First Term Paper

The Physics of Spider-man 2

In most superhero movies, reality is often exaggerated to create a fantasy world that is similar to our own but with its own quirks. In the world of “Spider-man 2”, the laws of physics are broken to distinguish the superhero from the ordinary civilian. Spider-man can jump higher than any man and swing from buildings, Doctor Octopus can lift heavy objects with ease, and so on. The superheroes and villains of “Spider-man 2” often defy the laws of physics for dramatic effect or to create interesting situations and action.

In “Spider-man 2”, the effects of gravity on objects and living things are very inconsistent. In one scene, things may fall slowly to create a dramatic moment whereas in another scene, things may fall more quickly to keep the audience engaged with the action. The way gravity is used can add depth to a character’s abilities or to enhance the artistic style of the scene.

There are several instances throughout the movie in which heavy objects fall very slowly. The first example is when Doctor Octopus escapes the hospital after being controlled by his mechanical arms. As soon as he leaves, he grabs an oncoming taxi and flips it into the air. He flips it about 15 feet into the air and it takes a while to hit the ground. This whole sequence makes the taxi feel very light and floaty as it travels through the air. The debris that falls from the car also seems to hit the ground before the car does. We see this effect again later when Doc Ock robs a bank. Doc Ock rips the door off of the bank vault and throws it across the room. The door seems to travel a good distance yet it travels so slowly. Again, the thrown object is made to feel massive yet it feels very light because of its speed. In reality, the taxi and the vault door would hit the ground a lot sooner than they did. This use of low gravity in the movie helps illustrate the strength and power of Doc Ock’s mechanical arms by making an object that weighs a ton feel light as a feather.

In contrast, there are several scenes in which objects fall down fast. One example is when Spider-man and Doc Ock are fighting on the side of a building. As they fight, some debris is knocked off of the building and falls to the ground below. The overall timing of the debris falling and hitting the ground feels very fast, partly because we see different shots of it. In one shot, Spider-man and Doc Ock are fighting at roughly 30 stories in height. We see Doc Ock slam Spider-man into the side of the building and knock some bricks loose. The next shot focuses on a view of the street, looking down on some bystanders who try to get away from the very same falling debris. With the two shots put together, it takes the debris less than 3 seconds to hit the ground. This instance of high gravity serves as a way to keep up with the pacing of Spider-man and Doc Ock’s fight scenes. If the debris fell at a more realistic speed, it would really slow down the action and the audience would lose interest. Another example of an object falling quickly is during the train sequence in which Spider-man and Doc Ock are fighting on top of a train. Spider-man is knocked off of the train onto the ground which is on a lower level than the tracks. The time it takes for him to leave the train and hit the ground is pretty short compared to other scenes of the movie in which he falls. This is another example in which the gravity is made much stronger to speed up the action so that it matches the pacing of the scenes.

To drive the fact that the world of “Spider-man 2” is one based on ours, there are many instances in which we see gravity working normally. An example would be when Peter Parker goes into a burning apartment and we see the building start to collapse around him. There are various pieces of debris that fall in a believable manner. Compared to the brick drop animation test, the timing feels very similar. We see this again later when Doc Ock takes Mary Jane and knocks Peter into the wall which causes debris to collapse on him. Overall, the gravity in this world is based on reality but there are moments in which artistic license is used to build a character or enhance a scene.

Another interesting use of physics in “Spider-man 2” is seen in Spider-man’s webbing. He can use it to swing from building to building, tie up bad guys, and propel himself like a slingshot. Supposedly, his webbing has many different properties and takes on many forms. It can be elastic, extra sticky, hard, and so on.

Spider-man primarily uses his webbing to swing from building to building. This swinging action is similar to that of a playground swing or a flying trapeze. Usually, Spider-man starts off by jumping up and then attaches a line to the top of a building. As he swings forward, he builds up momentum by pumping his legs which causes him to go faster and higher. He is constantly shooting a new web line and letting go of the old one to move forward as he swings. Most of the time, the camera pans around Spider-man as he is swinging to create the feeling of flying, but it is hard to judge how fast and how high he travels. There is one scene in which we can see it a little bit clearly. At one point, Spider-man is chasing two criminals in car in a high speed chase. Assuming that the car is going at roughly 50 mph since the streets have moderate traffic, Spider-man has to be traveling at 60 mph at least since he easily overtakes the criminals and every other car on the street.

The elasticity of Spider-man’s webbing gives him more creative ways to use it. During the fight scene with Doctor Octopus on the side of a building, Spider-man is thrown into a window of a neighboring building. To get back into the action, Spider-man uses his webbing as a slingshot to fling him back to the action. The concept is similar to that of the Human Slingshot. As the elastic webbing is stretched out, more force is being built up by its resistance. When the force is released, it flings Spider-man back to the other building. We see a similar situation when Doc Ock drops aunt May from the top of a building. Spider-man shoots an elastic web at her and pulls her up, causing the web to spring up which sends her onto a ledge high above. In this scenario, the elastic webbing is more like a bungee cord. It works like a slingshot except the object travels vertically instead of horizontally.

Finally, many of the things in the movie don’t follow Newton’s laws of motion. The defiance of physics is utilized to create the feeling of a comic book world. For example, in one scene, Spider-man flings a desk at Doc Ock inside the bank. The desk hits Doc Ock and they both fly outside until they hit a parked taxi. The problem with the scene is that the desk and Doc Ock both travel completely horizontally until they hit the car. In reality, they would travel in an arc due to the forces of gravity that are constantly acting on them. We see this again when Peter and Mary Jane are sitting in a café. Doc Ock throws a car through the window of the shop and it hit’s the wall in the back. The trajectory of the car is completely horizontal instead of an arc.

To add onto the comic book quality of the movie, Spider-man is able to jump dozens of feet into the air with little effort. When Spider-man jumps, he usually only squats partially before leaping. In order to jump dozens of feet into the air, he would have to exert a greater amount of force onto the ground. A lower push height would result a low jump height. If Spider-man were to jump that high into the air, he would have to increase his push height by squatting down and do so in a short amount of time to increase the jump magnification.

One last example defies the first law for comedic effect. In this scene, Peter is on a roof and wants to test his powers by jumping across a large gap onto another building. As he travels across the chasm, he slows down and then falls straight down. This scene appears to be very cartoony in a way because it’s like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon. In reality, Peter would continue forward while falling rather than fall straight down.

Overall, “Spider-man 2” takes many liberties when dealing with the laws of physics. It uses it for dramatic effect, to build character and to create interesting situations for the characters. It serves as a way to distinguish the superhero from the every day man. Even though the exaggerated physics may not be too convincing in our world, it works in a world where people have extraordinary powers.

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PS - I didn't follow my outline exactly and trimmed some of the material out of the final paper.