Tom Holland Social Anxiety Archives

Spiderman’s Latest Go

In Spiderman No Way Home, we see an insanely powerful spell from Dr. Strange which would be severely amplified if Spidey had Social Anxiety Disorder.

There aren’t too many solo superhero movies that can generate the level of enthusiasm and emotion as Spidey films. The latest installment of Spiderman had some of the most eventful and surprising scenes ever seen in the MCU.

Dealing with the effects of having his identity revealed by Mysterio, Peter Parker went through a whirlwind of sequences. He experienced trauma, sadness, shock, and eventually loneliness in this rollercoaster ride of a movie. The surprise appearance of characters from past years reprised by the original actors made this film even more exciting. Then throw in some familiar fan favorites, like Dr. Strange and Wong, and even introduce a new hero, Daredevil, and the bar becomes that much higher. Perfectly designed and highly rated, Spiderman: No Way Home has entered the MCU as an instant classic. It’s right up there with Avengers Infinity War, Avengers End Game, and Captain America Civil War.

Background

In an attempt to stave off villains from other universe’s, we see an amazing sacrifice made by Peter Parker. One of the last scenes that occurred in this latest Spiderman thriller was when Parker asked Dr. Strange to perform a spell which would cause everyone in the world to forget that Peter Parker was Spiderman. In fact, the spell would cause everyone in the world to forget that Peter even existed. That’s like the most awful thing ever.

Dr. Strange recognizes that the multiverse is open, allowing villains from other universe’s to enter. He and Spiderman agree that the spell to make everyone forget Peter Parker is the only way to prevent multiverse villains from entering their world.
Spiderman: No Way Home, 2021

Although this was a super gutsy sacrifice that Parker would make, he would be left with no friends (goodbye Ned, Flash, and Happy), no girlfriend (so long MJ), and no family (no one left there anyway). Losing your entire social life in one fell swoop is an absolute devastation to anyone and everyone. As human beings, we are all social creatures by nature and we want to be seen, to be heard, and to be loved. Without his best friend and “guy in the chair”, Peter loses the closest thing he has to a brother. Removing the woman that he loves, MJ, from his life, Peter will feel a heartbreaking emptiness inside that cannot be easily filled. Not to mention, his classmates, his teachers, and the deli owner from Queens (Mr. Delmar) will all forget him. It’s going to be a tough go for Parker moving forward.

The effect of Social Anxiety Disorder with the final spell in Spiderman No Way Home

If Peter Parker had Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), then his request to have everyone forget him could be considered bittersweet (to a degree at least). Someone with SAD does not feel comfortable being known and seen by everyone. Being famous leads to being watched and observed by everyone, everywhere you go. People taking photo’s and video’s of you while you’re just trying to go to class or walk down the street isn’t a pleasant feeling for someone with SAD. So to have everyone forget the identity of Spiderman as Peter Parker would be a great relief. It would have been a relief anyway because Peter’s life became quite hectic once his identity was revealed. But in the context of social anxiety, this was a huge help for him.

The 2 Downsides of the spell with Social Anxiety Disorder

Downside #1

The first major downside to Dr. Strange’s spell is that Peter loses his love, MJ. The final spell performed by Dr. Strange which caused everyone to forget Peter Parker exists causes an emptiness and void left behind by MJ as she was removed from his life. Losing someone special is always very difficult and heartbreaking. It creates a void inside your heart that needs to be filled. The heart craves love and when you lose it (like Parker lost MJ), you want to eventually replace it relieve the pain of emptiness inside.

Peter Parker isolating himself in a feeling of grief and loneliness after losing his aunt May. Aunt May was his only family.
Spiderman: No Way Home, 2021

Someone with SAD has an incredibly difficult time meeting someone new and, even more so, dating. If Peter Parker had SAD, he would have a very difficult time meeting another woman. SAD sufferers have trouble meeting new people, particularly in a romantic sense. The feeling of anxiety and fear of embarrassing oneself becomes too difficult to handle and they just end up avoiding the idea entirely. It would take a lot of time for Peter to fill the hole in his heart that was left behind by losing MJ. Not only because he wouldn’t be ready to move on from her for a long time, but also because Social Anxiety Disorder would prevent him from meeting/dating another woman. That is not an easy thing to live with.

Downside #2

The second downside to the spell performed by Dr. Strange is to have everyone forget that Peter Parker even existed. This would be pushing it, even for someone with Social Anxiety Disorder. Although people with SAD prefer to be seen less, they don’t want to be completely unnoticed by their friends and family. As I mentioned above, humans are social creatures and want to have closeness with some people. Parker loses that closeness, thus creating a bigger emptiness for him. And since SAD makes it very difficult to meet new people/new friends, Peter would be living with that emptiness for longer than he should. That is what makes SAD so awful for people. It takes away the basic human nature of being social and interacting with others.

Peter, MJ, and Ned inside the New York Sanctum speaking to Dr. Strange.
Spiderman: No Way Home, 2021

The point

In Spiderman No Way Home, Social Anxiety Disorder will just amplify the effects of Dr. Strange’s spell on Peter Parker. It makes it so much more difficult to fill the void of being loved which is craved so often by the heart. Additionally, since SAD makes it hard to meet and interact with new people, you end up feeling lonely for a much longer time than if you didn’t have SAD. Thankfully Peter Parker doesn’t have SAD, but if he did then he’d have to endure the difficulties of extended loneliness.

Does wall-crawling and web slinging prevent social anxiety? I doubt it. Being so young, Spiderman can definitely get Social Anxiety.

Spidey Sense, aka, The Peter Tingle

Known to be a “friendly neighborhood” superhero, Spiderman has surely been around the block. He has fought Team Captain America in Germany, fought Mysterio and the Elementals in Europe, and has even been to space and fought Thanos on the planet Titan. As cool as all that sounds, we must remember that Peter Parker is only a high school teenager. His Aunt May even renamed his Spider Sense to Peter Tingle (talk about downgrading). Either way, this kid has the whole world in front of him.

Considering Parker is so young, you may be wondering if he could develop social anxiety disorder (SAD) at his age. The answer is yes! SAD typically begins in adolescence as early as age 13 and can affect a person throughout his/her life. Below we examine two scenes from two different Spiderman movies from the MCU, and how SAD could potentially affect him and his actions.

Masks are the best weapon against Social Anxiety Disorder

**Having a mask like Spiderman can hide signs and symptoms of SAD. Click here to find out what those signs are.**

1. The Social Anxiety Scene from Spiderman: Homecoming

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Ned at a party. This is a social anxiety event. — Peter and Ned at Liz’s house party. Being at a party can cause huge social anxiety symptoms.
Spiderman: Homecoming, 2017

Spiderman: Homecoming (2017)

Scene: Liz’s house party, Washington Monument

Anxiety Provoking Event: Large Social Gathering (Liz’s party)

If Spiderman had Social Anxiety Disorder, he would never have had to save his classmates from the falling elevator inside the Washington Monument. That scene would never have happened.

Background

While doing sit-ups with his friend Ned during gym class, Peter Parker gets invited to a house party hosted by his crush, Liz. He decides to go with the intention of impressing Liz by showing her that he is a friend of Spiderman. He was going to make an appearance as Spiderman, suggest that Peter is his friend, and then leave.

key event

While suiting up on the roof of Liz’s home, Spiderman sees a blue explosion from a distance. He investigates and ends up fighting and chasing weapons dealers before being air lifted by the main antagonist, Vulture, and dropped in a lake. After being rescued from drowning by Iron Man, Spiderman is seen walking back to the party and finds a purple glowing Chitari energy core on the ground (it fell out of the van belonging to the weapons dealers he was chasing).

The weapons dealers tracked the core the next day back to Parker’s school, where it was being studied by Parker and Ned. Parker covertly shoots a tracker onto one of them and tracks them to Washington D.C. Coincidentally, Parker’s Academic Decathlon team was going to D.C. for a competition and Parker and Ned joined them. Ned held onto the purple energy core the whole time, thinking it was safe.

Spiderman making a daring rescue on the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. Spiderman: Homecoming, 2017

Shortly after winning the Decathalon, Parker’s classmates went to the Washington Monument, where the Chitari energy core exploded causing major damage to the elevator. Spiderman made an incredibly daring rescue and saved everyone from certain death.

How Sad would have changed spiderman’s behavior

If Spiderman had Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), he would have never gone to Liz’s party. Parties are an extremely social event that would cause heavy feelings of anxiety from the fear of others judging you and the fear of being embarrassed. Parker would have a very difficult time speaking to Liz not only because he has a major crush on her, but also because others would see him speaking to her. That feeling of being watched and judged would overtake him as his face would turn bright red in blush, he would sweat profusely, and develop noticeably trembling hands. To make matters worse, when others notice him sweating and blushing so heavily, they would point out those symptoms creating more attention and worsening the anxiety. So instead of going through all this, Parker would simply spare this embarrassment and would just avoid going to the party.

No rescue scene at the washington monument

If Parker doesn’t go to the party, he would never have fought/chased the weapons dealers and thus wouldn’t have found the explosive Chitari energy core. Ned wouldn’t be holding it in his backpack and there wouldn’t be any explosion at the Washington Monument. Spiderman’s amazing rescue of his classmates in D.C. would never have happened. That’s one less scene we would have enjoyed during the movie.

2. The Social Anxiety scenes from Spiderman: Far From Home

Spiderman (Tom Holland) asking MJ out (Zendaya). This can cause social anxiety, — Peter and MJ outside of MJ’s hotel door. He is asking her if she would like to go out for a walk. She agrees and they go.
Spiderman: Far From Home, 2019

Spiderman: Far From Home (2019)

Scenes: Peter knocks on MJ’s door at the hotel, Peter speaking to MJ outside hotel

Anxiety Provoking Event: Asking his crush to go out for an evening walk with him

If Peter had Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), he would never have found out that Mysterio was the bad guy and thus Mysterio would have never revealed Spiderman’s identity to the world.

background

While on their class trip in Europe, Peter had a plan to reveal his true to feelings to MJ. But due to the hijacking of his trip by Nick Fury, Mysterio, and the Elementals, Peter’s plan changed. So after essentially ditching MJ at the opera house in Prague to fight the Elementals, Parker returns to the hotel for the evening, knocks on MJ’s door, and asks her to take a walk with him. MJ agrees and they leave the hotel together.

Spiderman (Tom Holland) and MJ (Zendaya) go for a walk together. This is a social anxiety type of event. — Peter and MJ take an evening walk outside their hotel shortly before discovering the illusion tech Mysterio created
Spiderman: Far From Home, 2019

key event

Not far from the hotel, Peter and MJ discover that the piece of metal she found from the fight Spiderman had against the Elemental earlier in the night is an advanced piece of illusion tech. This forces Peter to confirm MJ’s suspicions and reveal his identity as Spiderman. Mysterio (the bad guy in the movie) learns that Peter, MJ, and eventually Ned found out about his evil plan of destruction, thus causing him to target the three of them, and by extension their entire class, for termination. To prevent his secret from being revealed, Mysterio tried and almost succeeded in killing Peter and his entire class.

How Sad would have changed spiderman’s behavior in Europe

If Spiderman had Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), he would never have knocked on MJ’s hotel door and asked her out. It is incredibly difficult for someone with SAD to start a conversation with their crush, let alone ask them out. It’s not just simply being nervous like many people might be thinking. With SAD, everything is amplified. So, the typical feeling of nervousness before asking your crush out is disproportionately greater in a person with SAD than a person without SAD. This causes a whole lot of thinking and overthinking. Every scenario would have played and replayed in Peter’s head, including:

If she says no, what will I do?
What if she tells people that I asked her to go for a walk with me? What would everyone think of me?
Did she hesitate before saying yes
Did she say yes because she didn’t want me to feel bad, or did she say yes because she actually wanted to go out and explore the city but just needed someone to go with her for safety reasons.
Does she really like me?
What if we are seen by other people from our class? What will they think of me? How would I explain that?
What if I blush and she notices it? That would be so awkward

As you can see, someone with SAD overthinks every possible scenario because they are completely terrified of being embarrassed. Asking his crush to go out with him would run the risk of rejection, which is incredibly humiliating. So, to avoid this intense fear of embarrassment and humiliation, Peter would not have asked MJ out at all. Instead he would have waited and hoped that she would ask him out instead.

Spiderman’s identity kept a secret

If Peter doesn’t ask out MJ, they may never have learned about the illusion tech Mysterio was using, and Peter and his classmates would never have been targeted for termination. In fact, Mysterio would have left Peter alone and there wouldn’t have been any fight between them. This means that Mysterio would never have revealed the true identify of Spiderman to the world. Consequently, the events of Spiderman: No Way Home would not have transpired.