The Amazing Spider-man

This is a reboot. It's not gonna have anything to do with Raimi's series.

Money.

But I am curious about this film. Not to mention it's being released around my mother's birthday and will probably be the film we go out to see for it.

I'm dubious, for a couple of reasons:

1. The emphasis on his parents really distracts from the *actual* most important part of his origin, the death of Uncle Ben. Sure, Ben is still going to die, but *that* should be the dramatic focus.

2. The "hunted by police" part. Sure, it probably should be an element at first, if your having him be one of the first super heroes. . . but 500 police officers? Seriously? The Joker didn't get that many in TDK, and he killed people by the dozen.

3. The production values. I haven't seen CGI in a major motion picture that looked this cheap in a *long* time.

Some people have described it as a "Dark Knight-ed reboot", and there's some merit to the postulate. Time will tell whether its actually true, though.

Yeah, this looks ugly to me about the same way Green Lantern looked ugly to me.
Yeah...
...
Still hoping it fails horribly enough that Spiderman goes to Marvel Studios sooner than later.

So, is this reboot doing away with the hyphen?

It's a typo.

The comic should as well fail hard enough to be given to Steve Ditko.

Quesada's trying, he really is. ;)

And then Dan Slott showed up to make it awesome, despite it.

No way. This movie will be good. I won't let your ulterior motives ruin a good movie.

I also love that they are doing his origin a little differently. We've seen Uncle Ben die hundreds of times. I want something fresh for a change.

As for the cops part, I like that too. It makes sense that Spidey would have to evade the police, being a vigilante is illiegal. They might make it like The Dark Knight where the police are only "officially" looking for him.

Only Uncle Ben's death is integral to the entity known as Spiderman. You know what isn't? His parents. Just saying.

Which is naturally why they have had entire story arcs dedicated to them.

As a matter of fact, isn't the whole "Peter Parker's parents (or at least his dad) were scientists who hit upon something powerful" a major aspect of the Ultimate Universe?

Yes, but its always left until much later. They're not why he became a hero. They're not why he uses the powers the way he does.

In the Ultimate universe, by the by, his dad created Venom and was promptly killed off. That's it.

edited 26th May '12 12:27:55 AM by Zeromaeus

Yes, specifically, they created Venom in an attempt to cure cancer that created a bio-supersuit that nameless villains wanted to weaponize.

Granted, it's Wikipedia, but even in the span of four paragraphs they show there's a bit more to Ultimate Richard then you give credit for.

In any case, I don't really see a problem with writers exploring his parents - the fact of the matter is that we have seen Uncle Ben's death in full, dealt with it, etc, etc. The sad truth is getting a rehash now would be just that - a rehash. Exploring other aspects of the character is not necessarily a bad thing.

As a matter of fact, most adaptations don't spend large amounts of time on it - and often the comics don't either. They leave it strictly backstory, and while relating back to it do so in a way that leaves other things open to influence the character as well.

Uncle Ben isn't the only thing that is important to Spider-Man as a character, and it's not the only thing that could be important to Spider-Man as a character. Thinking that he's the only thing that should be important to him seems like a folly and limited thinking.

Particularly the idea that just because his parents are important that means that Uncle Ben somehow isn't...

Ultimate Richard Parker - He created Venom. He died. A clone showed up. He died. The end.

Its just that Uncle Ben is important to Spiderman's origin. If you're redo-ing the origin story, then you have to use the Uncle Ben angle. Otherwise, just don't do Spiderman's origin.

edited 26th May '12 12:55:53 AM by Zeromaeus

I still can't help but get the feeling you're oversimplifying what I'm sure is an extensive importance. Especially given how much more important the symbiote is to the storyline/development in the Ultimate Universe - as the person who created it, that makes him the precursor to not only the storylines directly tied to Brock and Venom and also to everything either directly or indirectly tied to that, which from what I know about the Ultimate Universe is a hell of a lot of stuff.

So yeah. There does seem to be precedent for his parents actually being important.

And in any case, I reiterate this:

edited 26th May '12 1:01:40 AM by KnownUnknown

Listen. I have the books you're talking about. If I felt like it I could pull them out and give you a detailed analysis of everything he did. Really though, it just boiled down to those two things. The original only existed in back-story. He worked with Brock's dad to create the Venom suit. He was then assassinated because he didn't want to fork it over to some company or organization or something. Basically, someone purposefully crashed the plane he, his wife, and Brock's parents were on.

Later, in the Ultimate version of the clone saga, he shows up as a clone. He doesn't know he's a clone and approaches Peter. However, it turns out he is a clone and he's rapidly aging. He then dies of old age.

There were some references here or there to him otherwise, but they were never made into anything substantial.

EDIT: Dealing with the death of Uncle Ben, the assumption of responsibility and whatnot are an arc in and of itself. Adding in another arc in the midst of that would take away from it. It can be done, I'm sure, but I doubt it will be done very well, especially the way Peter Parker as a character is supposed to be handled.

I admit, there is one thing in this movie I'm glad is happening, the Lizard being one of my favorite Spiderman villains and all. However, I don't think the Lizard is a good origin villain. I think Peter investigating his parents, and the Lizard as the villain for said plot, would be much better as their own story, rather than being hampered by the origin of Peter Parker as Spiderman.

edited 26th May '12 1:09:21 AM by Zeromaeus

<shudder> I never liked the term "boil down." It almost always seems to involve missing a point somewhere.

Now that's an interesting statement. Granted, Pete hasn't been reinterpreted as much as, say, Batman, but his character still has been handled many ways over the years, most as valid as the rest, and there have been quite a few that were perfectly capable of having Uncle Ben be the main impetus of his dedication and heroism without him being the only aspect of his development.

I say let the kid's past / parent's legacy be an aspect of the universe, see how it turns out. It's certainly an interesting interpretation.

Currently I'm more concerned about the tone of the movie rather than whether or not Pete should have parents. Though the trailers have gone a long way towards soothing my concern, it still seems like their going for the teen-grimdark trend. Cautiously optimistic, that's me.

edited 26th May '12 1:20:32 AM by KnownUnknown

Trust me when I say I've dedicated a fair amount of time to the Ultimate universe. There was actually a time when it was my favorite line of comics. Full stop. That time is over now. Oh man is that time over now.

Zero's summary of Richard Parker is pretty much correct. He's really not important to Ultimate Pete's storylines beyond those two. And Venom has shown up less than you'd think.

So what? If the movie wants to do it's own thing, let it do it. A thing that bothers me on tvtropes is that we claim to be objective, but when it comes to movies and stuff, we do the same thing as other fans. We say the movie or whatever is gonna fail and ruing the franchise. Case in point, Rise of The Planet Of The Apes.

This movie seems to be building something bigger than just a one storyline with the parents. Maybe a trilogy that uses the parents, venom, and oscorp in a good way?

Also, Zeromaeus, I know you want this movie to fail because of your own inmature reasons, but, can you seriously give me a reason why the Lizard is not a good origin villain?

I mean, he's not as powerful as the sinister six, but he can have some big plans when he wants to. Your argument about the Lizard not mixing well with spidey's origin story is kinda illogical. I mean, The original movie used the origin story and the Green Fucking Goblin. One of Spiderman's main enemies. And it worked. I think a "minor" villain like The Lizard has a fair chance of working.

I can't really explain my logic in a credible manner.
I just do not personally like this movie AND I desperately want the movie rights for Spiderman to go back to Marvel Studios so I am really incapable of making an unbiased assessment right now.

I am willing to admit that I am not being objective about the movie. However, the importance put on his parents still bugs me. No pun intended.

I'll probably have some good things to say after I see the movie...
When I rent it...
A year from now.

edited 27th May '12 11:03:30 AM by Zeromaeus

This movie basically renews Sony's contract for Spidey, I thought, so that wouldn't happen anyway.

Joke's on you — I don't claim to be objective.

Fact is, I'd much rather see Spider-Man in Marvel's hands. If this movie fails then they're less likely to try again, which means the rights will revert back to Marvel. Then Marvel can pull an Incredible Hulk move and transplant Spidey into the MCU.