Before we start with how much better it could have been, we need to look back to its legacy throughout the years from the very first movie that came out in 2002. Before we talk about that, we do need to acknowledge the contractual dealings between Disney, Sony & Marvel.
Just as a little context, Marvel Studios make the movies with Sony Pictures and Disney, in which particularly Sony holds the rights to the Spiderman Title. However due to some conflict in financial terms between Sony and Disney, Sony decided to part ways, and if it had, we would never have seen the Tom Holland’s Spiderman series. However later on, it was reported that they have reached a mutual agreement under which Disney got the rights to showcase the earlier titles, and voila we see Spiderman back on screens. One thing to mention is that Sony still hold rights to the theatrical release of Spiderman’s becoming story, which is spider biting him and him finding out his powers.
The Bully Maguire Era
[Tobey Maguire plays Peter Parker, who’s Spiderman]
The first installment, out of the three, had a pretty decent storyline. It talked about the spiderman becoming story and him figuring out his powers, which seems reasonable considering it’s the first leg of an entire franchise which will develop a legacy across generations of audience. It had a reasonable villain story which was heavenly influenced by the then dynamics, and hence was received well by the audience. In the second leg, the storyline shows a comparison between Peter Parker and Spiderman, which showed the humane side of the hero as well. In the last leg of the series, the storyline transcends to peter parker being responsible for his duties as the Spiderman and how he can’t overlook that. Overall, the series was taken really well by the audience and served as an embodiment that live action superhero movies can do amazing.
The Andrew GOAT field Era
[Andrew Garfield plays Peter Parker, who’s Spiderman]
This series was a two legged one for all the right reasons. It had a lot of parallels from the previous storyline like the first part talked about the spiderman becoming story and the first villain coming being a good person in the start but then losing its path due to human greed. This part really developed the image of Andrew Garfield to a larger audience, being the Main Character under a Big Banner like Marvel. In the second, and last leg of the series, we see tussle between Peter juggling between his commitments in Personal as well as the Superhero Life. The story developed really well and I personally really adored the flashbacks that he gets from his girlfriend’s father. The movie continues really well to one of the most, if not the most, heart-breaking climax of all times, when he’s not able to save his Girlfriend, and that her father was proven true. Even though this series was a good watch, I feel that it didn’t garner as much appreciation as it should have, considering we had the Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline developing side-by-side at the same time, which didn’t really consider this spiderman.
The Tom Holland Era
[Tom Holland plays Peter Parker, who’s Spiderman]
This series was different compared to the earlier series. We’ve talked about the contractual conflicts between the different entertainment houses already, which is why we never saw the Spiderman Becoming plot for Tom Holland; however, it was mixed well. They firstly introduce Tom Holland as Spiderman in Captain America’s Civil War in which his role wasn’t of much significance and yet he stood out and left the audience wanting for more. We see the first two instalments following a very similar storyline, he’s misguided and too reactive during tensed situations, after which he enters into a slump and an external person would motivate or guide him and then he’ll act maturely and win the situation. However, it’s hard to find enough parallels from this series to the earlier series.
Coming to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
I have a lot of issues
- Starting with the Spiderman Becoming Story, Tom Holland explicitly says that he was bitten by a spider and hence he got his powers. However, it’s not believable. In the earlier two adaptations, there was a scientific conglomerate which would be researching on Genomics and experimenting on Spiders for the same, whereas in this series, the only Conglomerate that exists is Stark Industries, which is into Robotics from the very start. Now it’s very unlikely that Marvel is going to create another enterprise that we have never heard of.
- Moving ahead, I don’t understand why didn’t Doc Ock stay at the Condo and fight with Tom. He was a good guy and remains so till the very end but he chooses to flee for apparently no valid reason.
- Towards the end, Tom says to Doctor Strange that he’d find his friends again and explain them everything, I personally feel that it’s such a lazy move from Marvel. They could have either considered some other possibility or elaborated more on this, because he is getting into MIT and he can’t think of this option? The whole movie would have ceased to exist if he had thought of this earlier.
- Lastly, this one is kind of acceptable but I would have preferred Marvel to elaborate more on Andrew catching MJ and saving her. It was a direct reference towards the TASM2’s end, which was breath taking, literal chills, edge of the seat scene, and in this movie, they got done with it in a few seconds? However, I do understand they had to compromise considering there was so much happening at the same time.
- Overall, the storyline was pretty much the same again, he’s misguided and then goes into a slump and then gets motivation from an external person and then saves the day. Personally, that’s really hurtful because compared to the earlier adaptations or other series like Iron Man, Thor or Captain America, where again the storyline is a fresh one every time and is a banger always, this was very underwhelming.
The Movie Culture Synopsis
More or less, this movie rode on Nostalgia and Meme references throughout and served a good spectacle for the mass. The meme references were on point, and every character’s timing was too good to miss. It’s a good watch, not going to deny. However, being a hardcore Marvel Fan, I do expect Marvel to perform up to the mark, and have an interesting storyline at the same time. I am definitely looking forward to the future adaptations and sequels. Doc Ock took the Arc Reactor with himself back to his universe, and that’s something really exciting for me.
