The Spiderverse
WatchlistThis week has been awash with rumours and speculations about the new Spider-man flick. It all led to this question: “Is a live action spider-verse finally happening?” While the claims were debunked, I still thought it would be interesting to look at the evolution of the live action spider-man over the years!
Probably the very first global introduction to Spider-man is the Sam Raimi Trilogy featuring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. And what a trilogy that was. To this day, Tobey Maguire is instantly associated with the character and this version has the most recall value across age groups. This could be because of several reasons.
The first Spider-man came out in 2002, at a time comic book movies were just getting popular. X-Men was a big hit. The 1990s had quite a few superheros gracing the screens. But most importantly, it is because of the story it chose to tell.
This film was a story about family, friendship, love and betrayal. All the elements of a mainstream film. In my most recent rewatch of the film, I kept thinking, “This is a love story!” The film even begins with Peter Parker saying “…like all stories worth telling, this story is also, about a girl.” The film’s heart lies in exploring the various emotions among the 5 main characters. And it works.
Now when I first watched it, more than 15 years ago, it was the superhero that caught my attention. And even now, it’s all well done. Within minutes of that voice over, we are in a lab and Peter Parker gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider. Very soon, Norman Osborn’s experiment goes wrong and the story gets going. And pretty soon, you hear “With great power comes great responsibility.” The film is paced just right and before you know it, Spider-man and Green Goblin are facing off in the front of the masses.
But between all this, there is a relatable love story being told. Sometimes cheesy, but mostly good. The film is not too dark either. During the first half of the film, you are mostly smiling, following Peter as he tries to get a grasp of his powers while also trying to get close to Mary Jane.
Spider-man went on to become the biggest blockbuster at that time, and 2 more sequels followed. All these cemented Tobey Maguire as Spider-man in people’s minds. The rest of the main cast had brilliant and memorable performances that you can recall to this day. Spider-man 3 didn’t work as well as the previous two, mostly because of the multiple storylines and excess characters. This led to the series being rebooted soon.
The Amazing Spider-man, starring Andrew Garfield, took a different approach. This reboot, is now at the age were superhero films have become very popular. Marvel now has it’s own Cinematic Universe and the first team up - Avengers(2012) - just released to widespread appreciation. Right from the posters, you could sense that they were after a grittier tone. The movie begins with Peter Parker as a kid being dropped off at his Uncle’s house after his father’s study was burglarized. His parents leave hurriedly and never come back.
The first Spider-man trilogy rarely mention Peter’s parents. But here, the lives of his parents, their secrets, have a direct impact on the plot even leading to the creation of the main villain. This film, also revisits a lot of the same plot points as before. The difference being the visual and narrative style.
There is a slightly more realistic take on Peter’s powers for example. He now has a web shooter. The spider bite still gives him the spidey-sense and agility. But we also get to see the smarter side of him. And there were new elements, the most important one being Gwen Stacy. Peter was also younger, compared to the original. I believe all this were attempts to be more comic accurate, compared to the predecessor.
The film did well. But many still felt that the original was better. There was a sequel that came soon after. This faced almost the exact same problem as Spider-man 3 - too many sub-plots and characters and in the end, this series suffered the same fate as the original.
The MCU became very successful in the meantime and stories were told across films and pretty soon, talks began on bringing Spider-man into the fold. After a lot of talks between Disney/Marvel and Sony, it finally happened, and a new younger spider-man was introduced in Captain America: Civil War. Soon, a solo movie followed.
There was a lot different with this version of the hero. For starters, he is still a kid and he is not alone in his adventures. Tony Stark a.k.a Iron man is an important part of his journey. Stark becomes a father figure, a mentor who grooms Peter for the superhero life. A refreshingly new take and a lesser serious narrative make this new series interesting to watch.
Now that Spidey is finally a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a lot more possibilities open up. Spidey can now interact with a lot more characters. During Avengers: Endgame The MCU confirmed the Multiverse. There are two characters in the MCU, Doctor Strange and The Scarlet Witch, who can control and manipulate reality. A series of announcements in the recent past regarding these characters have now made many, including me, anticipate the live action Spider-verse.
Sony’s Spiderman: Into the Multiverse, an animated adventure, wherein spider-people from multiple universes come together, was a brilliant movie and a box office hit. Speculations of the live-action Spider-verse started with the announcement of Benedict Cumberbatch joining the cast of Spider-man 3 as Doctor Strange. That combined with the rumours last week, that both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire have signed up for the movie, made us all hope for it to happen.
The theory than I believe to be the most probable is that, Disney’s WandaVision, probably inspired from the House of M storyline, would set up the new realities and Spider-man 3 will follow through with some of the repurcussions and finally Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” will offer some conclusions! Or, the movie could be completely standalone. This seems unlikely consider how Marvel likes to connect everything. But we have to wait.
Sony, did say that the latter rumour was “unconfirmed”. But Unconfirmed is not the same as false. I am personally rooting for this to happen. It would be a real blast to see all the spider-men from the past 2 decades come together for one final adventure. This happening, in a way, would be a much bigger phenomenon than Endgame. Too good of a thing to happen, but well, a man can only hope!
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