will The Amazing Spider-Man movies be forgotten in the future?

[mrrockey]

With the announcement of Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and being rebooted again, does this mean The Amazing Spider-Man series will be forgotten in the future? Whether you liked them or not, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was clearly the more influential series to the superhero genre and with the immense success of MCU, wouldn't Webb's films just be forgotten as they were right between the two? This was just something I was thinking about the other day.

My guess is that while they'll always have their fans, they'd be probably the least discussed incarnation of Spider-Man by the general public. Garfield would likely become the Timothy Dalton of the franchise, meaning that he'll have a cult following among fans, but won't necessarily be iconic in the role.

What do you think?

Discuss...

[johnnygobbs]

With the announcement of Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and being rebooted again, does this mean The Amazing Spider-Man series will be forgotten in the future? Whether you liked them or not, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was clearly the more influential series to the superhero genre and with the immense success of MCU, wouldn't Webb's films just be forgotten as they were right between the two? This was just something I was thinking about the other day.

My guess is that while they'll always have their fans, they'd be probably the least discussed incarnation of Spider-Man by the general public. Garfield would likely become the Timothy Dalton of the franchise, meaning that he'll have a cult following among fans, but won't necessarily be iconic in the role.

What do you think?

Discuss...

I think you're right mrrockey.

I'm glad that the franchise will once again be rebooted because although I liked both Andrew Garfield films I thought TASM 2 was overstuffed and thus I wasn't really that keen on seeing this particular franchise continue (my main issue with TASM 2 was that the relationship between Peter and Harry was as rushed and contrived as the origin story for Venom in the similarly maligned Spider-Man 3 from the previous franchise - at least Sam Raimi made two coherent Spider-Man films before it went pear-shaped).  I also look forward to finally seeing Spider-Man incorporated into the same Marvel Universe as the Hulk, Captain America and Daredevil, and by extension one of his best foes, Kingpin (I hope Marvel Studios finds some way to have Spider-Man and Netflix's Daredevil characters cross paths).

All that said, it's a shame that we'll never get a satisfying resolution to the Garfield franchise.  Peter won't track the man who killed his uncle, he'll never get to discover the full story behind his parents' death and Harry Osborn will never get his revenge against Parker and assemble the Sinister Six (although I've read mixed reports as to whether 'The Sinister Six' is still on - surely it can't be now that the franchise is being rebooted and we're to be introduced to a new Spider-Man).  At least Raimi's trilogy, whether it was intended as such, tied up all its lose ends, with Parker ending up with Mary Jane and Harry Osborn finally coming good and risking his life to save his best friend.  The final shot of Parker and Mary Jane on top of a skyscraper looking out at a beautiful sunset does, in retrospect, honour the very opening line of Raimi's first Spider-Man film where Parker tells us "this story is about a girl [Mary Jane]" and so by accident rather than design we ended up with a coherent three-act franchise with a clear beginning (Spider-Man's origins), middle (everything going bad for our hero with him facing doubts about his destiny and falling out with his best friend) and end (facing off against his toughest foe, Venom, reconciling with his best friend and apparently set to be together with Mary Jane for the rest of their lives).

As far as Mark Webb/Andrew Garfield's prematurely ended franchise goes, that's the risk you take with a sequential narrative; that if one of the films fails to do adequate business or someone drops out the series will end in a infortune place.  That's why I'd separate TASM films from Timothy Dalton's short stint as James Bond.  Although I'm sure Dalton (incidentally my favourite pre-Daniel Craig Bond) was no doubt intended to return for more than a couple of Bond films at least each of his movies, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, are self-contained stories (albeit ones that make some occasional oblique references to previous Bond films starring other leads), similar to Burton's two Batman movies.  One can feel cheated that we didn't get more Dalton-headed Bond films or Burton-directed Batman movies, but the integrity of TLD and LTK, or Batman and Batman Returns, isn't compromised by the absence of any follow-ups.  By contrast, TASM franchise will always seem somewhat incomplete due to the dangling plot-threads left unresolved by the end of TASM2.

[Edd Grayson]

Truth is, there were many against the Webb films long before they were released, namely bitter Raimi fans. Then there are those who just didn't like them as they came out and hoped that the film rights would go back to Marvel.

I for one liked the two Webb films a bit more than I liked the Raimi films, so I won't forget them, but it's clear to see why Raimi and the future Marvel Spider-Man are preferred.

[riddler]

Truth is, there were many against the Webb films long before they were released, namely bitter Raimi fans. Then there are those who just didn't like them as they came out and hoped that the film rights would go back to Marvel.

I for one liked the two Webb films a bit more than I liked the Raimi films, so I won't forget them, but it's clear to see why Raimi and the future Marvel Spider-Man are preferred.

Bingo. Also there wasn't a craving for a reboot of Spidey. Not too many people were happy about a reboot in 2012, Raimi fans were upset and hated it from the getgo, other fans (myself included) would have preferred a fourth film instead. Also plenty wanted spidey in the MCU.

Now if you ignore every thing else with the exception of the comics, you'd be hard pressed not to enjoy them.  The acting is quite strong and the love interest was excellent. They found a way to make spidey cool without sacrificing the character. The smart ass spidey was captuered well (though I think can be done better). The unresolved cliff hanger will be a negative, I guess similar to the ending of Batman and Robin, we're left to believe that the hero's job is never done as there will always be bad people.


I think it depends on what happens next. Batman Forever and Batman and Robin were heavily panned for a good 10 years or so but Nolans fans really divided batman fans and some preferred the more fun and campy approach Schumacher took. Nolans films were polar opposite of Schumachers but those who didn't like the Nolan films can have more of an appreciation for Joels. So for instance if Spidey doesn't come off as intelligent or the love interest isn't handled well, there might be favourable comparisons to what Webb got right.

[Vampfox]

Yes they will probably be forgotten to a degree. The biggest problem with the Webb movies is that there's no real sense of identity with the movies.
The first one tries to aim for that grounded more realistic tone that made  Nolan's Batman movies popular, and the second tries to be more like a MCU movie and has a lighter tone.

[The Dark Knight]

I agree. In my opinion, they haven't dropped the ball with any of the Spider-Man films. The first three are the best, even though SM3 will always have a cloud hanging over it for some people. TASM is my least favourite, but I don't hate it. It's probably a 7/10 for me. TASM2 has developed a bad reputation, but I genuinely enjoy it. However yes, the Webb films are destined to fade into the background. Raimi is still considered the king, and rightly so. I have my fingers crossed for the new MCU version. I just hope Holland is good, and stays in the role for some time. The franchise needs stability. No more reboots.

[johnnygobbs]

I like the first two Sam Raimi films and TASM, but I think they dropped the ball with Spider-Man 3 and TASM2, where they stuffed each film with too many villains and too little backstory.  I have faith that the MCU will do justice to the character and build each story and conflict organically, as I feel they have done so far with the vast majority of their movies (AOU is the only one that arguably felt overcrowded, and in that instance that was more to do with the heroes than the villain, seeing as there was only really one main villain).

[Edd Grayson]

Upon revisiting the five films from 2002-2014, Spider-Man 3 is the only one I don't like. I wish Webb had the chance to give us a conclusion to his series.

Both series have their strengths and weaknesses but both are good overall, save for Raimi's third film. I felt Raimi had had the better written villains and coherent stories in his first two than Webb, while Webb had a better romance and Peter Parker characterization more to my taste. And I actually like TASM2 quite a bit.

TASM is probably the one I like least looking back, but it's still not bad.  Interesting to see where Marvel will take the character.

[johnnygobbs]

Upon revisiting the five films from 2002-2014, Spider-Man 3 is the only one I don't like. I wish Webb had the chance to give us a conclusion to his series.

Both series have their strengths and weaknesses but both are good overall, save for Raimi's third film. I felt Raimi had had the better written villains and coherent stories in his first two than Webb, while Webb had a better romance and Peter Parker characterization more to my taste. And I actually like TASM2 quite a bit.

TASM is probably the one I like least looking back, but it's still not bad.  Interesting to see where Marvel will take the character.

I actually found TASM2 very entertaining when I saw it at the cinema.  But it's one of those films I ended up liking less the more I thought about it.  It's highly watchable but the need to squeeze in so many characters and contrivances (like Peter and Harry's friendship which came straight out of nowhere and sadly didn't add anything to the story, in contrast to the poignant dynamic between the pair in the Raimi movies) ruins it for me. 

And I think 'coherence' is bang on.  The reason why the (first two) Raimi films work better than Webb's movies is that the earlier films had a more coherent structure/narrative.  I hope that in devising the new MCU-integrated reboot the filmmakers have coherence at the front of their thoughts.

[Edd Grayson]

Upon revisiting the five films from 2002-2014, Spider-Man 3 is the only one I don't like. I wish Webb had the chance to give us a conclusion to his series.

Both series have their strengths and weaknesses but both are good overall, save for Raimi's third film. I felt Raimi had had the better written villains and coherent stories in his first two than Webb, while Webb had a better romance and Peter Parker characterization more to my taste. And I actually like TASM2 quite a bit.

TASM is probably the one I like least looking back, but it's still not bad.  Interesting to see where Marvel will take the character.

I actually found TASM2 very entertaining when I saw it at the cinema.  But it's one of those films I ended up liking less the more I thought about it.  It's highly watchable but the need to squeeze in so many characters and contrivances (like Peter and Harry's friendship which came straight out of nowhere and sadly didn't add anything to the story, in contrast to the poignant dynamic between the pair in the Raimi movies) ruins it for me. 

And I think 'coherence' is bang on.  The reason why the (first two) Raimi films work better than Webb's movies is that the earlier films had a more coherent structure/narrative.  I hope that in devising the new MCU-integrated reboot the filmmakers have coherence at the front of their thoughts.

I didn't have the problem you had with TASM2, but I've been hard on the Raimi films for a long time because the protagonist and the romance weren't done to my taste, they're actually good films in most areas. I hope the Marvel film(s) combine the coherence with the comic book accurate characterization to give us the best Spider-Man thus far.