Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
In 1962, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko slipped a new character into the last issue of a comic that was about to be cancelled. Little was expected of him. He was Peter Parker, a thin, bookish teenager from Queens, and when a spider bite left him with great strength, his first idea was a pragmatic one: earn some money.
I think that small, slightly shabby choice explains why he has outlasted so many grander heroes. Superman came from another planet. Batman had a fortune. Peter had the rent to worry about. His powers solved almost nothing in his own life. If anything, they opened a running tab: a missed class, a lost job, a friend let down, a bruise hidden from his aunt at breakfast. No rescue ever cleared it, and each fight only added to it.
A sceptic will say the character lasts because he sells. That is partly true. Since 2002, three actors have played Peter in live-action films, and the mask stares out from lunch boxes and school bags. But merchandise was once just as ubiquitous for heroes nobody remembers today. Sales can keep a name alive. They cannot make a teenager in Nagpur feel that the boy in the suit has the same mundane troubles she has.
The mask matters here more than the muscles. Because it hides the whole face, almost anyone could be under it. In a 2018 animated film, the suit passed to Miles Morales, a Brooklyn teenager with school and family worries of his own, and the film became one of the best-loved in the character’s history. Perhaps audiences had never come for Peter himself, only for his kind of trouble.
Which of the following best expresses the central argument of the passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Spider-Man has lasted because his powers bring him ordinary, costly troubles that readers see as their own.
The writer asks why Spider-Man has lasted so long and gives one main answer: his troubles are ordinary.
- The second paragraph states the claim. Peter’s small choice to earn money “explains why he has outlasted so many grander heroes”.
- His powers solve “almost nothing” in his life. Instead they bring costs: a missed class, a lost job, a friend let down.
- The third paragraph adds that readers feel he has “the same mundane troubles” they have. Mundane means dull and everyday.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Spider-Man owes his long life mainly to the films and toys that keep his name before each new generation. — Incorrect. Overstated: The writer calls this view only “partly true”. Sales “can keep a name alive”, but they cannot make readers feel close to him.
Option 3: Spider-Man appeals more than Superman or Batman because his powers seem far more realistic and believable to readers. — Incorrect. Wrong reason: The contrast with Superman and Batman is about his life, not his powers. They had another planet and a fortune. Peter had the rent.
Option 4: Spider-Man shows that a hero’s mask matters more than his identity, so the role can pass to anyone. — Incorrect. Too narrow: The mask comes up only in the last paragraph. It supports the main point about ordinary trouble. It is not the main point itself.