Heartwarming / The Amazing Spider-Man 2

"Hey, Spider-Man. Thanks for stepping up for me."

• Spider-Man saving a little boy from a group of bullies, then fixing his science project, THEN offering to walk the kid home. It's nice to know that Peter, who we can safely say has had enough experience with being bullied, finds stopping this kind of thing important enough to turn up as Spider-Man.
  • And he turns up again at the end, dressed up as Spidey, deciding to stand up to the Rhino (who luckily decides not to shoot him). Cue the real deal showing up after a long Heroic BSoD, telling the kid how brave he is, then getting to work with kicking the Rhino's ass.
  • And also, the crowd's reaction to Spider-Man coming back. Hell, the look on the cop's face when he hears Spidey's webshooter and looks up tells the story perfectly. The cops and the other first responders know the web-slinger's on their side and has been since his first appearance, even if Captain Stacy wasn't a fan of his. The wallcrawler's more than proven himself by this point. The cop's look sums it all up: "Welcome back, web-head. We missed you."
  • The crowd, cops and all, start cheering when Spidey and the Rhino have a quick moment of banter when Spider-Man is given a megaphone, and after the Rhino declares he'll kill Spidey, his response is "I'll be right down." He then throws the megaphone back to the cop who threw it to him and rushes to meet the Rhino, who's already charging his way, all while the crowd cheers the webslinger on.
    • Hell, New York's reaction to Spider-Man in general. Compared to the Raimi films, Spidey is beloved by the city, its people, and workers instead of harassed. It works both ways, as well, as Spider-Man here is quite a bit more direct in his interactions with the citizens of New York, a prime example being working directly with the firefighters to hose down a frantic Electro (Spidey even donning a firefighter helmet) and recognizing their efforts with a few friendly high-fives and throwing some compliments. Addressing them by name each, mind you.
• Spider-Man offering to take an electrically charged Max away so the two can talk. If that damn sniper hadn't taken the shot, there probably would have been two heroes protecting Manhattan.
  • Honestly, Spidey's entire handling of the situation was this. Whereas many other incarnations would likely bring out the fisticuffs first and foremost, and only try to talk things out upon realizing they made a mistake, Peter in this iteration recognizes immediately that poor Max is confused and scared. Up until the very end and he has no other choice, he's trying desperately to talk things out with him, proving that Max's hero was pretty much everything he'd hoped he'd be. Unfortunately, the police (and civilians, for that matter) opted to act with nothing but disdain, completely undoing what Spider-Man was trying to achieve. As the above states, with Max's prior admiration, it's very likely he could've used his gifts to protect the city.
  • Given the number of people that Spider-Man saves on a regular basis, you would expect him to not remember Max at all. But all it takes is a little prompting from Max, and then he does, recalling the details of their brief conversation and how he'd helped him.
• On the villain's side, Harry telling Electro he needs his help, and Electro joining him because this is probably the only time he has ever felt truly needed.
  • In addition to this, they both fill out their part of the bargain. Unlike most examples of Villain Team-Up, neither of them ever tries to double-cross the other.
    Harry: The grid is all yours.
  • Harry also has a very close relationship with his assistant, Felicia Hardy. The way Felicia keeps asking if he's alright when he starts feeling sick and the fact that he asked her name because he wanted to be friends. And add to the fact that she tells Harry about Oscorp's off-book projects because she thinks that it will help him.
    • In a deleted scene, Felicia comes across Harry as the Green Goblin during his rampage in Oscorp. Instead of killing her, even though she was indirectly responsible for his appearance, he spares her life.
• Speaking of villains, Norman Osborn explaining his treatment of his son and handing over his life's research on the disease killing their family line. Even if the theories of him surviving were true, a cure for his stage of the disease seems extremely unlikely, and he had plenty of qualified scientists to leave it to. The fact that he filled Harry's childhood with an education in this work and personally handed him the data made it feel like a Take Up My Sword moment.
• Spider-Man spelling out "I Love You" in spider-webs for Gwen and then their interaction on the bridge. He tells her that they are not going down separate paths — that she is his path. And decides that he'll go with her to England. Which doesn't ever work out - and makes her death hit that much harder.
• When Gwen falls and Peter goes after her to try to save her, he shoots out his webbing and for a moment the webbing takes the form of a hand, reaching out to her one last time, making this moment heartwarming and a tearjerker at the same time.
• The scene where Harry and Peter talk is a very touching scene, as it shows their friendship very well. And then Harry gets injected...
• Aunt May's talk with Peter when he tells her that he wants to know more about his parents. She tearfully tells Peter that she resents Richard and Mary for just abandoning their son, and that she is the one who raised him and took care of him.
  Aunt May: You're my boy! As far as I'm concerned, you're my boy! And I won't hurt you.
• Peter responds by telling May that he genuinely appreciates everything she's done for him over the years and that she won't be replaced to him, and comforts her when she starts crying.
  Peter: I'm your boy. You're my everything. You're enough. You're more than enough. That's not what this is about. Don't get that twisted.
• When Gwen says a simple, "Goodbye, Max," when she gets off the elevator. Max is left surprised and happy that she actually remembered his name. Doubles as a Tear Jerker since it shows just how bad a life he's had.
• From the video game version of the story, the very ending. Peter Parker gets a pep talk about the will of his late uncle from none other than Stan Lee himself, who tells him that Uncle Ben was always proud of the man that he was becoming... and that he shouldn't focus on how his uncle died, but how he lived. Finally, Stan Lee tells Peter to go out there and be the hero that Uncle Ben always knew that he'd be... and Peter agrees without hesitation.
• Max becoming Spider-Man's fan, defending him on the radio, and even daydreaming aloud about Spidey remembering his birthday. It's certainly pretty obsessive and weird, but it's also kind of sweet and childlike.
  Radio announcer: We have a caller on the line named Max. He says he knows Spider-Man.
  Max: Listen, I'm upset. Spider-Man, to me, is being misunderstood. He's a very, very good person. He's protecting us. He saved my life one time. We sort of became best friends.
• Peter finding out that his father didn't run off with the research for the money, but because it was the right thing to do - even though he and his wife had to leave their son behind, with the last line being about how much he loves Peter.
• The deleted scene featuring Flash Thompson. He happily walks up to Gwen and Peter at graduation to tell them that he's gotten into college, before thanking Gwen for the tutoring sessions and hugging Peter. Whilst it's only a minute or two long, it shows that Flash continued to shed his Jerk Jock attitude between the films.
• A small one, but the soundtrack piece 'Cold War' which plays during the film's first real action scene as the man who would become the Rhino tears down the streets in a stolen truck. During the scene where Spider-Man saves Max from being killed, the music gets muted to allow them to talk. If you listen to the music itself, you'll hear that the theme turns into a booming, roaring, triumphant orchestral piece (complete with pounding drums and wailing trumpets), hammering in how much Max idolises Spider-Man at that moment. It's honestly a piece of music that a hero would deserve, and makes it really feel like Max is in AWE of this godly figure who called him his eyes and ears, talked to him like a buddy and treated him like a human being.
• Gwen's mother and brothers attend her graduation and, despite the loss of George in the previous film, are still shown as a stable, happy and loving family. Helen calls her daughter over to take part in a family photograph, already sweet, and asks the same of Peter. The complete openness of the request, coupled with the smiles on the three boys' faces, shows that the Stacy family have quite happily accepted Peter as an honourary member.