{"id":116624,"date":"2026-09-24T07:05:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T11:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=116624"},"modified":"2026-09-24T07:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T11:05:30","slug":"with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility-origin\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Really Said “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”? It’s Older Than Spider-Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>8 Minute, 13 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

In mid-September 2026, Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/em> passed Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/em> to become the highest-grossing film ever at the North American box office. It took 47 days. And somewhere in that record-breaking run, millions of people heard the most famous line in superhero history one more time: with great power comes great responsibility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

Most of us could tell you who says it. Uncle Ben, right? Peter Parker’s kind uncle, just before everything goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n

Here’s the surprise. In the comic where Spider-Man was born, Uncle Ben never says it. And the idea itself is far, far older than Spider-Man.<\/p>\n\n

Where “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” Really Comes From<\/h2>\n\n

Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy<\/em> #15 in 1962, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. On the story’s last page, Peter walks away into the night, crushed by the death he could have stopped. And a caption box, not a character, tells the reader the lesson: “with great power there must also come — great responsibility!”<\/p>\n\n

That’s it. It was the narrator talking. Nobody in the story says it out loud.<\/p>\n\n

Over the years, the line drifted into Uncle Ben’s mouth. The first comic where Ben is shown saying it came in 1987, twenty-five years later. Then the 2002 Spider-Man<\/em> film put it in his final conversation with Peter, and that’s the version most of the world remembers. We don’t remember the caption. We remember a person who loved Peter saying it to his face.<\/p>\n\n

Hold onto that detail. It turns out to matter.<\/p>\n\n