Pim Razenberg on the downside of The Avengers adopting Spider-Man…
So, there we have it! Monday this week Marvel announced their new partnership with Sony, after striking a deal to cement The Amazing Spider-Man’s future firmly within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The news was welcomed by many of the web-slinger’s fans, who were left disappointed by Sony’s previous Spider-Man instalments.
Personally, I’m not very thrilled.
Every time there was talk of “negotiation” between Marvel Studios and Sony it gave me the awkward feeling that something just didn’t fit. Marvel has been on a winning streak for years producing entertaining, yet highly qualitative superhero movies, while the Spider-Man franchise has been in a downwards spiral ever since the series’ highlight, Spider-Man 2. Not once, but twice Sony killed its own cash cow by oversaturating their Spider-Man movies with an unbalanced amount of characters and diluting the characters that actually mattered.
Is Spider-Man’s comic book iteration a great, diverse character? Arguably so. Popular? No doubt about it. As a movie franchise, however, the web-slinger’s reputation is severely damaged by bad sequels and a rather pointless reboot that came too soon and changed too little. For Marvel Studios to adopt – and thus, revive – the twice dead corpse of Peter Parker really doesn’t sound like such a great idea to me.
In 2012 there was talk of including Spider-Man in The Avengers and Oscorp Tower was to be added to New York’s skyline in Marvel’s ensemble movie. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. If there is one thing Marvel is hell-bend on, it is their consistency in story and structure – just ask Edgar Wright how the studio enforces that policy. The tone, style and level of “realism” of the “universes” The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers inhabit are very different. In addition to that, the franchises don’t click storywise either: in both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers New York was wrecked, yet somehow there was no mention of such events in the franchises’ respective movies? There’s another big-time superhero in New York, yet none of the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever taken notice of him?
To include Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is to again reboot the rebooted franchise, sadly, without its main star, Andrew Garfield. Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel have worked way too hard making every detail in the Marvel Cinematic Universe click, to allow for Sony’s failed franchise to puncture holes in the entire continuity of Marvel Studio’s shared universe.
Marvel Studios’ goal was to create a series of interlinked movie franchises similar in structure to their comic book publications. The Marvel Cinematic Universe sports a host of great superhero characters and is about to become a lot bigger with the inclusion of Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and many others. If there’s one thing that was abundantly clear during these last few years is that Marvel Studios never needed Spider-Man to become successful, nor to tell great stories. Even Civil War, a story heavily featuring Spider-Man, would have been made without him in the blink of an eye. Taking back Spider-Man under these circumstances sounds like a step away from “great movie making” and a step towards financial greed.
What stung the most about Monday’s announcement was the statement that Sony remains to have “creative control” over the Spider-Man series. Because of this, my one hope for Spider-Man’s inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the presence of Kevin Feige’s “iron thumb” that has been keeping all the storylines and characters (as well as Marvel’s directors) firmly in place. Marvel stated that Feige will co-produce the new Spider-Man films along with “his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal.” If Marvel Studios’ role as “co-producer” weighs in even half as strong as it did in all its Phase Two and Phase Three movies, I am willing to give this turn of events a chance… Just as long as Spider-Man doesn’t become the Avengers’ unruly, spoiled adoptive child, who’s ready to kick Marvel’s golden teeth in corny juvenile one-liners…
Pim Razenberg
Fred Bastiat says
I didn’t care for the last two Spiderman movies, weak scripts with weak stories. That aside, I liked the Garfield Spiderman, just wish he’d been in better stories.
But I’m not sure I get the author’s point, why does it even matter that there has been previous incarnations of the character? Hope lives eternal, it’s a great character moving into a solid franchise. The character has found a better home, I’m optimistic.
Melwing says
Yeah. James Bond seems to be doing just fine.
superwolfkin says
yeah but the difference is James Bond like Doctor Who continues the story. They don’t recreate James Bond every time they switch actors. They don’t start Doctor Who all over again when a new Doctor arrives.
As a DC head the marvel guys used to constantly tell me how many characters they have.. let Spider-Man die for once (figuratively). Everyone’s tired of this guy. This is going to be the third spider-man and DC still hasn’t given me one live action Static. Just find any other superhero teenaged sarcastic settled in New York. Bonus points if it’s not new york. I would punch a goat in the face if they started giving more heroes not settled in New York. 3000 miles from NY to LA and everything is in NY.
Troy says
Who’s everyone?
Writer_Josh says
“yeah but the difference is James Bond like Doctor Who continues the story…”
Oh, does it? So, Bond being given Double-0 status for the first time in Casino Royale was continuing the same story we saw in Goldfinger, was it?
For that matter, the Bond franchise has simply ignored continuity. Oh, Bond stays roughly the same age while Q grows into a geriatric? Who cares? Oh, Bond looks like a completely different person but everyone treats him like he’s the same guy? No problem. It’s the new millenium, but a guy who’s been a field agent since 1962 is still going strong? No one notices. Oh, this same guy should be long dead from lung cancer, Cirrhosis of the liver or an STD, or all three? Not this guy.
Apples and oranges.
Blake White says
Well, there WAS a juvenile literature series called James Bond Jr. (or this could be the point where the Fleming/Gardner divide begins, even though the titles would disagree), maybe that’s the answer…no?
[kidding/being taciturn, I actually like & agree with your point…& though I like Daniel Craig, I thought a blonde Bond was a hideous idea – at least all the others fit a general template.]
Duder NME says
To be fair, goats have faces you just wanna punch, so that’s an easy target.
Also, Stan Lee treats Noo Yawk like Stephen King treats Maine and Steve Martin treats LA. It’s their go to, they’re fixated on them.
Upscaleman says
Peter Parker is supposed to be a nerd. Garfield played him like a cool kid who just happens to have one guy who bugs him at school….there was ZERO “Peter Parker” in Garfield’s performance.
Fred Bastiat says
Point taken. I wonder how the Avengers will play the character.
The second set of movies at least dropped the organic web in favor of a web caster Peter created. The web caster was part of the character development, without it, Peter was not as much a scientific geek almost genius.
darkchaos says
Garfield plays a young spiderman. It’s still early to expect him to be a genius when he has yet to earn that experience in life to be past a scientific geek.
The other thing people disliked is that he had to learn from youtube /internet to do stuff and invent stuff. While Tobey Parker wouldn’t have done any better, Garfield at least makes stuff happen from learning, even if we don’t approve their take on what method Peter should use to add to his arsenal or expand his scientific mind. If any.
Its either they get a teen with romance or a guy who knows too much ‘shock’ (in this case I wouldn’t mind a movie of 2099 spidey..hehe..shock..)
peter isn’t a teenager his entire career as spiderman. I wish people would GET that.
some people are like
Peter parker is a TEENAGER.
…..yes at the start but I’ve seen more shows/comics with him in his upper 20’s or around his 30’s. Let’s stop thinking of him as a teenager, this high school slice of life genre is making me want to puke as its being overused.
Fred Bastiat says
I’m one of them – I had not really thought outside the ‘teen Spiderman’ box. Now that you mention it, I’m ready to see an older/different take on Spiderman for Civil War.
darkchaos says
That’s the point though my friend. During the time when he’s into the Civil War he is WAYYYY past his teenage and youth years. People seem to assume Spiderman = teenager = 21 young and forever. They think spiderman is stuck being a teenager who never ages like Ash Ketchum from Pokemon.
We are all ready to puke because no matter what they do, it will always feel the same movie to us with spiderman.
In order to do him justice, which kils our hearts, is to make him age and a changed and grown man.
If we did something like replace him with Ben reilly or miles morales spidey in Civil wars that would be a downright outrage haha.
Blake White says
Ah, Ben…I always liked The Scarlet Spider. Man would that cause a $h!+storm, hahaha~
rdm says
the thing is though they have to make spiderman young and just getting his powers in order to fit into the marvel universe now otherwise how in the hell could we have an older experienced spiderman completely absent during the alien invasion no references at all to a webslinger protecting new york…no it only makes sense now that during new york peter was still a normal person and then he gets his powers and starts off fresh as spiderman otherwise the whole continuity is ruined.
Fred Bastiat says
That makes sense and is certainly a continuity challenge to them if they go the direction of an older spiderman. Marvel has built so much good faith in their Cinema universe that I’m not that concerned. Now, if Sony was handling it…..
Duder NME says
“It’s still early to expect him to be a genius when he has yet to earn that experience in life to be past a scientific geek.”
You don’t learn to be a genius, it’s a talent, which Parket has. I’d love to see a nerd-off between Parker, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, The Leader, and Egghead.
darkchaos says
Like Tobey did any better. All he did was be late for delivering pizza and can’t even grow some balls in life in general, at work, pigheaded over his vanity as spiderman, a douche to his love interest, can’t make the bills in that poverty apartment run by what, russian immigrants?
He’s got a ‘cute’ baby face and a 70’s show look. That’s all he has. Not exactly what I’d call an actor in comparison to Garfield.
upscaleman says
Thanks for making my point for me….your description of Peter Parker is EXACLY how Peter Parker is in the comics and how he should be portrayed on screen….dumb ass
Blake White says
I was thinking the same general thing as I read above…please don’t mention Spiderman 90210 ever again, though…someone in Hollywood may actually think that’s a GOOD idea (though it would’ve made BH a better show, I may have actually watched it then – hilarious thought, tho kudos man).
Greg Dove says
Not to mention, Garfield was 30 years old in his first movie. Nice highschooler. 30 years old.
Upscaleman says
Good point…I’m surprised it wasn’t set at West Beverly High with Luke Perry and Gabrielle Carteris making an appearance.
Writer_Josh says
He’s a cool kid because…what, he carries a skateboard? Watch the movies again. He’s awkward. He’s really into studying. He looks like he’s always thinking about something else. He was much closer to being Peter Parker than Maguire ever thought about being.
Tobey Maguire was mopey, dopey and felt more like a guy who spent a lot of time feeling sorry for himself. Say what you will about Peter Parker being a nerd; he was happy being a nerd and didn’t feel jealous of guys like Flash Thompson at all. In fact, he won over Gwen Stacy by being stand-offish, not by borderline stalking her like Maguire’s Peter mooned over Mary-Jane (in all fairness, that was changed for Garfield’s Peter as well; I don’t know too many girls who would be flattered to be “on the computer” of a boy you barely know).
To be honest, neither movie has gotten Peter Parker right, but the Garfield movies got Spider-Man DEAD ON. Maguire’s Spider-Man was pathetic, the closest he got to Spider-Man’s wit being “You’re the one who’s out, Gobby! Out of your mind!” Ugh.
In his first scene as Spider-Man, Garfield captured JUST how Spider-Man should be. “Oh, you found my one weakness! It’s tiny knives!”
Sully says
Correction*
Peter Parker was highly intelligent. The term used to describe him in the original comics was “wallflower” not “nerd.”
A wallflower is someone who is shy and awkward; something Garfield brought to the character well. Remember how his Uncle embarrassed him in front of Gwen in the first Amazing Spider-Man? Being behind the mask and having his new abilities is what brought to life Parker’s wit and confidence.
All of this is moot however, as Feige has now announced that the Peter Parker in the new MCU will be a younger (15-to-16 year old) Peter Parker, and that Sony will be rebooting the franchise for a 3rd time to match what Marvel/Disney is doing. Don’t worry though. We won’t have to sit through yet another origin story film, as the new franchise is supposed to pick up after Spidey has acquired his powers, and deals with his struggles as a super teen growing up in NY.
Upscaleman says
A) He sucked ass. B) “Nerd” is a contemporary term for “wallflower” – shy, awkward and brilliant. Apparently you’re not familiar with the term “synonym”
Sully says
Brilliant is not synonymous with wallflower.
brian says
I feel like this exact article could have been written before Avengers 1 with the Hulk in place of Spiderman… That worked out pretty well though.
Fred Bastiat says
Worked out very well and I had no problem in Avengers 1 dismissing earlier content. Although I wonder sometimes if one of the prior Hulk movies would be considered prior content with regard to back story, simply changing the actor….
aicdragon29 . says
Agreed. Especially since theyre NOT rebooting the origin story again… if they were doing that I do believe it may be cause for an uproar. But having Pete/Spidey as a part of the MCU can only be a great thing… and if for some reason it really isnt… well then tbey can either leave him out of future projects, straight up kill him and leave him that way… or then bring in Morales. Marvels films may not be perfect. But considering the scope and really the general ambition of everything theyve been doing, they certainly have gotten FAR more right than wrong. And if they think bringing Pete in is the way to go… then I say HELL YES!
eliottsworld says
In addition to Sony talking about working Oscorp Tower into the Avengers’ skyline, there was also some crossover from the Avengers in Amazing Spider-Man. The reason for all of the convenient cranes that line up in the third act of TASM is that New York is under massive construction following the invasion of New York in The Avengers.
In Sony’s timeline, Parker (Garfield) got bit and had his first adventures as Spider-Man after the events of the Avengers, and that’s why he wasn’t around for the battle with the Avengers. It was a way that Sony could potentially work their way into the MCU during phase II, but that never developed. Now we can do some educated guessing about what was happening behind the scenes. Sony and Marvel were always on somewhat friendly terms (especially when compared to Marvel and Fox), but Marvel didn’t want that version of Spider-Man in the MCU. So they waited until they could get the version that they wanted, that would fit within their vision for the character. Sony is now ready to let Marvel dictate the direction for the character, and here we are.
That’s as much as I can surmise from the information available, and it makes the most sense to me.
eliottsworld says
Also, more in line with what the article is actually about, I trust Marvel to not mess up the rest of their stories for the sake of Spidey.
Dylan says
well remember sony has A] Final Say on the solo spidey films and B] High school! AGAIN XD
I’m sure Kevin will at least convinece sony to do “his version”. its going to be interesting.
Jonesey says
Not I, though I am absolutely open to it happening somewhere down the line. Honestly, I think people love the idea of Miles Morales more than the actual character himself. While he currently only exists in the Ultimates universe (for a reason), it appears that he will be integrated somehow into the 616 proper univrse after the next Secret Wars arch, at which time we can see how he fits into everything. If it works, then I would really like to see him show up in a future MCU movie, and considering the current plans are for it to extend through Phase 6 (which would be well over a decade or so from now), there will be PLENTLY of oppertunies to do this. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last Avengers movie has Falcon as Captain America, the muslim Ms. Marvel, the female Thor, She-Hulk, and Miles Morales as Spidey.
Swansea Till I Die! says
The idea is more important. Parker in movies is played out. It makes sense to have him in Civil War taking off the mask and suffering because of it, that sets up handing over to Morales (or someone else) with whom they can start with a fresh slate.
darkchaos says
Oh now THAT sounds like a plan. Considering they described him as having died twice like a dead horse getting beaten back to life by the studios, we can only hope to see him off with a proper closure during the Civil War or other means.
For spiderman fans, its going to pain us to see Spiderman die off without much to remember.
It still bugs me how uneventful the Dark Knight movies were.
Movie 1: scarecrow, Rachel: ill wait for you (????)
Movie 2: Rachel: im…kinda doing something else here…forget that stupid childhood promise.
Batman: joker won
Movie 3: joker doesn’t exist. Bruce wayne gets f’ed up in every way possible + angst mode for both real life and batman life.
A police officer will be the new batman. (people these days don’t take police too kindly anymore….)
crappiest writing i ever seen.
Dave says
hahaha… I agree on your comments for the 3rd movie. But you’re analysis of the first two is dense and narrow minded. For a superhero movie, the writing was extremely good and had a lot of depth to those first two movies.
bropous says
Dark Knight Runs was Spider-Man III bad.
The first two (McGuire) Spiderman flicks were AWESOME, and the first two Nolan Batman flick were pretty good, with the second made better only by Ledger.
Awkward Thrill Seeker says
Spider-man 3 was like watching hamsters have sex whilst wearing a mariachi costume. You think its amusing then afterwards.. when you think about it, you realise witnessing that event was wrong. A travesty against your eyes.
Dark Knight Returns was much, much better than Spider-man 3.
bropous says
At least Spider-Man 3 was not a total betrayal of the comic book character like “Dark Knight Runs Away With the Criminal”.
Manchego Cheese says
Are the hampsters wearing the mariachi costumes, or is the person watching?
bropous says
Has Marvel Studios seriously plans all the way through a Phase 6?????
Evan Cm says
allegedly only through the end of Phase 4, or 2028, whichever comes first.
SeoulKoreaPeninsula says
Too old to watch the movie. I really wish and hope Marvel not base too much on comic book plot and theory.
aicdragon29 . says
The beauty of having Miles Morales on the bench means they can eventually kill Peter Parker on screen and bring in Morales. If they immediately jump to Morales, the general public who dont understand the comic verse or the legal sitch within the studios will likely think they merely used a different iteration of Spidey because Sony owns Peter Parker. And frankly it wont be that big of a deal to non comic geeks who arent even aware there are any other iterations of Spidey beyond Pete. I get that hes been done… twice now. But now they have an opportunity to get it done right… MCU has juggled stories much better than the Spidey films ever did… and then the aforementioned ability to kill him… well then Pete/Spidey can literally be done to death. And have it really mean something as well.
The other versions of Spidey on celluloid have had moments of greatness, but have never been able to depict a great Spidey beyond a villain and him. Personally the only villain I think any of the films really got right at all was Doc Ock, but even then there were massive liberties taken. I know it a polarizing subject, but also know Im not alone when I say I want to see MORE Pete/Spidey done right… lets see a proper Venom, or a proper Electro, Vulture, Kraven… ANY of em. Then have Pete go out in a blaze of glory… then bring Morales onto the scene. The great thing about Spkdey being a part of the MCU now is that he can be used as a supplemental character, and have us give a rats ass about this version first. Within the confines of other characters other than him being the focal point. Frankly, its a rather advantageous situation, cuz if Spidey ever has a chance to be done right its by Marvel Studios… and if the crowd is truly burnt on Pete… they can pull the plug on him at anytime, kill him off and roll out the carpet for Miles.
Jonesey says
The problems with Sony’s two versions of Spidey were that they had an awesome Peter Parker in Toby Maguire and an even better costumed Spider-man in Andrew Garfield, but Maguire’s Spidey was an often joyless hero devoid of humor and fun while Garfield’s Parker was all over the place and nearly impossible to relate to.
Honestly, I hope that the MCU version will at least initally focus only on Spider-man and not Peter Parker (the same way I wished the Batman movies would focus more on Batman and not Bruce). The current MCU movies do an incredible job of balancing this, with Tony Stark being Tony when he needs to and Iron Man the same way, and ditto for Steve Rogers/Captain America.
Swansea Till I Die! says
Parker/Spiderman being separate I understand, he’s a kid who is trying to find his way through live AND a superhero. But Wayne/Batman is completely different, they are one and the same really, Bruce Wayne is Batman with a mask so he can deal with the rest of the world at a distance, but the character and motivation is consistent. Parker/Spiderman have different motivations and agendas because he is in flux between being a kid and a hero.
superwolfkin says
i felt the opposite about Garfield. I liked his parker and no his spidey.
Jesse Pepin says
Marvel’s got their reasons for this, and while your complaint about Sony wrecking the franchise twice is valid, hasn’t Marvel at least built up enough goodwill to warrant a little faith?
My take is this: don’t reboot Spiderman, don’t use anything existing. He has had his origin told twice, we don’t need a third so quickly. In my opinion, it goes like this:
Sometime after avengers 2 (since he likely won’t be in there), Parker ends up working for Stark in the labs as an intern or something, and maybe is too interested in Banner. He has his powers already, but hasn’t suited up as Spiderman yet, and he’s interested in another human who came upon his powers.
Either in Cap 3 or Avengers 3, crisis hits and he finally reveals his powers that no one knew about, since he’d only been known as a smart kid so far, and cap prompts him to “suit up”, when he creates the Spiderman identity and helps the Avengers finally.
I don’t believe using Garfield or his version of spidey would work since they’ve already got the sinister 6 introduced, and my concept at least shows why shield didn’t know of him and he hasn’t had any exploits yet without having to retell an origin story. He’s kind of a cameo until in some desperate moment he finally uses his powers.
Just my two cents, but I think we can at least see what Marvel MCU has in store before deciding they’re making a mistake by acquiring their own IP for future films…
Swansea Till I Die! says
God no. What you describe there is another origin mess.
The best option is to have Spiderman be what he was at heart in the first place, not a world saving superhero but a local level guy who fought crime, very few of his enemies have really been “take over/destroy the world types”. At that level he could well have been operating for several years in the MCU universe without raising much more than a murmur compared to the likes of Stark. There is also no reason why Shield wouldn’t have him on their list of monitored individuals and still have had no reason to mention him so far, he was someone to keep tabs on bit not significant at that point.
However Age of Ultron changes everything, the public no longer worships the Avengers but sees them as a menace as much as a help, dangerous individuals who need to be controlled. Stories start to appear of lower level guys like Spiderman or whoever else, creating the idea that this is an epidemic that is spreading and needs to be contained, thus you have the premise for Civil War. We do not need a full retelling of how Parker got to be where he is, just to know that he is the most visible of what the public consider to be “copycat” type heroes at that time. He can then be pulled into the argument between Stark and Rogers, leading to his unmasking (him saying a few words on how he came to have his powers here at a press conference type event would be more than sufficient background). The unmasking, especially finding out he is an impressionable kid would of course make matters even worse.
Matt Brandenburg says
You can still do an origin story without actually doing an origin movie for Spiderman. Just have one of the end movie scenes be a shot of a group of students entering the OsCorp building with a goofy looking kid fumbling with a camera trailing a bit behind. The audience will know the rest. If you really want to add to it just have the rest of the story told through video clips and newspaper articles in other movies. By the time a Spiderman movie actually comes around, there would be no need to actually tell the origin story….again. Honestly, I don’t think Marvel would do that anyway. They are smarter than that and they’ve already said they are pretty much done telling origin stories. Not sure how that is going to work with some of the new properties coming up but I can definitely see how the general pattern becomes formulaic.
Serge Cebrian says
maybe they should use agents of shield to slingshot the web shooter!!
one episode or two …
nahh just over hoping here
Goat says
You know spiderman will rebooted again. It will not be Andrew Garfield spiderman
SubSumeYou says
Nope.
SomeGuy says
Oh look, another dumb, pessimistic article. Listen, dude, this was literally the only solution in getting Spiderman back in shape. Anything else would have spelled the end of the Spiderman franchise.
JRG says
It sounds awesome but I’m not sure if it’s going to work
tman418 says
The time for Sony to talk to Marvel about putting Spiderman in the MCU was mid to late 2007, BEFORE releasing Toby McGuire’s “Spiderman 3!” Not AFTER TAS 1 & 2! Marvel Studios announced from the very beginning that they were making a shared cinematic universe and climaxing it with an “Avengers” movie and beyond.
Perhaps if these talks happened sooner, Toby McGuire’s Spiderman series could have been saved. Toby McGuire literally could have had a HUGE Spiderman-based film career! After all, they were planning on doing a 4th one, until Toby McGuire decided to do “Saturday Night Fever dances” in every other scene.
And now, all because TAS 2 made slightly less money than TAS 1, we now have a huge waste on our hands! This will literally be the 3rd time in LESS than 10 years that Sony had to create a new live-action Spiderman!
Thank you so much Sony for wasting the time and talent of all the actors & everyone else involved in the reboot!
Don’t get me wrong, I know that this mash-up has the potential to be EPIC! But it’s such a shame that Sony decided to abandon their reboot (that nobody wanted) after already making 2 whole films, not to mention planned “Sinister 6” and “Venom” stand-alone movies.
Josh Machan says
http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/02/28/why-marvel-should-bring-tobey-maguire-s-spider-man-into-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-2739119?lt_source=external,manual
tman418 says
Wow this actually would be a good idea! And of course, the events of Toby McGuire’s Spiderman trilogy could have easily occurred before the events of Iron Man 1 and The Incredible Hulk. But then again, where was he during the Battle of New York in Avengers 1?
Btw, if you ever want to just type some words and have those words be a link to a webpage, just do this:
a href=”insert link here”>Type your text here
Right before you type the first “a”, put in one of these < with no space and then right after your text put this with no space after your text and no space before the slash.
Gary says
So basically…
The internet gushes over the announcement that Spiderman is joining the MCU. Article after article informs us of the “7” or “14” or 117 actors who could play the new Peter Parker. Sooner or later, the “downside” blogging had to start. Everybody wants to be “important.”
Luke Owen says
So what you’re saying is, people have different opinions on a subject matter?
Welle, who knew?
Swansea Till I Die! says
No, he’s saying that people will pretend to have different opinions just to look cool.
Gary says
It’s actually pretty clear what I stated. I’ll say it differently in the hopes that one will make sense to you. The eagerness, for which these blogs seem to celebrate with gusto, to be a part of the rumor circle becomes so obnoxious at times that these writers merely discredit themselves as nothing more than teenage boys who’ greatest excitement is comic day. These articles neither provide the news, nor analyze announcements. They create their own BS.
Of course, one could simply pretend that all have valid opinions as they produce truly journalistic value.
DrTruth says
the amazing spiderman movies with Garfield is pretty much the best we’ve seen so far with the character..cant really blame bad scripting on that..the problem so far has been the direction the directors have taken with the role…if they bring it back to the basics, and stick with a decent story then Spidey will thrive..i think he needs to be introduced into the Avenger universe to be able to be redeemed..without the focus solely on him to make the movie, maybe then they can decide on his solo story…
Swansea Till I Die! says
Garfield was completely unconvincing as Parker.
DrTruth says
Still, b/c of the scripting choices..he’s till pretty much the best so far, im sure there could be better (as is the case with any role) but you have to admit it had nothing to do with Garfields acting abilities..if he had been given the proper direction to begin with we wouldnt be having this conversation and the man prob would be winning awards..
Carl Viens says
They need to focus on casting a good Peter Parker. No need to cast Spiderman, since a elastorubberish CGI effect will do the trick…
Disbott3000 says
I understand the apprehension, but many of us (myself included) had doubts about some of these character movies at the beginning too, but they’ve all turned out much better than expected. I wasn’t sure how Iron Man, a second tier character in my eyes, would work and it was brilliant. I thought Thor would be ridiculous and, while they aren’t my favorite movies in the Universe, they turned out to be quite entertaining. Many people worried that the Avengers would be a huge mess, but Whedon and Fiege pulled it off. And don’t even get me started on Guardian’s of the Galaxy, which most people had never even HEARD of and ended up being fantastic.
I guess my point is just that I share your concerns but, at this point, I’m willing to give a certain level of trust to the Marvel team. I don’t think they’d take Spidey on unless they already had a plan for how to make him fit in and, more importantly, how to keep Sony in line with their vision. After all, it’s Sony who needs for this to happen to save their franchise, not Marvel, so I assume that the real control over what happens with Spider Man will lie with Fiege and Marvel, which is actually kind of reassuring.
Ray says
I have several problems with this article. 1st Marvel has shown an incredible ability to adapt and incorporate characters and plots on the fly. From the 1st Iron Man we knew they were moving in the Avengers direction. Then in Thor they teased the Infinity story. That tells you that they had an idea of ware they were going from there. They may not have had all of the finer points worked out and have had to do a bit of retconning along the way but they have done just an unbelievable job of being fluid in their story telling and over all plan. with that in mind is it hard to imagine that Marvel has had some “what if” scenarios on the back burner? “what if we get Spidey back… what if we can work out a deal for Silver Surfer and Galactus….what if we work out a deal for Namor? How would we incorporate them into the stories we are already telling?” Look no further the Agents of Shield to get an idea of just how fluid Marvel can truly be. They knew about the Winter Soldier plot ahead of time and the writers were slowly building their story while moving towards the bigger Hydra twist and waiting for the Inhumans movie announcement. That flexibility is a hallmark of Marvel studios and how they do business. Another point that I have a problem with is the complete lack of recognizing just how important Spiderman is to Marvel. Not the cinematic universe, you are right, they don’t need him to be successful. I’m talking about how important he is to the Marvel brand. Spidey is the marquee Marvel character, one of the most recognizable hero’s in comics. The idea that Marvel would have been better served waiting 5-6 years for Sony to get it together and tell good Spiderman stories again is kind of silly. No matter how bad a Spidey movie is it’s going to make 600-700 million. That is enough for Sony to keep making them. In the meantime they are destroying a character at a time when comic profiles have never been higher. Not only was Sony killing it’s own cinema cash cow but it was killing a Marvel icon. That hit would eventually extend to merchandising, comic sales and the over all viability of the character. From a total picture stand point it was hugely important for Marvel to step in and “save Spidey”. Not to mention there have been reports that Disney offered Sony Star Wars money to buy the character back. They declined, that tells you they intend to bleed the character dry. Lastly.. as far as Sony having “creative control”…. I don’t believe that for a second. Feige and Marvel are tasked with reinvigorating this franchise, connecting it to the MCU in order to expand the Spideyverse and make this a viable franchise. In order for that to happen, Sony has to step back and allow that to happen. Other wise this is a pointless, short term money grab and THE ONE THING we have seen above everything else in regards to the MCU…. they don’t do short term.
Billy Beefcaked says
Hell no!
errant knight says
Hmm, the writer doesn’t seem to think that Joss Whedon can handle mixing comedy with drama. That would be wrong. Any time the material can stay true to the source, that’s a good thing.
Goldenfoxx says
In general, I disagree with most of the concerns Razenberg raises here, but this is the one with which I have to agree. Given Whedon’s history on Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, I never thought I would doubt Whedon’s sense of humor and timing. But after Thor: The Dark World, my faith in the man’s ability to meld his sense of humor with the tone of Marvel’s films was horrifically tarnished.
errant knight says
He had nothing to do with that movie. It was directed by Allan Taylor and written by several people who weren’t Joss Whedon
Goldenfoxx says
Actually, he wrote quite a few of the movie’s “jokes.” Believe it was Feige who made mention that “you’ll know them when you hear them.” Sure enough…
AL says
nope. maybe down the road but fore miles to mean anything peter has to be established properly and then die.
Curious says
i have no problem with him being included in Marvel movies… i just dislike the idea of a reboot AGAIN! why can’t we get an already seasoned Spider-man? it would also work better for the Civil War story line instead of the whole… “hey i know i’m new here, but here’s my view” thing. that would just suck, but hopefully I’ll be proven wrong.
Goldenfoxx says
I’m not a huge fan of this idea. Really, I’m not a fan of the idea of making Bucky the new Captain America, or having the Avengers have to fight the Hulk en force again (now, THAT is a truly overplayed idea), either. We just got to the point of being able to see our favorite comics characters on screen. Before 2008, the idea that we’d ever get a half-decent Iron Man movie, let alone an ensemble cast Avengers flick, was a far-flung daydream. Now we have them, and together. And while I personally really enjoyed the first Amazing Spider-Man film, I still feel like we haven’t seen THE interpretation of Spider-Man (i.e., a version that feels like the comic book iteration) on film yet any more than we’ve had THE interpretation of Batman yet. Get Peter Parker right before you start throwing in newer guys like Miles.
slingtheory says
Amen. I think that both big screen versions on spidey have been too far on opposite ends of the spectrum. Maguire was too much of a put upon geek and garfield was too much an aloof smart ass hipster. Maybe with marvels influence we can finally combine those interpretations into one great accurate spiderman
Blake White says
Particularly since in the comics (& even 1992 Marvel collector’s cards series) both Spiderman AND the Hulk are half of Avengers West-Coast…the other half being Ghost Rider & Wolverine. I haven’t really paid attention to Civil War, but didn’t Bucky die…like back in WWII? So how does he become the NEW Captain America seeing as the “old” one survived him (unless there’s been a recently discovered cure for being blown the F#@K up)~
Evan Cm says
I’m not the biggest comic reader, but I did read Civil War and Bucky was in it. Granted, in a very, very small role, he basically showed up in one of the side issues monitoring the situation from a distance and doing something secret with Nick Fury.
Brett says
Wait……. haven’t you heard of something called The Winter Soldier…?
Philip James says
Um, not to split hairs (and I don’t really think it IS splitting hairs), but the Spidey/Hulk/Ghost Rider?Wolverine team was an “alternate” or back-up Fantastic Four, NOT “Avengers West Coast”. At least in the comics, anyway.
Somewhere in the mid-2000s, they decided to bring Bucky back. I’m a little fuzzy on the details, since I stopped buying comics a little before this, but as I understand it, he was rescued by the Russians back in WWII, and brainwashed/trained to become a ruthless assassin. He finally meets, fights, then makes peace with Captain America, around the time of “Civil War”, or shortly thereafter. Very similar to the events of Captain America II: The Winter Soldier.
Someone else (or Wikipedia) can probably fill in the details a lot better than I can, LOL!
aicdragon29 . says
Why are you not a fan of Bucky as Cap? He was pretty badass as Cap in Rogers’ absence. That being said, The Falcon is now the current Captain America.
Goldenfoxx says
I realize that putting guys like Bucky and Sam into the Cap role is a generally temporary idea for coming up with some new stories for awhile. I do, I get that. I’m just not a fan of them doing it, especially for longer periods of time. I just prefer to see my heroes be, for lack of a better way of articulating this, my heroes. I’ll use Batman as an example. It’s like putting Dick Grayson into the Batman cape and cowl; I’d just rather see him as Nightwing–a character he had to grow into and make his own. Taking him out of the Nightwing gig (which is a very cool and highly underutilized one, at that) to put him in the Batman suit, imo, would hurt both Batman and Nightwing in the long run. Falcon isn’t Cap, he’s Falcon to me. Bucky isn’t Cap, he’s Bucky, or at least Winter Soldier, to me. And nevermind the fact that putting Bucky into the Cap role reeks of Red Hood in my mind.
aicdragon29 . says
Im not sayin yer wrong cuz everyones entitled to their own opinion… but I feel like yer opinion is well, flawed. Quickest way to point this out, Nightwing wasbt Nightwing… he WAS Robin. Winter Soldier qasnt Winter Soldier he WAS Bucky. So without these character evolutions, theyd never be whom you recognize these characters. And its not like they just decided to make Winter Soldier Cap… it was the payoff to the end of Civil War when it appeared Cap was killed. Or making Nightwing Batman when it appeared Batman was killed. Im not sure Im seeing the connection between this and Red Hood one iota either. If characters never evolve into anything else you go thru the same character beats. Im sure Steve Rogers will become Cap again one day, but its in the interest of storytelling that these arcs exist. Some were good, and some were bad… but many actually rather enjoyed Winter Soldiers time as Cap. And on the flip side with Nightwing/Batman, I personally think it was rather interesting when people who know(knew?) ‘The real Batman’ knew that Dick was not him. But the bottom line, without at least some of these story arcs we wouldnt have gotten some of the best stories in their respective titles… its a debateable topic to be sure… but undoubtedly some of the best stories that perhaps even you enjoy would not have existed had they not ventured with that throughline of someone else taking up the mantel… whichever one were talking about.
Goldenfoxx says
Try not to misunderstand me; I’m not talking about a lack of character development. Here’s the difference: before Dick Grayson, Nightwing wasn’t a thing. Before Jason Todd, the only meaning Red Hood had was retroactively part of The Killing Joke. Bucky was the first to occupy the Winter Soldier identity. In other words, these weren’t established identities, already laden with a series of expectation and meaning. Now, I will say that when I first started reading Iron Man, Jim Rhodes was in the suit–a gig that later turned into his becoming War Machine. So it CAN work. I’m just saying it’s not an idea that’s particularly original, nor one to which I am personally partial.
drjay425 says
Thank you.
Elasam says
I would so preferred it if they rebooted Spider-Man as a TV-series, I get that Marvel don’t wanna do that, money and all, but it would have been so much better, Spidey’s stories work better on television, and it wouldn’t feel as pointless as anpther movie because a tv-series is anther format and all that, he could still appear in civil wars and all that!
superwolfkin says
>: in both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers New York was wrecked, yet somehow there was no mention of such events in the franchises’ respective movies?
I agree with the article in general but that’s rose tinted nit picking. Oh so nothing in the non Avengers movies was for instance big enough to summon or even mentioning the other avengers? Iron Man goes on to save New York without mentioning Captain America. SHEILD is dissolved from within and Captain America doesn’t even think about Iron Man likely the obvious ally he could trust.instead taking a gamble on the unknown Falcoln.
Kevin Winter says
I want parker to be in civil war and to be the reason the government legislation on masks ( he has to fuck up and get kids killed) this eventually leads to the scene where he takes a bullet for cap on the bridge in ultimates but with the shooter being crossbones instead of punisher. Spidey is left for dead and can start his solo film picking up his version of that days events with a bit of pre dated back story… eventually ending with the whole death of spiderman pancaked car on the front lawn scene. Step up miles morales ( and welcome back superior spiderman in the comics ) and boom we can all forget about peter parker.
Upscaleman says
Alright, great, you get to be the one idiot who isn’t excited….I suppose that goes hand-in-hand with your opinion that Garfield was a good Spiderman…. and NO, there’s no way in hell that Spidey should be Miles Morales….Peter Parker is Spiderman, not some gay, cross-dressing, transgender, mexican guy, anymore than Thor is a woman….take your P.C. and shove it up your arse
JamesinGeorgia says
I wish that they would utilize the ‘alternate universe’ plot device in this scenario. Introduce it with Spider-man’s role in the MCU, and then utilize it again in the upcoming films when Evans, Helmsworth, and Downey Jr. Leave the franchise. You could introduce other versions of Cap, Iron man, and Thor, kill off or retire the current versions, and pass the torch to the new guys. Then you could avoid the whole awkward actor swap scenario that we’ve had to endure with Banner and War Machine. Just wishing.
Objectively Biased says
Completely agree with this article. Marvel didn’t need Spider-Man. All this does is muddle the pool they were working from.
Nope says
Huh?
The MCU was built on corny juvenile one liners.
darkchaos says
It’s agreeable that Spiderman and Avenger movies make no mention or reference to each other (if at all) Having Daily Bugle in there might make more sense since its the freaking newspaper.
But TO BE FAIR, while it is understandable that Spiderman , a big name in New York, failed to have any presence or be referenced in other Marvel movies, neither are the other Marvel hero characters outside the Avengers cast.
Unfortunately while Spiderman does have a place with Avengers in the comics, being twice ‘dead’ makes people wanna puke the next time they see a new trailer for another spiderman movie (or reboot).
We’d go : UGH…not this again….
I’m a spiderman fan since the 90’s but I wish these people would do movies right. All they do is borrow stuff from the 60-90’s and we don’t really have anything new people can appreciate. Not to mention people these days aren’t very good at judging new things.
One little thing like the dress (white/gold or black/blue) makes the entire country go bananas. We learn this in class people. Stop making a big deal out of nothing.
Back to spiderman, I been hoping for a decent movie w/ Spiderman and Venom/Carnage. Another perhaps as Spiderman-Unlimited (not the app game….)
Otherwise there is Spiderman 2099, Scarlet Spidey as well, or even Miles Morales…though I don’t like his story much…at all…not very exciting to me. Heck I’d take superior spiderman over miles morales spiderman.
Blake White says
Maximum Carnage & Separation Anxiety could be pretty cool movies…assuming they don’t completely screw it up with ridiculous “fresh” takes/ideas. I loved those comics – back then people thought Brock/Venom was the ultimate psycho badass…until they got a load of Cassidy/Carnage & the rest of the (somehow/unfathomably) even MORE unstable Symbiotes. Damn, I want to re-read those all over again, MC was a great game (for the time), too~
Greg Dove says
No way. Just bring back Tobey Maguire. Everyone will be happy. if someone else is picked, 75% will think its a bad choice. 25% will think its a good choice. Lets be done with the discussion.
Writer_Josh says
“Everyone” will be happy to see a 40-year-old man playing Spider-Man, a 40-year-old who played him as a whiny, self-absorbed guy with no trace of Spider-Man’s trademark wit? No thanks.
Tobey Maguire SUCKED BALLS.
esteem says
Wow really.. Tobey Maguire was awesome.. He acted like peter parker all the way..
Writer_Josh says
See, that’s just it. No, he did not. He acted like Tobey Maguire. He ALWAYS acts like Tobey Maguire.
I might be one of the few that wasn’t thrilled when I heard that Maguire was going to be Spider-Man. I held off judgement until I saw the movie, and it was pretty good, but something felt off. Then I read a review where the critic called Maguire “lethargic” and I realized that was EXACTLY the problem. That, and the angst.
Peter Parker’s angst is present in the comics, no doubt. But it’s angst about not being able to protect the whole city at once, about his loved ones possibly being put in danger by his actions, about failing. It was never about feeling sorry for himself or wishing he was someone else, like Flash Thompson.
He didn’t stalk his girlfriends. In fact, he generally ignored them until they became intrigued (again, Garfield was also poor in this regard). And best of all, once he put on the mask, he left all that angst behind and became a wise-crackin’ snarker, as quick with a one-liner as with a shot of web.
Where was any of that with Maguire? He was a mopey sad-sack who mooned over Mary-Jane, who was oblivious to his feelings for a bit and seemed almost eager to leave him for someone else (Harry, John Jameson, etc.), and Peter envied his friend Harry (in the comics, it’s Harry who envies Peter).
By the time I was finished the third film, I thought “We need a new Spider-Man” and that was before there were any plans to reboot the franchise. No, I do not want to see him come back and I know there are plenty of people that feel the same way.
Greg Dove’s assertion that “everyone” will be happy if they bring him back is dead wrong.
esteem says
Like I said, Tobey Maguire was the best.. Peter Parker always loved Mary Jane that’s why he married her.. He always wanted to protect her from his identity so as to keep her safe from his enemies, and he clearly showed it in the film.. They showed equal compassion in the movie even under intense situations and also when he revealed himself to her as the alter-ego spiderman.. They made a wonderful couple and his personality was great.. Peter Parker was always a bit reserved, but cocky and confident as Spiderman, and Tobey Maguire portrayed all those aspects.. They were alooking pretty good decent film.. If you want complete accuracy go read the marvel comics. The movies will never completely and accurately portray every character the right way whether it’s sony or even marvel studios..
Writer_Josh says
If accuracy was my only problem, or even my main problem, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
First, I don’t see any of the qualities you listed above in Maguire’s Peter. He was whiny, self-absorbed and mopey. He treated Mary-Jane like it was a given that they were meant to be, only to let her go when she needed him.
And that’s just the beginning. Again, I state that Tobey Maguire was not a good Peter Parker OR a good Spider-Man, and bringing him back would be a mistake.
But they’re not going to anyway, so really, it’s a moot point.
aicdragon29 . says
Not totally true… Gwen was and always will be his first love. And that is one major fault with Raimis Spidey. Cuz her death deeply affected the character for a long time. Something Raimis Spidey never dealt with. Hell, it was a huge deal when Peter fell in love with MJ cuz he dated a few characters here and there but he found true love with MJ. Puzzling since Raimi is a professed old skool Spidey fan, that he chose not to tackle that angle on the character. I agree that the films cant maintain continuity nor accuracy covered in the comics… especially one that spans a half century. But being as arrogant and cocky as Pete is/was as Spidey… and thinking he could always protect the ones he loved once he truly becomes Spidey. And then to lose Gwen. Well, this was one of the key reasons it was so important to protect MJ, including keeping his identity a secret. And losing your first/true love, and it being your responsibility when his entire mantra is ‘with great power comes great responsibility’… nevermind the emotional sinkhole created by this is kind of a big character arc to just gloss over.
Bigbudd45 says
What gets me is that sometimes spidey villains arent out to destroy the world or take something over, they are criminals stealing things. Every spiderman movie doesnt have to put NYC at risk, I think people could accept a movie as a singular story run. Spidey vs. Kraven, use the multiple movies they want to crank out to tell the story arc….but they wont.
drjay425 says
You’re a fool so where was Gwen Staceys place in the movies. oh yea I think she had a small part in 3. made no sense.
thetrellan says
Mmmm, both wrong and right. Maguire was a perfect Peter Parker, actually. Just not the one from College.
He made a perfect version of the geek Parker started out as. Don’t you remember how he pined after Liz Allen? It was easy to miss because it didn’t last long and she was miles aways from being a romantic interest. But it was there.
But you right that his relationship with MJ was wrong. The PP who attracted MJ was a completely changed person from the kid he was in high school. He’d been through relationships and come out scarred, mature but not insensitive. That was originally what MJ liked about him, though she didn’t realize it at the time.
And that MJ? Nothing like the watered down version Kirsten Dunst played.
Frankly, she just didn’t belong in that stage of his life.
I agree with the notion that Maguire should have been replaced by, say the third film. Replaced, but not rebooted. Hell, replace the whole cast, and act like nothing has changed. TV used to do it all the time. So why not?
drjay425 says
This is the best explanation I have seen. I applaud you sir
aicdragon29 . says
I agree… he acted great as Peter Parker. But he acted like Peter Parker, even when he was Spiderman as well. Thats not really how Spidey is… its part of his disguise. Peter Parker is kinda geeky, but somewhat meek, and softspoken… Spideys a wise-ass cocky little bastard. Dont really feel Maguire took it far enough.
Pome says
He was alright untill he started dancing in a bar (what the hell where they thinking?) I wanted to leave the theatre
aicdragon29 . says
That was only one of a million problems with that movie. Since he didnt have web shooters, he didnt gain unlimited webbing from the suit… ‘supposedly’ he was stronger and faster, bur I didnt see it, he never quick changed the symbiote (he even actually took off the costume for a bit!!??), he essentially got emo(guy liner and a hairdo), copped an attitude and voila we have symbiote Spiderman(!!??)… And then we get a Venom that says “I” instead of “we” the hatred of 2 beings coming together to destroy spiderman… Eddie for being ruined and The Symbiote for Pete not wanting to merge with it… and then hes created and destroyed in about 20 mins… argh!!!… and thats just covering (part) of the symbiote issue in that movie… nevermind anything else. Oh how I loathe it…
Bigbudd45 says
yep. Maguire sucked, dunst sucked, james franco sucks in general.
drjay425 says
Thank you. He was a whiney little bitch. Most people will not agree with Garfields performance (even I dont entirely) but he at least had the joking smartass attitude down. Tobey should lay down and rethink his life
aicdragon29 . says
Everyone will be happy? How do you figure?… I liked him aight, but honestly I always felt there wasnt enough distinction between Maguire as Spidey and Maguire as Parker. Look at Garfield for example. When he had the mask on, Spidey was a persona… like him or not, there was a definite distinction between Peter without the mask and when he put it on. Maguire, not so much.
Jacko says
Bring back Toby Maguire, he has to be Spider-Man again. I personally didn’t like the idea of having Andrew Garfield as spiderman for that reboot of spiderman. Toby is the greatest and I felt he brought both Peter Parker and Spiderman to life, I wouldn’t want Spiderman/Peter Parker played by anybody else except Toby.
Butts Larue says
“To include Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is to again reboot the rebooted franchise, sadly, without its main star, Andrew Garfield”
All credibility lost
Juan Alberto Castro says
I actually think that Spiderman was needed to give CIvil War a reason to be. Why? all Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes dont have secret identities…none of them, every one know Steve Rogers is Cap America, Iron Man is Tony Stark, and he love to say it out loud… there is a need of a super heroe, that will be against the ropes if his identity is revealed, and that is how spiderman enter the equation. A very know character, who has strong reason to be hidden from the world, and that will be affected with the uncover of his identity… i just hope that Marvel do a quick introduction (every one knows spiderman back story) and move on quickly to the new story arc.
Blake White says
Well, in the comics Stark “hired” Ironman to be his bodyguard so that people wouldn’t realize he actually WAS Ironman (from his constant emergence/presence at Stark Towers)…but then again, he was also a cripple – pretty good cover overall. Go Hollywood!
Juan Alberto Castro says
Why not Gwen Spider Woman? i think that will be great, cause, this is another universe, we dont have female characters besides Black Widow and now scarlet Witch. And Gwen Suit is pretty cool (and they dont have to retell spiderman story, its new and fresh)
StopKillingSpidey says
If Sony still has “creative control” then the whole deal is pointless.
Giving Sony Spider-Man is probably the biggest mistake Marvel made for their movie franchise.
Sony should just give back all rights to Marvel and stop being greedy.
They already make billions from their games.
Wolf says
“Miles Morales”?… absolutely not.
Wolf says
“Taking back Spider-Man under these circumstances sounds like a step away from “great movie making” and a step towards financial greed.”
– This makes the writer here seem both cynical and dim-witted. Marvel did not get Spidey out of greed, they got him for the fans, and the stories. Spidey is so far is a big gaping hole in the MCU that they finally plugged.
The rest of this article is pure non-sense, written simply so that it could carry the title: “The Downside of The Avengers adopting Spider-Man”, and make everyone click the link. That’s all these moronic articles are these days, crappy journalism in search of click-rates…
Stormy says
I can see what you mean. To be honest, I like Spider-man on his own. Seeing him with the avengers does bring nostalgia, but even when playing Capcom vs Marvel back then, he seemed out of place. Spider-man for me is a very psychological character. He’s always buried in his head with TONS of worry and seems to enjoy his dark hole. First it was “I killed my Uncle!” then it was “Mary Jane hates me!” then it was “omfg I killed Mary Jane!” and I think he’s not the the most… emotionally stable guy. Nice guys but not a team player. Plus…. his corniness is pretty cringe worthy.
Cody Barrows says
I want Tobey Maguire back as spider man. He looked more like Peter Parker than Andrew Garfield did. It’s not Tobey’s fault Sony is crap at writing movie scripts.
Kenny Hensley says
I think they need to bring back Nicholas Hammond as Spidey. Nobody crawls a wall like that guy.
slickwillard says
Marvel’s doing just fine without your opinion. Bringing Spiderman into whatever movie they decide to bring him into will be awesome because we have no other reason to believe otherwise. This isn’t Sony this Marvel. End story.
corey says
The downside of adding Spider man…..the fact that they added spiderman… He needs to go away. After all the vomit inducing spiderman movies I have no desire to see him on anything else…bad move…and they even pushed back for some of the other movies that I would rather see
Evan Cm says
They don’t really need to do a reboot to make this work. Sorry to the Morales fans below, but while I think it’s possible for Marvel to go in that direction eventually, the fact that he’s in Civil War makes it REALLY seem like they’re going with Parker. That movie is going to be so full of… well, so ridiculously full of heroes. They don’t have time for a new origin story, and the value of Peter Parker is they basically don’t have to. Everyone who has any interest in comic books or movies based on them knows who Peter Parker is, they all know his backstory. New actor or not, all Marvel has to do is throw him on the screen with one or two lines of dialog about getting bitten by a spider and Uncle Ben’s murder and poof, Origin Story done.
I really hope Marvel does go that course. Not totally a reboot, not totally a sequel, just throw Spider-Man in there and just ignore the question of which film continuity he’s coming from.
Dragon rider says
You can’t go wrong with spiderman. Its the story around the web head that screws him every time. With marvels input, im sure its going to be a solid perfect story.
Finally spiderman is going to be in a movie that will do the character justice.
Philip James says
I don’t have a problem with either version of Peter Parker, although Tobey Maguire is probably a little too old to portray him now. My biggest problems with the first version, was the omission of a very important facet to Peter Parker – HE was a budding scientist, rivaling Tony Stark & Reed Richards. Peter created the webbing, and the web-shooters. This version struck me as not being particularly smart, and did not have a future, other than as a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Not to mention, to have him “generating” the webbing from inside himself was too far removed from his character, and unnecessarily bizarre.
Other than that, the Green Goblin in the original movie was ridiculous.
Philip James says
As far as bringing Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I am all for it! I’m not sure they need to do another reboot, just regard his appearances, as a few years down the road from the last S-M movie. I DON’T want to see a bumbling, amateurish Spidey, but rather one that is capable of holding his own, alongside The Avengers.
SeoulKoreaPeninsula says
Spiderman, Badman, Superman, far too many remakes. Spiderman should play minor role in Avengers.
danyael says
1.In The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers New York was wrecked, yet somehow there was no mention of such events in the franchises’ respective movies?
– Given that sony’s spider movies are not part of the marvel movie universe it makes sense the the avengers movie would not reference things that happened in sonys movies and vice versa.
There’s another big-time superhero in New York, yet none of the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever taken notice of him?
– this one has a really quick fix…maybe he is not in the avengers movie because he had not gotten his powers yet.
danyael says
And it does not matter if the tone and realism are different because marvels spiderman is not connected to the sony spiderman, again, the events in sonys movies never happened in the marvel movie universe.
rosie1843 says
[“Marvel has been on a winning streak for years producing entertaining, yet highly qualitative superhero movies, while the Spider-Man franchise has been in a downwards spiral ever since the series’ highlight, Spider-Man 2. Not once, but twice Sony killed its own cash cow by oversaturating their Spider-Man movies with an unbalanced amount of characters and diluting the characters that actually mattered.”]
This is bullshit. Your comments about Sony’s handling of the SPIDER-MAN franchise is nothing more than your reaction to Gwen Stacy being bumped off in the last film. Why do you people insist upon being so shallow and hypocritical?
Realityleak says
My biggest problem is that spiderman and antman in the same room might make for issues. Otherwise it’s all good
Krazy Joe says
” The tone, style and level of “realism” of the “universes”The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers inhabit are very different. ” — No, they aren’t different at all.
Krazy Joe says
Absolutely not. And THANK GOD it won’t be!
ChupacabraTerror says
Author writes: “There’s another big-time superhero in New York, yet none of the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever taken notice of him?”
Are you implying Spider-Man had his powers and was an acting superhero from birth? He gained his powers when he was a teen. Is it that unfeasible that he is currently a student in NY, pre spider bite??
HolyFranchiseBatman! says
Kevin Feige has stated this month that Spider-Man already exists and is operating in New York.
sarpande says
Let’s face it, Spider-man got hooked up with a studio that is bad at making superhero films, since Spider-Man is a major part of the comics maybe being back were it belongs will make a better movie.
thetrellan says
Personally, I think that Spidey has been done wrong for decades now, not just on screen but in the comics as well. The fact that they made him an Avenger only illustrates this point. He has always worked best as the world’s most messed up loner. All of his biggest problems stemmed from the fact that he believed pathologically that he could never reveal his identity to anyone. Every time it seemed he should tell another soul, he was soon confronted with some lame pretext for wussing out and just suffering in silence.
But once he started to share his secret, all of that drama went out the window, and everything that made Peter Parker unique and interesting went with it.
For this reason, his time as an Avenger always seemed to make him a kind of fifth wheel. He got along well with everyone, sure, but he was no longer integral to the plot. Spider Man made more sense in the Fantastic Four than he ever did as an Avenger.
Why should that be, you ask? Because Johnny was his age and Reed was his intellectual superior. Age and science are cornerstones of the amazing Spider-Man’s world as much as loss and tragedy. Because as tragic as his life is, it nevertheless is a life of wonder.
Which is why taking the geek out of the new Amazing Spider-Man was such a serious mistake. Spidey needs to be a sharp inventor capable of troubleshooting his way through even the worst beat-downs.
Sure he’s sociable and works well with others. But he’s at his best when he’s alone. Making him part the cinematic Avengers would just be repeating a mistake on Marvel’s part.
If they really want to make good use of the character, they should give him a TV series instead.
Jeffrey Mercado says
Ugh….another Spider-Man reboot? This is becoming more ridiculous than all the Batman reboots. Seriously , wait at least 10 years. I don’t know how many times I can watch a movie with the same lame origin story.
Alexander Rose says
Oh hell yes, Miles fucking Morales yo! Even Andrew himself says he would like Miles to be the story off his own! So do that shit! If you put it together right, won’t be a whole lot of bitching bout how Peter isn’t spidey no more, and Miles Morales a black 13yr Old is! Besides Peter himself gave Miles his webb shooters after he kicked Goblin’s ass!
drd7of14 says
I disagree…I believe that Disney planned to acquire the use of Spiderman in the MCU at some point or another, probably to be involved in Civil War. The deal they struck only makes sense because it is unlikely that SONY would ever sell off one of their biggest money makers that they are in no obligation to, as of yet, return. They still own the movie rights. This partnership only helps SONY, and allows them to continue making films, so they didn’t mind.
ziggsaw says
Andrew Garfield was a good smart ass spiderman and when spiderman 1st started he was skinny..but this is now disney and just like jhonny storm in fantastic four there gonna fuck up and make the new peter parker a black guy or hispanic
drjay425 says
Honestly the best portrayal I could imagine for parker would be something already well developed into his “spideyhood”. already self aware who he is, maybe continuing right after where Amazing Spiderman 2 finished already having lost Gwen so he is definitely protective over the ones he loves but still eager to keep fighting the fight. thats the parker I want to see in Civil War. doesnt have to be Andrew Garfield but at the very least an already developed spiderman who has seen his share of tragedy but still has a long way to go.
Eclipsian says
The Avengers was best with the core six who made up the team in the first movie. As a longtime comics fan, I’m more than aware that the membership of the Avengers changed and shifted many times on the pages of Marvel. However, movies are not comic books. You don’t have the leisure of many issues over many years to get to know the characters. Movie audiences become invested in the characters they love from the first movie in a series, and larding in more and more characters – especially in the context of a two-hour movie, into which only so much story can be packed – becomes a huge problem. I loved “Age of Ultron,” but the movie WAS far too packed with characters – it barely gave us time to get to know Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver or Vision. It would have been much better had it just taken time to explore the characters and emotions of Tony, Steve, Clint, Natasha, Bruce and Thor. So no, I don’t agree with adding Spider-man into the mix, either. What we DON’T need is even more characters in the Avengers. I still don’t think they’ll be able to do “Civil War” the way it was done in the comics — there, we had an investment in many of the characters who lived and died in the war. But in the movie world, we don’t – someone like Goliath, for example, will be meaningless to 99.9% of the movie audience. They’ll have to take a different route in telling the story, because they won’t have the masses of superheroes that the comic books could throw in. They also cannot turn Iron Man OR Captain America into a bad guy, because both are beloved and looked up to by audiences worldwide – so both will have to be equally right and equally wrong. That part can be accomplished in a good script, but for the rest — I wonder how they’ll do it?
LoverVideogame2 . says
It needs to be fucking Tobey Magurie! They not be true that they use retarded ugly Tom Holland. That will make everyone mad! It will even make Avengers go bankrupt and alot of people start to hate them!! Everyone wants Tobey Maguire back!! He’s the best irreplaceable Spider-Man of all time!! The Spider-Man trilogy sold 200 million while Andrew Garfield only sold 100 million. So everybody loves Tobey Maguire and watches him over and over again as Spider-Man he’s the most famous most popular irreplaceable Spider-Man and has been proven that he can’t ever be replaced.