From Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1
Some context
Steve Ditko was famously a follower of Objectivism, a philosophy devised by writer Ayn Rand (her hit novel, Atlas Shrugged, starred her perfect ideal of an Objectivist hero, John Galt). His following of those beliefs sometimes affected the Spider-Man stories that he plotted (originally with Stan Lee and then by himself alone) before he left Marvel.
Be Steve Ditko
Help create Spider-Man
Support objectivism
Get screwed out of royalties because Stan Lee and the Marvel board use corporate loopholes to cut you out
complain, but not support creator’s rights because that would go against the individual or corporate rights or something
Continue making weird indie comics that don’t sell because you insist on making Objectivism the cornerstone of all your work
Die penniless and alone, your corpse not being discovered for weeks because you were so abrasive you had no one to check on you
It’s tragically poetic
Ditko had once told his Charlton co-worker Pete Morisi, a policeman who moonlighted as a comic book artist, that he envied Morisi for being able to arrest criminals.
Other ways Ditko incorporated Randian views into Spider-Man were by having Peter Parker become more aggressive, demand better pay for his Spider-Man photos, and show contempt for student protestors.
Without Uncle Ben’s sacrifice, he would have been a dickhole.
Good thing Miles didn’t need that event to be a hero, we are up to the neck of corpses in here.
