In which Spidey gets an attitude. A bad one. Well, not really. I mean, Spiderman is a good, humble, kind-hearted sort of guy. So, how can he go bad ? In this film, via a mutant life form, crashing into earth on a small meteorite. The parasitic life form crawls off the meteorite and crawls on to Spiderman’s little moped. And then onto Spiderman’s suit, turning it black in color. And enhancing Peter Parker’s latent aggressive qualities.

Thus we see Peter Parker walking down the street, a swagger in his step, a jingle on his lips, straight into a clothiers, from which he comes attired in a snazzy black suit, leading his date (not MJ) into a restaurant where MJ is waitressing and flauting her in MJ’s face.

But then Spidey is Spidey, and you know that at some point he will realize that it is this blackened Spidey Suit which is making him very self-centered in life, and thus he will discard it and become his good, wholesome self again. Problems occur when the discarded mutant life form walks off and finds another host . . .

The concept of Super-heroes succeeds so well, because in our heart of hearts we look upto people who can be better than themselves. On top of that if you imbue a Super-hero with problems – no parents, dicey finances, few luxuries – a very small apartment, with a door that jams to boot, we warm to him as to no other.

I remember as a little kid waiting for the half-hour Sunday morning installment of the Spiderman cartoon. Then, we had a black and white TV which stood on it’s own 4, spindly legs, and had shutters which closed on the TV screen, when not in use. I’d call it a monstrosity in comparison to the sleek, flat LCD TVs of today, except that being the first television I laid my eyes on, and the fact that I saw most of my early shows on this box in the living room, it has claim to an enduring affection, and a special place in my heart.

Then color TVs had just begun to come in, and the aunty in the apartment above ours had just gotten one. It had been quite a novelty. As one of my mother’s friends put it “We watch Krishi Darshan (for want of a better program) in color now. It’s all so green and beautiful”. “Krishi Darshan” for those of you who don’t remember, was Doordarshan’s program on agriculture. Then, upon special request we had permission to trot up to said Aunty’s apartment on Sunday mornings and watch Spiderman in color. What an experience ! Spiderman all red and blue was a better and stronger Spiderman – no doubt about it.

Now, color of course is old hat. Technology is bleeding edge. Now, as I watch Spiderman 3 in a theater equipped with the latest surround sound audio, and the stunts on the screen are amazingly cutting edge, some things still haven’t changed. Spiderman hasn’t aged, he still remains nice guy Peter Parker, and good old-fashioned Spidey webbing still wins against the blackest of villains.