Peter Parker wanted to be Spider-Man because he thought it gave people hope. Hope in what? That was never really stated, just implied. The hope was in the fact that things were going to get better. People were going to get better. Life was just somehow going to get better.
That's why I was saddened - because what Spider-Man was fighting for is not even real hope. It's just misguided optimism, a fake brand of happiness that gets you nowhere. Peter Parker thought he was giving people hope, but he was really only brightening a bleak future.
Paul's words in Romans 15:13 really hit it home to me:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
True hope comes nowhere but from the Holy Spirit. The unbeliever is the hopeful hopeless, hoping for the impossible, the invisible, and the unrealistic. Things "getting better" is a desperately bleak future to look for. That is why the Christian can rejoice, because their hope is not bleak. It's not in vain. We don't look for the goodness of mankind to pull us through, high school kids in blue and red spandex to give us hope. We have the hope of the gospel. The goodness of God, the glory of Christ's work on the cross, the encouragement of the Holy Spirit is what gives us hope.
And our hope rests in a coming kingdom, a conquering King who will return for His bride to bring consummation and renewal to a corrupt earth. One day, each Christian will have their hope realized in the return of Christ. But for now we wait with joy and peace. We pray and we trust God.
And we hope.