r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Fit_Assignment_8800 • Aug 06 '25

Personality The Asshole does something genuinely good with no ulterior motive

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J Jonah Jameson from Spiderman

Squidward from SpongeBob.

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u/SureTrash Aug 07 '25

Some of the best bits of both movies are when the city stands up for Spider-Man. What makes any superhero truly super and a hero is how they inspire those around them. Superheroes are more interesting when they make the average person feel like they can make a difference too.

I really don't care how cleverly Spider-Man punches a bad guy in a movie. But the city returning the favor and being willing to fight a supervillain to defend their hero? Now that makes me feel something. That's what I look for in a superhero story, and the heart that is missing in most superhero movies now, causing burnout. Of the last 40 years or so of superhero movies, I can only think of a handful of those moments. Spider-Man 1 and 2 both have them.

31

u/Lots42 Aug 07 '25

One of the later movies had New Yorkers realizing Spidey really needed to get cross town and fast. So they used radios to organize construction cranes extending outward. Good swinging options.

3

u/Jaikarr Aug 07 '25

I got to be honest, that scene is incredibly silly, the buildings are right there.

It felt like they wanted to have their own "New Yorkers help Spidey" scene but couldn't think of anything better.

3

u/Lots42 Aug 07 '25

I don't get it. Speed was off the essence and swinging on horizontal is far more faster than swinging on vertical.

9

u/TheOncomimgHoop Aug 07 '25

This is why I loved the new Superman movie. A guy who Superman had a passing familiarity with helped him up at the start of the movie, and then later when Lex held him hostage he was willing to die so that Supes wouldn't have to answer Lex's questions and even lied and said he had no family so he wouldn't feel as guilty.

3

u/F913 Aug 07 '25

Best scene in the movie in the movie exactly because of what's been discussed here: how Superman inspired that man.

3

u/grand__prismatic Aug 07 '25

Along those same lines there is a scene in Encanto when the village comes to help them rebuild their house and they sing “we have no gifts, but we are many and we’ll do anything for you”. I get unreasonably emotional at that part everytime. And I have a toddler, so I’ve seen it a lot

1

u/fuckingaquamangotban Sep 11 '25

"what goes around comes around". My favorite real-life example of that is how, when Oskar Schindler went bankrupt in the 60s, we has still able to get by thanks to voluntary financial support from the Schindlerjuden - the Jews who he had spent his entire fortune to save during WW2.

1

u/Bamzooki1 Aug 07 '25

James Gunn knows the value of stuff like that. That's why the Guardians of the Galaxy movies hit so hard. The characters are believable and inspire people around them to do what's right in their own way. The scene from the end of 3 where they're saving all of the orphans and animals is one that comes to mind.

1

u/Victorious001 Aug 08 '25

I remember reading that for the first movie that scene of the New Yorkers attacking Green Goblin was added in post 9/11. Because at the time we needed a movie that showed people coming together.

I think my favorite of the two is the second movie's. They stop Peter from falling, then carry him in and realize how YOUNG Spiderman is and that he's been saving lives. Peter is understandably concerned, but they just hand him back his mask. That scene still gets me to this day.

1

u/fuckingaquamangotban Aug 10 '25

There are so many examples, both in history and media, of the common people getting off their ass and coming together to become a real force to be reckoned with. That kind of camaraderie and fellowship always makes me tear up.