The superhero Spider-Man debuted in August of 1962 in the fifteenth and final issue of "Amazing Fantasy." The magazine had a declining readership, so Stan Lee set out to make a superhero different from the already popular Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk. Stan Lee described his ideas for this new superhero as "not too handsome, not to glamorous, not too graceful, [and] not too muscular" (121). Together, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the young Peter Parker, who after being bitten by a radioactive spider became the Amazing Spider-Man. After fifty years, Spider-Man is as popular as he has ever been with a completed movie trilogy, a movie reboot scheduled to include at least four total films, starring in three different comic books, and being a major character in multiple Avengers comic books. The fifty year journey was marred by failures by Spider-Man that lead to grief in Peter Parker's personal life. Spider-Man is an existentialist superhero, and his philosophy has led to the downfall of his life and his loved ones. .
Existentialism as an ethical system focuses on one's self. Existentialism asserts that there is not always inherent good or evil in a choice, but rather a person decides for themselves what is good and what is bad for their belief structure. It is incorrect to say that under Existentialism there is no universal morality; being an Existentialist does not free oneself from the mores of their community and their background. Existentialist ethics ask the individual to decide for themselves what to do with a particular situation as many choices choose one aspect of life over another. Should one be true to their community or their family? Should one live by their religion or act out their desires? One choice is not inherently worse than the other on the surface, but the consequences of a particular choice has the capacity to be long reaching. The individual must live with the choices that they make.
