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According to René Girard’s Mimetic Theory the expulsion of a scapegoat is made possible through the projection of one’s own guilt onto someone else. Only when we thoroughly believe that the victim of our projection is guilty, can we engage in scapegoating.

In this respect it is interesting that in Spiderman 3 Peter Parker aka Spiderman struggles more with himself than with any outside enemy. The “black Spiderman” embodies the dark side of both Spiderman and Peter Parker. “Spidy” is starting to enjoy his vileness and increasingly neglects his superhero duties. Once he comes to his senses, Spidy tries to shake off the enticing black spider-suit. The suit, which has developed an agency of its own, is clinging to him like a chewing gum stuck in one’s hair and only lets go of him once Peter Parker’s rival Eddie Brock appears. His rival is enveloped by the suit and from that moment on Spiderman’s dark side is externalized and projected onto Eddie. Being rid of his internal conflict through the projection of his own dark side onto a scapegoat, Spiderman can once again assume his position as a “good” American superhero. In the final showdown Brock is defeated by Spidy. The latter regains his identity through the expulsion of the demonized Brock and his admiring audience will soon forget that it was only because Brock took the destructive black spider-suit onto himself like a scapegoat that the return of the good hero was possible.

In I See Satan Fall Like Lightning René Girard draws on Matthew 12:26 to explain that Jesus understands the paradoxical process of good being restored by evil, as it is portrayed in Spiderman 3: “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?“ Girard suggests that Satan is indeed driving out himself, that violence casts out violence. And that is exactly what happens in Spiderman 3. Spiderman violently projects his own dark side onto Brock, before violently getting rid of that dark side by defeating Brock. Spidy’s kingdom cannot stand and the resistance of the film to a happy ending is evidence of a certain awareness of the violent nature of the restoration of Spiderman’s identity.

I leave it to the reader to infer what the discussed scene means for American identity today, the war in Iraq, and the war on terror. May I just suggest one final observation: the black spider-suit appears to consist of a rather oily substance.