Okay, for those that don’t know, they’re rebooting the “Spider-Man” film franchise. Apparently, there was a big power struggle between previous series director Sam Raimi, the studio, Marvel Comics, and the actors, and no agreement could be reached in which direction to take the franchise.
I don’t necessarily see this is a bad thing. While I enjoyed the tone of the previous “Spider-Man” films as being truthful to the spirit of the comic, there were a few things about the last three films that I didn’t like.
1). They killed off the villains. Green Goblin in the first flick, Doctor Octopus in the second, and Venom and Green Goblin II in the third flick. Seriously? Didn’t the filmmakers learn anything from Burton’s “Batman” ‘89 mistake when they killed off the Joker? You just don’t kill off main villains! They’re reusable and an easy way to get butts back into theaters down the road if the series is sagging, especially if they’re well received villains (you can guarantee that if Heath Ledger were alive and came back for a “Batman 5 or 6″ people would go to that flick in droves). That was just ludicrous.
2). Everyone in the movies knows Peter Parker is Spider-man! Green Goblin, Mary Jane, Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, Goblin II, shoot, even a trainload of folks in “Spider-Man 2″ saw him without his mask! There’s absolutely no need for him to reveal himself to everyone. Again, that was a mistake that the ‘89-’97 Batman films made and which the ‘05 - Present Bat-flicks have managed to control (isn’t the Rachel character the only unnecessary character to have found out he’s Batman in the new series? And shoot, they killed her off!).
3). Mary Jane. Sure, Peter EVENTUALLY winds up with her, but in the comics, there were other love interests that made Petey’s life a little more complicated: Gwen Stacey, Betty Brant, Felicia Hardy. It’d have been nice for there to be some more variety, instead of getting pigeon-holed with Pete and MJ getting together right away. Also, was it really necessary to have her be the damsel in distress in each flick’s third act?
Those are the three things I didn’t care for that all of the films had in common. There are other nitpicks for each film. Like “Spider-Man” could have probably benefited more from keeping the character in high school and dealing with the loss of his uncle, with maybe having him graduate at the end of the flick instead of half-way through it (not to mention Green Goblin’s “Power Rangers” outfit instead of something more closely resembling his original comics costume). “Spider-Man 2″ made Doc Ock a good man corrupted by machines instead of a mad scientist. And “Spider-Man 3″ had too many villains, some of which were pointless (Sandman) or underdeveloped (Venom) while having bits of ridiculousness thrown in (the strutting scene and the dance number).
Frankly, I think the previous “Spider-Man” franchise has a lot in common with the previous “Batman” franchise, with both showing signs of poor creative decisions that showed a narrow focus and didn’t look at a bigger, multi-film picture. Then throw in both series’ third films adding in more villains to sell more toys, and well, I’m kind of convinced that “Spider-Man 4″ would have been a clusterf**k of “Batman and Robin” proportions (especially if word of Pete and MJ having a baby and the Vulture having a daughter named Felicia Hardy - the comic book’s Black Cat - who was a villain named Vulturess panned out to have been true).
So, where does that leave us? Well, like I said, Sony has decided to reboot the series. I’m not 100% convinced that was necessarily the best choice as I think a “Spider-Man 4″ with new creative blood and new talent brought in could have been decent. But that’s not what they went with.
Instead, they’ve just announced Marc Webb (”(500) Days of Summer”) has signed a three-picture deal to lead this new series. But what else is known?
- The new series will take Peter Parker back to high school, having him learning to deal with his new powers and the knowledge that he was responsible for failing to prevent his uncle’s death (so, it’s an origin flick).
- They’re basing it on the “Ultimate Spider-Man” comics, where “villain-fighting took a back seat to the high school angst.”
- They’re looking to cast unknowns for the leads in a rumored 6 to 9 picture deal.
- Sony has set a budget of $80,000,000, so it most likely will be action-lite.
- Flash Thompson, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane Watson are involved in the current version of the script.
Basically, what this tells me is that Sony is looking to go after the “Twilight” crowd. Now, some websites (I’m looking at you, Chud.com) are comparing this to the TV series “Smallville” and basically calling it a teenage soap opera. Well, I suppose some of their comparisons are valid. But in my view, that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. If the cast are teens (or near-teens), why not do one entire flick with them in high school? Or maybe even three pictures? Spider-Man started off in the comics as a teenager, though admittedly, has spent most of his time in the Marvel Universe as a college student or pre-30 year-old. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with exploring that era of the characters’ lives for a film or three since it’s comic accurate (even if MJ and Gwen didn’t necessarily go to school with Pete). And if the cast is indeed going to be signing for more than three flicks, I can’t believe they’d want to keep them in high school indefinitely. So what’s the problem there?
Yeah, there may be some teen angst, but if it can be done well - and Webb’s proven himself adept at handling character development with “(500) Days of Summer” - then it shouldn’t be a problem.
My only real concern right now is that they’ll try to create high school versions of Spidey’s foes instead of leaving them at their proper ages. I don’t have an issue with playing around with the mythology a little bit but would prefer they stay as close to the comics in tone and spirit as they can. Also, I hope they don’t try to rush into the Venom storyline right away, and hope they develope it gradually (Venom isn’t a foe that Spidey should be facing off against until he’s had some time to be Spider-Man without the symbiote, I think).
Really, as a fan, I’m trying to remain open-minded and optimistic about these changes. I think it could be good. Or it could be worse than “Twilight.” I guess only time will tell. Until then, Excelsior!, True Believers.
Tags: comic books, Marc Webb, Marvel Comics, sam raimi, Sony, Spider-Man, Toby Maguire