In 2000, Marvel launched the Ultimate Universe, which was a new universe that allowed writers and artist to give Marvel superheroes a modern update. Comic book writer and former artist,
Brian Michael Bendis, was in charge of updating Spidey, and created
Ultimate Spider-Man. He has written over 200 issues, so it isn't too surprising that Sony would seek out his advice on how to handle their Spidey film franchise. Bendis explained to Yahoo that he was actually responsible for
Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man using
mechanical web-shooters and not organice web-shooters like Tobey Maguire had in Sam Raimi's
Spider-Man films.
"
Yeah, I’ve gone in before," Bendis told Yahoo. "
They’ve asked me in to be the deciding vote on some stuff, which is an odd experience as well. [Before
Amazing Spider-Man]
, they sat me down in Amy Pascal’s office with this big roomful of producers and writers and directors, and
she looked at me and said “Organic webshooters or mechanical webshooters?”
I said “mechanical,” and half the table said,
“Goddamn it!” They were mad because I was clearly the deciding vote, even though I didn’t know that. So when I see the mechanical webshooters, I feel a little happiness. I feel like I did something good in the world.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.