Recently, we were provided with three new clips regarding The Amazing Spider-Man. Since they have been released, one clip in particualr has gained mixed reactions from fans. This clip involves Spider-Man messing around with a car thief.
There have been many people that have said, this is too mean spirited. That Spider-Man went too far and this is not the character they recognise. However, there have been other fans, who are happy to finally see Spider-Man's sarcastic attitude appear. I am one of those people and during this article, I will go through why I think people are over-reacting.
My bet during this clip, is that, this is the first night Peter goes on patrol. What became apparent to myself, is, he was almost treating the thief as a target. Could this possibly mean this is the first time Spidey is properly testing out his web-slingers? I personally believe so. I also believe he hasn't learnt the true meaning of responsibility during this clip. Now, gathering from what I have seen from the trailer and read from various different sources, there is a possibility Peter becomes Spider-Man before Uncle Ben's death. If that is the case, then this clip makes perfect sense when put into that context. He is obviously out hunting down thugs but treating it as a joke. He has not learnt his lesson yet.
Now, what is also interesting about this clip, is, it almost appears he is doing exactly what Flash would do to him, if he had that power. He is clearly venting his frustration and is enjoying the power of being on the opposite end of the spectrum. I bet there are plenty of kids who have been bullied, that would love to extract their revenge on the instigators. This is clearly the case in my opinion, when it comes to this clip. We are witnessing Spider-Man before he becomes Spider-Man, before he realises the responsibility, that comes with having great power.
In essence, he is a kid before becoming a man. When I was a teenager, I had a real attitude, especially at the age of sixteen. Most of the time I would end up having a fight with someone and at one point my parents would not allow me to leave the house because they were worried, I would either end up seriously hurting someone or they would end up hurting me. After a year of this I realised how foolish I had been and completely grew out of that phase. I wasn't forced to stop but I decided to. My point is, Peter is most likely going through a similar phase. He realises he is stronger than everyone else and enjoys being powerful. What will force him to contemplate his attitude and decisions will be the death of his uncle. Again this is just a guess but what I think will happen in this film ,is, his Uncle Ben will give him the great responsibility speech and instead of going out on patrol, he won't bother because of what his uncle had told him. In the process he will let the thief go, who kills Uncle Ben.
I personally wouldn't mind if they changed the origin to this. It would feel far more grounded and relatable. I think at one point in our lives, we have all been responsible for disobeying our parents. This time though, for Peter, it is a grave mistake. His Uncle is killed and he learns the hard way, pushing him to become a man and accept his responsibilities. This I personally feel would be a great new route to take, whilst retaining the fundamentals of the Spider-Man origin story.
Now I am sure most of you will disagree with the majority of what I have said but that is why we are here my fellows, to talk about and speculate what new films will provide us. Now to ask all of you. How do you think they will tell the origin story in this film ?