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Thematic Musings on Upcoming Spider-Man Movies

February 23, 2018 - - -

On my drive into work this morning, I was listening to The Letters Page podcast, and they dropped a reference to the Tobey McGuire Spider-man movies, in which New Yorkers band together to stand against the super-villain in what ultimately ends up being nothing more than a symbolic gesture. This got me thinking about the post-9/11 themes of the first couple Tobey McGuire films, and how certain aspects of that might carry over into today's Tom Holland films.

I love Tom Holland's Spider-Man. I like that he's younger than Tobey McGuire was, and Marvel's writing today is far better than the writing in the Tobey McGuire films. The Tobey McGuire films had a few good things: Willem Dafoe, Bruce Campbell, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, and of course J.K. Simmons as J Jonah Jameson. But especially in the later films, they were just terrible.

What makes Tom Holland's Spider-Man great isn't just Tom Holland, and the fact that the guy can actually do a backflip. It's the whole MCU. I love that they didn't need to go back through the whole Uncle Ben thing again. We've seen it with Tobey McGuire, we've seen it with Andrew Garfield, and we don't need to see it again. I love that Spider-Man was first introduced in a non-Spider-Man movie. I love that we're first seeing him in high school. And most of all, I love that in Civil War, they hit on one of the biggest themes in Spider-Man without actually saying it.

The theme I'm talking about, the one you've heard 100 times if you're into Spider-Man, should instantly be familiar. "With great power, comes great responsibility". And I've got to give the writers so much credit for how they brought it in. Peter says "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you." BAM. That's it, right there. Phrased the way a high school kid might say it. Perfectly.

Peter feels the responsibility of his power. He has the ability to affect great change on things in his city and the world. How should he use that? How might not using it be a mistake? How do other people in New York feel about Spider-Man and what he's doing? How many people have strong opinions about what he's doing? Not everybody is going to be a fan. Politicians, Newspaper Op-Eds, law enforcement....

The first Tobey McGuire Spider-Man movie was scheduled for release (I think) in late 2001 or early 2002, which means that 9/11 happened pretty much after principal photography for the movie was complete. There had originally been a scene of Spider-Man building a web between the twin towers, and that scene was obviously torn out of the movie. I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet that the whole New Yorkers banding together scene was added as a direct influence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I was in Manhattan on September 14th and 15th, 2001, and I can tell you personally - the mood in the city was very different then. The movies did their best to reflect a bit of that.

It's coming up on two decades later now, and the themes that most heavily affected the early Spider-Man films won't be as dominant in today's movies, but I'd like to see other themes covered. I'd like "Great Power, Great Responsiblity" to pick up where Spider-Man: Homecoming left off.

How do New Yorkers react to Spider-Man? He obviously wasn't active during the alien invasion of New York City - he'd probably have been 11 years old then, going by the MCU timeline. He didn't really make an appearance until after the Sokovia Accords came into place, and siding with Tony, he's obviously signed them. This obviously didn't affect how he patrolled the boroughs, so how is it that he's able to fight crime with impunity when I thought the Sokovia Accords prohobited superheroes from acting without government consent? How does the community feel about this? Might there be someone who's vocally opposed? Someone in an influential position? Someone like... J. Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle?

This is one area I'd love to see the upcoming 2019 Spider-Man movie explore. The earlier films have squandered much of Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery, and we've seen that having multiple villains in Spider-Man movies can be a recipe for disaster, so how about filling out that secondary villain slot with a not-real-villain like Jameson? While he's not physically threatening Spider-Man, reputation damage or legal trouble can be a big deal, and could feel twice as intense to a teenager.

Along the same lines, how about The Black Cat? She's a kind of half-villain. A thief who ended up being Spider-Man's girlfriend at one point. She could make for a very interesting foil.

I'd have loved to see him get the symbiote suit at some point during Infinity War, and then spend a significant amount of time using it with no immediate ill effect before discovering the problem and birthing Venom, but they almost certainly can't use Venom, due to the spinoff movie later this year.

We've seen Doc Ock, Green Goblin, and Hobgoblin done well. We've seen Sand Man, Electro, and The Lizard done poorly. Kingpin was used by Netflix. And we've seen The Rhino appear as a total joke. So who remains as viable villains to use? I've got two remaining ideas.

  • Kraven the Hunter - From Van Peltish origins, Kraven wanted to hunt down Spider-Man to show that he's the best. But given how low-key Spider-Man has been in the MCU up to this point, his story might have to be changed like they did with The Vulture, who used to be a skinny old man in a green bird suit. Perhaps rather than being Russian, Kraven is Wakandan. Stir, and season to taste.
  • Mysterio - Just as Kraven might potentially come out of a Black Panther movie, Mysterio could come out of a Doctor Strange movie. Using a combination of magic, tech, and hallucinogenic chemicals, he could be a serious threat to Spider-Man.

Considering the social implications of Spider-Man's environment could make for a more interesting movie than one where he's simply punching bad guys. So much of what makes up superhero movies is becoming cliche. So looking for new directions like this could keep the movies fresh.