Hey! Who said Spider-man isn't a coming-of-age story?

- Thompson... 
(raises hand)
- Stacy...
- Here!

(pause to search for the next name on the list)
- Bueller...
(a hand goes up in the crowd)
- Parker... Parker... Parker… anyone?

When you think of coming-of-age stories, you always end up in the same clichés: John Hughes movies, Stand By Me, Boyhood...
 

But no one remembers poor Peter Parker.
 

When Marvel began to differentiate itself from DC Comics in the 1960s, it sought to give its superheroes a more human and realistic touch. Yes, it's true, it's not very believable that people shoot lightning bolts from their eyes or stretch like rubber dolls, but at least these characters had the conflicts of ordinary people. Family fights, lousy childhoods, impossible loves...
 

But the epitome of that whole movement was Peter Parker. And that's why he soon became the publisher's most popular character.

You see: while Superman is an invincible alien who can work 24 hours a day without getting tired, and Bruce Wayne is a millionaire who doesn't know what work is, Peter Parker comes from a modest middle-class family where everyone has to work to pay the bills. And since Parker is a high school student, he doesn't exactly get the best jobs: he delivers pizzas, works as a freelance photographer for a sour and grumpy boss who mistreats him all the time, and has to divide the rest of his free time between attending classes, studying... and fighting crime.
 

Do you think Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent's childhood stories are sad?. Peter practically owns half of New York's cemetery!. He lost his parents (something that was never fully explained to me, and only the Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield attempted a far-fetched answer), he lost Uncle Ben, he lost his girlfriend Gwen Stacy... How many more deaths must the poor boy suffer before the reader sympathizes with him and says, “Wow, he has a worse life than mine”?

And that's too many deaths, even in the unreal world of comics. But Peter has survived them, not without emotional scars, but at least these sad events have served to strengthen his character. He is no longer a passive spectator of life, as he was when he let the thief escape who, moments later, would murder Uncle Ben to steal his car. Decisions (or the lack thereof) come at a cost, and the enormous burden of guilt over Uncle Ben's death would drive him to use his superpowers for good...
 

...although, being cared for by an elderly aunt with a small pension, it might have been better for him to continue wrestling, earning hundreds of dollars a week and comfortably helping to support his household.

But Peter is still the embodiment of the word melodrama. Nothing worse could happen to him. He has to worry about Aunt May's fragile health (if he's a teenager and his aunt is the sister of his missing parents... Why does she look like a septuagenarian grandmother?; Was Peter adopted by a couple in their fifties?;  Oops, more melodrama!). He has to deal with the beautiful, egocentric and narcissistic neighbor who has been driving him crazy since he was a child (and who still doesn't realize he exists), he has to deal with dead-end jobs, has to deal with his rich friend who wants to steal the love of his life, he has to take the bus to school, he has to devour books to save his grades... he has to sew his own costume and, on top of that, he has to fight a bunch of super-powerful millionaires / psychopaths who are bored and just want to rule the world.

Starting with the city where poor Parker lives. Why don't these psychopaths go bother other cities, like Metropolis or Gotham?

But Parker's tortured soul is bulletproof... which doesn't prevent him from having moments of weakness and confiding his sorrows to Aunt May, his spiritual Yoda who keeps him grounded and shows him the things that are truly worthwhile in life. Any other boy in his position and with his life story would be deeply depressed and wonder why life has been so cruel to him. He is shy, nerdy, and only manages to free himself and find meaning in his life when he puts on his superhero suit and dedicates himself to working for good and justice. Fighting crime is his therapy, and in a sense, he is just another Superman-like boy scout, only plagued by teenage anxiety.

But that's what makes him such a rich and appealing character for the audience. If superhero comics are aimed at teenage audiences, Parker is the most realistic embodiment of growing pains. “This kid has the same problems I do,” readers say... and it's true. He's not a clever kid like Ferris Bueller, his personal victories are few and far between, and every daily challenge is an uphill battle. Even the most optimistic person would struggle to stay cheerful when everything is complicated and full of bad news.

But Peter is resilient. That's what he's learned after so many blows and so many losses. If there is someone as special and unique as him in this universe, it's for a reason. And that's what Peter must discover every day. While he goes to buy Aunt May's arthritis medicine, while he suffers the attacks of his insufferable boss J. Jonah Jameson (who, incidentally, hates his secret alter ego and wants to see him in jail or dead!), while enduring the snubs of his impossible love's sickening flirtation, while counting dollars to buy food and pay for textbooks... Peter is only happy on the rooftops of skyscrapers, watching the New York skyline and listening for the sirens that sound throughout the city. There his life is useful, there he finds his reason for existing, that is his panacea to soothe all the emotional wounds that a difficult and unfair life has left him with. And if that's not maturing in a hurry because of the blows that fate has dealt you— surviving adversity, finding a reason to keep living, using your powers for good (and not to get rich, since you could easily be a supervillain) even if it means an existence that borders on miserable — then maybe I'm wrong and Spider-Man is just another superhero... but that's not the case, is it?