With great power comes great responsibility
"With great power comes great responsibility" is a
History
Precursors
Reminders that power is not only fun and games and should not be exploited at will are at least as old as the
An early Christian parallel appears at the end of Jesus's Parable of the Faithful Servant as related in Luke 12:48: παντὶ δὲ ᾧ ἐδόθη πολύ, πολὺ ζητηθήσεται παρ’αὐτοῦ, καὶ ᾧ παρέθεντο πολύ, περισσότερον αἰτήσουσιν αὐτόν (Greek: pantì dè hō̂i edóthē polý, polý zētēthḗsetai par'autoû, kai hō̂i paréthento polý, perissóteron aitḗsousin autón).[3] This is rendered in the King James Version as "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" and in the New International Version as "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked".
An
During the
On 27 June 1817, the British
Various
In the first episode of the 1948 serial Superman, Eben Kent (Edward Cassidy) tells his adopted son Clark (Kirk Alyn) that "because of these great powers—your speed and strength, your x-ray vision and super-sensitive hearing—you have a great responsibility."[20]
Use in Spider-Man media
The specific phrasing "with great power comes great responsibility" evolved from Spider-Man's first appearance in the 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15, written by Stan Lee. It is not spoken by any character, but instead appears in a narrative caption of the comic book's last panel:[21][22][23]
And a lean, silent figure slowly fades in the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come -- great responsibility![22]
The expression's connection to Spider-Man's
The phrase gained more popularity and
"Intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift. And you use it for the good of mankind." — Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius — Spider-Man 2 (2004)
"You are a lot like your father. You really are, Peter, and that's a good thing. But your father lived by a philosophy, a principle, really. He believed that if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things! That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility." — Martin Sheen's Ben Parker — The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you." — Tom Holland's Peter Parker — Captain America: Civil War (2016)
"With great ability comes great accountability." — Brian Tyree Henry's Jeff Davis — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
"No, Miles. I'm sorry. I wanted you to look up to me. I let you down, man. I let you down. You're the best of all of us, Miles. You're on your way. Just keep going. Just keep going." —
Aaron Davis — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse(2018)
Contemporary reinterpretations of Spider-Man, including Raimi's 2002 film as well as the
The formulation created by Marvel has been used by journalists, authors, and other writers,[27][28][29] including the United States Supreme Court[30] and Representative Richard Neal on the occasion of the release of Donald Trump's tax returns.[31]
See also
- Noblesse oblige
- Sword of Damocles
- Power
- Moral responsibility
References
- ^ Caldwell, Patrick (June 22, 2015), "Justice Elena Kagan Had Some Fun Writing About Spider-Man", Mother Jones, archived from the original on June 23, 2015, retrieved June 23, 2015
- ^ Tullius Cicero, Marcus, Tusculanae Disputationes, 5.61. (Latin)
- .
- ^ "Hadith 212: Ch. 10 Supervision: Sect. 108 A Man Is the Shepherd of His Family", Al-Adab al-Mufrad, Sunnah.com, 1999. (Arabic & English)
- ^ "Duties of the Imam: All of You Are Shepherds...", Encyclopedia of Translated Prophetic Hadiths, 2022. (Arabic & English)
- ^ Committee of Public Safety (May 8, 1793), "Plan de Travail, de Surveillance et de Correspondance", Collection Générale des Décrets Rendus par la Convention Nationale, Paris: Baudouin, p. 72. (French)
- ^ Sullivan, Gregory F. (July 23, 2015), "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility", Quote Investigator.
- ^ a b Hansard, Thomas Curson, ed. (1817), "Third Reading of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill", The Parliamentary Debates..., Vol. 36, T.C. Hansard, p. 1227.
- ^ "Today in Repressive History: Habeas Corpus Suspended in Government Crackdown on Radicals, 1817", Past Tense: London Radical Histories and Possibilities, March 4, 2017.
- ^ Dyer, Gary (2017), "1817: The Year without Habeas Corpus", Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. 66, New York: Keats-Shelley Association of America, pp. 136–154.
- ^ Churchill, Winston (February 28, 1906), "South African Native Races", Hansard 1803–2005, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom.
- ^ Morrison, Matt (March 21, 2019), "Arrow & Flash Both Just Referenced Spider-Man", Screen Rant.
- ^ Jackson, Peter; et al. (July 14, 2011), "Clash of the Press Titans", BBC News, London: British Broadcasting Corporation.
- Washington: International Churchill Society.
- Grant, Ulysses S. (1885), Personal Memoirs, Vol. I, New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, p. 459.
- ^ McKinley, William (December 5, 1899), "Third Annual Message", The American Presidency Project, Santa Barbara: University of California.
- ^ Rothman, Lily (January 20, 2015). "7 State of the Union Quotes that Sound Like Lines From Spider-Man". Time. New York.
- ^ "TR Quotes", Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson: Dickinson State University, 1908.
- Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (January 6, 1945), "Radio Address Summarizing the State of the Union Message", The American Presidency Project, Santa Barbara: University of California.
- ^ "Superman Comes to Earth", Superman, Columbia Pictures, January 5, 1948.
- ^ a b c d Cronin, Brian (July 15, 2015). "When We First Met - When Did Uncle Ben First Say "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility?"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f The Evolution of the Pithy Proverb: "With great power comes great responsibility." at Quote/Counterquote. Accessed April 11, 2013
- ^ Somin, Ilya (November 16, 2018). "What Constitutional Lawyers can Learn from Spiderman". Reason. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ "10 Things That Were Changed From THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Script". Badass Digest. July 14, 2014. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- Washington Post. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ George, Robert A. (November 13, 2018). "The woke world of Stan Lee: From the start, Marvel broke ground for inclusion and diversity". Daily News. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ Appelgren, Camilla (April 9, 2019). "'With great power, comes great responsibility'". The Malta Independent. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
- ^ Eskander, Veronica (April 26, 2019). "Is CRISPR really a gene-ius discovery?". The Daily Campus. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
- ^ Otto, Parker. "Marvel Cinematic Universe evolves film itself". Northern Star Online. Dekalb, Illinois. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ Kagan, Elena (2015), 576 U.S. 446 (2015) No. 13–720: Stephen Kimble et al. v. Marvel Entertainment LLC (PDF), p. 18
- ^ "Rep. Richard Neal, House Ways and Means Committee release Trump tax returns". MassLive. December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
Further reading
- Mui, Ylan (December 19, 2018). "China uses Spider-Man motto to slam US over trade at tense WTO meeting". CNBC. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- Whitbrook, James (March 20, 2019). "Spider-Man: Life Story Offers a Fascinating Thought Experiment for Peter Parker's Oldest Mantra". io9. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- News Corp Australia (December 23, 2010). "US President Barack Obama quotes Spider-Man at press conference". The Sunday Times. Perth. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- "'With great power comes great responsibility': how 'Spiderman' inspired rail minister". Malayala Manorama. October 26, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2019.