''Spider-Plant Man'' is a British

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

short film which parodies the 2002 film adaptation of the superhero character

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

. The film was made for the

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

2005 appeal and aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

on 11 March 2005. It features Rowan Atkinson as Peter Piper/Spider-Plant Man and Rachel Stevens as his love-interest Jane-Mary. Additionally, Jim Broadbent also made an appearance, portraying

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

, while Tony Robinson played Robin.

Plot

Peter Piper, a

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, visits a laboratory where scientists have created a carnivorous spider plant. After being bitten by one of these creatures, Piper gains plant-like powers. He uses his newfound abilities to save his old schoolmate Jane-Mary from a mugging, and she falls in love with him. Taking on the mantle of Spider-Plant Man, Piper embarks on a series of heroic feats throughout London, including retrieving demo tapes for

Peter Andre Peter Andre (born Peter James Andrea; 27 February 1973) is a British-Australian singer, songwriter, and media personality. Born in England to Cypriot parents and raised in Australia, Andre achieved success in the mid-1990s as a singer, topping ...

. One night, Spider-Plant Man encounters

, who has grown resentful of being overshadowed by Spider-Plant Man's popularity. Batman reveals that he has abducted Jane-Mary and threatens to take her life unless Spider-Plant Man renounces his status as a superhero. Spider-Plant Man deduces that Jane-Mary is trapped atop Tower Bridge and rushes off to save her. Batman pursues him, and they engage in a fierce confrontation. Batman's sidekick Robin arrives and nearly kills Spider-Plant Man. After Spider-Plant Man negotiates with Robin for a 25% cut on all pajama sales and the launch of his own cereal brand, Robin switches allegiances and defeats Batman. Spider-Plant Man and Jane-Mary start to kiss. He then asks Jane-Mary whether she will marry him, and she responds, "Who's asking me, Spider-Plant Man or the man behind the spandex?" He replies, "You choose". Jane-Mary is then shown lying in the sun on a beach, next to Piper who is still in his Spider-Plant suit. Piper then turns to the audience, smiling as then a web shoots out with the word "END".

Cast

* Rowan Atkinson as Peter Piper / Spider-Plant Man * Rachel Stevens as Jane-Mary * Jim Broadbent as

Mackenzie Crook Mackenzie Crook (born Paul James Crook, 29 September 1971) is an English actor, director, comedian and writer best known for his roles in television and film. He gained widespread recognition for portraying Gareth Keenan in the British sitcom '' ...

as Scientist * Nick Frost as Scientist *

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...

as Frank Matters *

as Himself * Tony Robinson as Robin *

Jason Watkins Jason Peter Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Bes ...

as Spectator at Tower Bridge

Development

''Spider-Plant Man'' originated while Rowan Atkinson and some other writers were brainstorming ideas for a possible fifth series of ''Blackadder''. One of these ideas was ''Batadder'', a parody of Batman, where Atkinson would play the title character, and Robinson would play his sidekick based on Robin. Plans for the fifth ''Blackadder'' series eventually fell through and that particular idea gave rise to the Comic Relief special. Ed Bye of

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

fame directed the episode "Spider-Plant Man" and used CGI from The Farm and Steve Deakin-Davies' Ambition company.

Reception

The film has been described as follows: "As the premise is utterly ridiculous it should be no surprise that the superhero movie archetype is ridiculed throughout.", and called "a classic sketch."

References

External links

*
Plot overview
{{Comic Relief 2005 films 2005 short films 2005 comedy films 2000s superhero comedy films British comedy short films Comic Relief Parodies of Batman Parodies of Spider-Man 2000s English-language films Unofficial Spider-Man films English-language comedy short films English-language action comedy films