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seriousficIt seems pretty obvious that both movie Spider-Man continuities had two serial plots mixed in with the monster of the week business of Doctor Octopus and the Lizard. Here's Raimi's take.
1. Peter's developing relationship with Mary Jane Watson.
2. Harry Osborn's growing vendetta against Spider-Man.
Obviously, both of those work just perfectly being built up across multiple movies, even with the final chapter being compromised by the need to sell Venom toys. And here's Webb's (or the council of corporate oligarchs that dictate his creative vision) take.
1. The death of Gwen Stacy.
2. The Sinister Six.
(3. Peter being destined to be Spider-Man because FUCK YOU, NARRATIVES THAT AREN'T ABOUT THE CHOSEN ONE!)
Here's the thing. Both of Webb's developing plots are bullshit.
The death of Gwen Stacy was a big deal in comics since it had never been done before. Since then, it's become one of the most common plot devices to the point of being outright offensive. The genius of Raimi was in borrowing that scenario wholesale for his first Spider-Man movie, then remixing it--Peter does save the girl, but because of his responsibilities, can't be with her. That take was new and exciting, to the point that both Batman Begins and Harry freakin' Potter ripped it off. He did exactly what a good adaptation should--being faithful to the source material, but discarding elements that were outdated and not working, to be replaced with his own creative vision.
Webb's decided to literally go back in time ten years and undo that subversion, and in fact stretch out that particular narrative to a possible trilogy of Peter's gf dying and him feeling sad about it. I mean, fuck, man, Lethal Weapon 2 did that in two hours. Oh, and The Dark Knight, possibly the most popular superhero movie ever, already did it (and that at least had the twist that Rachel wasn't in love with Bruce at all).
As for the Sinister Six, I don't even know what to tell you. Sony wants its own 'Avengers crossover hit' thing (Fox is doing the same thing with X-Men, although all that's really accomplishing is making yet another movie where Wolverine is center stage), so they're jam-packing ASM2 with supervillains--there's Electro, the Rhino, not to mention the civilian identities of the Green Goblin, Venom, Menace, the Vulture, and the Lizard's still chilling in jail. So forget getting closure on any of those villains--they have to still be fighting mad for the Sinister Six, so endings as emotional and meaningful as Doctor Octopus's sacrifice or Norman Osborn's dying wish are replaced with "I'll get you next time, Spider-Man!" And for what? The Sinister Six is a completely arbitrary creation. It'd be the Sinister Fourteen if that were alliterative. Honestly, what incarnation of the Sinister Six ever had the Rhino or the Lizard in it, or didn't have Doctor Octopus? All they're building up to is the concept of having six supervillains at once, and anyone could tell that's just plain unworkable in a single movie. Look how badly Spider-Man 3 flubbed having literally half as many supervillains. And that was from a creative team that was lightyears ahead of whatever geniuses gave us the origin story of Peter Parker's glasses.
ETA: And another problem with the Gwen Stacy's dead storyline is--where does the darkness have to *go*? So Peter's supposed to be even more violent, moody, angry, sad, sullen, and guilt-ridden then he was in the *first* Amazing Spider-Man? Because there, he literally attempted murder. How much more emo can he possibly *get*? Is he going to start packing heat, drinking Wild Turkey from the bottle, and chain-smoking?
1. Peter's developing relationship with Mary Jane Watson.
2. Harry Osborn's growing vendetta against Spider-Man.
Obviously, both of those work just perfectly being built up across multiple movies, even with the final chapter being compromised by the need to sell Venom toys. And here's Webb's (or the council of corporate oligarchs that dictate his creative vision) take.
1. The death of Gwen Stacy.
2. The Sinister Six.
(3. Peter being destined to be Spider-Man because FUCK YOU, NARRATIVES THAT AREN'T ABOUT THE CHOSEN ONE!)
Here's the thing. Both of Webb's developing plots are bullshit.
The death of Gwen Stacy was a big deal in comics since it had never been done before. Since then, it's become one of the most common plot devices to the point of being outright offensive. The genius of Raimi was in borrowing that scenario wholesale for his first Spider-Man movie, then remixing it--Peter does save the girl, but because of his responsibilities, can't be with her. That take was new and exciting, to the point that both Batman Begins and Harry freakin' Potter ripped it off. He did exactly what a good adaptation should--being faithful to the source material, but discarding elements that were outdated and not working, to be replaced with his own creative vision.
Webb's decided to literally go back in time ten years and undo that subversion, and in fact stretch out that particular narrative to a possible trilogy of Peter's gf dying and him feeling sad about it. I mean, fuck, man, Lethal Weapon 2 did that in two hours. Oh, and The Dark Knight, possibly the most popular superhero movie ever, already did it (and that at least had the twist that Rachel wasn't in love with Bruce at all).
As for the Sinister Six, I don't even know what to tell you. Sony wants its own 'Avengers crossover hit' thing (Fox is doing the same thing with X-Men, although all that's really accomplishing is making yet another movie where Wolverine is center stage), so they're jam-packing ASM2 with supervillains--there's Electro, the Rhino, not to mention the civilian identities of the Green Goblin, Venom, Menace, the Vulture, and the Lizard's still chilling in jail. So forget getting closure on any of those villains--they have to still be fighting mad for the Sinister Six, so endings as emotional and meaningful as Doctor Octopus's sacrifice or Norman Osborn's dying wish are replaced with "I'll get you next time, Spider-Man!" And for what? The Sinister Six is a completely arbitrary creation. It'd be the Sinister Fourteen if that were alliterative. Honestly, what incarnation of the Sinister Six ever had the Rhino or the Lizard in it, or didn't have Doctor Octopus? All they're building up to is the concept of having six supervillains at once, and anyone could tell that's just plain unworkable in a single movie. Look how badly Spider-Man 3 flubbed having literally half as many supervillains. And that was from a creative team that was lightyears ahead of whatever geniuses gave us the origin story of Peter Parker's glasses.
ETA: And another problem with the Gwen Stacy's dead storyline is--where does the darkness have to *go*? So Peter's supposed to be even more violent, moody, angry, sad, sullen, and guilt-ridden then he was in the *first* Amazing Spider-Man? Because there, he literally attempted murder. How much more emo can he possibly *get*? Is he going to start packing heat, drinking Wild Turkey from the bottle, and chain-smoking?
