— by JON MARTINCIC —
I’m as big a fan as anyone of all three of the “Spider-man” movies. It’s been a treat watching one series spark the biggest movie trend of the previous decade. Tobey Maguire has been phenomenal as Peter Parker, James Franco made Harry Osbourne into as strong a character as anyone could have hoped for, and the villains have been extremely entertaining. The hard work the crew and cast put into the past 10 years have paid off tremendously.
However, there are times when all good things must end and Sony has decided to reboot the series. With that in mind, here are four reasons why it makes sense for Sony to reboot using the “Ultimate Spider-man” comic book series:
1) It’s a new take on the character and deviates completely from the previous villains and storylines. The characters will start off even younger than in Raimi’s first “Spider-man” film, which adds to the distance between the two incarnations.
2) There’s already a long list of previous work to refer to, not to mention the peripheral “Ultimate” aspects being used in Marvel Studios comic book productions. Samuel L. Jackson’s character in “Iron Man” is a good example of this. It was an alternative to the primary Nick Fury character, which the audience loved.
3) The cast will portray these characters in a new light. Peter is actually a nerd, Eddie Brock is very similar to James Franco’s character in the previous series, and M.J. will no longer be the alpha female. The new characters are what will give this series a new feel, which is the point of the revamping.
4) The prospect of Spider-man making his way into Marvel’s “Avengers” series is far-fetched, especially with Sony holding the leash, but it would be a fanboy’s dream. This is the version that fits the most. He’s underpowered and a little immature, you know … like a teenager. Sam Raimi did a great job of portraying a Spider-man that people can relate to, this does the work for the writing team.
Sony is said to be pushing for a 2012 release, which makes this scenario unlikely, but not impossible. I’m not going to introduce any sort of 12-step plan, but I will say that if the current script is completely scrapped, then this has as much of a chance as any.
If there is any doubt, than I invite all to read one just one “Ultimate Spider-man” comic. We may not all be fans of comics, but the villains — as in the backbone of superhero movies — are presented as something to be admired. The big three — Venom, Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus — are all adapted to the new direction. This means a new series doesn’t have to avoid these previously-used characters, giving lots of new and interesting adventures for our hero.
This may not be the most common suggestion, but it makes sense to this “Spider-fan.” There will be change, and I assume most of us are hoping for the best. Sony has the opportunity to double their money with a second franchise, this seems to be their best shot.
(Art by Mark Bagley)
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very good article jon. i agree with your points totally. This is a great chance for them to try some new and different things raimi didnt do in his series. I too enjoyed raimi/toby’s spider-man movies. I do still wish they continued with it but oh well. We can just home they will do a good movie this time.
As for things i definately want to see done a little differently is to get a good balance going between hero time and peter time. Get to spend more time with peter friends like flash, gwen, mj, harry, and get others in there like liz allen and what not. Def would like to see peter’s protrayed as smart as he is and get a chance to show that off with getting mechnical webshooters/fluid, spider- tracers, and some other cool spidey tech we didnt get in the raimi movies.
As for villains i would prefer to stick with the more classic looks for foes. Since some of the ultimate redesigns are a bit so so for some characters. I do agree we dont need to see venom/ock/sandman/green goblin off the bat for this new series. Though should have otto and norman as supporting roles.
They should definately use some foes we havent gotten to see on the big screen yet like shocker, electro, mysterio, kraven, maybe include some of spidey’s known mob characters like silvermane, hammerhead, the other crime families i dont know names too.
So i am willing to give this new series a chance. I hope sony looks at things fans didnt like about raimi’s movies and give webb the chance to make his take without to much studio interfering.
Makes sense to me.
what jon said or what i said lori?
Haha – both actually.
I am against a reboot. but, i was pretty tired of some aspects of the current Spiderman films. Hated Mary-Jane whatever her name is. But, it doesnt change the fact that I will be there on the forst day of the next Spideman movie. lol. Im gonna watch it. so, hopefully they do it right.
Thanks guys.
The Marvel Comics franchise has a lot of freedom in terms of depth of their characters, I’d just like to see some creative muscle flaunted. If only DC could follow the lead…