and the other versions is that this Peter, out-of-costume, is more of an Extreme Doormat, allowing people to treat him like crap and being a Love Martyr with Single-Target Sexuality for MJ. In retrospect, this helps explain Peter's "evil", less-repressed side in Spider-Man 3 where he's under the control of the symbiote but it's very different from the comics and most versions, where Peter was never shy of expressing his disdain for Flash or Harry (on their first meeting), and even saw MJ as a flake for her constant flip-flops. In the comics, Peter and Harry even started off as enemies at college since Peter could never stand Harry's snobbish attitude while the latter ironically finds Peter's cold and aloof attitude to be "snobbish" as well.
    • The novelizations, however, reveal that Peter is indeed still The Resenter, and struggles with resisting the impulse to get back at people.
  • The novels also reveal that while not outspoken about it, he's more religious than his comic book counterpart, likely because May herself is shown to be more religious.
  • By No Way Home though, he seems to have outgrown this, encouraging his counterparts to be more confident in themselves.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • While Peter and Mary Jane were neighbors in the comics, they only met when they were teenagers and Mary Jane moved in with her aunt Anna and while he found her attractive at the time Peter was in love with Gwen Stacy. Here, they've known each other since they were children with Peter always having a crush on her which she remains oblivious to through most of the first film, while in the comics Mary Jane secretly admired Peter due to knowing he was Spider-Man. Another change is their dynamic while as a couple, since in the comics Mary Jane's issues from her childhood cause them to break up several time with Peter often voicing how angry it makes him while here they are both to blame for the complications in their relationship though Mary Jane voices her anger over his decisions.
  • He and Harry didn't meet until college in the comics and it took awhile for them to become friends as Harry sided with Flash often, but here they are each other's Only Friend in high school and were targets for Flash to bully.
  • In the comics, Gwen Stacy was Peter's First Love, as while he dated prior to meeting her he never had a relationship that meant that much to him, and her death became a moment that haunted him for the rest of his life. Here they only go on one date which ends badly when Peter tries to use her to make Mary Jane jealous, and he actually saves her in this version. Not only that but Gwen actually hated Spider-Man and blamed him for her father's death, while here she's grateful for him saving her.
• The Adjectival Superhero: In the first film he refers to himself as "your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" in his note to the police and after saving Mary Jane. After No Way Home, this becomes his official title according to Marvel to separate him from his MCU and Webb-Verse counterparts.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: After pushing over Mary Jane in a symbiote-induced rage, Peter looks at his hand in horror and tries his best to get rid of the strength his black suit provides.
• Age Lift: In the comics and most versions, Peter usually becomes Spider-Man during the middle of his high school years. Here, he officially becomes Spider-Man after graduating from high school like in the animated series. Since the second film presents him celebrating his birthday a month before the anniversary of Ben's death, which happened before he graduated in the first film, that means Peter gained his powers and became Spider-Man when he was eighteen.
• Alliterative Name: Peter Parker.
• All for Nothing: The hardships and trauma that comes from his attempts to uphold the promise pleaded from the late Norman Osborn of preventing Harry from learning his Dark Secret become naught when Harry finds out through a hallucination of Norman at the end of 2, leading to not only Harry becoming New Goblin in 3. That said, this saves Peter and MJ in the long run, since Harry ultimately saved them from Sandman and Venom.
• All Webbed Up: In a change from the comics, his web-shooters are organic in this film series.
• Alternate Self:
  • His appearance in No Way Home has him meet his counterparts from Earth-120703 and Earth-199999. It also gives him a variant on Earth-89521.
  • He makes a brief appearance in Across the Spider-Verse through archive footage when Miguel is explaining the multiverse to Miles Morales, with the film featuring several different variants of himself such as one from Earth-67, Earth-1048, Earth-13122, Earth-26496 and Earth-751263.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Both Avi Arad and Sam Raimi believe that Peter is Jewish, and in Spider-Man 3 Peter says, "shalom" when answering Dr. Connors' call. However, May is implied to be Protestant and the novelisations imply that Peter's more of a Christian with no mention of any Jewish heritage.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing: Gee, I wonder what Animal Motif Spider-Man has?
• Arachnid Appearance and Attire: This is Spider-Man we're talking about. No further reason is needed to explain why he is the first entry for the comic book section in this trope.
• Ascended Extra: Downplayed. While films star, Spider-Man, his civilian identity as Peter Parker are often the main focus compare to his heroic persona. On a meta level, fans regarded this iteration of character to be the best "Peter Parker", and in No Way Home, he's credited as the ''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man".
• Ascended Fanboy: The first novelization reveals that as a child, he was a fan of Captain America comics, who's status as a real person is questionable, and he then grew up to become a superhero himself. Whether or not this is canon to the movies is unknown as he neither shows any reaction to the Cap's shield being added to the MCU's Statue of Liberty, nor has he ever heard of the Avengers. That said, in Spider-Man 2 he does mention collecting comic books in the past, and makes a few DC Comic references in the first and third movies.
• The Atoner: Peter's carelessness being partly responsible for his Uncle Ben's death is what motivates him to use his powers for good, unlike his nemesis, Green Goblin, who uses his newfound strength for settling personal scores, petty grudges, and for the high.
• Badass Boast: When Peter fully accepts his calling and everything that comes with it.
  Peter Parker: Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man.
• Bash Brothers:
  • After Harry's Heel–Face Turn, the two become this for the final battle.
  • He becomes this again to his Earth-120703 and Earth-199999 counterparts in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Besides Carradine (who killed himself) and Sandman (who he fought while under the symbiote's influence and who survived their fight anyway), the only villain that Peter attempts to kill is the Venom symbiote by way of incinerating it with a pumpkin bomb. Justified since Peter prefers to talk baddies into surrendering, while the symbiote is a barely sentient creature who doesn't speak or understand English and he only intended to kill the symbiote, not Eddie.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: While under the effects of the symbiote, Peter gradually morphs into every bully, jerk, creep and psycho he faced as Peter and Spider-Man. He becomes murderous and vengeful (like the Goblin), bossy and bullying (like Flash Thompson and J. Jonah Jameson), creepy and abusive (like certain men in poor MJ's life), an entitled egomaniac (like Eddie Brock) and lastly, he blows up a pumpkin bomb in Harry's face, as payback to his son for what Goblin did to him at the end of Spider-Man 1 (where a pumpkin bomb shredded Peter's mask and left him a bloody mess). It's not until he physically assaults Mary Jane in a moment of pure anger that Peter realizes what kind of person the symbiote is turning him into, which prompts him to try to remove it.
• Being Good Sucks: Whenever he does the right thing, it's always at a huge personal cost. Lampshaded even.
  Peter: No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, it's the ones I love who will always be the ones who pay.
• Being Evil Sucks: Under the symbiote's influence, he becomes much more egotistical and cruel. But it isn't until he hits MJ that he realizes what he has become and tries to take off the new suit at any cost. On the flip side, his personality when under the symbiote's influence gives him the confidence to make Jameson give him a staff job with a generous pay rise.
• Beta Outfit: His wrestling attire consists of cobalt blue tracking pants, and a red-colored long sleeve shirt with a spider symbol, gloves, sneakers, and balaclava.
• Beware the Nice Ones: You don't want to make Spidey angry. Carradine and both Goblins learn this the hard way.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • With Mary Jane. Both are from a working-class background and wrestle with both self-esteem issues and being honest with their feelings. But the fact that they relate to each other, and can therefore understand and support each other, is what leads them to fall in love.
  • Platonic example with Otto Octavius. Both are scientific geniuses with a sense of responsibility. Notably, Peter is able to redeem Otto by revealing his secret identity to him and reminding him of their shared ideals.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: The webs on his costume are unusually glossy. The same goes for the eyepieces, which can reflect images Peter sets his sight on.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: A subversion, despite being the Trope Namer. His perceived laziness is actually because he's fighting crime as Spider-Man.
• Brought Down to Badass: Losing his superpowers and becoming scrawny Peter Parker again in Spider-Man 2 doesn't stop him from running into a burning building without hesitation, dodging falling rubble, and rescuing a little girl from the blaze.
• Building Swing: As is expected from your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. He has two especially impressive 'final swings' at the end of the first and second films.
• Butt-Monkey: Crap usually happens to him, from mistreatment to sustaining the most injuries out of any character in the trilogy. This is Played for Drama in the second film, where the combination of MJ being engaged to another man, the increasingly antagonistic behavior of Harry, and the continued thankless heroism causes him to give up being Spider-Man for a bit.
• The Cameo: Footage of him during Ben's death is shown in Across the Spider-Verse.
• Camera Fiend: Peter is an avid photographer, which leads to a career in the Daily Bugle.
• Character Development: Peter begins the series as a teenager focused on his own short-term gain; the sole reason he became Spider-Man was to get money for a car to get a girlfriend. However, Uncle Ben's death and the fact Peter could have prevented it caused him to grow a great deal, becoming truly heroic and unable to avoid saving others. Spider-Man 2 puts this to a test, where he quits being Spider-Man because of the toll it takes on his personal life but he eventually realizes he simply cannot allow people to be hurt when he can help them, with or without his powers. In addition, his powers and relative success in life during the third film leads to him taking a level in self-confidence, turning the Extreme Doormat Peter Parker of the first movie to a man considerably less afraid to say what he wants. However, this makes him far more arrogant thanks to the influence of the symbiote, and he starts making terrible decisions. After removing it, he is forced to admit that he is just as capable of making mistakes as his villains. Learning this lesson lets him forgive Flint Marko for accidentally killing his uncle as well as Harry for what he did during the film. Peter's appearance in No Way Home shows that his character development continued after the conclusion of the trilogy, as he is portrayed as being Older and Wiser and having transitioned into an Ideal Hero who looks out for his younger counterparts.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Even after losing his powers and trying to live a normal life, he still storms into a burning building to save lives.
• Clark Kent Outfit: Despite gaining a Heroic Build, Peter never wears clothes that flaunt it.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Just like the Classic Comic Spidey from the Lee/Ditko days. Despite having good intentions and being one of the nicest characters across the trilogy, Peter still has a selfish streak and is prone to making decisions that would raise an eyebrow if Superman or Captain America did them. In the first film, he enables an armed robber just to spite a guy that cheated him out of a cash prize. He straight-up retired as Spider-Man in the second movie when the pressure became too much, even going as far as ignoring distressed civilians. In the third film, he snaps upon realizing the man who murdered his uncle is still at large and when Mary Jane breaks up with him, he becomes embittered.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: He has no idea that Betty, Ursula, and Gwen are attracted to him until the symbiote bonds with him. Even in the second movie, a couple of girls giggle at him (when he has lost his powers) and give him a sort of "he's cute" look.
• Composite Character:
  • While his overall backstory is like his original comic book counterpart, his friendship with Harry and his love interest from high school Mary Jane is similar to his Ultimate Marvel universe counterpart.
  • Peter having a much nicer, if submissive, personality, a Heroic Build, and becoming Spider-Man as a young adult makes him similar to his 1990s cartoon self.
  • Also, his debuting as Spider-Man as an adult, using a lot less snarky quips compared to most versions, and his powers are the result of gene-splicing (produces organic webbing instead of using mechanical web-shooters, growing "barbed" like material for Wall Crawling, etc.) instead of radioactive is more in line with Miguel O'Hara.
• Cool Mask: Would he really be Spider-Man without it?
• A Darker Me: The symbiote enhances his ego and turns him from a Nice Guy to a Jerkass.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not to the same extent as his comic book counterpart, but Spidey does throw out a fair share of quips over the course of the series. He is considerably snarkier in the video game tie-ins, where he is voiced by Maguire again, and in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Peter (temporarily) losing his powers due to stress in the second film is written as an analogue for ejaculation problems by sexual impotence.
• The Dog Bites Back: In the third film, he fights back against the people whom mistreated him.
• Dork Knight: Peter becomes a much more confident, heroic, compassionate, and daring person as he grows into a man, but he never loses his signature nerdiness or bashfulness, especially when it comes to Mary Jane (though he seems a lot less dorky as Spider-Man than as Peter Parker).
• Dressed in Layers: He always has his Spider-Man suit on underneath whatever he's wearing.
• Emotion Suppression: Since Uncle Ben died because Peter angrily lashed out at the fight promoter for stiffing him and realizing that his powers are dangerous if not carefully controlled, Peter generally suppresses his emotions in public and puts on a stoic mask. This is reflected on his actual mask. In the comics, Spider-Man has an Expressive Mask to show readers his emotions. In the film, the lens and the default features reflect the stoicism. The symbiote unleashes his less suppressed side for all to see.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Seeing Venom writhe in agony over the sound of steel poles colliding and falling on the ground reminds him of how he got rid of the symbiote using the bell tower and accurately deduces that the symbiote is susceptible to highly intense sounds.
• Everyone Can See It: Pretty much everyone that's close to Peter knows of his crush on Mary Jane, to the point that Aunt May brings it up to him.
  May: Tell me, would it be so dangerous to let Mary Jane know how much you care? [chuckles] Everybody else knows!
• Evil Feels Good: The symbiote's influence gives him a major confidence boost and increases his superhuman attributes. However, once he hits MJ in a fit of rage, he realizes that he has lost his humanity and the Nice Guy he once was and gets rid of the suite as a result.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Infamously dons the "emo hair" during the height of the symbiote's influence.
• Extreme Doormat: His "friendship" with Harry mostly consists of letting the latter treat him like crap and putting up with it because of his Friendless Background, as he doesn't have others. It's implied that Peter was Harry's tutor who helped him in college, and Harry uses Peter's science stuff to put the moves on MJ and despite knowing how Peter felt about her, started a relationship with her behind his back (when he should have at least told him before). This continues in 2, where a drunk Harry openly slaps and insults Peter in public, and the latter out of guilt for his father's death simply takes it. The level of buried resentment that Peter keeps within him comes out in 3, thanks to the symbiote, where he finally pays Harry back for his entitled crap. It's also deconstructed when he wastes no time in exposing Eddie Brock as a fraud and liar when he discovers that he photo-manipulated his photos to frame Spider-Man in a negative light.
  • That being said, by 3, he does start becoming slightly more confident, even before bonding with the symbiote. A couple of jerks shoot spitballs at him in class and instead of taking the abuse like he used to do in the first film, he gives them a Death Glare (although, one of them gives him a "what are you gonna do?" look, but he does back down). When Jameson reveals there's a job vacancy in the Bugle and he plans to give the job to Brock, Peter stands up for himself and says he deserves a staff job if it is available. Even Robbie backs him up after this. He also angrily raises his voice against Captain George Stacy when he finds out that Uncle Ben's true killer is out there and despite the fact that there were witnesses, Stacy never told the Parkers about it. Unfortunately, the symbiote soon arrives and enhances his aggression to the point where he becomes an out-and-out Jerkass and by the time it is removed, the third act begins and we never find out if he remains a confident person or goes back to being an Extreme Doormat again.
  • His appearance in No Way Home where he is Older and Wiser suggests he stayed confident as he often gives advice and encouragement to his Webb-Verse and MCU counterparts, and when they are deciding who gets called what to avoid confusion, he quickly insists on being called "Peter 2" while the Webb-Verse version is called "Peter 3".
• Fatal Flaw: Peter's Guilt Complex and inability to express himself properly are well-connected two-fold throughout the first two films.
• First Love: While he's not MJ's first boyfriend, he is the first person she truly fell in love with.
• Friendless Background: His only friend in high school was Harry, which actually seems to be why they became friends in the first place.

G-M

• Geek: His comment to Harry in the first film about how some spiders can change color to match their environment and his shocked reaction to Harry's disinterest, ironically suggests that he had found spiders interesting before getting his powers. He's also a little upset when May sells his comic books in the second film, with the novelization of the first film revealing that he was a fan of Captain America comics.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: The spider that bit Peter is genetically-modified rather than radioactive like it usually is.
• Genius Bruiser: He is the top science student in high school. In college, he can't do anything much in the first half of the second film. For the second half of the second film and the entire third film, it's clearly shown he is Dr. Connors' top student.
• Girl Next Door Turned Superstar: A Gender-Inverted Double Subversion in Spider-Man 2 where he is the "Boy Next Door Turned Superhero" to Mary Jane, who was literally the Girl Next Door Peter had a long-time crush on but pushed away to protect her from his dual life as Spider-Man. However, Mary Jane never fully got over Peter even as she moved up in life and after discovering his secret identity at the end of the film, she decides to be with him, despite the risks.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: He keeps his words clean, unless if he wears the black suit (and even then his go-to insult is still something as toothless as "chump").
• Grew a Spine:
  • Bonding with the symbiote makes him incredibly assertive and unafraid to stand up to anyone. He shouts at Mr. Ditkovich for constantly pestering him to pay rent, acts more confident and smug around Jameson, and stands up to Harry's poor treatment and constant ridicule by beating the crap out of him.
  • Even before bonding with the symbiote, after the events of the second movie and with the entire city embracing him as a hero everyone adores, he starts growing more confident and assertive. A couple of jerks shoot spitballs at him in class and instead of taking the abuse like he used to do in the first film, he gives them a Death Glare (although, one of them gives him a "what are you gonna do?" look, but he does back down). When Jameson reveals there's a job vacancy in the Bugle and he plans to give the job to Brock just because he was kissing his ass, Peter stands up for himself and says he deserves a staff job if it is available because he has been working there for years and even Robbie backs him up after this. He also angrily raises his voice against Captain George Stacy when he finds out that Uncle Ben's true killer is out there and despite the fact that there were witnesses, he never told the Parkers about it. Unfortunately, the symbiote soon arrives and enhances his aggression to the point where he becomes an out-and-out Jerkass and by the time it is removed, the third act begins and we never find out if he remains a confident person or goes back to being an Extreme Doormat again. His appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, however, proves he remained confident and mature.
• Guilt Complex: Following the death of Uncle Ben being caused by his own negligence, and it doesn't really help after the death of Norman Osborn. It's even implied further in 3, where he tries to tell New Goblin that he didn't kill his father, but the tone which Peter uses feels more like he's trying to convince himself rather than his former friend.
• Hand Wave: Peter's "Human Spider" outfit is pretty much what you'd expect a teenager who lives on pocket money to assemble. Once he decides to become a superhero he upgrades to something much more refined with no explanation of how he got the resources.
• Happily Adopted: Ben and May aren't his biological parents, but nonetheless, Peter loves them unconditionally.
  Peter: I have a father. His name was Ben Parker.
• Happily Ever After: After Peter and MJ's reconciliation in 3, they stayed together though Peter admits that it remained complicated at times.
• Happy Dance: Played with. Peter infamously did this during the height of the symbiote's influence, but he's instead presented as an overconfident douche that everyone avoids. He gets a better reception when he performs in a jazz club, where everyone assumes he's part of the show.
• Healing Factor: His spider-powers also include this as well.
• The Hero: Obviously, he is the main hero of the story.
• Heroic Build: Easily the most muscular live-action Spider-Man to this day.
• Heroic BSoD: He has one briefly after realizing that Uncle Ben’s killer is the same guy as the thief he let go at the boxing place, and he could have prevented Ben’s death had he just bothered to stop the thief instead of letting him go to get back at the asshole manager.
• Heroic Second Wind: After the Green Goblin gives him the beatdown of his life in the first film's climax, he gets one of these after the Green Goblin tells him that, after he kills him, he'll be sure to give Mary Jane a "nice and slow" death. Spider-Man immediately turns the tables and beats the Goblin to the point where he's begging for mercy.
• Heroic Spirit: Shown best in the second film, where he does everything in his power to save civilians in a speeding train about to crash.
• Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: The second film opens with Peter screwing up at his job due to the interference of his duty as Spider-Man. Things go From Bad to Worse until the ending.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Played straight to an extent in the first and second films, with Peter noting in the latter that Jameson had turned the city against him, but completely averted in the third. Jameson still gives Spider-Man a hard time, but the public loves him. Even the first two films show that not everyone in New York seems to share the negative press of the Daily Bugle, as both movies have famous scenes with average citizens helping Spidey against his enemies.
• Hidden Depths: In the first film, he shows a certain amount of artistic talent when designing his initial Spider-Man costume as well as being able to repair it off-screen. This shows up again in the third film where he shows some knowledge of photo-editing, such as spotting the hard-to-see unedited parts of Eddie's doctored photo of Spider-Man (although the fact that Eddie used Peter's own picture for said forgery might have something to do with it).
• How Do I Shot Web?: Shoots his first web accidentally in a high school cafeteria, resulting in a fight with Flash. Later, he tries to use it for web-swing, but it doesn't end well.
• Hypocrite: He tells Sandman he had a choice when he killed Peter's uncle when, just a day ago, Peter could have decided not to try and murder Sandman (though admittedly, that was probably from the symbiote's influence). When Sandman lays out his full story, however, Peter does recognize his hypocrisy, admitting "I've done terrible things too."
• I Am Not Left-Handed:
  • Any time he fights against the films' Big Bads or superpowered enemies, Spider-Man is shown to be on equal footing or at a disadvantage, it's very clear that it's a result of Peter's Willfully Weak Self-Restraint and worry for casualties. As seen in his final fight against both Green Goblin and second fight against New Goblin, once he really pushed to the point of rage and stops pulling his punchings, expect a thorough ass-kicking.
  • In regards to Sandman for his murder of Uncle Ben and the symbiote amping both his spider powers and aggression, he straights up dominate Flint in their second fight with relentless attacks and pragmatic approach, all with the intention to murder him in revenge and a lack of hesitation to use any lethal force as possible.
  • In his second fight against Harry Osborn, a symbiote-enhanced Peter forgoes any use of his webbing and wins by fighting entirely barehanded and turning Harry's gadgets against him. Likely with the intention to show that regardless of his opponents enhancements, weaponry, pragmatism, and mind games, he holds little candle to him in a fight and thinking he's still the weak doormat he once believed.
• Iconic Attribute Adoption Moment: Initially, Peter's Spider-Man outfit consists of a red balaclava, a sweater with a spider symbol, red-striped blue jogging pants, and gloves, and assumes his more iconic outfit once he gets famous.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: In all three films, Peter considers his choices that led to his Uncle Ben's demise to be his greatest failure, which eventually comes to a head in Spider-Man 3.
• Iconic Outfit: The trilogy's Spider-Man suit is one of the most popular iterations of the costume in the character's history. The black suit in the third film is very popular as well.
• Informed Ability: His intellect. The films describe Peter as an intellectual nerd who is one of Dr. Connors' best students. However, aside from saying a couple of scientific facts, we never really see just how intelligent the films build him up to be, as the focus is typically on Peter's life problems and his relationships with other people rather than anything relating to his personality. Since he doesn't use web-shooters in this version, we never get to see if has the same understanding of technology as his comic self does. The film series also ends before he can graduate, so we don't get an indication of his intellect based on the kind of job he gained from his studies. Peter's appearance in No Way Home, however, fixes this by showing him using his intelligence to create a cure for the Green Goblin.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: In contrast to most other versions of Peter Parker, who have brown or hazel eyes, this version has wide, bright blue eyes. It adds to his overall kindhearted air.
• Interclass Friendship: Peter Parker comes from a middle-class background (which slowly starts falling into poverty due to Uncle Ben being laid off and at a retirement age, then his death) while Harry Osborn comes from the upper-class. While he cares about Harry, Peter does admit to Mary Jane in the first film that he doesn't think Harry is fully aware of how his wealth keeps him from experiencing the same problems they face.
• It's All About Me: With the fame of Spider-Man, he gets this attitude in Spider-Man 3.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Played straight in the first film, and subverted in the second film. Peter believes he's doing this for Mary Jane. Everything he's experienced in the first movie convinces him that having his dream relationship with MJ is a bad idea, especially for her, so he rebuffs her affections and puts her firmly in the friend-zone. After learning he is Spider-Man in the second film, which recontextualizes their entire friendship, Mary Jane revisits their conversation from before and argues that Peter should let her make her own informed decisions. She knows there would be risks involved with dating a superhero, but they'd be well worth it to her and she would like to face them with him, head-on. Peter is touched by this sentiment and acquiesces her request.
• Jerkass Ball:
  • When Ben starts lecturing Peter about how fighting back against a school bully has got him wondering if his nephew is going bad, Peter gets understandably agitated. He crosses the line by shouting at Ben to stop pretending to be his father.
  • After getting stiffed out of $3,000 despite risking serious injury, Peter lets an armed robber get away to spite the manager. Granted, the guy had it coming.
  • In Spider-Man 2, after deciding to retire as Spider-Man, Peter hesitantly ignores a bystander in need that was screaming for help. It isn't until seeing a burning building with people inside that he snaps out of this.
  • In Spider-Man 3, Peter starts to become much more cocky, obnoxious, and even vengeful due to the influence of the alien symbiote. It isn't until he knocks MJ to the ground in a fit of rage that he realizes what the suit is doing to him before finally discarding it for good.
• Jerkass Has a Point: A lot of his actions under the symbiote's effects.
  • He isn't wrong to report Eddie Brock for falsely editing Spider-Man photos in an attempt to defame his alter-ego and cheat his way into a full-time job.
  • Even earlier, after his fight with Sandman in the subway, Ditkovich demands rent money while he just wants to be left alone. Then he lashes out "You'll get your rent when you fix this damn door!". At first it seems like he unnecessarily lashed out at the wrong person for it, but a broken door is also a security issue and he can legally refuse rent payment to Ditkovich if he doesn't make use of other services for his tenants.
• Jerkass Realization: After he hits Mary Jane, he realizes that his Acquired Situational Narcissism only brings pain to him and his loved ones.
• Kick the Morality Pet: 3 has Peter turn into a complete asshole due to the influence of the symbiote. He eventually goes on a date with Gwen Stacy (after getting dumped by Mary Jane), walks into the bar MJ is working at and proceeds to enter a song and dance meant to humiliate her. Finally, the bouncer gets fed up and tries to throw him out. Peter easily deflects him, but also instinctively knocks MJ down when she tries to grab him. The resulting horror he feels at the incident is what forces him to realize the symbiote is changing him for the worse and spurs him to get rid of it.
  MJ: Who are you?
  Peter: ... I don't know.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: He did not make a physical appearance in the massive Spider-Verse crossover event due to Sony owning the rights to his incarnation of the character. However, the comic at one point leaves a strong implication that he was indeed among the dozens of Spider-Men recruited into the battle against Morlun and the Inheritors, as there's a brief moment where two Spider-Men remark that they saw a Spider-Man that looked exactly like "the guy from Seabiscuit." However, since he doesn't mention this in No Way Home when working with his counterparts and that information has been removed from his page on the Marvel wiki, it appears that happened to a similar but separate version of the character.
• Leitmotif:
  • He has two that are intertwined — a primal, determined, and heroic theme for his Spider-Man persona and a quieter, introspective, and noble theme for his true identity as Peter Parker, symbolizing his heroic heart and his relationship with his Uncle Ben. Word of God from Danny Elfman is that he felt like Peter needed two leitmotifs, to capture both halves of his personality as a clever daredevil and a troubled teen. There are numerous variations on Spider-Man and Peter Parker's themes throughout the trilogy, but the two of them are established in full in the "Main Titles" suite from the first film.
  • He also shares a tender, humble, and earnest love theme with Mary Jane that underscores many of their scenes together throughout the trilogy; growing progressively stronger in the first film as they create a genuine bond. It's most prominent during their iconic alleyway kiss, their second kiss after Norman's funeral, the climax of the second film when Peter sends her to be with John, and the stargazing scene early in the third film.
• Lightning Bruiser: He can swiftly dodge attacks just as easily as he can knock criminals out with the sheer strength of his punches and kicks.
• Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: With MJ. Peter has had a crush on her since they were in grade school, and after having numerous ship-tease moments in the first two films, they finally become an official couple at the end of Spider-Man 2.
• Living Emotional Crutch: As the trilogy stretches on, Peter becomes one for Mary Jane. She grew up with an emotionally abusive father who never supported her and destroyed her self-esteem, telling her she was a born failure, and her attempts at finding companionship with her various boyfriends all failed due to their relationships being hollow and loveless. Throughout the first film, Peter is the only one who takes an interest in her for who she is, tries to support her dreams and ambitions, and encourages her to be her true self more often. In a way, Peter was the first person to show her what real, unconditional love was, and as MJ surmises at the end of both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker helped her out and made a big difference in her life just as much as Spider-Man did.
• Logical Weakness:
  • He may have a Healing Factor and Super-Toughness to withstand and survive high impacts and trauma, he can still be cut and stabbed with knives, even if they're wielded by people without superhuman strength.
  • In 2, severe emotional imbalances can affect the way his spider powers work, due to it being bonded to his DNA, ranging from losing his ability to shoot webs and Wall Crawl and weakening his enhanced physical powers to near human levels.
  • While his Spider-Sense is potent to the point where it borders onto Combat Clairvoyance and gives him a 360° detection of his surroundings, it doesn't make him untouchable to danger and is riddled with weaknesses.
    • The Spider-Sense is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, sense incoming danger, not see it beforehand like actual clairvoyance, meaning that whenever it triggers, Peter has to rely on his own judgment to determine where the danger is coming from.
    • If the area he's currently fighting in has many things that would trigger his sense, it makes things difficult for Peter to narrow down the true danger coming his way and react accordingly.
    • If he's too distracted by something on his mind or is emotionally compromised, the sense also won't activate or is less potent. As seen as Dennis Carradine manages to bring a gun up to his forehead without the sense going off.
    • If the incoming danger can move and react quickly like him, then the sense becomes less effective if Peter can't anticipate quickly enough to counter or dodge it.
    • It won't go off if the person has no intention to harm him in the first place, even if Peter knows that the person is dangerous. This is how Green Goblin manages to incapacitate him in their second meeting since he was only interested in making an offer.
    • In regards to danger caused by his loved ones, the sense would range from not triggering or being less potent until they get within a certain distance. As seen in the first film, his sense immediately triggers moments before Green Goblin makes his debut in the Unity Festival, but not whenever Norman is in control, or at least if he's not channeling enough of the Green Goblin's personality during the Thanksgiving scene in the novelization. In their final fight, Spider-Man wasn't able to sense the Goblin Glider being set into a lethal position from behind him as Green Goblin is channeling enough of Norman's personality to fool him, and it's only till Green Goblin stops pretending is where the sense immediately triggers to the incoming Glider. This continues into 3, as the spider-sense triggers just before New Goblin was about to ambush him in their first fight, and in their second fight, he doesn't seem to sense the hidden blades that Harry has on him until the latter actually starts to use them.
• Lovable Nerd: As always. Peter's an incredibly affable guy that could be a lady-killer if he wasn't head-over-heels for Mary Jane.
• Love at First Sight: Peter fell hard for Mary Jane the first time he laid eyes on her when she moved next door to the Parkers.
• Made of Iron:
  • He is able to withstand a pumpkin bomb explosion to the face, absorbing the friction of a full-speed train and being repeatedly smashed by a giant sand monster.
  • Even after he loses his powers briefly in Spider-Man 2, he's still tough enough to withstand crashing into a brick wall after being swung into it from grabbing onto a clothesline while falling from a couple of stories high height, and only end up with a bad back after falling onto a car with enough force to dent the roof.
• Masked Luchador: Briefly, though he technically wrestled wearing a balaclava. Also his Beta Outfit.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Spider-Man often interferes with Peter's personal life, and trying to keep his secret identity from Mary Jane starts to drive them apart and nearly destroys their friendship in Spider-Man 2.
• Master of the Mixed Message: MJ justifiably calls him out on this throughout 2. He rebuffed her affections at the end of 1, but still flirts with her, unintentionally, during their friendship. He reacts badly to her moving on with John Jameson and tries to get her to like him even when she's committed to someone, while refusing to be straight with her about his feelings. Their meeting at the café in 2 before Dr. Octopus attacks has MJ openly asking Peter if he loves her, to which he blatantly and obviously lies and tells her no.
• More than Mind Control: The more insidious and douchey traits of Peter that are seen in 3 (even early as in 1) while being bonded with the symbiote is implied to have always been a part of him; likely due to repressing his frustration and anger from being an introverted, bullied nerd for so long. All the symbiote does is exacerbate those traits.
• Mr. Fanservice: Gets a Shirtless Scene in all the three movies. And his skin-tight suit also gets some Female Gaze.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He has a wide-eyed look of regret when he sees Harry's disfigured face from when he caught one of his pumpkin bombs and threw it back at him.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Like the comics, Uncle Ben's death is one for him.
  • Letting Norman die at the end of the first film is another one for him, leaving his best friend as an orphan and a lot of unresolved issues that eventually drives him to villainy.
  • Being a negligent boyfriend to Mary Jane and eventually striking her also sticks in Peter's craw. They made up by 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'' though.
• My Greatest Second Chance: In Spider-Man: No Way Home, he manages to stop Peter-1 from killing the Green Goblin, allowing him and Peter-2 to cure Norman of Gobby's influence. Norman can live a normal life with Harry, who won't try to avenge his father's death in that timeline.

N-Z

• Nerdy Bully: While the symbiote's influence on him makes him more aggressive and smug towards others, his attempts to look and act cool still come off as painfully awkward.
• Nice Guy: Peter can be a bit conceited at times, but he mostly has a kind, friendly and mild-mannered demeanor, and he moonlights as a superhero. Though the alien suit makes him not-so-nice in the third film, but that's Venom for you.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • While he has justifiable and sympathetic reasons for distancing himself from Harry in the time that takes place between the first and second film, Peter should've known that it won't help his best friend's growing hatred and obsession with Spider-Man's "murder" of Norman Osborn. This not only strained their (admittedly poor) friendship to the point where a drunken Harry renounces Peter as his best friend (and unapologetically slapped him for good measure), but by the time of 3, he refuses to hear anymore of his "lies" and becomes the vengeful New Goblin out for his blood.
  • While removing the symbiote is a good first step to redemption, the alien lifeform just attaches itself to someone worse.
• The Nicknamer: Downplayed, but he refers to the Green Goblin as "Gobby" once in the first film, calls Octavius "Ock" in the climax of the second film, and refers to Harry as "little goblin junior" in the third.
• No Social Skills: Seemingly because of his Friendless Background and being an Extreme Doormat, Peter hasn't had much practice in interacting with others which means that in the first two films he comes across as awkward and odd to others such as when he first meets Betty Brant. However in the next two films he becomes more confident and comfortable talking with others.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are trying to have an "I'm-badder-than-you" conversation in Jameson's office, and Jameson simply will not shut up. The former sticks Jameson's mouth shut with webbing and says "Hey, kiddo. Let Mom and Dad talk for a minute, will ya?"
• Odd Friendship: With Harry Osborn, as the only thing they have in common is to their shared Friendless Background, but otherwise have very different interests and backgrounds.
• Oh, Crap!: When he figures out that the Green Goblin knows his Secret Identity through him attacking Aunt May.
• Older and Wiser: In No Way Home, he is the oldest of the three Spider-Men and acts accordingly, giving both Andrew Garfield's and Tom Holland's Spider-Men the emotional support to face their own issues.
• One-Man Army: He's Spider-Man, this is a given. In the first film, he takes down a group of robbers who were trying to rob an armored van and later takes down a group of thugs sexually harassing Mary Jane Watson.
• One True Love: He and Mary Jane shared such a deep love and connection with each other that they never found with anyone else, and no matter how much they tried, it was impossible for either of them to move on from their feelings or let the other go. Sure enough, Peter reveals in No Way Home that he and MJ remained together no matter what they endured over the years.
• Only Friend: Harry was his only friend during grade school, if not exactly the best companion in the world. This was the first time Peter is shown to have this, since in the comics, he had a Friendless Background.
• Ordinary High-School Student: He graduates from high school during the first film, and attends university for the rest of the films.
• The Paragon: Best summed up by Aunt May in Spider-Man 2.
  May: Too few characters out there, flying around like that, saving old girls like me. And Lord knows, kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people. Setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams.
• Parting-Words Regret: In a change from the comics, his last conversation with Ben builds to this.
  Ben: I don't mean to lecture, I don't mean to preach. And I know I'm not your father—
  Peter: [annoyed] Then stop pretending to be!
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • In the first film, when the wrestling arena manager scams him out of his $3,000, Peter has no problem letting the robber get off scot-free with the manager's money. Unfortunately, this instigates his uncle's death.
    Wrestling Manager: You could've taken that guy apart. Now he's gonna get away with my money!
    Peter: I missed the part where that's my problem.
  • Given that he was a remorseless criminal and was indirectly responsible for Uncle Ben's death, it's hard to feel sorry for Dennis Carradine as Peter gives him a beatdown.
  • While he was under the symbiote's influence, getting Eddie Brock fired for photography fraud was the right thing to do.
  • Given how poorly Harry had treated him throughout the series and getting finally fed up with Harry trying to murder him, Peter giving him a harsh "The Reason You Suck" Speech and cruelly taunting him after kicking his ass in a fight wasn't totally unwarranted. Throwing the pumpkin bomb back in Harry's face... less so.
    Peter: No, [Norman] despised you. You were an embarrassment to him. Oh, look at little Goblin Junior. You gonna cry?
• Pet the Dog: While temporarily bonded to the Symbiote, Peter acted much colder and selfish in attitude, with the first indicator of this corruption being his attempted murder of Marko Flint. However, he still retained some sense of his former self.
  • He happily tried to propose marriage towards MJ, being heartbroken when she broke up with him. At one point, Peter even expressed remorse for "being selfish" and promised her that he would change his ways.
  • Prior to learning that Harry regained his memories as the New Goblin, Peter continued to treat him with open friendliness. In fact, despite his shock from Harry's "explanation" over why MJ dumped him, Peter initially held back from any acts of violence.
  • As self-serving as it may have been, he did at least get along with Ursula and Betty, even complimenting the latter for her looks.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Easily overlooked, but in the first film, while fighting against Bonesaw McGraw, Peter taunts him by complimenting his outfit and asking Bonesaw in a mocking tone if his husband made it for him. That said, this doesn't confirm whether Peter is homophobic, as he could have said this just to tease the masculine Bonesaw for his bravado and society's culture.
• Precision F-Strike: He does one of these while under the influence of the black suit in response to Mr. Ditkovich once again demanding rent from him.
  Peter: You'll get your rent when fix this damn door!
• Pretty Boy: He was played by Tobey Maguire after all.
• Primary-Color Champion: He wears a red and blue costume.
• Projectile Webbing: He can shoot organic webs from his hands.
• Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: In the second film, Peter loses his powers due to still being guilt-ridden over Ben and Norman's deaths and the stress from balancing his superhero and civilian lives.
• Red Is Heroic: As per Spider-Man tradition, his super-suit is mostly red.
• Refusal of the Call: Peter refused to stop the robber to spite the Jerkass he was robbing; this indirectly led to his Uncle Ben's death.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • In the first film, he chases down and attacks the robber who killed his Uncle Ben. He still doesn't go easy on him when he begs for mercy. Peter only stops upon realizing that he was the same robber he let go earlier, before the robber pulls a gun on him and he indirectly kills the robber in self-defense.
    Robber: Don't hurt me. Just give me a chance! JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE!!
    Peter: What about my uncle? Did you give him a chance? Did you?! Answer me!
  • Also, upon realizing that Flint Marko was Uncle Ben's real killer, he confronts and attacks Flint in the sewer while he's with the symbiote. Fortunately, upon learning his uncle's death was an accident, he apologizes to Flint and realizes he was wrong for hunting him down.
• Save the Villain: When Eddie tries to bond with the symbiote again after Peter just threw a bomb at it, Peter tries to stop Eddie but the bomb goes off and kills him.
• The Scapegoat: Tends to be the go-to target for his rogues' gallery to blame for their own problems throughout the films and novels as a Running Gag, which is entirely Played for Drama.
• Shirtless Scene: Gets one in each movie.
• Silent Snarker: Unlike his comic book counterpart, he often expresses his annoyance towards Jameson and Mr. Ditkovich this way.
• Single Guy Seeks Most Popular Girl: It's not called attention to, but Peter is infatuated with Mary Jane, who's known to be the prettiest girl in school and an implied drama star. Though Played With as Peter has loved her since they were kids, long before she became popular. It helps that MJ is one of his few classmates who is kind to him and actually admires his intelligence, and turns out to secretly be a Lonely at the Top Stepford Smiler. In turn, MJ is at her most relaxed around Peter and comfortable being emotionally open with him, implicitly because unlike the richer and popular crowd she tends to run with, he's empathetic to her struggles and doesn't have any false or unrealistic expectations of her.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Mary Jane is the only person he truly loved. Which is a sharp departure from the comics where he secretly harbored a crush on Liz Allan (which she reciprocated too late), and initially dated Betty Brant and Gwen Stacy. Also, he and MJ in the comics had a long on-and-off romance owing to their own individual neurotic natures.
• Smart People Play Chess: Implied as at his graduation, he and some other students are told to say "chess" while posing for a picture, so if taken literally, it's possible he was part of a chess club in high school.
• Something Person: His alter-ego, Spider-Man, is this.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Peter is introverted and socially awkward, which made him unpopular in high school but doesn't stop him from winning MJ's heart with his kind and heroic nature. He gains confidence over the course of the trilogy, but he never quite loses his signature nerdiness, i.e. his shy and endearing nature.
• Spider-Sense: Able to detect any possible danger surrounding him. Shown in the first film, but only implied in the sequels. Jarringly, it seems to not go off at certain points, thus being stabbed twice in his career.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Thanks to his Super-Reflexes, Peter can slip in and out of places quickly before people notice he's gone. Only a few supervillains are able to detect his presence.
• Stereotypical Nerd: Before getting his powers, he was a very socially awkward person with glasses who was bullied by the entire school, was part of the chess club, and was hunched by habit which makes him seem less tall and attractive. He grows out of this over time.
• The Stoic: One of the most serious incarnations of Spidey as he lacks the Motor Mouth tendencies from the comics.
• Strong and Skilled: Due to his many battles against the Green Goblin and Doc Ock (and possibly Shocker, Vulture, Scorpion, Rhino, and Mysterio), he's this by the third film. Notably, despite having the same powers and weaponry as his father (who had Peter on the backfoot constantly when they fought in the first film), Harry is quickly defeated by Peter in their first fight, even though Peter was caught off-guard and deliberately not trying to hurt him.
• Super-Senses: His mutation amps up his senses by an unknown margin, allowing him to perceive attempted blows aimed at him by foes in slow motion.
• Super-Speed: Peter is incredibly speedy and agile, able to dodge incoming punches and projectiles as an effect of his mutation.
• Super-Strength: Enough to stop a runaway train (with a little help from his webs)!
• Super-Toughness: There's at least one moment in all three movies where he's able to put up a strong fight even after having been given a powerful beatdown by his enemies. Peter's most impressive feat in the trilogy is being able to stop an out-of-control train with only a few webs and his body as the strain threatens to tear him apart.
• Temporarily a Villain: Peter spends most of the third film as a self-absorbed jackass thanks to the symbiote's influence amplifying his suppressed aggression.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Subverted. Peter's Spider-Man persona has an overwhelmingly heroic theme that opens every film in the trilogy. After losing his drive and his confidence for a while, Peter is inspired by Aunt May to resume being Spider-Man again, and he decides to test his abilities by jumping from one rooftop to another. His hero theme fires up in all its determined glory and for a moment it seems like he's regained his abilities... and then he drops down, screaming, towards the cement and bounces off someone's car.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: It's pretty much a standard code for superheroes, with Sandman being the only supervillain whom Peter did have the intention to kill when finding out that he was responsible for Uncle Ben's death, and even that was likely from the symbiote's influence.
• Took a Level in Smartass: He becomes more of a Deadpan Snarker by the third film. It carries over into No Way Home.
• Tragic Bromance: His friendship with Harry Osborn was this, as the trilogy shows them develop from being each other's Only Friend in high school to becoming enemies in the third before Harry's redemption and death.
  • In the first film, the two have an Odd Friendship due to their different financial backgrounds and interests, but cracks in their friendship appear due to their Love Triangle with Mary Jane which enhances Harry's insecurities about Peter's closeness with Mary Jane and his relationship with his father.
  • In the second film, while they appear at first to still be close with Harry even introducing him to Otto Octavius, Harry subconsciously felt resentment at Peter for "stealing" Mary Jane from him and protecting his father's "murderer". This culminates in him telling Doc Ock to use Peter to capture Spider-Man for him in return for the material he needs for his experiment despite the dangers it poses. That said, he did tell Ock to not hurt Peter, as well as being taken back when learning the truth.
  • In the third film, Harry becomes the New Goblin and tries to kill Peter, only to suffer from amnesia due to an injury caused by the fight which allows the two to be friends again like in the first film. However, once his memory returns he starts getting revenge on Peter again, which leads to a fight between them which Peter wins, and due to the symbiote, he belittles Harry over his relationship with Norman. At the end of the third film, however, Harry learns the truth about Norman's death and ultimately comes to realize how much he loves Peter and Mary Jane, choosing to join Peter in the fight against Venom and Sandman. He then gives his life saving Peter, with both of them forgiving each other for their mistakes before Harry dies.
  • In No Way Home, it turns out that even years after Harry's death, Peter never developed a friendship as close or as meaningful as the one he had with Harry.
• Tranquil Fury: Like nearly all of his rogue gallery found out the hard way, a silent and pissed-off Spidey is much more dangerous when The Gloves Come Off.
• Two First Names: Peter Benjamin Parker so it's three to be exact.
• Unlucky Everydude: Especially in the second film. Being Spider-Man threatens to destroy every facet of his life as Peter Parker, which is why he quits the job for a month.
• Unstoppable Rage: Green Goblin, New Goblin, Dennis Carradine, and Sandman learn the hard way what happens if Spider-Man is pissed off at you.
• Villain Protagonist: Of a sort in 3, since he is still the titular character, but as the symbiote's influence continues to grow on him, he becomes more and more antagonistic and unhinged. Even while Sandman is still an active player, Peter is still the main one causing most of the conflict in the film, and after their fight where the black suit's influence leads him to neutralize Sandman in a particularly brutal way (he genuinely thought he killed him and wasn't remotely bothered by it,) he more or less serves as the main antagonist of the film before he finally separates from the suit.
• Wall Crawl: Thanks to the small hairs on his fingertips.
• With Friends Like These...: Downplayed. Both Harry and MJ can be pretty unappreciative towards Peter, especially in the second film. That said, their relationships significantly improved from the events of the third film.
• With Great Power Comes Great Hotness: He started out as a skinny bespectacled nerd who was bullied and shunned by everyone, including fellow geeks. Post spider bite, he has a Heroic Build (though he hides it under baggy clothes), his vision is corrected, allowing him to get rid of his glasses and causing MJ to notice his beautiful blue eyes, and by the end of the trilogy, he has no less than three women interested in him romantically (although he doesn’t seem to notice it until much later).
• With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Taught to him by his uncle.
• Working-Class Hero: True to the source material, Peter struggles to make ends meet. A huge part of the second film is him struggling to juggle his superhero career with his academics and his (initially) two part-time jobs.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Throws battle taunts once or twice in each film; in other words, significantly less than in the comics. Since the Raimi movies were made with the intent to wring as much drama out of the character and the world (since for all they knew this could have been the only time he showed up in the movies), there aren't too many situations for Spider-Man to trade quips without going into Mood Whiplash. In the comics, Spidey is known to shut up when things get serious, which is a large amount of all three films.
• You Killed My Father: Peter wants to kill Flint Marko for the death of Uncle Ben. He eventually lets go of his hatred and forgives Marko.

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"It's the choices that make us who we are... and we can always choose to do what's right."