With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

With great power comes great responsibility refers to a memorable quote closely associated with Uncle Ben from the 2002 Spider-man movie.

Online, the line is often seen on image macros memes, with the word responsibility sometimes replaced with something else.

via GIPHY

The idea that “with great power comes great responsibility” has been around since antiquity, appearing in a different form in the Bible.

One of the earliest cases of the phrase in a similar form originate from a series of decrees from the French Revolution, published on May 9^th, 1793, attributed to Voltaire by many, however, this connection was debated by others, due to a lack of clear evidence.

The most widely known origin of “With great power comes great responsibility” can be linked to the 2002 Spider-Man, uttered by Uncle Ben (portrayed by Cliff Robertson), moments before his death.

Demotivational Posters started appearing on the internet as early as 2004, with image macros spreading more rapidly in the second half of the decades.

The scene from the Spider-Man movie was uploaded to YouTube on March 9^th, 2010, by men4chatting.

Starting in 2011, image macro memes, depicting Uncle Ben started emerging online, paired with the caption “With great power comes great responsibility”.

With the same message, as Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, the meme spread on sites like 9GAG, Reddit, Facebook and iFunny, gaining a large audience in the early 2010’s, and experiencing a massive resurgence in 2021, with the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

• Weminoredinfilm.com – The Origin of “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” & 7 Other Surprising Parts of Spider-Man’s Comic Book History
• Tvtrops.org – With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility