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Comic Books
Iron Man: Maybe what you need is some solid advice from an Iron Man.
Captain America: Maybe I do, shellhead...maybe I do.
Iron Man: Then listen, friend: very few people on this crazy planet are lucky enough to have have the advantages you and I have. That obligates us to use those advantages.
Captain America: Maybe I do, shellhead...maybe I do.
Iron Man: Then listen, friend: very few people on this crazy planet are lucky enough to have have the advantages you and I have. That obligates us to use those advantages.
Peter Parker: My Uncle Ben was a pilot in the Great War, did you know that? He said there was no reason to be fighting. No great cause. It was a war for markets. The old colonial empires carving up the world. And they sent boys out by the millions to die, to safeguard their profits.
Ben Urich: You've lost me — I don't see what the war —
Peter Parker: He said if those in power can't be trusted, it's the responsibility of the people to remove them.
Ben Urich: You've lost me — I don't see what the war —
Peter Parker: He said if those in power can't be trusted, it's the responsibility of the people to remove them.
"Thank you, Spectre. You have taught me a great lesson here — and I won't forget it! Fate has granted us great power — But power for power's sake is utterly worthless! Power is meaningless... until it is tempered with conscience!"
Gabriel O'Hara: I reported the kidnapping to the public eye, but nothing's gonna happen, 'cause I don't rate. But you… you're hot stuff. Have them look into it. Assign a detective. Something.
Miguel O'Hara: I'll do what I can, Gabe. No promises. But from things you've told me in the past, about the kinds of nuts Kasey runs around with… well, this might be some intragroup squabble. It might be none of your business. It's sure none of mine.
Gabriel: I love her, Mig! Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me!
Miguel: You really sound like you mean it this time, Gabri.
Gabriel: I do. And besides… it is your business. You've got power, Miguel. And Kasey told me that with great power must come great responsibility.
(Beat)
Miguel: …Kasey reads too many fortune cookies.
Miguel O'Hara: I'll do what I can, Gabe. No promises. But from things you've told me in the past, about the kinds of nuts Kasey runs around with… well, this might be some intragroup squabble. It might be none of your business. It's sure none of mine.
Gabriel: I love her, Mig! Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me!
Miguel: You really sound like you mean it this time, Gabri.
Gabriel: I do. And besides… it is your business. You've got power, Miguel. And Kasey told me that with great power must come great responsibility.
(Beat)
Miguel: …Kasey reads too many fortune cookies.
— Spider-Man 2099 issue #4
"Wrong. Completely wrong. With great power comes great guilt."
— Miguel O'Hara after he runs into the man who kidnapped Kasey, Spider-Man 2099 issue #4
You know, your father, God rest his soul, your father had a philosophy that he held to pretty strongly. And it's one that served him very, very well. He believed that if there were things in this world that you had to offer, things that you did well, better than anyone else, things that you could do that helped people feel better about themselves... Well, he believed that it wasn't just a good idea to do those things. He believed it was your responsibility to do those things. Don't try to be something else. Don't try to be less. Great things are going to happen to you and your life, Peter. Great things. And with that comes great responsibility. Do you understand?
— Uncle Ben, Ultimate Spider-Man
I have these powers — and while sometimes I wish I didn't — and could live a normal life — I have to use them to help humanity as long as it needs me!
My first day in basic, the D.I. told us it wasn't his job to make us soldiers. "I can give you a weapon," he said. "I can teach you to use it," he said. "I can train you to fight, make your bunk, police your barrack, strip and clean your M16, march in step and shout 'Yes, sir!'" he said. "What I can't do is make you a soldier. That's something you do. Dedicating your life to duty [and honor]... that's your choice. As long as you're in the army, it's a choice you make every damn day. [...] That's what seperates a thug with a gun from a soldier."
Rhinonote : I'll tell you what. There is a lot more to this super hero stuff than you'd think. Having powers looks much cooler on that Smallville show.
Spider-Man: How old are you?
Rhino: Why do you do it day in and day out?
Spider-Man: Someone once told me that with great power there must also come great responsibility.
Rhino: I think I heard that in a movie last year. Does that mean that with mediocre powers comes mediocre responsibility?
Spider-Man: You know, for the first time, I'm starting to realize how annoying I can be. What it comes down to is that when a person is blessed with powers or abilities, they have a basic decision— how to use them. It doesn't matter if you can leap buildings in a single bound or know CPR. Situations will arise when you have an opportunity to use those abilities to help someone else.
Rhino: Yeah, but there always seems to be a price to pay.
Spider-Man: Trust me, you have no idea how much I've sacrificed since I spun my first web. But that's where the hero part of "super hero" comes in.
Rhino: So why do you do it?
Spider-Man: As hokey as this may sound, it's because I can and it's the right thing to do.
Spider-Man: How old are you?
Rhino: Why do you do it day in and day out?
Spider-Man: Someone once told me that with great power there must also come great responsibility.
Rhino: I think I heard that in a movie last year. Does that mean that with mediocre powers comes mediocre responsibility?
Spider-Man: You know, for the first time, I'm starting to realize how annoying I can be. What it comes down to is that when a person is blessed with powers or abilities, they have a basic decision— how to use them. It doesn't matter if you can leap buildings in a single bound or know CPR. Situations will arise when you have an opportunity to use those abilities to help someone else.
Rhino: Yeah, but there always seems to be a price to pay.
Spider-Man: Trust me, you have no idea how much I've sacrificed since I spun my first web. But that's where the hero part of "super hero" comes in.
Rhino: So why do you do it?
Spider-Man: As hokey as this may sound, it's because I can and it's the right thing to do.
— Amazing Fantasy issue #1000, "Along Came a Rhino…"
Fan Works
"What I'm trying to remind her of is that our powers place us in a certain position. And it's one of obligation. No one on Earth can do what we can, and very often, to protect it and other planets, we are required to do everything we're capable of."
Marine: Hoshi... You can’t be thinking [about how many people died]. You’re doing your best-
Hoshi: My best isn’t enough! If I don’t fight... people will get hurt. People will die.
Marine: But you could get yourself killed!
Hoshi: I’m fine with that. I’d call that atonement for what happened...
Marine: Don’t say stuff like that! What happened wasn’t your fault...
Hoshi: It wasn’t... Because I didn’t do anything.
Hoshi: My best isn’t enough! If I don’t fight... people will get hurt. People will die.
Marine: But you could get yourself killed!
Hoshi: I’m fine with that. I’d call that atonement for what happened...
Marine: Don’t say stuff like that! What happened wasn’t your fault...
Hoshi: It wasn’t... Because I didn’t do anything.
Film — Animated
Peter B. Parker: Look, I'm not looking for a side gig as a Spider-Man coach. I got a lot going on in my dimension. Like a lot—
Miles Morales: "With great power comes great—"
Peter B. Parker: Don't you dare finish that sentence. Don't do it! I'm sick of it. Want my advice? Go back to being a regular kid.
Film — Live-Action
Ben: Of all the ideas that became the United States, there's a line here that's at the heart of all the others: "But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." People don't talk that way anymore.
Riley: Beautiful, huh? No idea what you just said.
Ben: It means, if there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action.
Riley: Beautiful, huh? No idea what you just said.
Ben: It means, if there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action.
"Peter... these are the years when a man changes into the man he's going to be for the rest of his life. Just be careful who you change into. This guy, Flash Thompson, he probably deserved what happened. But just because you can beat him up, doesn't give you the right to. Remember: With great power... comes great responsibility."
— Ben Parker, Spider-Man
"You're a lot like your father. You really are, Peter. And that's a good thing! But your father lived by a philosophy - a principle, really. He believed that if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things! That's what's at stake here! Not choice. Responsibility."
— Ben Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man
Tony: You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction... and now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're gonna walk out?
Pepper: You're gonna kill yourself, Tony. I'm not gonna be a part of it.
Tony: I shouldn't be alive... unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right.
Pepper: You're gonna kill yourself, Tony. I'm not gonna be a part of it.
Tony: I shouldn't be alive... unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right.
— Iron Man
"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."
— Peter Parker, Captain America: Civil War
"You have a gift. You have power. And with great power, there must also come great responsibility."
— May Parker, Spider-Man: No Way Home
Peter (Raimi): My Uncle Ben was killed. It was my fault.
Peter (Amazing): I lost...I lost Gwen. She was my MJ...I couldn't save her. I'm never gonna be able to forgive myself for that. I carried on, tried to...tried to keep going, tried to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, 'cause that's what she would've wanted, but...at some point, I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got bitter...and I just don't want you to end up like...like me.
Peter (Raimi): The night Ben died, I hunted down the man who I thought did it. I wanted him dead. I got what I wanted...it didn't make it better. It took me a long time to learn to get through that darkness.
Peter (MCU): ...I want to kill [Osborn]...I want to tear him apart...I can still hear [May's] voice in my head...even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing! She told me that with great power-
Peter (Raimi): -comes great responsibility.
Peter (MCU): ...wait, how do you know that?!
Peter (Amazing): Uncle Ben said it...
Peter (Raimi): ...the day he died.
Peter (Amazing): I lost...I lost Gwen. She was my MJ...I couldn't save her. I'm never gonna be able to forgive myself for that. I carried on, tried to...tried to keep going, tried to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, 'cause that's what she would've wanted, but...at some point, I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got bitter...and I just don't want you to end up like...like me.
Peter (Raimi): The night Ben died, I hunted down the man who I thought did it. I wanted him dead. I got what I wanted...it didn't make it better. It took me a long time to learn to get through that darkness.
Peter (MCU): ...I want to kill [Osborn]...I want to tear him apart...I can still hear [May's] voice in my head...even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing! She told me that with great power-
Peter (Raimi): -comes great responsibility.
Peter (MCU): ...wait, how do you know that?!
Peter (Amazing): Uncle Ben said it...
Peter (Raimi): ...the day he died.
"With no power comes no responsibility. Except that's not true."
— Kick Ass, from the film of the same name.
Uncle Albert: Rick... With- With great power comes...
Rick: Great responsibility?
Uncle Albert: I was going to stick with "bitches," but if you want to be a virgin for the rest of your life-
(Paramedics fit a respirator mid-sentence)
Rick: Great responsibility?
Uncle Albert: I was going to stick with "bitches," but if you want to be a virgin for the rest of your life-
(Paramedics fit a respirator mid-sentence)
Literature
"The power made us responsible, see. Without the power, the knowledge would have just been a worm of fear eating up our insides. Bad enough. But it was the power that turned fear into obligation, that laid the weight on our unready shoulders...Power enough to win? No. Power enough to fight? Ah, yes. Just enough, little Jake, here is just enough power to imprison you in a cage of duty, to make you fight..."
— Jake Berenson, Megamorphs 4: Back to Before
I take a deep, shaky breath. "I could have killed everyone within a quarter-kilometer radius."
That's an understatement, probably, but I know better than to go full Angleton in the middle of a city. (I practice rigid self-control. It leaves me with unresolved anger issues, but those are the breaks: with great power comes a great tendency to mangle Spider-Man quotes.)
"I don’t see it as playing superhero. I don’t want to be one of the spandex set. I just...” I had to think about it for a second. “...I need to help people. It’s my upbringing. Goodkinds are raised to think about how their actions affect others. We’re raised to... well... if we were royalty, it would be called noblesse oblige. We run a large portion of the planet, and we know that people depend on us. We have an obligation to help those people. Just because it’s inconvenient, or difficult, or something we’d rather avoid, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. I can’t look at something like those monsters and just say ‘oh let someone else get it’. That’s not how I was raised.”
Louis smiled, “With great power comes great responsibility? That sounds like a superhero credo to me, Phase.”
I sighed, “I’m not Peter Parker. Let’s re-phrase that as: ‘with great economic power comes great social responsibility’. Better?”
He was still smirking.
Louis smiled, “With great power comes great responsibility? That sounds like a superhero credo to me, Phase.”
I sighed, “I’m not Peter Parker. Let’s re-phrase that as: ‘with great economic power comes great social responsibility’. Better?”
He was still smirking.
—Phase (Ayla Goodkind), Whateley Universe, "Ayla and the Tests", chapter 8
"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."
— Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Live-Action TV
"Kat, I've told them. It's not about the suits or the weapons. It's about helping people, and upholding the tradition of being a Power Ranger."
— Sky, Power Rangers S.P.D.
"When I found out that I was the most powerful man in this world, I had to make a decision: whether my power stood for destruction or for life. And I chose life."
— Clark Kent, Lois & Clark
Music
"With great power comes great responsibility,
That's the Catchphrase of old Uncle Ben.
If you missed it, don't worry, they'll say the line,
Again, and again, and again!"
That's the Catchphrase of old Uncle Ben.
If you missed it, don't worry, they'll say the line,
Again, and again, and again!"
— "Weird Al" Yankovic on the Spider-Man movies (to the tune of Billy Joel's "Piano Man")
Religion & Mythology
"Much is required from those to whom much is given."
Video Games
"Magic will serve that which is best in me, not what is most base."
—Malcolm Hawke, Dragon Age II: Legacy
"Nupraptor's insanity poisoned all of our minds! The Circle had failed in its sworn duty; it had to be destroyed."'
—Mortanius the Necromancer, Legacy of Kain
"You must promise to use this only when it's really important or really, really funny."
—Ford Cruller, Psychonauts
"What's important is not standing by and allowing someone to suffer or die because you do nothing! If you don't get that, then you don't get the first thing about being Spider-Man!"
— Peter Parker chewing out Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man: Edge of Time
if you have some sort of special power... isn't it your responsibility to do the right thing?
Sans, if you have killed Papyrus, Undertale
In exchange for power, you can no longer look away from the things you don't want to see.
Yukari Takeba, Persona 3
Visual Novels
If you’re given power, and use it improperly, if you use it to do evil in the world...
...however brave or strong you might be, you’ll be destroyed, and never stand again.
...however brave or strong you might be, you’ll be destroyed, and never stand again.
— Hifumi Yamada, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Web Animation
Peter: When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.
Tony: Nnnnnnnno. That's not it.
Peter: It's not?
Tony: That's not the line. C'mon, say it right.
Peter: What line?
Tony: You know...
Peter: With... great power comes... great responsibility?
Tony: (smug) There it is!
Web Original
I firmly believe in "might for right", those who have power should use that power to do good things because they're good things. Because using your power to force others to do what you say is not heroic. It's being a bully!
Western Animation
Spider-Carnage: No it, it can't be!
Alternate!Uncle Ben: Peter, its me. Uncle Ben.
Spider-Carnage: Uncle Ben?
Alternate!Uncle Ben: I've been told everything.
Spider-Carnage: Is it really you?
Alternate!Uncle Ben: I know you've had a very bad time. But in this dimension, I'm here for you. And no matter what, I love you.
Spider-Carnage: (shows his true face) I love you too Uncle Ben. I... love... you... too! (breaks down crying)
Alternate!Uncle Ben: Do you remember what I taught you about, great power?
Spider-Carnage: Yes, with great power, there must come great responsibility.
The Flash: We can't just sit here [and watch you be executed].
Green Lantern: We have to. Think of the others like us. We need to be held accountable. We have too much power not to be.
Green Lantern: We have to. Think of the others like us. We need to be held accountable. We have too much power not to be.
"You know, SpongeBob, the babes and the big chair are great. But the best part is knowing you're the only thing that stands between these good people... and a watery grave. And, that's what it's all about! Their lives are in your hands now."
— Larry the Lobster, SpongeBob SquarePants, "SpongeGuard on Duty"
Real Life
Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
We are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people.
— George H. W. Bush, inaugural address
"What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely."
"I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the power is a value.
Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist temple. In the temple a man said, 'I am going to tell you something that you will never forget.' And then he said, 'To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell.'"
Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist temple. In the temple a man said, 'I am going to tell you something that you will never forget.' And then he said, 'To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell.'"
— Richard Feynman, The Meaning Of It All
