Pook's Place

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility:

Yu-Gi-Oh! and Spider-man

By Pook

*NOTE:  This article contains spoilers for both Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Spider-man movies!*

            8.02.04  Alright folks, I know this is going to be a real stretch, but I’d like to plead a very funny case to all of you.  My case is the similarities between the anime of Yu-Gi-Oh! and the major motion picture Spider-man and it’s sequel.  Now before I totally lose you all, please bare in mind that this, like most of my articles, is purely for the sake of humor – I’ve been receiving many an email criticizing me that my articles are silly.  No kidding, folks!  My articles are a bit different from the standard Pojo fare, but that is fully intentional.  Sure, most of the columns and features help you improve your game, but my job is to lighten up the mood, and to ease the hearts of my readers.  Now, with that said, onto my madness, er, hypothesis. 

            So last week, I went to see Spider-man 2 for the third time in theaters, this time in IMAX.  Naturally, by the third viewing, my mind began to wander a bit during the movie, and like any good duelist, my thoughts immediately turned towards Yu-Gi-Oh, not just the game, but also the anime.  Then, in a stoke of genius, I turned to my friend and said, “Hey, doesn’t Harry [Osborn] remind you of Kaiba?” to which my friend burst out laughing.  He fully agreed with me.  So I keep this train of thought going and basically linked the two stories together.  Want to see what I came up with?

            First of all, Yugi and Peter Parker are kindred spirits.  Both possess great power, to which they came into accidentally.  Both wield this power through the use of a secondary identity – Yugi has Yami Yugi, Peter has Spider-man.  Pretty simple concept, correct?  Well, it gets better. 

            Like I said before, Harry Osborn, son to billionaire industrialist Norman Osborn (The Green Goblin) is very much like Kaiba.  Both are the heads of multi-million dollar companies, and both have a similar nemesis – Kaiba and Yugi, Harry and Peter (well, Spider-man at first, but then Peter).  Kaiba hates Yugi for beating him in Duel Monsters, because he believed that he was the best.  Harry hates Peter for killing his father.  On the other hand, Yugi helped free Kaiba from his evil side (the end of their first duel), yet Peter drove Harry towards his evil side (come Spider-man 3, expect Harry to be wearing quite a bit of green…).  Either way, each pair is both friend and rival – sure, Kaiba and Yugi don’t hang out (that is, unless the world is in peril) but they still do work together when they must. 

            Now let’s talk guidance.  Both Peter and Yugi are heroes without parents.  Strange, don’t you think?  What’s more is that each of them is cared for by an older relative – Yugi has Grandpa Moto, Peter had Uncle Ben and still has Aunt May.  Both of the older gentlemen acted as the voice of reason and goodness to each hero.  Uncle Ben may have bit the big one, but he still divulges helpful wisdom to his superhero nephew.  And let us not forget that Grandpa Moto almost crossed into the great hereafter during the Duelist Kingdom saga.  Still with me on this one?  Good. 

            We’ll wrap up on the subject of girls.  For Peter, his greatest love is Mary Jane Watson, the girl next door.  However, in the first movie, Mary Jane only loves Spider-man, his alter ego.  Sound familiar?  Of course it does, especially to those who read the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga.  Remember when Tea fell in love with the voice of her savior (when the restaurant she worked at was held up – by the way, MJ worked at a restaurant, too!)?  That voice belonged to none other than Yami Yugi, Yugi’s alter ego.  Ah ha!  So the pieces are finally coming together!  Yeah, I know that Tea and Yugi haven’t gotten together, but I’m sure that there is still some time for that. 

            So, there you have it.  I know this is my most farfetched article to date, but fear not, loyal readers, I assure you that things will be back to normal (lol normal) very shortly.  In fact, I’m going to do something later this week that I haven’t done in quite a few – a straight-forward article about the actual game!  I know, I’m just as surprised as you are!  Until then, happy dueling.