That Mary Jane Watson sure knows how to holler at the absolute worst times. There she is, hanging on to Spider-Man for dear life as he is being pulled in two directions—one hand clutching his super-strong webbing strand, the other holding a cable car full of kids who were, apparently, sightseeing. In the dead of night. Okay.
And all Mary Jane can do is scream her head off. Not really helping much there, MJ.
Perhaps we should back up a bit. We are, of course, in the midst of the climactic rescue sequence toward the end of the first Spider-Man movie, just before Spidey and Gobby have their Battle Royale in that abandoned whatever-it-is, the place with all the dirt and decrepit brick walls that fall down easily.
You’ll recall the way Spidey got into this rock-and-hard-place mess: through the Green Goblin’s nefarious machinations (yes, you’re welcome to use Nefarious Machinations as the name of your band, provided you pay us a quarter every time someone says it). The Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane, takes her to the top of the bridge and, just as she’s waking up, blows up that station thing that holds the cable to the car full of late-night kid tourists.
The Goblin grabs the cable in one of his super-strong hands and holds Mary Jane in the other one. Lo and behold, here comes our hero, The Amazing Spider-Man! (One assumes the Green Goblin sent him an invitation in the mail: “Dear Spidey: Meet me at midnight, on top of that one bridge. I’ll bring the snacks. Don’t be late! Love, G.G.”)
Using his very cool elastic-like webbing to vault himself to the bridge, Spider-Man shows up and faces down his nemesis … only to get treated to a little speechifying by the guy in green armor. To wit: “This is why only fools are heroes. Because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice: Let die the woman you love … or suffer the little children. Make your choice, Spider-Man, and see how a hero is rewarded.”
Quite the little setup, no?
Mary Jane loses her slippers, and as we watch them tumble, we get the idea: This is a long way down. And also, she’s never going to get those slippers back.
“We are who we choose to be,” the Goblin intones. “Now choose!”
And with that, he lets go of both the cable car and Mary Jane, and we’re treated to the iconic shot of each reflected in the eyepieces of Spider-Man’s mask: Mary Jane on the left, the cable car on the right.
There is some truth to the Goblin’s words: We really are who we choose to be. Our lives are the sum of our choices. And, just like the Green Goblin, there’s something the devil loves to do: take a lie and put a sheen of truth on it.
We can see this in the life of Jesus, in Matthew 4, when the devil tempted Jesus to sin. Jesus had just undergone a 40-day fast when the devil approached and suggested, “Hey, You’re hungry and You’re the Son of God, right? Turn these stones into bread and get Your grub on” (see v. 3).
Hunger. That’s a real thing. We do need food. And it’s not fun to be hungry—why wouldn’t it be okay to do that? Go ahead and make some bread?
But Jesus countered with actual truth: “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” For the record, He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3.
Then the devil tried again, after taking Jesus to the highest point of the Temple (sort of like standing on the top of a bridge, isn’t it?) and telling Him to toss Himself off the top, trusting that God would “command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” The devil had the audacity to try out Jesus’ own tactic on Him, quoting Psalm 91:11-12 as a means to get Jesus to go through with it.
See? It’s a lie, spiffed up with truth. Words from Scripture are presented out of context, dressed up to look like perfect spiritual logic. But look at the way Jesus sidestepped the contest with some deeper truth from Deuteronomy 6:16, presented in its proper context: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
One more. The devil then took Jesus to a high mountain and showed off the splendor of the kingdoms of the world, promising to give them all to Jesus in exchange for one simple thing: bowing down and worshiping him. Easy enough, huh?
Of course here, the devil has tipped his hand; it isn’t even a temptation anymore. Jesus whipped out this verse from Deuteronomy 6:13: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” The devil got too greedy and got his tail handed to him.
The same thing happens to the Green Goblin, eventually. He tries to present an ultimatum to Spider-Man—either Mary Jane or the cable car of kids will kiss the ground—but Spidey doesn’t even acknowledge the Goblin’s presentation of the situation. Instead, Spider-Man goes back to what he knows—his skill as a superhero—and finds himself stretched between the bridge and the cable car, with Mary Jane hollering in his ear (until, of course, he convinces her to climb down to the car, probably just so she can scream at the air instead of in his ear).
Spider-Man doesn’t accept the world as the Goblin tries to present it, and as a result, he saves the day for Mary Jane and the cable car full of kids (it took a little help from some bystanders, who pelt the Goblin with tire irons and such when things are at their worst. Where, by the way, are those bystanders in Spider-Man 3, when our hero is getting the stuffing beaten out of him by Sandman and Venom?).
The devil will try to convince you that things are worse than they are. He will try to get in your head. He will try to get you to see the world his way, insinuating that all hope is lost. Don’t buy it. Not for a second. Instead, do what Jesus did: Head back to the Word of God and read up on the real truth.