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[katemac805]

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), dir. Jon Watts

[katemac805]

Hi, hello 👋, just saw your ask. I'm sorry about what you're going through, and I hope it gets better. But if you like infodumping, can you give me anything Marvel or Star Wars? Writing is cool, too. Whatever you like. (Just, huh, nothing too detailed on the new spider-verse movie, please? Haven't had the chance to see it yet.)

Hi!!! Thank you for sending this in!! I've been saving my infodump asks for a rainy day so it's taken some time to get to this but I appreciate you!!

I'm gonna talk about the Spider-man Home trilogy trio, Ned, M.J. and Peter, and why they are all autistic af.

Ned: Ned honestly reminds me of so many of my autistic friends in middle and high-school. I knew multiple kids that had that vibe he has, I don't know how to explain it. He's got some clear social awkwardness even though he's a lot more confident about it than Peter. He definitely misses some social cues like that time he interrupts M.J and Peter being all boyfriend-girlfriend on the roof and seems oblivious to it. There's that time in homecoming where he just starts bombarding Peter with questions about Spider-man, almost like the reverse of infodumping...question dumping? But he seems to spend a lot of time wanting to know as much as possible about it, which I think is normal for a kid who just found out his best friend is a super-hero, but to me the way he asks those questions and repeats the "guy in the chair," phrase give off a very ND vibes. He also shows signs of special interests in things like star wars, technology, and even zeroing in on Peter's superhero life and wanting to know as much about that as possible. Like, Ned sets of my aut-dar so much, I can't entirely put it into words. He's also loyal to a fault. Like truly an amazing friend, I love him. And this is a trait I notice a lot in autistic people. We don't have a lot of friends, and autistic people are also kinda known to have a strong sense of justice, and I think those two things lead many people to be very loyal to their friends.

M.J.: The first thing is the flat affect, particularly in the first two movies, though she drops it in No Way Home. It's a pretty common autistic trait to just naturally speak in a "monotone," or not be particularly emotive, which isn't to say people who do this don't have feelings, but they just may not naturally show them the same way as others do. She also clearly has some off-beat interests, like conspiracy theories, and tends to say odd things that throw people off. Some of this is also a protective mechanism. She says in Far From Home that she doesn't have a lot of luck getting close to people, and that's pretty common for autistic people and a lot of us develop a coping strategy for that. Hers is "People think I'm weird and unapproachable? Fine. I'll be weird and unapproachable," and her motto in No Way Home, "Expect disappointment and you won't be disappointed." She wants to push people away before they can hurt her. I'm sure there's some more backstory behind this that perhaps we will learn in future movies? But I do think it's a common enough thing in autistic people. And we do see those walls start to slowly come down, especially in No Way Home where she is openly affectionate and caring to Peter and even Ned. She also is, as she states in Homecoming, "very observant," and puts together that Peter is Spider-man on her own. Not that Peter hides it particuarly well, but being detail oriented, observant, and good at pattern recognition are common autistic traits. She also reads a lot rather than talk to people, which isn't only an autistic trait but mixed with these other things helps build that picture. I think its fair to speculate that she has a special interest in books. I think she has some social justice related special interests, though the films seem to drop that a bit after Homecoming for some reason? But it goes along with the sense of justice thing that a lot of autistic people have, and that all three of these kids have.

Peter: I like to think of Peter as an AuDHD icon. Peter's powers are very autistic coded, aren't they? Like, "my senses have been dialed up to 11," (Civil War) there's so many fics of Peter having sensory overload because of his hearing, and "Spider-sense," aka weaponized sensory processing issues? Peter also tends to behave very differently depending on his comfort level in a situation. Like, he talks and talks with Ned, or quipping with bad guys, but he freezes up at school and seems pretty shy and awkward. I could point out a lot of scenes where this happens, like with Liz in Homecoming, awkward conversations with MJ in Far From Home (where they are both adorably awkward because they are both young and neurodivergent), when Flash talks to him, or just...generally when talking with his classmates. He never really holds coherent conversations with any of them besides Ned and MJ. He's clearly got shared special interests with Ned in Star Wars and Lego. He's probably also got some interests in super-heroes even before he was Spider-Man (the Stark Expo scene). He also shows a very strong sense of right and wrong, and is really quite stubborn about it. He will go against anything anyone says because he thinks its wrong for dangerous weapons to get into the hands of criminals (I could do a whole seperate infodump about how his passion about this in Homecoming probably relates to the fact that his uncle was killed by gun-violence), or because he thinks its wrong to just kill the bad guys from another dimension. This again is that strong sense of justice that all three of our Spider-Team members have, and is a common trait in autistic people. As for ADHD...the warehouse scene in Homecoming is the most obvious example to me. Peter literally cannot sit and wait for half an hour, but he can hyper-focus all night on typing combinations into the lock. He talks a lot in battle (Sam even comments on it in Civil War, and its a pretty consistent trait in all spidey-comics) and I think this Peter Parker in particular seems to have the most kinda constant low-buzz energy out of all the big-screen Peter Parkers. If you look at the way they animate his swinging it's very jerky and hyperactive compared to the other spidey's, though this is most evident in homecoming. Personally? I think every Spider-person is at least autistic because Spider-sense is such an autsitic coded power to me.

Some overall notes: It's pretty clear, especially in the first movie, that Peter, Ned, and MJ are not exactly the popular kids, and that other people see them as weird. Ned and Peter in particular get bullied in Homecoming. This is an extremely common neurodivergent experience. Also, the scene in Homecoming where Ned and Peter build the deathstar in the bandroom is so neat to me, because when I highschool, all the "weird," neurodivergent kids would just spend lunch in the bandroom. Not all of us were even in band--I wasn't--but we'd all just go there during lunch and study hall and hang out because it was quieter and all the weird kids were there so we were more free to just be weird. I'm not sure if this is a common thing in highschools or if it was just mine, but I liked that detail a lot.

Anyway...that's my rant for today.

[katemac805]

Peter and MJ sharing sleepy smiles and cuddles on the plane ride home from London <3

From this deleted scene

[katemac805]

Thinking about all the subtle irondad canon in MCU.

The ease Peter used Stark tech to make his suit in FFH meaning he's likely spent time in Tony's lab

All the types of Spider-suits in the data base implying Tony had been working on tons of Spider-Man gadgets and suits for Peter

Peter has been an Iron Man fan since he was at least 8 years old

Tony lent Peter a car to take his driver's test (from a car commercial)

Tony actually listens to all the unimportant details of Peter's life (and remembers them) such as getting a churro on patrol and when he quit band practice

Tony to Happy about his party: "did you invite the kid? Why do you hate fun, I like the kid I want you to invite the kid" (from another commercial)

Tony thinks of himself as a father figure to Peter ("my dad never really gave me a lot of support and I'm just trying to break the cycle of shame")

Peter being Tony's favourite young adult

Peter is affectionately referred to as 'the kid' so often that everyone knows exactly who Tony is talking about (e.g. Steve, Happy)

Tony keeping a photo of Peter in his home after his death (for longer than he actually knew Peter)

Tony not wanting to mess with time travel because he valued a peaceful life with Pepper and Morgan over half the universe's population, only to change his mind at the thought of bringing Peter back

[katemac805]

Obsessed with AO3 writers, who are a particularly fascinating subspecies of homo sapien.

[katemac805]

[katemac805]

people who draw fictional characters cuddling or napping together are the backbone of pur society, truly where would we be without them

[katemac805]

doodles<3

[katemac805]

My jaw is on the floor.

post endgame! tony stark, undercover, who really misses his favorite teenager. so he starts taking to the streets as a petty criminal, just in the hopes that spider-man will stop him.

after a while, it becomes a habit. Whenever he misses his old life, he goes out and pickpockets (badly) whoever looks like they can afford it.

After a while though, he can’t even remember why he does it. What’s so special about Spider-Man anyways? Not like anyone knows who he is.

[katemac805]

I'm absolutely heartbroken.

grief

[katemac805]

Little excerpt of a oneshot I'm writing:

The past five years had changed Tony. Like everyone else who had survived the Blip, he had tried his best to move on from it. He and Pepper got married and moved out of the city, gave life to a little girl.

Tony now had gray hairs and worry lines and smile lines, relics of the grief and happiness that had coexisted during the Blip.

Peter was the same sixteen-year-old boy he had been before. Spending the weekends with Tony and his new family made him feel rather left behind.