The Boys Totally Corrupted Spider-Man’s Most Iconic Line

While this particular comic series has had a hand in corrupting nearly every existing superhero property, The Boys can officially add Spider-Man’s most iconic and inspirational line to the list. When Spider-Man was on the fence about being a hero in his first ever comic appearance, he remembered what his late Uncle Ben always told him, “with great power there must also come great responsibility.” While that quote pushed Spider-Man to become the hero he is today, Billy Butcher of The Boys has a similar mantra that keeps him fighting the good fight against supes, one that totally corrupts Spider-Man’s most iconic line. 

In The Boys #55 by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, John McCrea, and Keith Burns, Greg Mallory tells Hughie Campbell how Butcher became a member of The Boys. Butcher was recruited because of his deep-seated hatred of supes that was tied to a personal tragedy. Mallory recruited Butcher because of his ferocity and focus, but he quickly learned that he unleashed an unstoppable supe-killing machine. 

When Mallory first recruited Butcher, he tried to explain that not all superhumans are bad, and being superhuman does not automatically make someone bad. Butcher completely disagreed, and replied by saying, “with great power comes the total f***in’ certainty that you’re gonna turn into a c***.”

Butcher’s saying sends the complete opposite message as the one it is mocking, saying that people with amazing abilities are better off dead rather than having the responsibility to do what is right. While Butcher’s saying is a complete corruption of Spider-Man’s, it is well suited to the world in which Billy lives. There are no heroes like Spider-Man in The Boys. There is a version of Spider-Man in the comics series, but he is nothing like the hero Spider-Man is. Every supe within that world is decadent and depraved and they are all probably worse than Spider-Man’s worst villains. When people with superhuman abilities more often than not use their powers at the expense of regular people, it only makes sense that someone like Butcher would hate them and everything they stand for. 

The anti-supe saying Butcher lives by is much more cynical in regard to superheroes than Spider-Man’s iconic line, but he only has that viewpoint because Spider-Man’s message was not heeded. The supes of The Boys have great power, but none of them lived up to their responsibility of doing the right thing and truly become superheroes. Since the supes didn’t live their lives as they were morally obligated to, Butcher adopted his own version of Spider-Man’s iconic line, one that better suits the world of The Boys while also outlining the grim, supe-killing responsibility Butcher has bestowed upon himself.

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