**Spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home.**
Spider-sense is probably the one superpower of Spider-Man’s that many of us would love. The ability to sense danger and, essentially, slow down everything to take in all of your surroundings in a way that is easier to digest, Peter Parker can pretty much win any basic fight using it. And really, with the way Peter Parker fights, it’s probably the only reason he isn’t dead yet.
While it’s a known facet of the Spider-Man lore, the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t really brought it into play too much. Sure, we saw a glimpse in Avengers: Infinity War, when Peter was on the bus with his school friends, but that was pretty much all we got of the Spider-sense.
Now, compare the little bit of Tom Holland’s Parker using his extra sense to Tobey Maguire’s in the original Spider-Man and you can see why many of us didn’t even realize that Holland had figured out his spider-sense yet.
That being said, I have a theory about the evolution of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. He’s 15 years old when we first meet him—just a kid in high school who happened to get bitten by a radioactive spider. We didn’t see his transformation, and we don’t even know much about his version of Uncle Ben. So, what if his senses were slow acting?
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker has something that May (Marisa Tomei) affectionately refers to as his Peter Tingle. By the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, May finally realized what Peter was up to. Or, as a better description, she saw Peter taking off the Spider-Man suit and screamed. So, we don’t know if he even had his “tingle” at that point, since it didn’t warn him. (Although, it wouldn’t be the first time spider-sense had just decided not to issue a warning about a friendly person.)
But, comparing the “Peter Tingle” to the spider-sense is where things get interesting. In every movie franchise prior, the spider-sense has been shown as slowing things down so that Peter can sense what’s coming and avoid it. When Flash goes to fight him in Spider-Man, he can even hear a fly buzzing. It’s why many authors depict Peter as having sensory overload in fanfic.
The thing about Far From Home‘s Peter Tingle is that, yes, things slow down, but more importantly, Peter, while navigating through Mysterio’s realm of illusions, can figure out what’s real and what’s just Mysterio trying to kill him. To be honest, I think the Peter Tingle is a better representation of what the spider-sense has always represented. Yes, it helps him sense danger, but it isn’t just an alert or a time dilation so Peter can process things. It’s the ability to keep himself out of harm’s way and succeed in his mission.
Peter Parker needed to know what was real and what wasn’t, and he used his ability to get him there. Doesn’t mean his Peter Tingle always works (he did have to ask if something was real after he killed Mysterio) but it does make me think that maybe Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is still developing into all of his powers as Spider-Man.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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