Spider-Man (2002) Comic Influences

[The Joker]

^^

[The Laughing Fish]

I love this! Comic book artist Hayden Shermen recreated this moment during Green Goblin and Spider-Man's final fight, in the style of The Dark Knight Returns.



https://mobile.twitter.com/Cleanlined/status/1275848505563713536

This reminds me how good Raimi's films were. They always had something for everyone, whether it's humour, darkness or emotion. All of that is sorely lacking in the MCU Spider-Man, in my opinion.

[thecolorsblend]

I love this! Comic book artist Hayden Shermen recreated this moment during Green Goblin and Spider-Man's final fight, in the style of The Dark Knight Returns.

Great find!

This reminds me how good Raimi's films were. They always had something for everyone, whether it's humour, darkness or emotion. All of that is sorely lacking in the MCU Spider-Man, in my opinion.

There's an artificial quality about MCU Spider-Man. In a way, I'd compare it to 90's pop music from the standpoint that nobody and nothing is that happy 24/7. But it all worked into a brand and an image. Same thing with MCU Spider-Man. Ultimately, nothing really slows him down too much. He gets through it all.

You compare that to Raimi's Spider-Man (which is really a variation on the Lee/Romita Spider-Man) and there's a character whose life is practically defined by his challenges. Being Spider-Man was destroying Peter's life in Spider-Man 2. But in Spider-Man 3, the city had finally begun embracing him. That led to new difficulties for Peter but the issue is that the struggles that defined him weren't in vain. His life was hard but the struggle was paying off. He was moving ahead in life and really building something.

Spider-Man 3 ends on a tender but really uncertain moment. Peter and MJ could be reconciling. But they could also be saying goodbye forever. Or at least for now. Or something. Even when Spider-Man wins, Peter still experiences setbacks. And vice versa.

You get attempts at that with MCU Spider-Man but it's usually wrapped up in a synthetic coating of humor and uplift that I have a really difficult time accepting. I suppose everybody will have their own reaction to MCU Spider-Man. What I see as fatal flaws certainly don't seem to be hurting the bottom line for those films.

But for as "flawed" as Spider-Man 3 is often said to be, I'll take a thousand Spider-Man 3's over one Homecoming any time.

[The Dark Knight]

There's an artificial quality about MCU Spider-Man. In a way, I'd compare it to 90's pop music from the standpoint that nobody and nothing is that happy 24/7. But it all worked into a brand and an image. Same thing with MCU Spider-Man. Ultimately, nothing really slows him down too much. He gets through it all.

That's true. It feels too clean for my liking. Far From Home has Peter disappearing from the group repeatedly, and with not much consequence or even suspicion. It's more played for laughs, especially with the personality they gave the tour group leader. MCU Spidey has its place somewhere in the canon. On one hand I can respect they've done something totally different (which I always bemoan the Superman franchise for not doing). But on the other hand, I see how the soul is lacking. But with my newfound enjoyment of the Spider-Man brand it's not a totally lost cause. Vulture and Mysterio are strengths, but that's for another post.   

But for as "flawed" as Spider-Man 3 is often said to be, I'll take a thousand Spider-Man 3's over one Homecoming any time.

Totally.

[Slash Man]

I may be biased, but I think Spider-Man was mostly positive when it came to diverting from the source material.

Peter was really only an awkward nerd for his early career in the comics. He loses the glasses, finds a friend group, and then has beautiful women fighting over him. He still had plenty of problems, but being a social outcast seemed like only a Ditko-era characteristic. Tobey embodies that better than any other actor I've seen; it's downright uncomfortable the way he stares too long or fumbles his words.

Aunt May was rarely seen as a serious character in the comics. The two defining characteristics for her were her sickliness and her obliviousness. She was always a hinderance to Spider-Man and rarely a guiding light for him like Rosemary Harris. I can't pinpoint when they really started writing her seriously, but I want to say it was by the 80s.

Mary Jane was also reimagined quite a bit. It's understandable that they didn't go with her nonstop party attitude of the comics, she almost felt more like Gwen at times. The comics first tried to give her depth at the end of the Alien Costume Saga, but I don't think there was much influence on the film. She had an abusive childhood in a different way through a neglectful father rather than the trailer trash father from the film.

Making Peter an amateur photographer ahead of time was a nice touch, though it was funny to see him hand in these crisp and professionally posed photographs. I've heard people say the comic Peter wasn't a good photographer. This isn't true, but his low quality photos come from him using the automatic function on his camera. Of course all of his photos would turn out blurry and out of focus with poor composition when Spider-Man is focusing on a fight. That's why Robbie told Peter to consider other career options after his qualities as a photographer didn't seem to improve in all his years.