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 statements are true according to the passage?
(A) The writer links Peter’s wish to make money with his lasting appeal.
(B) The writer feels the films have done the character more harm than good.
(C) The writer grants that commercial success plays some part in the character’s survival.
(D) According to the writer, audiences were unhappy when someone other than Peter wore the suit.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A) and (C) only
Each statement is checked against the passage.
(A) The writer links Peter’s wish to make money with his lasting appeal. — Correct.
- Peter’s first idea was to “earn some money”.
- The writer says this choice “explains why he has outlasted so many grander heroes”.
(B) The writer feels the films have done the character more harm than good. — Incorrect.
- The writer says the sales argument is “partly true”.
- The films are not blamed for any harm.
(C) The writer grants that commercial success plays some part in the character’s survival. — Correct.
- To grant means to admit.
- The writer admits “Sales can keep a name alive”, though they cannot explain everything.
(D) According to the writer, audiences were unhappy when someone other than Peter wore the suit. — Incorrect.
- When the suit passed to Miles Morales, the film became “one of the best-loved” in the character’s history.