[Personality]
Aug. 4th, 2012 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morescaredofyouPeter's Uncle Ben told him that "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility", and this motto - and the circumstances of Ben's death - are at the very center of who Peter is as a person. He lives by these words and by the belief that because he has power, he is obligated to use that power to help others. This philosophy is the entire reason that he spends his life being Spider-man, attempting to help anyone who is in danger - and anyone means anyone. Peter firmly believes against letting anyone die, no matter who they are, and will save his enemies from death alongside innocents. If Peter can save you, he will. But, it can very much be argued that Peter goes above and beyond what this philosophy actually calls for. He's self-sacrificing to a fault, saving others not just when he can but when doing so will actually put him in danger, or even kill him. His obligation to help others is practically a compulsion.
And underneath it all, Peter is always to a certain extent motivated by guilt. His Uncle Ben died at the hands of a criminal that Peter let go through inaction, and he is forever haunted by that event. To Peter, Ben's death is always his fault. And deep down, he's always plagued by the feeling that if he doesn't act - in any scenario - it will inevitably lead to more death. Inaction, for Peter, is never an option. He'll usually end up blaming himself if things go wrong, and when he makes mistakes he'll beat himself up over it more than anyone else ever could.
On the surface though, what's most noticeable about Peter - or more particularly, Peter when he's being Spider-man - is his endless use of humour, one-liners, and jokes. In fact, Spider-man is infamous for never shutting up, providing a steady stream of chatter even as he's in the process of beating criminals up. It doesn't matter whether or not anyone banters with him in return, because Peter will just banter on on his own well enough. This is also evident in his personal life as Peter, although when he's not Spider-man Peter doesn't have nearly as much of a motor mouth, and his humour veers more to dry, sarcastic wit than the glib and often random natter he spouts out as Spider-man. There's a reason Peter uses humour more when he's Spider-man though, because he uses it very much as a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that he is essentially fighting criminals and getting himself into some very dangerous and scary situations.
And despite being Spider-man, Peter is still a teenager, and one who can definitely get angry and ticked off about the world. Injustice in particular infuriates him, and he took particular affront to the Kingpin's ability to evade justice even when there was video evidence of him murdering a man. When he gets really angry, he can lash out at others (like when he yelled at MJ for not listening to him), or even start retaliating without thinking, causing him to sometimes do things he regrets later, such as nearly killing the man who killed Gwen Stacy's father. He might be a superhero, but he can still be plenty surly, rebellious against authority, and disrespectful to certain adults (and if he's not able to show that disrespect, well he'll definitely think it).
He's not the most social person, generally spending his time on his own or with a small number of friends. In fact, before becoming Spider-man he was a complete loner with essentially only Harry Osborn as his friend. And since he was also facing constant bullying, he didn't feel particularly charitable towards his peers. But as time goes by, he does make connections with the other kids at his school (albeit mostly by virtue of his relationship with MJ).
And underneath it all, Peter is always to a certain extent motivated by guilt. His Uncle Ben died at the hands of a criminal that Peter let go through inaction, and he is forever haunted by that event. To Peter, Ben's death is always his fault. And deep down, he's always plagued by the feeling that if he doesn't act - in any scenario - it will inevitably lead to more death. Inaction, for Peter, is never an option. He'll usually end up blaming himself if things go wrong, and when he makes mistakes he'll beat himself up over it more than anyone else ever could.
On the surface though, what's most noticeable about Peter - or more particularly, Peter when he's being Spider-man - is his endless use of humour, one-liners, and jokes. In fact, Spider-man is infamous for never shutting up, providing a steady stream of chatter even as he's in the process of beating criminals up. It doesn't matter whether or not anyone banters with him in return, because Peter will just banter on on his own well enough. This is also evident in his personal life as Peter, although when he's not Spider-man Peter doesn't have nearly as much of a motor mouth, and his humour veers more to dry, sarcastic wit than the glib and often random natter he spouts out as Spider-man. There's a reason Peter uses humour more when he's Spider-man though, because he uses it very much as a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that he is essentially fighting criminals and getting himself into some very dangerous and scary situations.
And despite being Spider-man, Peter is still a teenager, and one who can definitely get angry and ticked off about the world. Injustice in particular infuriates him, and he took particular affront to the Kingpin's ability to evade justice even when there was video evidence of him murdering a man. When he gets really angry, he can lash out at others (like when he yelled at MJ for not listening to him), or even start retaliating without thinking, causing him to sometimes do things he regrets later, such as nearly killing the man who killed Gwen Stacy's father. He might be a superhero, but he can still be plenty surly, rebellious against authority, and disrespectful to certain adults (and if he's not able to show that disrespect, well he'll definitely think it).
He's not the most social person, generally spending his time on his own or with a small number of friends. In fact, before becoming Spider-man he was a complete loner with essentially only Harry Osborn as his friend. And since he was also facing constant bullying, he didn't feel particularly charitable towards his peers. But as time goes by, he does make connections with the other kids at his school (albeit mostly by virtue of his relationship with MJ).