New 'Spider-Man' Movie Profanity Criticized by Faith-Based Group

A new study by Christian organization Movieguide says the box-office performance of superhero movies suffers when there are copious amounts of profanity in them.

Holy s**t there's a lot of cussing in the latest Spider-Man movie! That's the conclusion of a Christian organization that studied the film and compared it to other superhero movies.

According to the group, called Movieguide, there are 30-and-half profanities in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the half owed to a partial uttering of the F-word.

Despite positive reviews and a domestic $117 million opening weekend, the group warns of negative consequences to all that swearing in the Marvel movie from Columbia Pictures. According to Movieguide's study, set for release Friday, when adjusted for inflation, no superhero film with more than 25 curse words cracks the Top 100 movies in terms of box-office revenue.

The organization says that Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Deadpool and Suicide Squad each contained more than 25 curse words, and they come in at Nos. 120, 140, 157 and 199, respectively, after adjusting for inflation.

Movieguide also says that the first three Spider-Man movies featured far less cursing and averaged $526 million at the domestic box office, and it predicts the newest iteration won't come close to that figure.

"The earlier Spider-Man movies were consciously appealing to greater principles, such as, 'With great power comes great responsibility.' Homecoming, however, seems to be trying too hard to appeal to the lowest common denominator," says Dr. Ted Baehr, head of Movieguide. "If this continues in Marvel movies, the brand will ultimately be tarnished, and a generation of young audience members will be taught that political correctness, vulgarity and profanity are cool."

Movieguide publishes an annual study by the same name and unveils the results annually at an awards gala in Universal City attended by executives from major studios.