The thought of a “Spider-Man 4″ should send a shudder through comic book faithful. Remember “Batman and Robin?” “Superman 4: The Quest for Peace?”
The number “4″ affixed to those superhero franchises shut both down for years. Now, we’ve learned that a “Spider-Man 4″ … and “5″ is coming our way.
So let’s look at how to avoid potential disaster with these upcoming sequels.
- One villain, please. Let’s start with the obvious. Giving Spidey one great villain to battle leaves more time to develop tension, conflict and character. Adding a smorgasboard of baddies simply clutters the screen and gluts the marquee with “name” actors. The Sandman had great potential in “Spidey 3,” but he had to make room for Venom and The Green Goblin redux.
- Remember Peter’s still a nerd. Tobey Maguire’s early scenes in “Spider-Man” set the stage for his superhero makeover. He was a nerd, a brainy type who got his comeuppance daily in the school yard. Those feelings of alienation shoudn’t go away no matter what powers he suddenly has. Tap that angst, that feeling of isolation, and fresh material should follow.
- No new quickie romances. The addition of Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) was a bust. Stick with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and explore where this relationship can go.
- Admit your mistakes: “Spider-Man” director Sam Raimi is back for chapters four and five, but let’s hope he realizes how he went wrong in part three. If he insists that film was as good as the first two, we’re all in trouble.
- Go low tech: Those sequences featuring Spider-Man sailing through the city are remarkable, and nearly always look too much like a glorified video game. Scale back the CGI, and ramp up real-time effects to goose the franchise.
How would you fix the franchise? Let me know and I’ll add to this list.
ALSO READ:
WWTW on “The Dark Knight”
(Photo: The “Spider-Man” franchise gave us two memorable movies, and one sizable mistep.)
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally agree with the one villian. Spider Man 2 only needed one villian and that movie was brilliant. Heck you could make Kraven the hunter a villian and he and spidey could go at it and that would be an exciting movie.
I know why they introduced Gwen Stacy, but what works in a comic book does not work in a movie. Introducing her only serves to set up her death and that would only really resonate if they killed her in Spider Man 8.
I agree with all of the above
I would also add that they should utilize a theme a little less over-played and ham-fisted as “The real enemy is within us”
Good point, Blackhawk. And if they’re gonna make 4 and 5 back to back, it gives them plenty of space to concoct a new, compelling storyline.
Will be interesting if the franchise goes all “Dark Knight” on us … more morbid, more philosophical. It’s not why Spidey worked, and it would be a mistake.
And don’t forget his newspaper background, more J. Jonah Jamison … more of Peter trying to make money snapping photos, etc,
It may be difficult to reign in the train, especially with the same creative staff for #s 4 & 5, but I agree with limiting the antagonist to just 1 (and perhaps a second, secondary with a role to be expanded in a sequel, such as “Knight’s” Two Face) is primary.
Also, which probably will be difficult b/c of “Knight’s” extraordinary b.o. success despite a dark theme, returning to the source material for inspiration: Parker is a working-class nerdy genius, but driven by guilt to remain spider-man despite his being afraid both of his opponents (they *are* scary, adult madmen, after all) and of someone else close to him being hurt. This resonated well in the first film, but was too diluted as the sequels continued. Finally, although it is a trope, the damsel-in-distress – especially the same damn damsel in every film – has to go; use Pfeiffer’s read on Catwoman as an example of a different, successful approach to a female lead in a male comic-book hero film.
~ Dagnabbit, geekily
Dagnabbit has spoken …
Maybe I state the all-too-obvious, but how about going with Doctor Conners’ transition to The Lizard? He’s been at least mentioned in every one of the three Spidey flicks, and was a definite hit in the comics way back when.
One other thing that irritates me about all three of the movies: Mary Jane Watson was an absolute knockout in the comics. So how did Kursten Dunst get the role?
Dunst is more of an everyday beauty than a beauty queen … although I think that’s a more realistic gf for Peter Parker.
And yeah, Doctor Conners is the obvious choice. But the actor who played him last time, Dylan Baker, isn’t a big name and they may want that for a blockbuster-in-waiting like Spidey 4.
In the first two movies, J. Jonah Jameson was what he should be: a malevolently comical figure who, though he is vastly amusing, really can hurt Peter by abusing the power of the press.
In the third movie Jonah was just a joke, constantly humiliated, and made to see that the Daily Bugle wasn’t the top newspaper in the city, or the second, or the third – in fact it was just a rag. Meanwhile Spider-Man was getting honors like a parade.
To work right, and to be as funny as he should be, Jonah must have real power to abuse. That’s the edge that makes his being irresponsible count. If he and everybody else knows it doesn’t natter what he does, he’s not funny, or not as funny as he should be – and Peter isn’t as hounded and abused as he should be.
So give Jonah some clout. Have him come into money and buy an important television station if that’s what it takes. And have him get away with selling some flat lies that cause Peter serious distress.
David, … well said. It’s just one of many reasons why “S-3″ failed. But I suspect the folks behind the film (Raimi and co.) are blinded to your wisdom.
How about Spider-man dies after being beaten to death by some anonymous guy in a trenchcoat, sheds his own skin to come back to life, reveals his identity to the world just because he’s asked to, Makes a deal with Mephisto… wait, these are the worst ideas of all time… and there from the actual comic. I’m not kidding.
Amazing Spider-man became the worst comic I had ever had the misfortune to read. OH, and Harry’s alive again. They did all that and never intended to do an actual ‘Everyone finds out who Spider-man is’ story. They just gave up and decided to end it by having Peter Parker become the biggest jerk ever.
I was watching Spider-man 3 while this was going on and sure I had issues with it, but it doesn’t come close to how bad the comic is now. Oh, now he’s not married and nobody knows he’s spider-man, now… maybe not even him. They (I won’t say Q they may be) killed that damn character. What a great character he was.
Spider-Man 3 was a huge failure.
First, a “bad” Peter Parker is disco-ing down the street and singing? Okay, get rid of that. There is good and there is evil. Evil doesn’t jaunt down a street like a bad Travolta imitation. Why not just throw Barney in there as the big, bad evil. Makes as much sense as what SM3 showed with Parker/Venom. Drop the wacko ideas about how good guys can be bad. Good guys are haunted by their decisions, struggle with what they are doing, and eventually, be the hero because no one else can. Take some notes from the Dark Knight character.
Second, evil is always evil. Look at the movies that made it big: Dark Knight and Iron Man. Did you see the bad guys turn good at any point? Sit up and pay attention Hollywood! Turning bad guys good will only lose your viewing audience. Pick a villain and stick with it. Quit with the idea that you can show a “human” or “good” side to the bad guys. They’re villains for a reason.
Third, stick with previous movie continuities. You’ve built up the relationship between Parker and Mary Jane. Only to try to destroy it in SM3?!? Who’s bright idea was that? Fire them. You completely disregarded Gwen Stacy in the first two movies and went with Mary Jane. Stick with that. I know people in Hollywood change partners every day, but you’re a minority.
Keep to the comic book continuity as much as possible. There’s a reason the Spider Man comic is still around after all these years. Disregarding that brings failure (first Hulk movie *cough* *cough*).
Erase Spider Man 3 from history. Learn from that failure. Yeah, the only reason it did well was because it was hyped from the first two. The horrid failure of SM3 will probably keep quite a few people at home when SM4 opens. Make SM4 worth coming out to see.