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Being a fan of mathematician John Nash, Jr. I noticed a striking similarity between the manic episodes of Nash's paranoid schizophrenia in A Beautiful Mind (particularly the scene in the shed):

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and a scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 where -- under the stress of a breakup with his girlfriend, his parents' disappearance, and possibly under the influence from the drugs that gave him the munchies in The Amazing Spider-Man -- Peter Parker apparently has some sort of manic episode in his bedroom:

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which leads me to ask if this version of Spider-Man may have in fact been schizophrenic?

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closed as primarily opinion-based by Rogue Jedi, Wad Cheber, Aegon, Politank-Z, BCdotWEB Jul 15 '16 at 12:08

Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

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    "possibly under the influence from the drugs that gave him the munchies in The Amazing Spider-Man" [citation needed] I don't think that actually happened in the movie. What movie did you watch? – RedCaio Jul 14 '16 at 0:02
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    this thing is a very common movie trope, it's called an "evidence wall" or "detective wall". it's a common way to organize parts of an investigation and doesn't necessarily mean he's manic. – KutuluMike Jul 14 '16 at 0:06
  • @RedCaio The one where even his Aunt May speculated that he was high? Presumably the drug was the same one from Oscorp but that was right in the movie and I don't think it's the drug Aunt May was talking about. – Hack-R Jul 14 '16 at 0:07
  • @KutuluMike Fair enough. I would accept something like that as an answer. – Hack-R Jul 14 '16 at 0:08
  • Everything posted on SE is community commons and the purpose of the site is to share information with the world. So if enough users feel there is value in a question's existence, then it should exist. See meta discussion here. On the bright side: you now have a net gain in rep from this question! :) Also, if you were to edit the question to be something like "have the filmmakers said he's schizophrenic" that might make it less opinion-based and more objective (attracting more upvotes). +1 from me. :) – RedCaio Jul 15 '16 at 18:50
up vote 3 down vote

Not according to the script

To my knowledge no film canon exists that says Peter Parker was manic or anything like that. As KutuluMike mentioned, having a sort of "evidence wall" full of newspaper clippings and strings, pins, and tape everywhere is a common trope used in Hollywood. It's a colorful visual way to show the audience what the person has been thinking about and obsessing over. Yes, it can mean the person is manic or crazy, but it can also simply mean that the person is really smart and is looking for hidden clues that others (without an evidence wall) would miss.

The film's script simply calls it a "wall of information":

[Aunt May is sitting in Peter's room looking at the wall of information he's created about his missing parents] ... [the information he'd stuck to his wall about his parent]

The notes/directions in the script don't mention words like "manic", "crazy", or "obsessed" when referring to Parker or his wall of information

In contrast, the script does mention one character, Max Dillon, as having an "obsessive" collection and that same character does in fact become unhinged in the film and looses it:

[inside his apartment Max has an obsessive collection of Spider-Man paraphernalia]

So the lack of and similar language used by the script to describe Parker or his wall of information, I would seem that the filmmakers were not trying to show Parker to be in any sort of manic or schizophrenic condition.

It is far more likely that we are meant to understand that Peter's wall of information is simply a manifestation of his desire to investigate and solve the mystery. Peter isn't just a little curious about his parents, he's really delving deep to find all the connections and clues that he can, hence his use of the wall of information to help organize his thoughts. The wall also serves as a visual representation of his thoughts and efforts for the benefit of the viewers.

TL;DR: The wall of info means Peter is digging deep to find answers and connections that might help him solve the mystery.

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