An eight-year-old Spider-Man enthusiast deliberately provoked a highly-venomous black widow spider into biting his hand in an attempt to get superpowers. The incident happened last month in the village of Vichuloma in Bolivia raising concerns about the impact of movies and pop culture on young children.
The boy’s daring stunt was inspired by the iconic Marvel character Peter Parker, whose origin story involves being bitten by a radioactive spider, that gave him extraordinary abilities of Spider-Man.
The young boy, whose identity remains undisclosed, stumbled upon the arachnid while playing near a river and reportedly instigated it till it finally bit him, in a quest to get powers of his own.
The boy then placed the spider in a container and returned home. Soon, he began to experience excruciating body aches and severe muscle contractions. Despite his discomfort, he kept the incident hidden from his parents, only revealing the truth when his condition took a dire turn.
Upon unveiling the alarming truth, the boy was rushed to the nearest hospital. Doctors administered an antidote serum that counteracted the venom's effects.
The health department told Mirror, "The serum is a specific antidote against the venom, which neutralizes the toxicity of the poison in the person’s body so it does not have any effect."
In a confession after his recovery, the boy revealed his motivations: "I wanted to become Spider-Man."
Ernesto Vásquez, the head of the Zoonotic Diseases Programme for the Departmental Health Service of Oruro, expressed his astonishment at the child's recklessness, told Mirror, "The child, without calculating the risks, picked it up and, according to him, put it on the back of his hand where the arachnid made the respective bite."
A similar incident took place in the town of Chayanta in 2020, where three children, aged 12, 10, and 8, also intentionally subjected themselves to black widow spider bites in an attempt to emulate Spider-Man. Doctors were successful in treating these cases as well.
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