“Sinister War” Conclusion: “The Amazing Spider-Man #74” and Saying Farewell

After three years on the title, 74 issues plus a whole lot of extras Nick Spencer wrapped up his run in “The Amazing Spider-Man” in a mammoth conclusion that plants seeds for future stories and shakes up the status quo while doubling down on the elements that make the superhero so beloved.

Spencer’s final Spider-Man story is devoid of the red herrings, clues and teases that dominated the ‘Kindred’ saga. Spider-Man faced off against the deadliest new foe he’s encountered in a long time, but after barely escaping being beaten to a bloody pulp by the entirety of his Rogue’s Gallery, he’s at a low point.

Luckily, Harry Osborn- or his clone- swoops in to help save the day. He straps on his old Goblin Glider, loads up on the bombs and jumps into the fray alongside Spider-Man in a turn plucked straight out of the climax in ‘Spider-Man 3’.

As in that movie, it end with Harry being killed. RIP Harry. We’ll miss you until your resurrection.

But it turns out the real villain all this time has been none other the devil Mephisto. This is where things get interesting, though it requires a little backstory.

In the story “Civil War”, Peter Parker unmasked his identity to the world to support Iron Man. He’d later come to regret it: Not only did he switch allegiance to Captain America, but Aunt May was fatally injured in a sniper attack that was meant to kill him. Peter made a bargain with the devil to save his aunt’s life and to make the world forget that he was Spider-Man. In the controversial comic “One More Day”, Mephisto extracted a heavy price: He took Peter’s and Mary Jane’s marriage. In one move, over ten years of their relationship were wiped out.

And fans have been pissed since! “One More Day” remains reviled in the Spider-Man saga. It’s hard to read it even today without getting worked up. It would be like if DC Comics erased the Superman-Lois Lane relationship, an integral part of the Boy Scout’s story. But Marvel editor Joe Quesada believed marriage and maturity would turn off fans, so he decreed that Peter return to bachelorhood. Meanwhile, over at DC, Superman and Batman’s stories evolved to their becoming parents and mentoring their children as the next generation of superheroes.

When Spencer took over writing duties in 2018, his first move in Issue #1 itself (as the title got a new volume) was to get Peter and Mary Jane back together. Best decision ever: Even when the story has dragged or gotten frustrating, the relationship has remained a burning pillar of hope. As time progressed, however, there were also hints that Spencer was going to undo the events of ‘One More Day’. Now that he’s arrived at the end: Has he?

Not… quite. But he did undo one of the other controversial elements in Spider-lore: He erased a creepy and controversial relationship between Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy in which the latter had twins by Osborn called Sarah and Gabriel. Turned out that the whole thing was a scheme concocted ages ago by the real Harry Osborn to torment Peter and Norman. Details details.

However, Spencer did provide an answer as to why Mephisto was so eager to erase Peter’s and MJ’s relationship, and it’s quite tantalising.

Dr Strange and Mephisto battled it out over a game of roulette to see who would win: Spider-Man or Kindred. Yes, the devil was behind Kindred. But why is he so eager to get rid of Spider-Man?

It turns out that Mephisto knows that the world is about to end sometime in the next hundred years. He has foreseen this. A planet consumed in fire, and the devil reigning above on his throne. All the heroes are dead. Except one: Spider-Man. The only one who can stop him.

Only, that’s not the entire truth.

Yes, the world has ended and the heroes are dead… in the future. The only one who can stop him is not Spider-Man, but actually Spider-Man’s daughter, May “Mayday” Parker. Mephisto simply wanted to avert this threat to his glory by making sure Peter and MJ never have a child.

Well, “One More Day” might not have been completely dumped into the forget file. But it does push back against it by ending the comic with Peter and MJ firmly committed to their relationship, their bond stronger than it has ever been.

Let’s just hope future writers don’t ruin a good thing. If it ain’t broke: Leave it.

I’ve been following the Spider-Man comics religiously since 2012. But somehow, I think this is where I might leave off. It’s been a good run, but it’s time to turn my attention to new stories. If you ever happen to stumble across this, Nick Spencer: Thanks for the story, it was a blast.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) | Film Review

RATING

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a coming-of-age story dressed in the tights of the superhero genre, figuratively and literally. It’s an interesting approach that doesn’t always stick the landing but will most likely relieve fans burned out by the mess of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

That Spider-Man: Homecoming should even exist is a miracle. So keen were Sony Pictures and the now-titanic Marvel Studios to share the character, they struck an unprecedented deal to co-produce the movie and let Spider-Man swing around in the New York shared by the Avengers.

Part of this deal unfortunately includes jettisoning the brilliant Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone from the premature Amazing Spider-Man reboot in favour of new faces. Stepping into the iconic red-and-blue threads this time around is Tom Holland, a 21-year-old actor who actually looks like he still belongs in high school minus the acne that accompanies those terrible adolescent years. Perhaps part of being bitten by a radioactive spider includes zero pimples?

Holland certainly has the zest of the modern-day teenager, whether it’s “vlogging” his debut to Berlin in Captain America: Civil War from his desperation to skip school and be liked by the cool kid, the cool kid being Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who designed the Spider-Man suit complete with nifty tricks. Somewhere, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are weeping that they had to stitch their own threads.

But this third iteration has also chosen to forgo Uncle Ben’s death. This is a mistake. Granted, it’s a mercy that poor Uncle Ben doesn’t have to be shot yet again but this omits the tragic origins of Peter’s crime-fighting responsibilities. The daily struggle that he undergoes between choosing to do the right thing every time even at the expense of his own happiness and success is what made Spider-Man so relatable and heralded Marvel Comics’ popularity over generations. Maybe I’m nitpicking but it’s difficult to empathise when Peter’s biggest woes aren’t so much about stressing over how to pay the rent as it is about joining the Avengers and feeling that Tony Stark doesn’t completely respect him as a superhero.

For starters, he’s once again been thrown back into high school. For some reason, we’re yet to get a version of Spider-Man closer to the current run of the comics where he’s a multi-millionaire globe-trotting CEO. Sure, Peter’s smart: he sneakily creates his own web fluid during chemistry class and is on the debate team even though he’s rarely if never seen debating. But he still gets invited to the party of popular girl Liz Allan (Laura Harrier) whom he pines for, though you’d never guess it by their little-to-none interactions. Still, director Jon Watts and his team have created a multi-cultural school environment of a contemporary New York high school. Part of this success could be due to John Francis Daley’s contributions to the screenplay, having played geek Sam Weir on the cult television series Freaks and Geeks.

Spider-Man: Homecoming also has the distinct advantage over its predecessors by getting to play in Marvel Studio’s sandbox: this is a New York where aliens have invaded and Avengers save the day. Confession: as a lifelong Spider-Man fan, I geek out over knowing that this Spider-Man can fight alongside the Avengers like in the comics (spoiler: he will in Avengers: Infinity War).

What else is different? There’s “guy in the chair” Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) who is in awe that his best friend is Spider-Man. There’s bully Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori), who’s less bully than smug this time around. Michelle (Zendaya), who doesn’t do much beyond spend her time reading, observing Peter’s disappearances and making the occasional snarky comment. She even has a nickname that will have the fans up in arms over her identity- in a good way. There’s also a younger Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) who isn’t hesitant to drop an f-bomb when she learns about her nephew’s moonlighting activities.

And then there’s Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), easily Spider-Man’s best antagonist across the six Spider-Man movies since Doctor Octopus. Like Alfred Molina’s villain, Toomes is an inherently good man who turns to selling weapons for criminals to provide for his family after Tony Stark’s Damage Control clean-up crew puts him out of work. Toomes utilises technology salvaged from the Chitauri invasion from The Avengers and other super-powered events, donning a winged armoured suit to get around. Keaton grounds his character with an equal mix of humour, humanity and menace, turning a silly villain from the comics- old man flying in bird suit- into a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps Marvel Studios’ past villain problem boils down to simply Spider-Man having one of the best rogue’s gallery on par with Batman’s.

This is director Jon Watts’ second film and his first containing this many effects. He succeeds in blending the special effects without drawing attention to itself. Spider-Man: Homecoming is the third best Spider-Man film made yet. The first is Spider-Man 2 for its wonderful exploration of the burden of responsibility, and the second is The Amazing Spider-Man for Andrew Garfield’s and Emma Stone’s excellent chemistry. Here, Spider-Man’s antics are more engaging than Peter’s personal life, whether it’s scaling the Washington Monument or the struggle to put on the suit. The single best action scene comes later in the third act when Spider-Man lifts a pile of rubble off him through sheer strength and force of will, recreating the iconic moment from The Amazing Spider-Man Issue #33. This alone would justify Spider-Man: Homecoming’s existence.

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DIRECTED BY: Jon Watts
PRODUCED BY: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal
SCREENPLAY BY: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers

STORY BY: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley
BASED ON: Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
EDITED BY: Dan Lebental, Debbie Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Salvatore Totino
MUSIC BY: Michael Giacchino

STARRING: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Tyne Daley, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr., Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Martin Starr

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Possible Details of Michael Keaton’s Role in Spider-Man: Homecoming Revealed

In the age of shared universes, characters appearing in films from different franchises is becoming commonplace. How else can you explain the Men in Black appearing in 23 Jump Street?

Which is why it shouldn’t be too surprising to hear that an unusual deal appears to have been struck behind the scenes between 20^th Century Fox and Sony Pictures to share characters between their studios but not the one you may have imagined.

Take these rumours with a grain of salt but reports suggest that Michael Keaton is back in talks to appear as the antagonist in Spider-Man: Homecoming but with a new twist: he will be reprising his role as Riggan Thomson from Birdman: or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), last seen flying away at the conclusion of the Academy Award-winning film. Inside sources revealed that in this new outing, Thomson has taken up the alter-ego “The Vulture” in a bid to build on his burgeoning popularity but finds himself consistently thwarted by Tom Holland’s wise-cracking webslinger who seems to gain more views on YouTube videos than a cat playing with a dildo.

The report also suggests that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) will be adding further upgrades to Peter Parker’s costume including webs in Spidey’s armpits that appeared in the early comics. The purpose of this is yet to be learned but perhaps it will allow Spider-Man to rub his armpits in the faces of his enemies and prevent them from escaping the smell.

Perhaps this venture may also allow for Emma Stone to return to the world of Spider-Man after playing the role of Gwen Stacy in the two Amazing Spider-Man films. After all, stranger things have happened.

For futher details, go here: Latest casting news about Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming will reach theaters on July 7, 2017.

Potential Directors for the new Spider-Man Movie (2017)

In case you haven’t heard yet: Spider-Man moved into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That’s right, Peter Parker will be joining the fight against evil possibly alongside chums Iron Man, Captain America and Thor (provided they don’t die before then) and it is not impossible to imagine Spider-Man leading the Avengers (rumoured to be an entirely new line up) in the fight against Thanos in The Avengers: Infinity Wars – Part 1.

But before that happens, he will get his solo film in 2017.

Given that this new announcement has shuffled the Phase 3 line up, the Spider-Man movie taking the spot given to Thor: Ragnarok and bumping Black Panther and Captain Marvel to slots after Infinity Wars – Part 1 while jettisoning The Inhumans entirely AFTER Infinity Wars – Part 2 (presumably, Inhumans will start Phase 4), it is apparent that Spider-Man will be a key component in the MCU.

Which begs the question: who should direct this film?

Two— actually, three— people we can rule out are Joss Whedon and the Russo brothers. The former seems eager to move on to new projects; the latter are busy prepping for Civil War while rumoured to be taking directing duties for Avengers 3. So they are a “no”.

With only two years left to get the Spider-Man movie swinging into theatres, pre-production and casting has to get underway quickly.

So without further ado, I compiled a list of possible directors who could direct the new Spider-Man movie:

• Drew Goddard

This man has the highest chance of landing the gig. Why?

Drew Goddard was slated to work as showrunner for the Netflix Daredevil series before leaving to work on a Sinister Six film. So: a) he is familiar with Marvel Studios (and hopefully parted ways amicably); b) Sony might be keen to make amends for Sinister Six falling apart; c) he will always be vouched for by Joss Whedon, with whom he has collaborated in the past as far back as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and most recently in the 2012 excellent film, The Cabin in the Woods. Man’s got the chops and I’ve always maintained that Amazing Spider-Man 2 wouldn’t have been a train-wreck if he had written the script instead.

• Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

In the wake of the Sony hacks, one rumour that went around was that the studio wanting The Lego Movie directors to direct an animated Spider-Man film. Having directed four great films (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street & 22 Jump Street) and yet to break their hot streak, not to mention having a good working partnership with Sony, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are ideal candidates to work their magic with this movie— especially given that an integral part of Spider-Man is the humour.

• Jon Favreau

Why not bring back the man who kick-started the MCU in the first place and turned Iron Man into a lucractive franchise? Jon Favreau hasn’t made a good big-budgeted movie since Iron Man and Spider-Man needs new life breathed into it after the last lackluster film. And like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Jon Favreau has a background in comedy which could be well-suited for Spider-Man.

• Damien Chazelle

Given that studios like to hire directors with only a short film or one small-budget film on their resume to helm big-budgeted features, Damien Chazelle would be excellent for the task. I would have nominated Gareth Edwards or Josh Trank, but the former is busy with a Star Wars spin-off and Trank is wrapping up work on the Fantastic Four reboot and jumping straight into another Star Wars spin-off. Damien Chazelle also has good credentials, having turned Whiplash into one of the best movies of 2014, which is nominated for 5 Oscars including one for him for Best Adapted Screenplay.

• Edgar Wright

Now this is wishful thinking— but hey, why not mend bridges and heal old wounds by hiring Edgar Wright to make Spider-Man? Need I even mention why he’d be a great choice? Come on, Marvel: do the Wright thing! And get Nick Frost and Simon Pegg to cameo while you’re at it!

• Kathryn Bigelow

For those thinking, “But she would be better to direct Captain Marvel since Captain Marvel is a female superhero!”— you sexist pigs. Kathryn Bigelow would be a good choice for a Spider-Man movie irrespective of gender or that of the character’s. Not to mention, she’s won an Oscar for directing and makes taut, tense films that would work beautifully for Spider-Man. Besides, what better way to market the third launching of a Spider-Man movie in the last decade than having “From the Academy Award-winning director of The Hurt Locker” on the posters and other forms of advertising?

• Mel Gibson

If Edgar Wright is wishful thinking, then this is probably asking for a miracle. But hear me out: on all the directors on this list, only Mel Gibson and Kathryn Bigelow have won Oscars for directing. Furthermore, I believe Robert Downey, Jr. still owes the man for helping him get his career back on track after Gibson paid for Downey’s insurance bond for the movie The Singing Detective. Now RDJ has probably been trying to get Marvel Studios to let him direct a movie for ages but to no avail. Spider-Man could be the place to make a directorial comeback. Give the man a chance, Marvel. The guy has the credentials to make a good film. FREEEEEEEDOM!

• Marc Webb

“Say what now?!” I hear you exclaim.

Let’s be clear— Marc Webb wasn’t entirely responsible for the failure of the Amazing Spider-Man movies (I enjoyed the first one more than the 2002 film, actually). And he still probably has that contract saying “I O U 1 Spider-Man Movie”. If the contract is still valid, he could fulfill the terms with this movie. Marc Webb is a good filmmaker, remember (500) Days of Summer? He just got walked over by all the high-ups involved who wanted to mould the Spider-Man movies to their crazy whims without an ounce of creativity in their bones.

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Who do you think would be a good choice of director for the new Spider-Man film, Dear Reader? Leave your comments below

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO SPIDER-MAN POST-SECRET WARS (2015)? – Part 1

[WARNING: Massive spoilers in this article if you haven’t been reading the Spider-Man comics since 2013]

If you’ve been keeping up with comic book news recently, you would have heard the surprise announcement that Marvel is ending the Marvel universe as we know it in the behemoth event, Secret Wars.

The above link will go into the nitty-gritty details. Go ahead and read it if this is news to you. I’ll wait till you finish. It might help the rest of what’s to follow make better sense.

Done? Do you have a vague idea of what’s about to go down in Marvel town? Awesome. Let’s proceed.

I’m not going to bother about the ramifications of Secret Wars on the entirety of the Marvel universe. A) I do not have the requisite knowledge to do so because B) I don’t follow all the comics. But I do read The Amazing Spider-Man and Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man series and I believe I’m a little more qualified to speculate what might happen in that corner of the Marvel playground.

First things first: will Peter Parker die… AGAIN?

That… is a good question. And it can only be answered once the event Spider-Verse [ATTACH LINK TO SPIDER-VERSE WIKI] is concluded.

Sure, Peter is currently back but owing to a time-travel circumstance in which the Superior Spider-Man (Doc Ock as Spider-Man) and Amazing Spider-Man (Peter) teamed up, the former realised that he stands to lose everything in the future. So don’t expect him to sit back and wait without trying to prevent that from happening.

                              Panel from The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #13

Personally, I think bumping off Peter Parker twice in the space of three years isn’t the best way to go. Not to mention the headache of time paradoxes created if Doc Ock does try to change the outcome…

So! Let’s go on the (hopeful) premise that it is Peter Parker who triumphs both Spider-Verse and Secret Wars to herald in a new definitely changed era.

1) REINSTATING PETER PARKER’S AND MARY JANE WATSON’S MARRIAGE

Last October, the following cover started making rounds on the Internet.

In the beginning, this felt a lot like a throwaway story or an alternate version that would have no impact on the main on-going stories.

But with Secret Wars announced, one begins to wonder: what if— just WHAT IF— this might come to pass and be canon after all?

Granted, the marriage was never really wiped out— it’s just that everybody forgot it ever happened (except for Mary Jane, I think). Yet what if the aftermath of Secret Wars restored the marriage— perhaps without the world knowing Peter’s identity bit, granted? Is it too much to hope for? It would certainly be a massive new step in the direction of the Spider-Man mythos for Peter Parker to be entrepreneur/superhero/father.

Of course, the reason the marriage was erased from memory in the first place was due to the outcome of Civil War which would probably need to be rewritten.

Which brings us to speculation #2…

2) ALTERNATE CIVIL WAR OUTCOME

Initially, many— including myself— believed that Marvel was simply reissuing Civil War with a nice cover. I’m still inclined to believe that’s most likely the case but then where’s the fun in speculating?

Assuming that the aftermath of Secret Wars: Battleworld involves a rewrite of history, then perhaps that would also mean that one of the biggest events in the Marvel Universe gets a retelling, maybe one with different outcomes like Spider-Man’s identity remaining secret or one where Aunt May dies and Mephisto doesn’t get to make the “One More Day” deal because he spent too much time in the shower. So marriage remains intact, secret identity remains secret, Aunt May is dead. That’s a bummer but so was One More Day and the next seven years of Spider-Man lore. I’ll take the former.

But perhaps it’s not all gloom. Check in next week for the second part of speculating the post-Secret Wars future that could lie ahead for Spider-Man!

TO BE CONTINUED

Ways to save the Spider-Man film franchise – Part 2

Previously in Ways to save the Spider-Man film franchise – Part 1, I began a discussion involving ways to rejuvenate the Spider-Man film franchise. My first suggestion was to: Adapt some good storylines from Spider-Man lore.

Without further ado, here’s our next suggestion.

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SUGGESTION 2: Parallel universes

DC Comics and Marvel Comics love to use the plot devices of time travel and parallel universes. DC Comics used them to reboot their comics with Flashpoint while currently seeming to be going about a new Crisis on Infinite Earths (parallel universes); and Marvel is currently using parallel universes as the basis for the sprawling Spider-Verse event to bring every Spider-Man across dimensions for one mega story.

Yet in film, to date, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the only one to have tried one of these tropes— time travel. That would leave parallel universes as virgin territory for the superhero genre— which is why Sony ought to take it into serious consideration.

See, unlike rivals Marvel Studios and Warner Brothers- Sony does not boast a library of different superheroes enough to create a shared universe. It only owns the rights to Spider-Man and with their shoddy execution earlier this summer, nearly all ambitions to launch a shared universe fell flat on the ground. Their answer to create an event film like The Avengers and upcoming Justice League was to set up a Sinister Six team-up without considering a crucial factor:

Nobody is actually interested in a villain team-up.

(Personally, my only interest in the film thus far is that it is being written by Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods). I’d rather Sony simply hand over the entire Spider-Man franchise to him instead)

To use a cliché proverb: you don’t bring a knife (Sony’s approach) to a gunfight (what Marvel and WB is doing).

So what’s a studio like Sony to do when faced with such a conundrum?

Easy: parallel universes.

With Spider-Man, it has always been clear that it is the man behind the mask that makes the Webslinger so popular. Peter Parker is a selfless good-hearted character that sets him apart from many of his peers. The other Peter Parkers or even other people to take up the Spider-Man mantle offer interesting stories of their own, each enough to launch franchises of their own.

And the top candidate for such a venture is Miles Morales.

In the Ultimate universe, Miles Morales is an African-Hispanic teenager gifted with spider powers who takes up the Spider-Man mantle after the Green Goblin killed Peter (although it seems that Peter actually survived but that’s a story for another day).

Andrew Garfield has openly spoken about passing the torch and a character like Miles Morales automatically makes it stand out from every superhero movie in the market featuring an all-white lead (also: please cast an ACTUAL TEENAGER and NOT a 30-year old trying to pass off as a teenager).

Another character that could work is Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara. Granted, he isn’t from a parallel universe (hint: he’s from the future) but it isn’t exactly a stretch creating a story that has O’Hara travelling back in time to assist Peter Parker deal with a multiverse threat.

Like an Ultimate Spider-Man movie, a Spider-Man film set in the future (nearly eighty years into the 21^st century) IMMEDIATELY sets itself apart. Spider-Man meets Minority Report? I know I’d want to watch that.

And if Sony is SERIOUSLY opting to be risky, the parallel universes option could be utilised to introduce… wait for it: Spider-Man: India.

Now, personally, I’m not wholly in favour of this idea but from a business point-of-view, Spider-Man: India could easily open up a whole new market in India. Today, everyone in Hollywood is fully aware that international markets are where the money is. Transformers: Age of Extinction may have crossed the billion-dollar box-office mark but a VERY large chunk of that profit is from foreign revenue. Domestic revenue, in contrast, was relatively poor. It’s why the film had a segment set in China (China is the biggest international film market today; India would probably be second). Similarly, X-Men: Days of Future Past cast Fan Bingbing, a popular singer in China, as the mutant, Blink, specifically to appeal to the Chinese market.

And India is a country that loves their movies, churning out more films than Hollywood does each year. A superhero film set in India based on a mega-popular American superhero? Listen closely and you can hear the money already falling into the bank.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Ways to save the Spider-Man film franchise – Part 1

Ever heard the motto “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”? Sony needs to hang this variant in their office: “Don’t count your sequels and spin-offs until the launching film succeeds”.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was to be to Sony what Iron Man was to Marvel Studios. What happened was it underperformed on both critical and financial levels, earning worse reviews than Spider-Man 3 and ending with the lowest box-office gross of any Spider-Man film to date.

Some people loved it, a large number didn’t. I’m with the latter- the film ran around more aimlessly than a headless chicken, with thinly written and numerous boring plotlines that failed to come together, a villain (Electro) that would have been at home in Joel Schumacher’s Batman films and a cast that was grotesquely underused.

As of now, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 has been delayed while The Amazing Spider-Man 4 has been pushed back into the shadows. Only a Sinister Six film is set for a 2016 release. There’s a rumour floating around last week that the Sinister Six would be a “soft reboot” of Spider-Man, featuring a new actor in the role- if that is true, it effectively makes it the fourth reboot in the space of a decade (for all intents and purposes, ASM2 was a quasi-reboot of ASM1). Ouch.

The truth is: the audience is plagued with a case of Spider-Man fatigue.

To a great extent, all five Spider-Man films more-or-less have shared the same story: Peter struggles to balance a normal life with hero duties, relationship problems, tragic villain origin story, financial problems, fight-fight-fight, damsel-in-distress (okay, in fairness, ASM1 avoided THAT!) and so on and on.

And guess what? IT’S OLD, TIRED AND BORING. Let’s have some variation, yes?

In all the films, Peter is still a financially struggling dork. In the comics, he has overcome many of the problems that plagued him in 2002. He is currently DOCTOR Peter Parker and the head of Parker Industries (all the work of Dr Octopus- long story, see The Superior Spider-Man), he’s got a new girlfriend who isn’t Mary Jane Watson (still have not forgiven One More Day for THAT!) and overall, when people aren’t trying to kill him, his life is generally better. He isn’t stuck in the past. It’s called PROGRESS.

So, being a massive Spider-Man fan, I thought it would be fun to list out a few suggestions that could benefit the Spider-Man films in the future.

[Sony, if you read this: you are more than welcome to use these ideas. All I ask in return is my name in the credits and free passes to the set and premieres.]

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SUGGESTION 1: Adapt storylines from the comics

What do The Dark Knight, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past have in common?

Apart from being financially and critically successful, they all took elements from some fantastic story arcs in the comics.

The Dark Knight took inspiration from Batman: The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke; the Captain America sequel drew heavily from Ed Brubaker’s story “The Winter Soldier”; and X-Men: Days of Future Past was heavily inspired by Chris Claremont’s and John Byrne’s excellent “Days of Future Past” arc.

Apart from a few references and Easter Eggs, none of the Spider-Man films have ever used its source material (the Death of Gwen Stacy for ASM2 is a minor exception). This is a crying shame because Spider-Man has some great storylines in the comics— both in The Amazing Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man series.

Using this would not only make for greater films with better variation, it’s almost guaranteed to get people into the theatres and gross some nice profits.

Enough to even properly set up spin-offs.

Suggested storylines:

– “The Death of Jean DeWolff” – Spider-Man hunts down the Sin Eater, a killer who murdered his friend Police Captain Jean DeWolff.

Even without directly adapting this story (a major portion featured Daredevil), the idea of putting Spider-Man on a path of vengeance for the death of a friend hasn’t been utilised save for when he looked for Uncle Ben’s killer. A mystery, a non-powered antagonist and maybe one or two super-powered villains on the side (just to lend some vibrancy) would make for a good departure. Think Se7en-meets-Spider-Man. Heck, this already sounds better than what ASM2 offered, am I right?

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– “Kraven’s Last Hunt” – Kraven the Hunter buries Spider-Man, dons the Spider-Man costume and sets out to prove that he is better than Spider-Man ever was.

That summary doesn’t even do justice to this fantastic storyline. This is a Spider-Man tale that has the Wall Crawler pushed to his furthest limits and defines what it truly means to be Spider-Man. Kraven as Spider-Man is more akin to Batman and The Punisher while Peter Parker, even in the worst circumstances, remains an overall good guy. It’s a nuanced tale that elevated Kraven to the upper echelons of Spider-Man’s rogue gallery and showed that Spider-Man stories aren’t always about super powered bad guys running around in coloured costumes.

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The Clone saga (both Amazing and Ultimate series) – here’s a storyline that could be used to launch spin-offs. In one swoop, you can set up Venom, Carnage, Spider-Woman (I suggest using Jessica Drew’s Ultimate Spider-Man origins) and even Agent Venom while binding it all together in a story about cloning and the ethical issues involved etc etc. Think Orphan Black meets Spider-Man.

The Venom spin off potential is two-fold. On one hand, the Eddie Brock story can be used and either separately or later on as a sequel, the Agent Venom story. The latter boasts more financial potential as a military-esque thriller with superhero elements. And with Spider-Woman- well, the potential speaks for itself.

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“The Superior Spider-Man” – this will probably have fans burning me at the stake but hear me out: the conceit behind The Superior Spider-Man run is extremely interesting.

What happens is that Dr Octopus cheats death by swapping minds with Spider-Man and taking over Peter Parker’s life AND Spider-Man duties— without any of Parker’s friends and relatives realising it.

It bears similarities with Kraven’s Last Hunt on the whole “who-is-a-better-Spider-Man?” theme but the difference is that Dr Ock genuinely tried to be an efficient hero. At any rate, this could be a great way to accelerate the franchise— in the comics, Otto was responsible for getting Peter his doctorate and establishing his own company before the real Peter returned to take back his life. Granted, the mind-swap idea won’t fly on screen but it can be worked. It would certainly make for an unusual film.

NEXT – Part Two – Parallel Universes

Why the Spider-Man films are similar to the Star Wars saga

If you look closely, there are several similarities between the Spider-Man film franchise and the Star Wars saga:

• The Sam Raimi trilogy can be likened to the original Star Wars trilogy: everyone (well, nearly everyone) likes it
• Spider-Man pretty much helped influence the superhero genre as we know it today; Star Wars pretty much created the whole bloody blockbuster trend
• Like The Empire Strikes Back, Spider-Man 2 is the favourite and best of the franchise
• Like The Return of the Jedi, Spider-Man 3 is not so beloved (maybe if they had Mary Jane in a gold bikini…)
• The Amazing Spider-Man reboot is as polarizing as the Star Wars prequels
• The Amazing Spider-Man [2012] is like The Phantom Menace: it’s got its good parts but people are mostly divided over it
• And the Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the Attack of the Clones of the franchise: pretty much terrible, with too much reliance on CGI and generally the worst film of the franchise with a few good sequences scattered here and there (seriously, though, the Amazing Spider-Man 2 should be sued for having “Amazing” in the title when it was anything BUT!)

Five Reasons Why Mary Jane Watson Is Amazing

Women don’t get a lot of love in comicbooks unless they have powers and dress up in a tight-fitting revealing costume. If they possess neither, their duties most often include the need to be rescued constantly or in a worst-case scenario end up dead to cause mental agony and pain to the hero (check up what happened to Green Lantern Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend to see what I mean).

Yet when done right, they succeed in being pivotal and important characters on their own terms. Hence, the women in the world of Spider-Man are just as vital as the titular hero. Ol’ Web Head has quite the list of ladies: Black Cat/Felicia Hardy, Betty Brant and Carlie Cooper, to name a few. But none have been more popular than Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson.

Comparatively, Mary Jane Watson has been in the spotlight more than Gwen Stacy, thanks to the prominence given to her in adaptations.

Sam Raimi’s trilogy always focused on MJ (do you mind if I call Mary Jane Watson “MJ”? It saves time typing) while Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, was more-or-less shoehorned in a minor capacity in Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Lately, though, Gwen Stacy has been enjoying an upsurge in popularity thanks to Emma Stone’s performances in the rebooted films. Not only did Stone imbue Gwen with some serious lovable charm and smarts but her active involvement in helping costumed boyfriend with pesky villains helped make her one of the films’ best components instead of functioning as an obligatory ‘damsel-in-distress’. Revolutionary, right?

Except Mary Jane had been doing the same for years in the comics.

There is a lot of love for Sam Raimi’s work over the reboot. I love those films, too. The first two, at any rate. But for the mere sake of nostalgia, I will not deny that the trilogy wasn’t without its faults and the biggest complaint I had was with the depiction of Mary Jane Watson. I do not blame Kirsten Dunst— after all, actors and actresses have to simply make the best with the scripts given to them. But I hated the way the character was portrayed. Not that it’s much better across other media— the Spider-Man PlayStation game, for instance, committed the same cardinal ‘damsel-in-distress’ sin. Instead of the cool, fun girl from the comics, we got a soap-operatic, whiny excuse of a MJ. Such a travesty! What many people may not realise is in the source material, MJ was always a downright bad-ass, again and again and again and Peter has admitted many times that she was one of the strongest women he knew. From the time she was with Peter, she was a massively important centre in the comics. Which is why I want to tear my hair over after in The Superior Spider-Man #31 last month, she made it clear that she was done with Peter (then again, nothing is permanent in comics, so fingers crossed). Thanks a lot for One More Day, Marvel, that’s the outcome of such a stupid editorial decision. Dweebs.

So without further ado, let me present five instances throughout the history of Spider-Man, in no particular order, in which Mary Jane Watson demonstrated that she was completely amazing and at times, a real bad ass.

1)     The time she attacked a Spider-Slayer in Pittsburgh with a baseball bat to save Peter

Events in The Amazing Spider-Man issues #290-292 turned out to be game-changers for Spider-Man lore to come. At the end of #290, Peter proposed to MJ (the second time he’d done so) only to be turned down again. In the next two issues, MJ leaves for Pittsburgh to take care of family matters but later calls Peter and asks him to come and help her. Peter flies out to join her, unaware that Alistair Smythe is tracking him with his Spider-Slayer. Long story short: Spider-Man and Smythe engage in battle which Smythe nearly won if MJ hadn’t grabbed a baseball bat from a nearby kid and hit the Spider-Slayer!

Sounds like a dumb move, right? Except it was all a ploy to buy Peter the few crucial seconds he needed to recover… although his response to seeing Smythe almost kill MJ was to tear the Spider-Slayer to pieces and threaten Smythe with the same treatment if he tried to harm anyone again. Seriously— that bit of courage requires serious cojones to pull off without being paralysed with fear.

2)     The time Mary Jane turned her horrible father in to law enforcement to bail her sister out

While Spider-Slayer in Pittsburgh took central attention in #291-292, the reason MJ was in that town was a family conflict. Her father, Phillip, had convinced MJ’s sister, Gayle, to steal a rare manuscript for him to sell on the black market. Gayle got caught and Phillip wanted MJ to find the paper and bring to him. She ended up aiding her father, much to Peter’s uneasiness despite promising to support her decision no matter what. After the battle, MJ hands in the script, only for her father to get arrested for the crime. The move took even Peter by surprise. In the end, Gayle was released and reunited with her children and estranged sister. The real happy ending, though, is all this made MJ change her mind about Peter’s proposal and she agreed to marry him. And the rest, as they say, is history.

3)     Escaping the devious clutches of her obsessed landlord and admirer entirely through her own efforts and saving Spider-Man from death… again!

David Michelinie’s and Todd McFarlane’s run on the series as writer and artist respectively yielded two beautiful outcomes: the introduction of fan-favourite anti-hero/villain Venom and the dark disturbing storyline in which Mary Jane is kidnapped by her obsessive admirer and landlord, Jonathan Caesar. The event is notable for being downright unsettling in that the antagonist succeeded in hitting Peter where it hurt most and he wasn’t even a major villain! Pushed to the brink of despair, Spider-Man resorts to beating up every criminal he comes across in New York in his frantic need for information. Caesar hires two criminals, Styx and Stone, to kill him and by #309, it all boils down to a hair-raising climax in which Spider-Man is nearly killed in Central Park and saved at the last second by none other than MJ.

Wait, but wasn’t she imprisoned until then?

Certainly. Until the sight of Styx (the guy can kill anything just by touching it!) prompts her into action. MJ initially tries to dispatch Caesar by applying a lamp socket to a puddle of water he is standing in. When that doesn’t work, she simply smashes the lamp in his face… and succeeds in electrocuting the goons instead. MJ immediately tracks her husband down and shoots Styx as he’s about to destroy Peter.

Bottom line: in the direst circumstances, MJ triumphantly overcame them and not only prevailed but saved Peter as well— all without powers, too. Damsel in distress? Pah! More like Heroine of the Hour!

4)     Evading capture by the Green Goblin during the events of ‘Goblin Nation’

In the final story arc of The Superior Spider-Man, Norman Osborn had emerged from the shadows he’d been hiding in all the time and unleashed his army on New York. Part of his plan to destroy Spider-Man (and Otto Octavius, consequently) was to kidnap the people the webslinger cared about. One such target included Mary Jane.

Big mistake. When the Goblin’s minions (literally kids in Goblin outfits) crashed her apartment, MJ didn’t sit around screaming. Nope! She got out Peter’s old webshooters and webbed those mini-Goblins to the wall and with her boyfriend, collected Aunt May and Jameson Sr and took them to safety! The moment she deals with the little Goblins is simply spectacular! No chance the next screen incarnation of Mary Jane would do something like this, is there? Also, there’s a possibility that Green Goblin realised he may have bitten off more than he could chew when concerning Ms Watson.

5)     Everything about One More Day

Writing about this actually hurts because I was forced to read One More Day to better acquaint myself with the events. Reading it made me physically nauseous. The story essentially wiped out Peter’s and MJ’s marriage in a few pages with such ease and little effort that it is nothing more than the WORST possible way to indirectly reboot a series, retcon history and function as a deus ex machina! I abhor book burnings of any sort, but I wouldn’t hesitate throwing this to such a pile!

So why does this make MJ such a strong person? Simple. She agreed to go through with the whole thing.

Despite how overall crappy this is, the moments before which Memphisto (Marvel’s version of the Devil) realigns time end up being some of the most gut-punching scenes drawn and written. As a Spider-Man fan, reading those sections felt as if a part of me did die. It honestly hurt and it is little wonder that the Spider-Man community was pissed off. Ultimately, through MJ’s visibly difficult yet selfless decision, she enabled the world to forget Spider-Man’s identity and prevent Aunt May from ever getting shot. But the price paid was simply too much and even though it has been seven years gone, the injustice and the pain of it all still rankles.

 *

And there you have it! Do you know of any other moments that made Mary Jane Watson memorable? If so, leave them in the comments below!

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

RATING: 2.5/4

DIRECTED BY: Marc Webb
PRODUCED BY: Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach
SCREENPLAY BY: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner
STORY BY: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, James Vanderbilt
BASED ON: Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
STARRING: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field

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Spider-senses should have warned us that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was heading for disaster when the director says in an interview: “I want to unleash my inner [Michael] Bay”. Marc Webb should be proud: he succeeded in accomplishing exactly that— but with such terribly underwhelming results.

Premature though it may have seemed, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was meant to “reboot” the Sam Raimi series. While it eventually ended up more or less a retread of the first Spider-Man with some newer angles thrown in and a grounded “grittier” take on the material, the overall result was pleasing and enjoyable. Sure, it had its share of problems yet there was a vigour and rejuvenation injected into this franchise that justified the film’s existence. Andrew Garfield was a suitable replacement, channeling Tobey Maguire’s charm while fusing it with his own charisma and a slightly angst-y persona; as Spider-Man, he sported and wielded the wit that made the titular character the massive hit it is for Marvel Comics today, something notably lacking in the previous films. The lead actress, Emma Stone, wasn’t relegated to the traditional role of damsel-in-distress, instead playing an active role aiding Peter in the story’s shenanigans. With the chemistry cooked up between this real-life couple, guided under Marc Webb’s keen eye which made (500) Days of Summer so wonderful, this was a Spider-Man that had a lot of heart, a key component lacking in many superhero films.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 instead ends up playing out more-or-less as a reboot of the reboot. The emotional element was still present but the sound of its heartbeat is drowned in the noise surrounding it, threatening to overwhelm the story entirely. Little by little, this sequel loses much of the resemblance it has with its infinitely superior predecessor. The “grounded” and “grittier” elements are slowly taken over by slapstick, starting around the time Spider-Man strings up a Russian mobster and webs his pants down to expose his underwear before getting completely thrown out the window with the grand entrance of an electrically-charged blue-skinned villain in Times Square. Too many plot threads, too many repetitive action sequences and too long and unnecessary a runtime. If The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3 had a love child, their offspring would be called The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That isn’t a compliment.

Far too much is taking place within this movie. Peter Parker and the sweet yet whip-smart Gwen Stacy are in a complicated on-again off-again relationship: one minute, he’s kissing her on the stage at their graduation ceremony and later, he’s saying they can’t be together on the account of being plagued with hallucinations of Captain Stacy (Denis Leary) to remind his promise at the end of the first film.

Peter subsequently spends his days discreetly following her as Spider-Man, explaining it to be the only way he can be close to her. It happens to be a good thing that Andrew Garfield is handsome enough to avoid triggering any ‘stalker alert!’ bells in Gwen’s head, since the same behaviour would earn a restraining order from the court instead of more doe-eyed romantic stares between the two. Gwen is moving to England to study at Oxford. Peter, naturally, is put-off: he won’t be able to stalk her anymore.

Enter Electro. Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) is an electric engineer for Oscorp. He’s also an oddball and that is the politest description to give him. After the Webslinger saves him in the opening from getting run down by a truck full of plutonium stolen by Paul Giamatti hamming up a ridiculous (yet comically endearing) Russian accent, Max develops an unhealthy obsession with Spider-Man, convinced that they are best friends. It’s not hard to not sympathise with Max: the poor schmuck is ignored by everybody. He designs an electric grid for Oscorp that would supply clean energy to the city and the gratitude he receives is to fix a short-out on his birthday after everyone has returned home. His present is an accident that turns him into Electro. Max feels so betrayed: the police are trying to kill him, Spider-Man can’t remember his name and his character has been reduced to a one-note near-camp villain that makes him look like he’s auditioning for a Smurfs movie. With all that, can you blame the man for going a little berserk?

If that wasn’t enough, Peter’s childhood friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) has returned to assume the mantle of Oscorp CEO held previously by his father, Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper). Remember how the whole Lizard saga in the previous film was prompted because Norman was dying and needed a cure? The disease has passed down to Harry. Convinced the cure lies in Spider-Man’s blood, Harry seeks him out. Peter is afraid it might cause an adverse reaction. Long story short: Harry turns into the Green Goblin, enlists Electro to beat up and kill Spider-Man and then promptly attempts to finish the job.

Wait, there’s more: Peter continues to dig into his father’s past in search of answers! This same subplot was dropped from The Amazing Spider-Man over initial negative reactions— and yet here it is back again! In comparison, this film makes Spider-Man 3 feel less cluttered.

How this was allowed to happen with three different writers— four, if you count James Vanderbilt’s original story contribution— scribing remains a mystery. The only plausible scenario I can hypothesize for the occurrence of this shabbily constructed excuse of a plot is that Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinker came up with various battles for Spider-Man to fight in, selected the best ones and threaded it all together with a bare semblance of a cohesive narrative. In the end, Spider-Man gets tangled up in his own complexly spun webs, saved from strangulation largely in thanks to the performances of Garfield, Stone and DeHaan.

A superhero story is only as good as its villain and Dane DeHaan brings the magnetic performance he displayed in magnificent glory in Chronicle. On the side of good, there’s far better entertainment value in watching Peter and Gwen engaging in verbal banter than Spider-Man taking on Electro. Even a scene with Peter experimenting with his web shooters that was clearly lifted from Iron Man (2008) down to the fire extinguisher humour has more substance than Spider-Man leaping through the air again and again and again until it feels like what it is and that is computer-generated sequences. They lack the depth, dimension and urgency prevalent in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and The Amazing Spider-Man. The initial joy and exuberance wears out quickly and the action feels joyless.

It all boils down to tonal inconsistency. By being all over the place, this film doesn’t feel as if it belongs anywhere. Even James Horner’s themes and cues have been completely replaced by the work of Hans Zimmer and the Magnificent Six. There is the sense that it is attempting to ape the ‘splashier’ vibe of the Sam Raimi movies and failing miserably. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is ultimately an amazing misstep, hitting the ground so hard you can hear the dull thump of the impact. That’s the sound of a swing-and-miss.