…Sony had big plans for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, only for the superhero sequel to do more damage than good when it come to laying the foundation for a wider Spidey-centric universe, and Andrew Garfield has taken a moment this week to reflect on the negative reaction to the summer blockbuster, citing studio interference for its failings: “I read a lot of the reactions from people and I had to stop because I could feel I was getting away from how I actually felt about it… For me, I read the script that Alex [Kurtzman] and Bob [Orci] wrote, and I genuinely loved it. There was this thread running through it. I think what happened was, through the pre-production, production, and post-production, when you have something that works as a whole, and then you start removing portions of it—because there was even more of it than was in the final cut, and everything was related. When you have something that works as a whole, and then you start removing portions of it … saying, ‘No, that doesn’t work,’ then the thread is broken, and it’s hard to go with the flow of the story. Certain people at the studio had problems with certain parts of [the movie]. And ultimately the studio is the final say in those movies, because they’re the tentpoles, so you have to answer to those people. I got to work in deep scenes that you don’t usually see in comic book movies, and I got to explore this orphan boy — a lot of which was taken out, and which we’d explored more… What’s underneath the complaint, and how can we learn from that? We have to ask ourselves, ‘What do we believe to be true?’ Is it that this is the fifth Spider-Man movie in however many years, and there’s a bit of fatigue? Is it that there was too much in there? Is it that it didn’t link? If it linked seamlessly, would that be too much? Were there tonal issues? What is it..?”
…With Sony putting The Amazing Spider-Man 3 on the backburner in favour of 2016’s The Sinister Six, Andrew Garfield responded to a question about Spider-Man’s potential involvement in the supervillain ensemble by stating that: “I know more than I’m allowed to say right now. I can say I’m really excited about Drew Goddard, who’s going to be writing and directing The Sinister Six movie. And whether I’m involved in that or not is kind of immaterial…”
…The Sinister Six aren’t the only Spider-Man villains heading to the big screen, with Alex Kurtzman tackling directing duties on the Venom movie – reportedly going by the title of Venom Carnage – and Kurtzman has offered up a few words on the appeal of the fan favourite symbiote: “The idea is that you can do things with Venom that you can’t do with Spider-Man. Venom is the representation of every line that will get crossed. He’s a much darker character.” Kurtzman then went on to share some thoughts on how Sony could get the main Spidey franchise back on track with The Amazing Spider-Man 3: “I think as long as it keeps staying true to character, and true to who Peter is, and putting him in interesting and complicated situations, it’ll survive because it’s so beloved – everybody loves Spider-Man…”
…Over at Fox and it seems that James McAvoy’s Professor X will finally be going bald for X-Men: Apocalypse, with McAvoy saying this week that “I’ll be older in this one, I think I’m losing my hair finally. And, yeah, that’s kind of all I know. I got an email from the producer, writer Simon Kinberg, who informed me he was getting dead excited about stuff, but he didn’t want to divulge anything for a couple of weeks, so I really don’t know.” Apocalypse is set for release in May 2016, with McAvoy joined in the cast – so far – by Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Evan Peters (Quicksilver) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine)…
…And finally, we’ve got a few superhero-themed op-eds on Flickering Myth this week – be sure to check out Anghus Houvouras’ The Most Disappointing Films – X-Men: First Class, Thomas Roach’s Should Marvel Start Pairing Heroes for Team-Up Movies, How Marvel Can Still Do a Civil War Movie, Will Gotham Fail Without Batman? and Is Batman v Superman’s Move to March 2016 Good or Bad? and James Garcia’s Why The Shazam Movie Needs Billy Batson.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
Originally published September 13, 2014. Updated March 19, 2020.
