The Russos Say the MCU's Peter Parker Was Not Responsible for Uncle Ben's Death

Joe and Anthony Russo have said plainly that the MCU's Peter Parker was not responsible for Uncle Ben's death, a break from the Spider-Man origin we are used to. Asked point blank about it for the 10th anniversary of Captain America: Civil War, the directors answered no, and Joe Russo went as far as explaining exactly why.

It also connects to how I think his story has since caught up with that classic guilt.

Joe Russo says a guilty Tom Holland would have been a very different Spider-Man

The question came up in an interview released by CBR for Civil War's 10th anniversary.

Joe Russo explained that Spider-Man was one of his favourite characters growing up, "if not my favorite," and that he related to the idea of a kid with incredible responsibility. He suggested that responsibility could be manifested through accidental death, and through the pressure and sense of loss in a young person's life, in a way that kept the spirit the directors wanted.

Then he got to the heart of it: "But what Tom Holland is as an actor, if he blamed himself for Uncle Ben's death, I think he becomes a very different character. So, in our minds, no, he wasn't responsible for Uncle Ben's death." He added that it would have been a different, more intense interpretation of the character.

Why I empathise with fans upset about the Uncle Ben change

I am not normally like this. I read a lot of Spider-Man comics growing up, and I am probably a little older than some people think. Usually when I see hardline dissenters complaining on social media, I do not agree. Our opinions about Marvel canon inside the MCU are, on a list of importance, not worth getting upset about. You can feel strongly about something, but especially when it comes to ranting online, it is usually whatever.

This time, though, I could not help but empathise with the immediate comments I saw on these quotes while I was looking up the interview. People were asking how you could change that, because it is at the crux of who Spider-Man is. It is what inspires him to be Spider-Man, and it is a key point of his lore and his origin story. I saw a lot of people upset about this, and I understand where they are coming from.

Aunt May's death in No Way Home may be where Peter's guilt now lives

I would at least offer up that Peter may now be carrying some of that guilt in the wake of Aunt May's death in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He approached Doctor Strange to cast that spell. The spell led to those villains coming into his timeline, and one of those villains killed Aunt May.

So even though he did not experience that same guilt and pressure at the start of his origin story, because the filmmakers wanted to do something different with the Tony Stark mentor figure, it seems like they simply delayed it until we saw it on screen in No Way Home. You have to admit that is at the crux of his story now, because Aunt May's death is what played into his decision to separate himself from the people he loves to spare them from danger.

You could argue he is going through that exact same experience now, as he resets as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man we know and love from the comics. So if you are feeling some sort of way about this change to his origin story, I feel you, but it is not as though he is not going through that same experience now.

A Hulk connection to Peter's parents would not need spelling out

In a way, this lines up with some of our recent theories about why Tony Stark recruited Spider-Man in the first place, as well as the possibility that the Hulk or another Avenger might be responsible for the death of Peter's parents during the Battle of New York, which would explain why he lives with Aunt May. That idea is borrowed from the comics, where the Hulk was revealed to have killed Peter's parents. I believe it was the Ultimate Universe, but Ultimates or not, there is a comic line where that happened.

They do not need to put that detail in, though. It does not seem as important as his responsibility or non responsibility for Uncle Ben's death. Where Peter is right now is very clearly a product of Aunt May's death and his decision to protect those he loves.

Even a connection between the Savage Hulk and Spider-Man is hard to pin down. My guess was that it would come through some sort of memory twist, where the Savage Hulk remembers who Peter Parker is and it is Bruce Banner who has forgotten because of the spell. But it is sort of hard to pin down whether the Savage Hulk would have had much knowledge of Spider-Man. He was off world and did not fight in Civil War, and by the time they lined up in Avengers: Endgame, he was already in Professor Hulk mode. Maybe that gets explained, but again, it does not need to be. It seems like whatever happened in Spider-Man's origin story in the distant past has basically been caught up now.

Does removing Peter's guilt over Uncle Ben change who Spider-Man is for you, or does Aunt May's death carry that weight well enough?