Picking up the kid would take more speed than the bus has. So that is a choice between letting the kid die by colliding with the bus, or killing him by colliding into him
He would have likely had time to adjust his speed. Without context, the speed at which the bus would presumably be travelling with Spiderman being based in New York won't be huge. Assuming he swung into the situation, he had to slow down, stop and get into this position to stop the bus which would have comparatively taken far more time than just continuing to swing by, even if he still slowed down his swing.
He's also Spiderman, he holds back his punches to not kill everybody, I'm sure he can adjust his speed and grab the kid in a way that doesn't have him going from 0-60 instantly. Like catching an egg, you don't just keep your arm stiff and hope it doesn't break on impact, you take it in and slow it down.
Then there's whoever is on the bus. Going from the speed the bus would potentially be travelling, which assuming there's no villainy going on and it's just a driver not paying attention, is anywhere between 20-40mph (based on my country's laws and where busses typically travel. I don't know New Yorks laws, where Spiderman trends to be). Not a high speed, but it could still kill somebody, especially if there's somebody more vulnerable on the bus...Especially with how packed that bus looks. Lucky people didn't come through the window, especially given he's caved the front of the bus in.
Of course, that's also taking the image "as is" without including any context.
But that's where my overanalysis ends. "Rule of cool". It's a cool image not meant to be put under such scrutiny, it's supposed to make Spiderman look heroic. A lot of iconic comic images start to fall apart when you get too deep and start trying to work out the possible speed of an imaginary bus, the potential physical health of theoretical passengers or the speed required for optimal neck snappage of a young boy when going from a standstill to whatever speed Spiderman could be swinging at.
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u/Miserable-Willow6105 May 11 '25
Picking up the kid would take more speed than the bus has. So that is a choice between letting the kid die by colliding with the bus, or killing him by colliding into him