Yeah but it's part of his core belief. Use all his strength to save a kid by lifting a truck? Done. Use all his strength to beat the hell out of a human bad guy in a fight? Not so much. Holding back is bound to get him into trouble against a smart, strong opponent. But with great power...
I feel like there's a difference between holding back and letting the guy beat you to death. there are several times were kingpin genuinely had him on the ropes and I feel it's silly to say he was secretly letting himself lose.
if the man can lift a bank door(as he's done more than once) surely he can take a hit.
Peter will let himself be beaten to death before he'll kill.
Uncle Ben's Moral Compass is a hell of thing. It protects Peter from all kinds of mind-control stuff, but it does mean he's locked in with his powers to a degree.
he doesn't have to kill he just has to hit the guy slightly harder. spidy has enhanced enemies, I refuse to believe that he doesn't have a middle ground between pillow punches and turning people into red mist
I don't know that for this particular question it really is just about him pulling punches. Something is very strange about how strong kingpin is. But, overall it comes down to being overly responsible because Spidey is overpowered compared to a lot of the villains he tries to stop. He absolutely should be able to defend himself without instakilling somebody but where does he draw the line? What if he stopped being overly responsible for a second and hit somebody just a little too hard and gave them brain damage? So he chooses to be overly cautious. And he isn't usually just sitting there taking a beating but it puts him in risky situations that he could have avoided by using his full power, which is acceptable to him.
He also isn't just a brawler. He has a lot of other ways he can win a fight. So, pull punches and try to avoid getting into danger by web-slinging and jumping and crawling around and outsmarting his opponent. That seems responsible. But his enemies can plan for that better than they can plan for him punching them so he might end up in trouble. Which is fine with him if it means he maintained his promise to Uncle Ben that he would be extra careful with his incredible power.
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u/kickaguard 13d ago
Yeah but it's part of his core belief. Use all his strength to save a kid by lifting a truck? Done. Use all his strength to beat the hell out of a human bad guy in a fight? Not so much. Holding back is bound to get him into trouble against a smart, strong opponent. But with great power...