One thing I really appreciate about Into the Spider-Verse that I donāt see people talk about very often is how competent they portray Peter B as.
Like, in any other movie, youād have a similar character whose live has become a mess, and theyāre sad and kinda pathetic to look at, and when the time comes for them to step up, they just sortaā¦flop. Theyāre held back by everything, and they just become incompetent.
But Peter B is different. Yeah, heās a sad, lonely, middle-aged man who cries in the shower while wearing a spandex suitā¦
But despite all thatā¦heās still shown to be extremely good at being Spider-Man.
He escapes from being tied up while still holding a casual conversation
He takes down Miles in less than 10 seconds.
He strolls along the side of a building like itās nothing.
And when you think about it, over the course of the movie, he kicks a LOT of ass. Heās a badass super hero, despite his flaws.
You ever notice how, when he puts on the mask, his gut sorta disappears? Thatās too big of a detail to be an oversight. Thatās intentional. I mean, in-universe, it doesnāt make too much sense, but to us, itās meant to show that itās not holding him back from being a hero.
Heās not held down by everything. Yeah, heās a jaded, depressed, mid-life crisis Spider-Man. But heās still Spider-Man.
They easily couldāve made Peter B sort of pathetic and had him be more of a hinderance than a help during battles. But they didnāt. And I feel like that was a really good way to pay respect to the character while still showing that heās a heavily flawed individual.