He is the geek that overnight and unexpectedly was handed new powers.
Who carries guilt, rightly or wrongly, for a family member’s demise.
Who has a habit of making enemies all around him and whose closest allies feel they can’t rely on him.
Spider-Man may be going great guns at the cinema just now, but Ed Miliband is the man who resembles him most in politics.
At the start of Labour’s leadership election nearly four years ago he seemed to have more chance of being bitten by a radioactive spider than winning the contest. But he triumphed and downed brother David in the process.
Now, like Peter Parker in Spider-Man, Ed must see off a band of baddies out to get him.
Spider-Man’s enemy on screen is lightning throwing mutant, Electro, but in Westminster energy is Ed’s ally.
His pledge to freeze power bills carries less weight as we enter the summer months but it continues to fuel his election chances.
Douglas Alexander is in charge of masterminding that election and he admits he needs the hide of a rhino in his job given all the advice and criticism that comes his way.
He’ll need the thick hide of Spider-Man villain The Rhino in the next year as scrutiny is only going to intensify.
Though it’s worth pointing out that the political pendulum now swings quicker than ever.
A couple of weeks ago, Alexander was under fire as Labour appeared set to self-destruct. Instead, Culture Secretary Maria Miller combusted and suddenly Labour were on top again while the Tories asked questions of David Cameron.
It’s remarkable that, when running through a list of the Labour leader’s enemies, his opposite number doesn’t come top.
Just as Spider-Man’s greatest enemy is not a person at all but Venom, a sort of alien goo that feeds off negative energy, Miliband’s biggest problem seems to be a lack of faith in him among his own.
The people least likely to predict a Labour win at next year’s General Election are Labour MPs.
And to a man and woman blame the same thing for their pessimism the leader.
Never mind that the party has climbed the polls like Spider-Man climbs sheer faces, and remember the recent wobble only saw their lead slashed, not overhauled, the feeling is Ed may be unelectable.
From the newest MP to the gnarliest peer, Labour politicians fear people are happy to tell pollsters they’ll vote Labour. But when it comes to actually considering Miliband in Downing Street, they baulk.
A rather rude poll found he’s the leader most people think is weird but aside from whether a serious survey should ask such an impertinent question is that surprising?
He clearly is the weirdest of the three leaders. He can do a Rubik’s Cube in seconds and when he went on Desert Island Discs he said he wanted to listen to A-ha for ever.
What’s damning is that it’s the people that know him best that fear he’s not likeable enough.
They dispute the theory the more folk see of Miliband the more they like him. These are people who’ve been working with him for four years now, they’ve seen more of him than most.
And just as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ends with viewers realising that, though the hero has won the day his greatest battle is still to come so, whatever the result of next month’s Euro elections, Miliband’s true test will come in the General Election.
Given the parallels it’s hardly surprising that the Labour leader paraphrased the webslinger’s catchphrase “with great power comes great responsibility” in a recent speech, albeit one on regional devolution rather than about battling goblins, lizards and people who shoot electricity out their trousers.
The General Election will determine whether the parallels go one step further.
For all the fun the critics have judged Spider-Man 2 not much cop, will Miliband’s leadership endure the same fate?
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