this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] [email protected] 101 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Pretty sure the webs are formulated to dissolve in a couple hours.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yes, this is well established in the comics and animated series. It's actually one way Spider-Man proves Mysterio is impersonating him. The fake Spider-Man's webs don't dissolve on their own.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And the MCU. First solo movie spidey says it will disolve in a couple hours when he leaves Glover stuck to his car.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So disappointing Glover hasn't actually been Prowler yet

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You haven't seen the new spiderverse yet?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So disappointing Glover hasn’t actually been Prowler yet

Ummmm... spoilers but... Glover has been Prowler. (Not your Prowler though).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And the newer movies with the dude who had ice-cream in his groceries.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Donald Glover, who is a big Spider-Man fan and was rumored at one point when he was younger to be the next Spider-Man actor. They nod to this in Community when they show Troy wearing Spider-Man pajamas.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Maybe you can answer this for me, but I always thought that his ability to shoot webs came from being bit? How can he reformulate his own webs if it's coming from his body? Is that addressed in canon? I never got real deep into comics, this was just a thought that I had while I was watching Spider-Man: Far From Home today.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Depends which origin story you’re following. In the Spiderverse some Spidermen have the natural property of shooting webs, while others built their own web shooters.

I’m not too much into the comics, but even between Spiderman 1-3 and Amazing Spiderman 1,2 (the movies) that’s a difference.

The Spiderman in the MCU built his own web shooter and could adjust the formula. It also means he can run out when plot requires.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Huh, I think I just realized why I never got too invested in comics. Guess I like more concrete story lines. Thanks for the answer!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Prime Spider-man (earth 616 Spider-Man) whatever you want to call it, is more or less universally depicted as having mechanical webshooters that he invented. The big exception is the Sam Raimi Spider-man movies from the early 2000's which is probably what confused you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I haven’t read the first run of the Amazing Spider Man comics (1960s) in over a decade, but I remember that Peter gained the knowledge to create webbing from the spider bite, and then applied science to create web shooters and cartridges. There’s so many comics out there I haven’t read any other Spidey comic, and probably got halfway through Amazing Spider-Man v1.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

He makes the webbing and shooters. His powers are the strength, wall crawling, and spider sense, and he's smart, so he supplemented that with the web swinging, which those powers make possible.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I wonder if they catch a bug or two before they do though? That would be cool:-).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hmm now someone needs to mop up the gooey white spiderslime

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Unless it's formulated to sublimate into a gas I suppose.

[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Annoying? Quite the opposite. Forget the self dissolving property of the web and assume it's there forever. Now you got a material that is extremely light and extremely strong and flexible. Companies are going to pay to collect them. It's gonna be like ambergris, but exclusive to one city. People would flock to collect Spider-Man web. I wouldn't be surprised if Spider-Man web is outlawed by the government and becomes even more valuable.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

In the comics he tries to sell the compound and no one wants it iirc due to its lifespan. Stupid but at least it's brought up

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

GET ME SPIDERMAN

-J.J.J in some universe

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 year ago (1 children)

According to the comics, webbing dissolves and fades away after a day.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that accurate? I haven't kept up with comics in a long time, but when I sort of did, it was said to be an hour rather than a day. (I always assumed this was so you wouldn't worry about people being trapped for 24 hours or however long.)

Not trying to be argumentative or anything, just curious if the lore changed, or maybe I misremembered.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It could have been an hour, it was first mentioned in the earliest comics that the webbing fades away, and I’m not sure what they said more recently.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Bruh I hate to break it to you, but they already have to do that. I took this photo on the 66th floor of the Sears tower this last summer. Note that the spider is on the outside of the window.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

He’s just chilling between fighting crime.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Damn, look at that little guy go!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Can he swing from a web?

I mean, probably.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Spiders usually do it in reverse. They tether themselves to what they are on then "let go" and let the wind take them, with their tether being a lifeline so they don't go too fast and in case they don't get anywhere, then they can just go back to where they came from.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

And then you run into all these travel webs when you walk your dog at night, and get to wonder if you have a spider somewhere in your clothes or hair, just waiting for the right moment to scare the every-loving shit out of you.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They can just leave ‘em up there until the next time New York is destroyed.

[–] And009 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

thoughts from the shower of one J. Jonah Jameson

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Like someone else already mentioned, spidey's webs are formulated to break down over time. Iirc, he has changed the formula to change how long that is, for special circumstances, but it's usually described as "a couple of hours".

I don't recall any canon description of a hard limit to the timing, up or down, either. So it could be adjustable down to near instant to practically forever.

However, there is also web solvent mentioned a few times over the years, though no description of it beyond that comes to memory.

Now, afaik, the formula isn't even really described as to exactly what it is. I vaguely recall one of the older issues mentioning it being like silk, and a much later generic "polymer" being used, but nothing was elaborated on in any of the issues I've read that I recall. I have read everything up to maybe ten years ago or so at least once. That's when I discovered certain sites and programs that allow one access to digital copies for free, and spidey was the first character I binged like that, him being the first superhero I ever cared about (enough to have worn out a dozen sets of spidey underroos before 2nd grade).

Anyway, can you imagine how annoying it would be if it didn't dissolve on its own? There's been a few scenes where people bitch about the webbing as it is lol. A bunch of grumpy New Yorkers having to wait for city services to come along and deweb a sidewalk? Holy crap ::

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t recall any canon description of a hard limit to the timing

One comic I had mentioned exactly one hour, to the second. Spidey was proud of that fact.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Definitely gives a different perspective to when spider leaves the bad guys hanging around off a tall building, much darker. I can hear Venom laughing right now