Spider Man Reboot - Your Cast & Plot?

[Myasishchev]

Tell me that Peter's not an idiot.

Organic webshooters take that problem away.

Peter's not an idiot. In the House of M version of events he made a fortune selling a version of his web shooters as a safe self-defence weapon. However, everyone knew he was Spider-Man so it didn't matter.

The problem is that if he sells this idea then it's a means of exposing his secret identity. All his enemies would have to do is find out who patented the idea and there you go - Spider-Man is Peter Parker.

And he can't just not be a superhero because of the "with great power comes great responsibility" thing.

Not if he patented it first. Then he's just a guy with super-strength who's repurposed Parker Brand Webbing into a weapon.

Of course, this would be too sensible.

Also, in reply to the comments about Topher Graas as Parker--I could sort of get behind that, to the extent it would be about the only thing that would make me even consider seeing an idiotic reboot of a ten year old franchise that, imo, was done pretty damned well the first time.

But you know, Topher was--and I know this is by far not the majority opinion--a really excellent Eddie Brock. I never liked Brock in the comics. I liked Brock a lot in Spider-Man 3. Was Venom introduced too soon, without any plausible backstory to the symbiote,* and in an already crowded story? Of course. But Topher was a marvelous Brock/Venom, given what he had to work with.

*Why the Christ did they use an asteroid? You already have the son of a bioengineering firm's CEO as a villain. It seems as if a doable, non-Secret War-related black costume origin would have written itself--it was a incomplete Norman Osborne experiment--would have written itself. Harry could've used it in the opening framing sequence; the jump from the loser of the fight, to Peter Parker's obviously fitter body, would have made sense from the symbiote's point of view; Peter would not have had to totally ignore the fact that he decided to wear a facehugger from outer space, since he would figure out/be told that it was an experimental supersuit made specifically for humans, and hence (putatively) somewhat safe; it would even maybe help suspend disbelief for Harry's convenient amnesia. But maybe hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Anwar]

That, and he thinks that in the time it would take for him to gain the infrastructure and all to properly market it and make money too many people would get killed from him being out of action.

Then again, maybe its for the best: Every time we see an AU where Peter stopped the Burglar from killing Ben and gets rich he becomes a bad guy.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

*Why the Christ did they use an asteroid? You already have the son of a bioengineering firm's CEO as a villain. It seems as if a doable, non-Secret War-related black costume origin would have written itself--it was a incomplete Norman Osborne experiment--would have written itself. Harry could've used it in the opening framing sequence; the jump from the loser of the fight, to Peter Parker's obviously fitter body, would have made sense from the symbiote's point of view; Peter would not have had to totally ignore the fact that he decided to wear a facehugger from outer space, since he would figure out/be told that it was an experimental supersuit made specifically for humans, and hence (putatively) somewhat safe; it would even maybe help suspend disbelief for Harry's convenient amnesia. But maybe hindsight is 20/20.

I don't have a problem with the asteroid bit. I'm just disappointed that I don't think they did enough to establish the symbiote as a separate, sentient entity with its own intelligent personality. Heck, they didn't even have Venom refer to himself as "we."

 

[Anwar]

They already did that with Doc Ock in SM2, so I guess they didn't want to repeat themselves.

And their portrayal of the symbiote was closer to its original depiction: It was an emotionless being that was affected by the traits of its host. It originally sacrificed itself saving Peter's life because it absorbed his compassion and loving nature, and later it became a more malevolent creature from being bonded to a nutbag like Brock for so long.

 

[Myasishchev]

The meteorite thing is just a plot convenience beyond even the dreams of a Heroes writer, though.

 

[Captaindemotion]

If JK Simmons doesn't return what about Full Metal Jacket's R Lee Ermey for J Jonah Jameson? Or is he getting on a bit for the role?

 

[Anwar]

The meteorite thing is just a plot convenience beyond even the dreams of a Heroes writer, though.

Yes it was, but the space shuttle origin would've been too expensive and taken too long to do in a live-action film.

Then again, the entire Spider-series is built on plot contrivances:

What are the odds that of all the millions of kids in NYC Peter Parker just happens to be best friends with the son of his arch-enemy?

What are the odds that of all the scientists out there he happens to be friends with the one whose experiment fails and makes him Doc Ock?

What are the odds that of all the men MJ could have been engaged to, it had to be Jameson's son?

 

[Broccoli]

^ Yes. Superhero stories hinge on plot contrivances in order for them to work and to tell a good story. Having the meteorite land near Peter is no different and gets the point across much more quickly than a drawn out space sequence/shuttle landing. Spider-Man 3 was long enough as it was!

 

[Anwar]

Personally, I would've left Venom and Sandman out of this entirely and had the movie be more in the veins of Harry's last go as the Goblin in the early 90s like "The Child Within", "The Osborn Legacy" and "Best of enemies"; those great JM Dematteis stories.

Add the sprinkle of that Johnathan Caesar character (the crazy billionaire who ruined MJ's career and got Peter and MJ evicted because she rejected his love for her).

As part of an OsCorp military project, Harry would create Supermercenaries for them and then use the same tech to create guys like Rhino, Scorpion and Shocker to serve as his "muscle" and random villains for Peter to fight.

Course, this would benefit from the Liz Allen character and her being Harry's love interest. But it can work without her.

 

[Broccoli]

^ Well, the issue with that is that would turn the focus completely on the villains and the heroes reacting to it. The "problem" with that is that the Spidey films have always been about Peter first and foremost. The creative team decided what character arc they wanted Peter to experience and then formed the rest of the movie around that central theme.

 

[Anwar]

I thought about that: The beginning would be the same, up to the hospital bit. Turns out Harry faked the amnesia thing to get Peter to back off and then Peter would have a mystery on his hands as to who is trying to kill him and ruin MJ's career, and give some red herrings like a crime boss villain. Then he realizes it must be Harry and it turns into the Peter vs Harry slugfest, Harry acting like a harmless eccentric who flies around in public on a glider inviting people to his new "Norman Osborn Foundation" (where he plans to blow the place up along with New York's elite since many of them were Norman's enemies), then the end is him changing his mind and saving Peter from the deathtrap. Mortally wounded, he dies apologizing to Peter.

More of a mystery movie.

 

[Broccoli]

^ Again, it is more about the villain and Peter reacting to that. What would be Peter's character arc?

I am not saying it is a bad idea; it is just opposite of the how that series went about crafting their stories.

 

[Anwar]

Batman didn't have much of a character arc in "Dark Knight" aside from "Fights the Joker". Most of his character development came from him reacting to stuff happening around him and with other characters (Alfred, Rachel, Dent, Gordon).

SM3's Peter arc could be him trying to balance his new relationship with MJ and move ahead while dealing with problems he can't just suit up and throws punches at. Basically it would be him finally being at a good point in his life and then having to deal with problems his Spider-Man self can't just solve with battles and how it affects him to feel like "Powerless Peter" except he HAS his powers and MJ at his side.

It's not much, but it's something.

 

[Myasishchev]

The meteorite thing is just a plot convenience beyond even the dreams of a Heroes writer, though.

Yes it was, but the space shuttle origin would've been too expensive and taken too long to do in a live-action film.

Then again, the entire Spider-series is built on plot contrivances:

What are the odds that of all the millions of kids in NYC Peter Parker just happens to be best friends with the son of his arch-enemy?

What are the odds that of all the scientists out there he happens to be friends with the one whose experiment fails and makes him Doc Ock?

What are the odds that of all the men MJ could have been engaged to, it had to be Jameson's son?

Science = superpowers in the Marvel universe, so it might be said to not be so much a contrivance as a self-selecting effect. I'm not positive, but wasn't the spider Peter got bit by originally an Oscorp joint?

 

[Broccoli]

Batman didn't have much of a character arc in "Dark Knight" aside from "Fights the Joker". Most of his character development came from him reacting to stuff happening around him and with other characters (Alfred, Rachel, Dent, Gordon).

I'm not saying that it has to be the case for all superhero movies. Clearly, Batman in TDK (and in all the Burton/Schumacher films) really didn't have a movie-driving character arc. However, the Spider-Man films, under Raimi, focused exclusively on Peter with plot elements revolving around or mirroring his journey. If that style was changed when making a new film, the film would feel out of sync with the previous ones.

Science = superpowers in the Marvel universe, so it might be said to not be so much a contrivance as a self-selecting effect. I'm not positive, but wasn't the spider Peter got bit by originally an Oscorp joint?

It was in the Ultimate Universe.

 

[Anwar]

In the Ultimate Universe they tried to tie EVERYONE together through scientific experiments. All mutants were the result of folks trying to replicate the super-soldier formula that created Captain America (they spread variants of the formula across all human populations through the decades and the kids turned into mutants), the formula that gave Peter and Norman their powers was Norman's attempt to re-create the formula, etc.

In all other versions, it was some random ESU experiment that gave Peter his powers.

One fanfic I read had the nice idea of tying him to the X-Men by having the spider that bit him be created by Miles Warren (the guy who became the villain "Jackal") based on the research of his employer, Nathaniel Essex (Mr Sinister).

 

[Aragorn]

Sony is planning for July 3, 2012 as the release date for Spider-Man 3D, which is just four days after the planned release date for Star Trek II.

 

[Anwar]

Seeing your avatar reminded me of how I hope they cast Yvonne as Mockingbird if they include her and Hawkeye in the Marvel movies.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well I have to agree with that sentiment that they either need to just adapt Ultimate Spider-Man's first "chapter" OR... set it later and just allude to the previous 3 movies in the credits and not worry about it.

I keep thinking that they should almost make Spider-Man a bit older and have him married to MJ at this point, maybe they could get Rachel Nichols - Gaila/Scarlett - to play MJ. Be kinda interesting if they would do a good Mysterio in there. Since they could make MJ the Soap Star she was in the 90s at that point and heading to her own movie - hell adapt some of that arc in the Spider-Man comics from maybe 8 years ago where she was making a superhero movie that sorta sounded like Spider-Man 1 - and Mysterio is the FX guy.

I dunno if I really WANT to see a teenaged Peter Parker again. I mean how often do we need to retread that. Of course what bites is that Spider-Man works really well when he's with other heroes. And unfortunately Sony doesn't really have much rights to the MU beyond Spidey right?

 

[Broccoli]

To be honest, we really didn't have much of a Peter in high school in the Raimi movies. The only time that was covered was the first half of the first movie. The rest of the time, he was a young adult dealing with young adult issues. The difference may be slight to some, but there is a difference.