Why Amazing Spider-man 2 failed

Talking to my friend BeLauriette earlier about all this amazingly painful "BvS Rants" that we stumbled upon yesterday got us to talking about comic book movies, reboots, and the myriad reasons why people think some of these movies succeeded or failed. And in the conversation we got to one of my favorite comic book characters Spider-man and the back story of how Spider-man went from just Spidey, to being Amazing. Let's be clear, I actually liked Amazing Spider-man 2. They got the characterizations of almost everyone used perfect, but it failed and it forced Sony to turn make a deal with Marvel to share the web head's rights but for a movie franchise that has made so many billions of dollars I think we all agree that Sony was forced into that decision. The question is why. And the answer is quite simple, impatience.

Spider-man 3 came out, and it was going to be Sam Raimi's last movie with the Spider-man cast. He had a good run, had a multi billion dollar franchise under his belt and COULD have rode off into the sunset not unlike Christopher Nolan when Dark Knight Rises rolled the closing credits. The problem is Raimi didn't want to leave, Spider-man was his baby and he wanted to stay on board. So he did the most petty thing in movie history, he killed off not only a good future villain, but the next potential franchise inn the same movie. I am a Spider-man fan with over 35+ years under my belt(yes I fully admit to owning Spidey PJ's and Underoos), I have seen MANY iterations of the wall crawler, his villains, and many art styles. I have seen him animated many different ways, Saw Tom Hammond don those awful tights, and even watched a few live performance versions of Spidey at the mall.
 So I say Sam Raimi was petty because I know exactly what was about to happen, Sony was going to do the fourth movie about Venom, get a Spin off franchise staring the venom Symbiote, and they were gonna make money like toilet paper all without Sam Raimi, UNTIL Sam killed off all their hopes in that final act many moons ago. So while Sony could still make Spider-man movies, they lost revenue because they couldn't do a venom story and also lost a Goblin for a potential sinister 6 movie later. So Sony does the only thing they can, they Reboot the franchise and as if to tell the fans trust us we are going to do well they make the movies name the well loved title of one of Spider-man's titular comics Amazing Spider-man. The movie does quite well, by putting the webshooters back onto Peter Parker's wrists as well as showing his mechanical engineering prowess Sony got people to comeback and rewatch the Peter Parker to Spider-man origin story. And I think Andrew Garfield was a better Peter Parker than Toby Macguire and Emma Thompson made a great Gwen Stacy and their love affair was on screen magic. But it was also the unfortunate beginning of the end

The First Mistake

Captain Stacy dies in Amazing Spider-man, That would be Gwen's father, an old school but efficient policeman he believes in the hard work, the dependability of the department and loves his family, Dennis Leary gave an awesome performance. But I think he should have died in Amazing Spider-man 2, that way he pays the blood cost and doesn't force you to rush the story. By killing him off in AS1 you have already doubled the blood toll(remember Uncle Ben dies too), and you put this heavy undue burden on Peter Parker too soon(stay away from her, you live in a dangerous world kid). I am ecstatic that they didn't kill off the lizard(which was my original belief that they might try to do a villain movie and I loved it), they also showed somebody in the shadows as well as hinted that somehow someway Richard Parker (Peter's father) was involved or at least his research. You had so much non heavy handed set up for a second movie but now Captain Stacy is dead, and a little out of place we didn't have anybody pretending to be Spider-man yet.

Anyway AS (or ASM I have seen it posted both ways) makes a very respectable amount at the box office and we hear the sequel is coming. Reports come out that Electro is the villain and Harry Osbourne has been cast, Norman Osbourne is in the movie, and somehow Rhino has also been cast. Now I thought hmm, Norman, Electro, and Rhino, that's a bit much, but then again Oscorp was in the first movie so, sooner or later Norman had to show up. The problem is that when he did show up in the movie he dies, IMMEDIATELY okay how do we get our green goblin? We get him, it's just rushed(catching a theme here, rushing equals fail) Harry finds some old enhanced spider venom and shoots into into his veins and then uses the enhanced goblin armor to keep himself alive during the healing process. Personally I mean I know why Sony did it, somebody had this GLORIOUS plan about getting the sinister six out in these streets. Problem is in Raimi's movies Goblin and Doc Oc died, so that's two staple members dead before you can even introduce anymore, then of course he killed Gobby Jr./Hobgoblin in 3 so now you have had 4 going on 5 Spider-man movies and you want somehow someway to be symbolic and call the sixth the Sinister Six.

Slow ya roll pimping, that is six villains, which means 6 movies FIRST then try to spring them on us. Again RUSHING MEANS FAIL. By the way lets address it, I love what they did with Rhino. Rhino sucks he is a big, dumb, tank that runs into stuff and usually gets knocked out to be taken down. I was good with him being the last fight of the movie GOOD nobody cares about Rhino as a villain. He's a goon, you just use him as muscle and keep it pushing. Electro was done more along the lines of Ultimate instead of 616(Marvels main universe) and I was good with that, Sunflower head always looks weird to me I know he was made in the 60's but how drunk was his creator? Nah seriously this is his classic costume right here, do you see that brave soul there? That man has SUPREME CONFIDENCE, because ain NO WAY I would wear that. I often wonder how Spidey didn't die laughing every time he fought him, like there should have been a deleted scene where Jamie Foxx walked out wearing that and Andrew Garfield was on the ground crying holding his stomach. So the Ultimate regularly clothed semi looking like an electric eel theme they had going I'm good with that I really am.

Ending the Love Story too Soon

That Andrew Garfield and Emma Thompson had such great on screen chemistry, I mean look remember what I said Spidey fan for 35+ years I know: Stan the Man has decreed "Peter Parker's Life Must SUCK" I do I know that seriously. But you should have Killed Emma in the THIRD MOVIE, Norman not Harry as the Goblin kills Gwen so if you WANTED Norman dead you should have done the slow burn. Let the venom get into Harry's system and then SLOWLY turn him into the Goblin, I like how Willem Dafoe didn't realize he was the Green Goblin until the end of the second act. Harry should have looked sickly in the third act, been somewhat erratic but apologetic at the same time his father just died you could have blamed it on that. Even HINTING that Gwen was leaving was silly, why? Let them both stay and enjoy their time together Gwen with the brain was a hit, smarter than Peter more confident, more level headed give them that last movie together so that you can really see why she is the love of his life forever more(yes I know what I said, go read the "House of M" when Peter gets his perfect life who is he with?). The whole "let's have him lose her either way" motif that yall set up was way too soon. Give them the whole "Sunny Days" moment, let Peter really think that he has his life as Spider-man down pat, he has the woman of his dreams, he's in college AND things are looking up. Play that up for one more movie, that's why I say Captain Stacy should have died in ASM2, it would have been a good lead in to the ends starting to fray.

The other reason that you let it play out for another movie is because it THEN gives you an excuse to have him in this DEEP depression at the end of the third movie, so that in the fourth one IF you decide to introduce the symbiote/black costume you can understand how the suit would have caught him unawares, why it would be extra seductive. I mean you would have 2 maybe 3 bad guys locked up(Lizard, Rhino, possibly Electro if you change how you defeat him), you have Harry losing his marbles, maybe he pops up in the Goblin suit WITH a helmet so that No one knows who he is. Gwen and Peter working together to not only improve the web fluid but also to try and figure out who the Green Goblin is, here you get to introduce a new IN FRONT villain while Harry is secretly setting everything up from the background. Make him the Norman Osbourne who created the Dark Avengers and the Iron Patriot suit, working behind the scenes to undermine the heroes and get done his evil agenda. By the time Peter and Gwen figure out who he is he also knows Peter's secret identity, so after tricking Peter into fighting some other villain on the other side of town, Maybe Sandman or Vulture, he gets a call from Gwen only it's Harry and he tells him "see you at the clock/bridge/school" wherever you want their final battle to start. Then you end it just the way you did in Amazing Spider-man 2.

Gwen's death scene is to the comics, I have no problem with how they portrayed it just when. I know they wanted their own block buster(then again they already had him), I know they were thinking Spin Offs which is of course MOVIE GOLD, I mean look at Star Wars putting out Rogue One on an off year. The problem is it has to make sense and it has to be set up properly, Rogue One it LOOKS like is about the team that stole the plans for the first Death Star, the basic details about this movie are 30 years old. We know Bothan Spies stole the plans, don't know what a Bothan looks like, don't care, don't know if they helped her. What I do know is, Awesome I get to see the Death Star built, take my money. I would love to see a Venom movie, ummm how you gone put that out when you didn't introduce him in EITHER ASM? Some say that in the After Credits scene the symbiote was seen there but here is the thing, Peter Parker gets the suit FIRST and THEN it becomes venom, it doesn't become venom on it's own. All the Symbiotes born from the black one copy Spider-man's powers BECAUSE it first bonded with Peter Parker and copied his abilities. You can't skip that part, you just can't.

What I hope to See going Forward

Sony screwed up, have now made the deal with Marvel and of course now a Venom Movie, a new Spider-man movie and at some point in time a Sinister Six movie are going to hit theaters. The question is have they figured out how to do it right, MAYBE. Honestly I say mix both universes so that you get the villains and you get the symbiote. Maybe Marvel can have Tom Holland's Spider-man bump into a Symbiote either in Civil War(since they are fighting against people who are using alien tech a lot), or in his stand alone movie(some say it is titled Homecoming). He doesn't have to spend the whole movie in the suit but he does have to spend some time in there, that way Venom copies his abilities AND is immune to his Spider sense(yes that is important). I also want them to do more with the whole Oscorp angle, honestly while Oscorp is usually a Spider-man problem they are also in competition with Stark. It will alleviate some of the pressure off of Spider-man movies as well as since you have the TV shows preview some of the stuff on them. I have heard rumors of a show called Damage Control and also Cloak and Dagger coming down the line. We know about Hammer Industries from IM2, we know about AIM from IM3, Hydra from Captain America, Daredevil has Introduced Wilson Fisk, keep doing that, build up your rogues gallery and then figure out who you want your sinister 6 to be. Since Marvel has this huge playground you could use Whiplash's tech, Aim Tech, possibly create Modok, who you could have experimenting on people and creating new super villains that possibly go after other avengers or else a young Spider-man since he seems to be Starks Protege.

I mean yeah yeah, Marvel has a great track record so far of building towards the moment. But it's Spider-man, I am pretty sure that they have been salivating over this for years. He is their Star, DC has Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman right well the top of the Marvel Mt. Rushmore is SPIDER-MAN, The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, Iron man/Captain America/Thor and currently climbing up the side DEADPOOL. Spider-man is that dude though, check google, see how often the web head is on your TV screen, see how many different shows he has had and for how many years. The current group in control of Marvel Studios are about to get Dad's car, Stan Lee is Dad, and his Mustang was Spider-man. I hope excitement doesn't over take them and even if it does it's not like they are only gonna do one Spider-man movie, hell they will probably just apologize and be like "look, sorry, we got a little too excited. The next one will be properly awesome, we just had to get this out of our system." I mean if you look at the supposedly title it screams "we about to pop every bottle we can find, blow the budget, be CGI pigs, and figure out a way to go to outer space" why because they have their big dog back. The character who actually powers the store, the character who raised them from the ashes and made them household names. Plus they know if they do him right, they could probably buy everybody back and then throw Spider-man and Deadpool in a movie together. Why, because it would break the internets that's why. You think Marvel Studios prints money now, let them start making Fan Boy movies with everybody's two favorite quipists(is that a word)/Quip Meisters(those are two separate words)/Lords of smack talk? I don't know how to describe them, but those two on a screen together DUDE, I know I know, currently wishful thinking. BUT Marvel has two movies coming out this year and one hell of a War Chest(which would be bigger if they would ever release the phase one and two box sets in the appropriate containers smh), they have shown the fans that they will take their time to tell the story you want to see, and I am pretty sure their bosses at Disney wouldn't mind having access to their entire universe so that they could really start enjoying the merchandising.

So yes, Amazing Spider-man 2 failed, not because it wasn't faithful to the characters, or because it didn't tell the story well, but because it told the story too soon in hopes of catching up in a race that they had plenty of time to run.