~ Dennis Carradine after Peter Parker let him escape.
Dennis Carradine, or also more commonly known as either The Burglar or The Carjacker, is a major antagonist in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy, serving as the secondary antagonist of Spider-Man, a mentioned antagonist in Spider-Man 2 and a posthumous antagonist in the Spider-Man 3.
He is a criminal who one night decided to rob a wrestling establishment, encountering with Peter Parker when he robs the corrupt organizer. Bitter over the organizer not paying him properly, Peter allows Carradine to get away with the money, but this turned out to be a fatal mistake, given that letting the burglar escape causes his Uncle Ben's death. Though Carradine was accused of murdering Ben while hijacking his car, it later turns out that Ben's killer was actually Flint Marko, his accomplice and that Peter attacked the wrong person.
After Spider-Man wins a wrestling match, the manager cheats him out of the reward money (giving him only a hundred bucks instead of the promised three thousand). Shortly after, Carradine arrives, points a gun at the manager and steals all his money. The manager tells Parker to stop him, but Parker spitefully lets him go. The Gunman thanks Peter as the Elevator door closes and a policeman angrily calls out Peter for letting the Gunman go. The manager told Peter that he could've stopped him and now he got away with his money, but Peter selfishly told him that it isn't his problem.
Some time later, Parker finds a crowd of people gathered around a mortally-wounded Uncle Ben, who is believed to have been shot by a carjacker. Uncle Ben succumbs to his wounds and passes away, prompting Parker to pursue the alleged murderer before he dies. Parker discovers the carjacker was the same person who ran past him. Taking advantage of Parker's dismay and unwillingness to kill him, Carradine attempts to shoot him, who snaps his wrist. Intimidated, Carradine backs away, only to fall out the window to his death.
Spider-Man 2
Carradine doesn't appear in the film, but is mentioned once by Parker as the latter was confessing to Aunt May that he let the thief go that resulted Ben's death. May, though understandbly shocked at first, let's Peter know that she does not blame him after a few days of coming to terms with the information.
Spider-Man 3
A few years later, Parker and Aunt May are informed by Captain Stacey that new evidence indicates that Carradine was not the true killer, but rather the accomplice to the true murderer, Flint Marko. Parker feels tremendous guilt for enabling an innocent man to die and angry at the police for failing to catch the real culprit.
After a climactic battle, Marko confesses to Parker that he only wanted Ben's car as he was stealing money to support for his sick daughter Penny, and that Carradine was helping him out on it. However, as Ben tries to reason with Marko, Carradine ran up and slapped Marko on the shoulder, startling him and causing him to jolt and accidentally shoot Ben in the chest, much to Marko's shock and horror. As Marko was wrecked with guilt for this, Carradine abandoned his partner as the police arrive to the scene. Carradine was later pushed out a window by Parker that same night. As such, Carradine was inadvertently responsible for Uncle Ben's death.
Realizing now that Ben's death was a genuine accident (as neither Marko nor Carradine had any intention of killing him in the first place), Parker decides to forgive Marko and lets him escape so that he can support Penny.
Spider-Man: The Video Game
In the video game of the first film, the Burglar appears as the first boss and the leader of the Skulls Gang. However, his name in this iteration is "Spike" (regarding that the name "Dennis Carradine" wasn't officially given until the third film's release).
Quotes
“
Put the money in the bag!
„
~ Dennis' first lines after putting a gun to the manager's head.
“
Hurry up!
„
~ Dennis ordering the manager to give him all the cash quickly before striking him with his fist.
“
Get in!
„
~ Dennis to Flint after Flint accidentally shot Uncle Ben.
“
Easy, pal! Just give me a chance! Just give me a chance!
„
~ Dennis cowardly begging for his life after being beaten by Spider-Man.
“
Don't kill me!
„
~ Dennis to Spider-man moments before he's recognized as the man who got away with the money in the elevator.
“
See ya!
„
~ Dennis attempting to shoot Spider-man before his arm is twisted.
“
No!
„
~ Dennis' last words before his death falling out the window.
While Dennis Carradine is only a minor villain in the long run he is by far the single most important villain since if he did not exist, Peter would never have become Spider-Man as we know him today. In essence, Carradine's actions were necessary for Spider-Man to become a hero as Uncle Ben's death is the main reason Peter became a costumed hero and adopted his famous "with great power comes great responsibility" morality.
According to the novelization of Spider-Man 2, the police were not able to confirm Uncle Ben's killer because there were no witnesses, as Peter himself can't come forward because of his involvement. This information would be later contradicted in Spider-Man 3, where it's shown that the police were aware of Carradine's involvement in Ben's death.
The retconning of Dennis Carradine into the accomplice of Uncle Ben's killer, who turned out to be the Sandman, rather than the killer himself was one of the main criticisms Spider-Man 3 received, as most fans feel like this undermines the emotive talk scene between Peter Parker and Aunt May in Spider-Man 2, where Peter admits his fault in Uncle Ben's death by letting Carradine escape. With the retcon, it can be seen that ultimately, Peter was not responsible at all and even if he had stopped Carradine, Flint Marko could have still killed Ben due to someone else distracting him.
Before Spider-Man 4 was cancelled in favor of The Amazing Spider-Man reboot, Michael Papajohn was approached to reprise his role as Dennis Carradine once more in the film. However, it's unknown if Carradine was intended to appear in flashback sequences like in the previous film or if he was going to appear in some other way.
In The Amazing Spider-Man reboot, Michael Papajohn made a cameo playing the driver of Rajit Ratha, making him the only actor alongside the late Stan Lee to play a role in both the films of Sam Raimi and Marc Webb. Interestingly, Papajohn actually asked if he could portray Uncle Ben's killer again, but the part of the Cash Register Thief was given to Leif Ganrvoort.
In The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game, Uncle Ben's killer is also called Dennis Carradine.
