Lets start with the basic story line. Yes, we all know the origin of Spider-man so lets just jump right in and show bits of the well known origin in flashback clips ala Spectacular Spider-Man. As we all know by now, Sony has chosen to take the wall crawler back to high school, so i hope James Vanderbelt remembers what it was like to be a teenager and writes the Peter Parker role to show that.
Through out the Spider-man comics, Spideys guilt and self loathing have always been both his driving force as well as his greatest adversary. If a dramatic story line is what they are going for, it is time to capitalize on this. During the first movie, peter should be mourning the loss of Uncle Ben, yet trying to put p a brave front for Aunt May. He is the man of the house now and must live up to the responsibilities of this new and unfamiliar position. But he wouldn't be peter parker if he didn't occasionally mess it up. This is a lot of responsibility for a 15 yr old kid so an actor must be cast who can portray the balance between the emerging man and the kid who has to put his childhood behind him fast. he IS and always will be a bit of a nerd so casting a heart throb is not really being true to the character. He is a kind hearted kid who is a bit awkward, especially around girls, and a social outcast, not having many friends.
The villains for the first three movies should all be minor characters in each movie they are not the antagonist in and I believe these three villains should be Electro, the Lizard, and The Green Goblin, respectively. It makes for a great continuous story ark, almost as if it is one continuous story that spans 3 theatrical releases. Other villains should make cameos in their civilian forms even if they do not appear in the series until much farther down the line, if at all.
In the first movie, the villain should be Electro/Max Dillon. This guy should be a cocky jerk who is only out for himself. Use of the Amazing origin seems the most appropriate for this character, although I believe the version brought to us is the spectacular spider-man cartoon actually made sense, what with the tank of electric eels and the bioelectric ooze and all. How ever, seeing him as a jerk before having the accident would make this character someone you really want to see get his teeth kicked.
In the Amazing series, Max is an electrical lineman who is called upon when a coworker is stuck on an electric pole. Instead of being heroic, he offers to help only if his supervisor pays him to do it. If they used this origin it would really make him out to be an A-Hole but have them working in Time Square, maybe putting in new LCD screens on the billboards. As he is rescuing the stranded lineman they are both shocked, working in that it was some how spidermans fault. His coworkers follow the ambulance to the hospital to find that only Max has survived the incident, making comments like "Why couldn't HE have been the one to get fried?" as a further insult to his character.
Peter gets an internship working with his mentor Dr Conners at ESU where he first meets Gwen who attends a different highschool and has been granted the same internship. Norman Osborne will be the person funding Doctor Conners research and there should be a scene about how he is threatening to cut Conners funding if he doesnt provide results soon and threatens to inform the government of his involvement in the incident that first transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk (good tie in to the rest of the Marvel movies). Peter and Gwen's attraction is immediate but they are both too shy to make a move. this mutual attraction goes on through out the movie, with something happening to stop peter from asking her out every time, whether its somebody interrupting them or a spider-man related emergency happening where peter is called away to take pictures for the Bugle, but the infatuation is enough to take peters mind off of what happened to Uncle Ben. They finally get to go out on a date of sorts (since peter is perpetually broke)to a movie followed by coffee, when the lights in the entire area go out. This, of course caused by electro. Peters Spider Sense goes off and he rushes away to the scene and chases electro through the city, ending up in Time Square at the site where electro had his accident. Electro blames spider-man for what happened to him but says that he has learned how to control it and makes a comment that the accident terned him into a god. The two fight in a great scene showing of both electro's power and spider-man's agility as he leaps from lamp pole to lamp pole, avoiding electro's blast. he tries a direct attack and nearly gets fried. Electro hovers over him about to give the fatal blow, then spider-man, nearly unconscious, shoots a web at a fire hydrant and rips the cap off, raining water all over electro giving him time to regain his composure. Spidey gets up and redirects the full force of the hydrant blast at electro, short circuiting him, then proceeds to be the snot out of the villain and just before be loses control, he looks around at the gawking faces of the civilians around and remembering his uncles words or wisdom, he whispers to himself "with great power comes great responsibility", then webs the now unconscious electro to the ground and disappears into the night. the next day peter and Gwen meet up just outside the ESU lab and he apologizes to her for ditching her and explains that he had to get pictures for the bugle again and she tells he he should have told her instead of running off, and they both stop short after entering the lab and are shocked to see that it is completely wrecked. the movie ends with a widening shot of the wrecked lab in which claw marks can be seen. this would give the viewer the clue that the Lizard is the next villain.
Casting-------------
When casting the Spider-man/Peter Parker role, it is important to remember that you are, in reality, casting one person to play two distinctly different roles. Spider-Man is everything that Peter Parker is not. He is agile, witty, confident, and has a larger than life presence in direct contrast to his small stature. But there must still be parts of Peter Parkers personality that still shine through. I have read a lot of post by fans who say they want to see Spider-Man all buff and muscle bound. This seems like it would be in direct contrast to the whole secret identity thing since Pater is supposed to be small, frail kid. Im sure if he went from 98lbs of skin and bone to this yoked out super buff guy over night, people would start to put two and two together. Although he expressed a disinterest in the roll, i think ther perfect person to Peter Parker should be Aaron Johnson from the movie Kick-Ass
Gwen Stacy is and always has been the love of peters life. we are trying to stick a little closer to the actual story and not inventing story lines this time around, so I don't think Mary Jane should even appear either of the first 2 movies. Gwen is the quintessential girl next door. She should be almost a female version of Peter. A bit of a science geek, cute but a bombshell hottie. This should be someone whom you mourn the loss of along side peter. For this roll, id cast Saoise Ronan. Shes a great actress and has the downplayed sweet girl next door look id expect for Gwen Stacy. She seems like the kind of girl that would stick in peters mind for ever
Curt Connors is an intense workaholic who is direct and no nonsense but still a very respectable and likable person. The actor that plays him must be able to bring this to the plate along with an air of high intelligence and an almost foreboding presence. Literally Dr. Jeckle and Mr Hyde. There would be no one better in my mind than Kevin Spacey
Max Dillon is a complete a-hole. A jerk. Hes the consummate underachiever who probably skated by through high school barely maintaining a C average and had a problem taking responsibility for his own actions. Hes got a really big chip on his shoulder and wouldn't back down from a fight, even though before his ill-fated accident most likely lost a lot more fights than he won. Once he has the power to take care of business he has no problem testing that power out on anyone and everyone. To play him I chose an actor who can pull off the role of an egotistical scrapper better an anyone I've seen. Ben Foster. Don't believe me? check out his performance in "3:12 to Yuma"