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the-cat-and-the-birdie · 8 months

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Clarification before I attempt further discussion. Once again,

Y'ALL MAY I HAVE YOUR INTERPRETATION:

SO YOU THINK THIS WAS JOKE - MEANT AS AN INSULT OR NOT?

Why I ask -

I've been discussing Peter B. Parker a lot lately and the motive behind some of his actions, and notably throughout the post I mentioned Hobie disliking or even hating Peter.

And yeah, that's kind of what I assumed, based on this line.

But some people I've been talking with have expressed the exact opposite - they believe this line shows that he does like Peter, and that he meant it completely as a joke.

And Hobie does joke a lot, he's a warm guy - but why would he call Peter a 'Humbling Reality' - and is that meant as an insult, or a welcome to a friend?

If I'm correct, this line is the ONLY line Hobie ever speaks towards Peter.

So did you think he meant it as an insult? Or a friendly joke?

Here's why I took it as an insult:

'Humbling Reality Spider-man', MayDay, and why I think Hobie and Peter aren't friends at all.

First, Hobie makes no other deprecating jokes AT ALL throughout the movie.

Hobie is a very casual, very laidback guy (most of the time..) - and he's known to joke around with the people he's close with. But when we look back at all his other jokes - NONE of them approach anywhere near as neutral or negative as being a 'Humbling Reality'.

Hobie affectionately calles Gwen 'Gwendy'. And he even calls Miles 'Peter Pan', despite not knowing them. Pav is 'Madlad Pav' etc.

No one else but Peter gets this kind of..I don't know.. backhanded? I never took 'Humbling Reality' as a good thing, I took that as being 'so depressingly average and mundane'.

And being average and mundane is not something Hobie would call someone he's particularly fond of.

Even those he feels neutral on - Miguel and Jess, he doesn't address this was. He just chooses not to engage with them.

Hobie had every chance to walk into Miguel's lair and make a comment like this, but he didn't.

To me that showed that Hobie's feeling towards Peter differs from his feelings towards people like Jess and Miguel as well as Pavi and Gwen.

Hobie calls people pet-names. This doesn't seem like a pet-name

Second, Tone.

I don't know, I always read this tone as unusually dry for Hobie.

Usually when making jokes so deadpan, he's speaking about a situation, not a person ("It's a metaphor for capitalism." / "A bit much, innit?"). And even when speaking to Jess, his tone is more casual than this line to Peter.

We see how Hobie approaches someone like Pav, which clear excitement, warmth and proximity. But this is completely absent towards Peter.

Hobie makes no attempt to move towards Peter or further greet him in anyway.

Third, Peter's Reaction.

Hobie says that line LOUD. You hear the echo.

And Peter just ignores him. He doesn't laugh, he doesn't look at Hobie, he doesn't mention him at all in the scene.

And that's not to say 'oh, Peter secretly hates Hobie and wants to ignore him' -

I just think that Peter didn't take that as a full-on joke. Or rather he didn't expect a warm welcome from Hobie. Because they aren't close.

Throughout the whole scene Peter ONLY addresses Gwen and Miles.

While Hobie says one line to Peter - one that isn't even clearly that friendly - Peter says nothing to him, not even stopping to pat his shoulder.

Based on the fact that Hobie and Peter are BOTH touchy, I feel like that in itself shows that they aren't friends. Both of them are the type to greet their friends when they enter a room, but neither do. Not properly anyway.

They seem to be acquaintances at best - or with my assumption that this was an insult, less than that.

I mean, Hobie is still a teen, he's still a friend of Gwen's. Peter has every reason to treat him warmly, or openly greet him.

But Peter makes no attempt at all to be like "Hey Hobie, what's going on."

Whether or not you think Hobie hates him is one thing, but I feel like Peter's reaction, and how he disregarded the comment without being shocked or responding in any way shows:

Hobie has said stuff like this to him before, and it's not too shocking

Him and Hobie aren't nearly as close as him and Gwen, and they aren't friends enough to greet each other.

Hobie & MayDay

I've also seen it mentioned that Hobie's connection with MayDay shows that him and Peter are friends.

And I can absolutely see where that conclusion comes from, and it holds weight. I just..kinda have to disagree on the basis that even if Hobie openly disliked Peter, that dislike wouldn't extend to MayDay

Even moreso, If Hobie didn't like Peter, but took good care of MayDay, and MayDay very clearly liked Hobie - which she does (she jumps into his arms, Hobie doesn't pick her up) - then Peter does not seem like the type of father to separate them.

Notice how every time Miguel or Miles is holding MayDay, Peter is talking to them, commenting on how they're holding her, showing them stuff. But when Hobie is with MayDay...nothing. He says nothing to him.

It even goes farther.

When Peter is showing Miguel, Gwen, and Miles photos of MayDay, he makes no attempt to show Hobie.

We know Hobie loves MayDay, but Peter doesn't show him photos of her. Despite showing Gwen, Miles, and Miguel, quite excitedly.

Because I'm assuming him and Hobie are NOT close like that. And/or Peter knows Hobie would not appreciate him getting close to him and shoving a phone in his face.

Miguel is clearly annoyed and Peter even shows him, while not approaching Hobie - who is clearly in a good mood.

Once again, I think that shows that Peter and Hobie are not friends, even if Hobie likes interacting with MayDay and does it well.

I assumed that Peter lets her be around Hobie because he trusts Hobie, not that they were friends.

And the final nail in the coffin Peter isn't enthusiastic about MayDay going to Hobie

This is something I JUST realized on a rewatch, but it lines up so well.

So this scene: Peter is getting ready to change MayDay. We see Hobie standing on MayDay's left and Peter on her right.

[LMAOOOOOO LOOK AT HER I'M WEAK]

MayDay swings towards the right of the screen, aka her LEFT - the direction of Hobie. We as the audience don't see what she's attaching her web to. But she has to attach it to something and she's going towards him.

And Peter pulls her back. Doesn't really say anything or look at Hobie, he just pulls her back.

Then, MayDay goes again, this time bouncing herself into Hobie's arms. MayDay chose to go to Hobie - and like I said before, Peter isn't gonna separate them, if that's what May wants.

But that's not the thing - regardless of whether you think MayDay was going towards Hobie or not - in the shot we see Peter puts his hands on his hips, watching Hobie, and he shakes his head at him.

You can go back to the scene and check, because it really is so subtle and I genuinely only caught it while employing my autistic Hobie sight and staring at them intently.

But he does shake his head, letting Hobie have her. I suggest you go watch it back for yourself, but in my eyes Peter's slow headshake doesn't really seem like the 'Oh, you!' type.

In the next shot we see of Miles, Gwen, Hobie and Peter, MayDay is back in Peter's hands and that's the end of the interaction. We don't actually see them speak, only trade off MayDay.

If they did say anything, I'd KILL to know what they're saying cause like...

idk for both of their characters it feels like such an odd interaction to me

The whole scene, both him and Hobie interact with the people around them, except each other.

And it's only after MayDay literally LAUNCHES herself into Hobie's arms that Hobie and Peter even approach or look at each other.

---------

I've spoken at length about why I think Hobie would hate Peter - mainly for his open neglect of Gwen and his failure to step up as her mentor, his betrayal towards Miles, or the fact HE RATTED MILES OUT TO LYLA (how else would she have know to look for his location? That's one analysis I'll STAND on.)

But whether or not you believe Hobie hates him or whether Hobie has the capability to openly hate someone like that (he does.) I feel like everything I said here is a clear indicator that they are not friends or close.

The one on-screen line between them is vague on Hobie's end and completely ignored by Peter. Peter leaves Hobie out of his activities when showing photos. He shakes his head when MayDay fights her way to Hobie, and only looks at him when Hobie is giving MayDay back.

From my first watch, that kinda made me assume that they're just not close - despite them having Gwen in common.

And combining that with the 'Humbling Reality' comment, I took that as a sign that it's not that they don't know each other. They just don't talk like that.

And that made me ask why. Which led to all my other speculations.

But that's just me.

Did ya'll take the 'Humbling Reality Spider-man' thing as joke? Do you think they're friends, or no? (Not if Hobie hates him - just if you think they're friends/close)

What do you think the situation is?

I'm curious. Let's open the floor.

Is they beefin or nah I gotta know cause that would be funny as hell

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