Spider-Plant Man is an Affectionate Parody of Spider-Man starring Rowan Atkinson, created for Comic Relief.
The film concerns Peter Piper, a photographer who gets bitten by a spider-plant, becoming the superhero Spider-Plant Man. He then has to save his girlfriend Jane-Mary from Batman.
Tropes featured in Spder-Plant Man include:
- Affectionate Parody: Of the superhero genre.
- The Alleged Car: Batman now drives the Bat-Clio, which is dilapidated and won’t start.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Spider-Plant Man gets distracted from swinging through the streets by a Debenhams sale.
- Big "NO!": When Robin decides to become Spider-Plant Man's sidekick instead.Robin: Batman, what is the opposite of "Yes"?Batman: Why are you asking that question?(Robin gives Batman a Megaton Punch, sending him flying off Tower Bridge)Batman: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!Robin: ...is the right answer.
- Costume-Test Montage: It takes Peter Piper three tries to get his superhero costume.
- Damsel in Distress: Jane-Mary, as befits her role as a Mary-Jane Expy.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: Robin appears to be this when he appears, but Spider-Plant Man talks him into being a Deus ex Machina instead.
- Driven by Envy: Batman is annoyed that he’s become more unmarketable than Spider-Plant Man, so he tries to force the latter’s retirement by threatening Jane-Mary’s life.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Batman escapes by hijacking a scooter from a child.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: The public turns against Spider-Plant Man when he returns music demo tapes stolen from Peter Andre.
- Incompetence, Inc.: Very Safe Labs Incorporated. Not only do they allow a genetically modified spider-plant out of their sight, but dialogue implies their security isn’t that great.
- Landmarking the Hidden Base: Parodied. Batman says that he has Jane-Mary held at an iconic London landmark. Spider-Plant Man guesses Tower Bridge and gets it right.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Jane-Mary is enamoured with Spider-Plant Man, but considers Peter Piper a total creep. She remains unaware of the dual identity even after marrying the former.
- Mad Scientist: The one reason anyone would give a spider-plant huge teeth.
- Mistaken for Terrorist: A newscaster sees Spider-Plant Man fighting Batman at Tower Bridge and assumes that they’re Fathers 4 Justice demonstrators.
- Noodle Incident: The Buckingham Palace security team have had 6 break-ins on their watch, including a man bursting into the Queen’s bedroom, a man from the Daily Mail getting employed there and Fathers 4 Justice members breaking in over the weekend.Scientist: Ok, apart from those 6 isolated incidents, they are actually pretty damn good.
- Only in It for the Money: Robin’s motivation for abandoning Batman. He later returns, so long as he gets 10% of merchandise sales and a Robin-Mobile, but Spider-Plant Man wins his loyalty by promising him 20% and a breakfast cereal named after him.
- Sitting on the Roof: Our hero tries to stand on top of a landmark skyscraper like superheroes do. Unfortunately he chose the Gherkin and falls off.
- Spider-Man Send-Up: It’s in the name.
- Take That!:
- Batman’s motivation is one to the Merchandise-Driven nature of superheroes and how they’re essentially passing fads.
- The lab that creates the mutant spider-plants has the same security force as Buckingham Palace, who are said to have at least three break-ins on their watch recently.
- Viewers Are Morons: As a diagram of Peter Piper’s blood mutating is shown, an onscreen caption appears, reading “This means something really bad is happening”.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Batman runs away after being defeated.
- Wimp Fight: Spider-Plant Man’s epic battle with Batman that “costs half the budget of the entire film” consists of them lightly poking or slapping each other.
