Amph Spider-Man & SSU Films (Madame Web, Venom 3, Kraven, Beyond the Spider-Verse)

Spider-Man 2 > any of the others. Yes Wock, I admit it's a good Spidey and overall superhero movie. It's just a shame that its lead can't act to save his life, let alone play a good Peter Parker/Spidey.

 

From best to worst...

Spider-Man 2
Amazing Spider-Man 2
Amazing Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 3

Don't get me wrong; I love all the Raimi films, but the third was crowded as hell. I put his first so low on the list because I've seen it way too many times.

 

Was Marc Webb watching Batman Forever and Batman and Robin when he was filming this? Cause he made Electro similar to Jim Carrey's Riddler and made him look like Arnold Schwarzengger's Mr. Freeze.

 

Invidious: I do appreciate you saying so. Really, though, I'm confused about people's reactions to Maguire's Parker. In my mind, he was more or less everything a superhero ought to be, and perfectly embodied the noble but embattled everyman that the story concept aspires to.

He could have been "Echo" or "The Resonant." The latter especially, if he was going to be presented as some sort of crime-boss or influential personage.

 

I don;t remember if it was here or not, but someone said Electro looked like Emperor Palpatine crossed with Dr. Manhattan. I don;t even like "Watchmen", but thought that was funny.

As for the "admirer turned enemy" story, its a classic theme in all of literature. The main difference is Electro didn't set out to hurt anyone, even after Spidey failed to remember him. Getting shot at was the proverbial "last straw".

 

He looked more like Mr. Freeze than Palpatine

 

Except that's not who Spider-Man is. He's the embattled everyman, but he's far from noble. That's why he went from being a celebrity superstar on TV talk shows to being a crime fighter who can barely keep his affairs in order, because he was a selfish prick. Mocking criminals is his stock in trade. It masked his fear and annoyed his enemies. He's quit multiple times when he's screwed things up. Alienated loves ones. Far from noble. You want noble, go see Superman.

Because Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr. felt that The Shocker was a more flamboyant and had more pizzazz. The Shocker uses compressed air that's vibrated at an intense frequency. A far cry from electricity.

 

Do they explain who the character was that visited Lizard Man in his cell at the very ending of ASM 1?

 

No but he does appear. He's most likely The Gentleman.

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

I'm not familiar with the comics lore, so who exactly is The Gentleman?

 

A figure from the novels actually (lol) who basically just brings together the Sinister Six.

 

The end credits for the new film list Michael Massee as "Mr. Fliers / The Gentlman".

He's a master manipulator, who in the comics works for a group called the Machiavelli Club. He's worked with the Sinister Six many times before, and was created as a "shadow figure" for the books in 1999.

 

That just sounds silly.

 

That's silly, but not any of the Spider-Man characters?

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme...der-man-2-and-its-self-sabotaging-plot-twist/

Good write-up on why the film's fidelity to the comics wasn't such a great idea.

 

Eh, that's over blown a bit. Yes, the film had Gwen die. The fans knew it. The larger audience that hasn't read "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" and hasn't watched or recall what was said on the bonus features for the Raimi films don't know this. Hence it would be a sudden shock to them to see Spider-Man fail. That's part of the character is that he sometimes fails. Whether he gets his ass handed to him, or he fails to save a loved one, he doesn't get to have the happy ending because he's human. Thus the third film will set up Mary Jane and go from there in having Peter recover from Gwen and have a new and meaningful relationship with her.

 

...until a few years down the line and in order to save another loved one Peter and MJ make a deal with a devil to tear asunder said meaningful relationship. Yeah...

 

I doubt that would happen in the films, but at the very least, the films can have Peter move on which happened in the comics.

 

I'm totally unfamiliar with the comics... so does that mean that the new movies are more consistent with the comics then, since the Maguire movies had Peter discover his powers and become Spider-Man while already interested in MJ (and Gwen Stacy wasn't even mentioned)?

 

Wocky the issue people have with Tobey Maguire is that he was either mildly retarded or savagely autistic. None of which suggested the kind of heroics he was supposed to portray, much less the Peter Parker of established canon.

 

Gwen was in Raimi's third film, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard. Raimi used Mary Jane for his first film's Goblin story instead of Gwen, because more general fans are familiar with her.

 

The pattern of Peter's relationships in the comics went thusly...

-Peter and Betty Brant (Elizabeth Banks in the Raimi films).
-Liz Allen liked Peter and was a rival with Betty. That eventually ended.
-May and Anna Watson tried to fix Peter up with MJ, but it didn't happen for a while. Then they went out a few times, before deciding to be friends.
-Betty married Ned Leads a while after her brother was killed and had broken up with Peter.
-Peter dated Gwen a few times in his freshman year, but then tried to screw Ned when he was gone on a long assignment, in order to get Betty back.
-After that failed, Peter and Gwen resumed dating and were together until her father's death. They got back together after she came back from Europe and then was killed by Norman shortly thereafter.
-Peter and MJ dated for a long stretch after enough of a mourning period. He proposed, but she turned him down and left.
-Peter dated Glory Grant, Jonah's new secretary a few times.
-Deb Whitman tried to date Peter, but she had problems due to an abusive marriage and suffered from delusions.
-Peter had picked up with Betty again and it is implied that she cheated on Ned.
-That relationship ended and Peter took up with Black Cat, while being hit on by Joy Mercado.
-Peter then tried to juggle both MJ and Felicia until it blew up in his face. Then he finally got together with MJ.

Right at present, the current series is following the relationship pattern of the 616 universe, but excising the other characters in between. Had MJ's scenes not been cut, the set up would have been much more apparent.

 

Ah, Peter Parker. You playah, you.

 

I had no idea Elizabeth Banks was in the Raimi films.