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'It's toxic masculinity': 'Spider-Man' fans respond to removal of Peter Parker’s 'homophobic' line

'That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?' was the controversial line that was shortened by ITV

Spider-Man is undoubtedly one of the most popular comic-book characters of all time and if you go back in history, you’ll get to know why he is adored so much. From movies to video games, the character has seen more adaptations than any other Marvel superhero. However, it seems one of the earlier ‘Spider-Man’ movies got away with something controversial line that has finally been edited by the makers.

Fans of the comic-book character rejoiced after Britain’s ITV decided to cut a controversial homophobic line from the 2002 superhero flick. Remember the scene where Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) wants to earn some extra money and decides to take a part in a wrestling event where he needs to defeat the wrestler. This happens right after he gets to know that he has superhero abilities and strength. He uses his powers to win the match.

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During the match, Parker dons a low-budget version of the iconic red-and-blue costume and tells the wrestler, “That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?

ITV shortened the line and a Twitter user shared the clip on the social media platform where it went viral in no time. The renowned network shortened the line to: “That’s a cute outfit.” The user captioned the video, “They removed Peter Parker’s homophobia”. Social media erupted after the clip went viral and praised the network for cutting the line.

One of the users tweeted, “Why cut the joke out entirely? Why not change it somehow? I threw this together pretty quick, changing it from a homophobic joke to a classic “your mom” joke.” Another social media user said, “When the punch line is gay marriage, it’s not really a good punchline.”

“British TV network ITV removed the vaguely homophobic line ‘Spider-Man’ says to Bonesaw in the first Raimi film. And nothing of value was lost,” said another social media user.

“How is it not (homophobic)? It would seem that the punchline of the joke is that Peter said that his husband made the outfit. The implication would be that it wouldn't have been embarrassing to wear the outfit if it were made by a theoretical wife,” said another one.

However, there were many who believed that the joke was not at all “homophobic” and suggested that people should buy ‘Blu-Ray’ copies because TV networks tend to pull things like this.

“I still have yet to understand how this exactly is offensive. It would have been just as funny if he said "Mom" or "Wife". What makes it work is that Bonesaw is obviously obsessed with being so masculine, he was pissed off. I feel it's more offensive towards toxic masculinity,” tweeted another user.

Another social media user said, “It's not homophobic. The only thing it implies is that Spider-Man called him Gay - and this was supposed to be during a time where Spider-Man let his new powers get to his head and forget how he has responsibility. It plays into that arc where he becomes a better person.” Meanwhile, one of the users wrote, “The worst part was that the joke wasn't even homophobic in the first place!”

“How could they butcher such an iconic line of dialogue??’ said another one.

We saw Maguire making an appearance as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in the latest movie ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ along with Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield.