Seeing as crazy as the Sony Hack has been going around the internet. Loads of ideas have sprung into mind about what to do with franchises of their own. Employees filing complaints, MIB & 22 Jump Street crossover, Ghostbusters remakes, but finally the most important one of them all, SPIDER-MAN! Where does one go with such a franchise? Can it really continue on its own? Can we really see the MCU join Spider-Man? A lot of you will probably answer that last question as a YES, but lets look a little further shall we? Just sit back, relax...
Lets begin!
1. CONTINUING WHAT YOU'VE STARTED
Right now, we currently see the Spider-Man franchise in a state of flux. Since the reboot of the entire franchise, a lot has changed. Spider-Man is no longer the mature adult, he is not back to being a teenager in high-school. Now Peter has parents, hormonal issues, romantic love interest who is not MJ; you sort of the get the picture. For myself I always felt the first of the reboot was downright terrible, and while I did like the sequel a little more, I still found it a little limp compared to the past Spider-Man movies. Now with the opening of a shared universe, with Sinister Six, Venom and even a female Spider-Man movie, is this really worth the go around?
+Opening another shared universe
+Continuing what you have started
-Confusing direction on where to go
-Avi Arad
-Team up movie consisted of villains who turn good but then evil
-Matt Tolmach
As far as I can see, I believe this idea is the worst idea to go with. You have to incompetent producers who believe Spider-Man should go a way that every superhero movie is doing, instead of creating new, they are just doing the same old that Marvel is doing. A direction that is completely muddled even in interviews on where they want to go with their franchise, it doesn't make sense on why they would want to do this. So many interesting ideas to go fourth with, and yet every Spider-Man movie has to just fall to its knees with this combined universe. To me, there is a lot more negatives, but they outweight the positives here. They should scrap any ideas they had for Sinister Six or even Venom and not even try to appease to the idea of a cinematic universe without Marvel licensed characters. Its absurd and just makes the universe itself even smaller. I did like their idea at first, but the more I think about it, the more closed in this whole franchise has begun to warp my brain around. I understand Spider-Man has a big world, but does that mean we just have to explore that tiny side of comics from an even bigger world from the Marvel Comics? Already Marvel has explored 3 different sides of the comics, how does Sony just compete with 3 different settings with just villain movies as your trump card? Thats like saying you gotta pay 200 dollars by tomorrow, and your dead broke but HEY, at least you got a scratch off ticket. Makes no sense right?
2. ANIMATED COMEDY!
I think every fanboy including me can speak for ourselves and say, "Damn, where the hell did this come from" The idea is to make an animated comedy about Spider-Man, that would be set in the same universe as the movies, except it will be animated and possibly a comedy. Not only that, but will also be directed and produced by the same people who brought us Lego Movie & 21 Jump Street and its sequel.
+Could be funny and different
+Promising creative talent behind this if true
-WTF?
-Very obscure move
-Out of left field
-Out of desperation
Out of all the ideas that came to light, this is probably the worst one due to the fact of its obscurity and desperation for the franchise to be a success again. While a similar studio had once done this in the past with their franchise, which was to quickly act in desperation of completely new ideas, it doesn't seem really that much out of the norm to do it. By that other studio, I mean WB with Batman & Superman in the past. To land on this idea and for the studio to green-light this, is not only a nail in the coffin, but its just being thrown into the incenerator alive and well. Sure it would be great for kids, including my son and my future child, but for the good of Spidey, I want him to be remembered for something else through the ages, not a CGI comedy. Would it be interesting? Maybe, but also depletes a lot of the chances of ever seeing a live-action Spider-Man movie if successful. So no, WTF, NO!
3. THE NAMES SPIDER...SPIDER-MAN
While probably the most laughable poster for a movie, the idea stuck on my mind when Jeff Robinov had sent an 8 page document giving ideas on the future of Spider-Man. What it was, was to have every Spider-Man movie different, like the James Bond franchise, not only that but to also not worry about the origin or even what year he is. He also stated that Spider-Man has decades of storylines, and to focus on a simple blimp in his crime-fighting career would be too small to even focus on, given what other comic book writers have done with the character. He also stated an idea where Peter is married already, is a high school teacher and much more of course.
+New and different look on the superhero genre
+Reinvogrates Spider-Man
+Doesn't follow the Cinematic Movie formula
+/-No trilogy
-Seems pretty risky
-Makes the world of Spider-Man still closed off
While possibily a good idea, can also be a bad one, but this idea I have to say is the one that has peaked my interest out of all the hacks that Sony has done. We don't have to worry about following order in chronological maybe, or maybe not have to worry about how each movie fits into a trilogy, or even bigger universe. Spider-Man himself is the one we want to travel with in this big expansive universe, not any other hero, or a pair of villains. What I mean is, a lot that has taken to account of this idea, comes from the fact that a lot of what Sony wants to do, is try to keep up with the Hollywood blockbusters. Right now there is a Wonder Woman movie and Captain Marvel, but the next idea to introduce a female Spider-Man character as the main character, or hell even have the origin of Aunt May, as if it mattered to a lot of viewers to who she really is, when in reality, who gives a shit. This is the point I've always tried to make with Spider-Man and other superheroes in general, you really do not need to have a connective universe when your universe is already flawed as is and doesn't really know the true importance of that universe.
I know a lot of you have made up your mind on the studio, but think about this, what if someone like David Fincher directed Spider-Man? Or Sam Mendes? Or what if someone like Aaron Sorkin wrote Spider-Man? Imagine seeing different actors become Spider-Man, imagine all of that, does it really matter behind who is doing it? This brings me to the finale
4. GIVE THE RIGHTS BACK TO MARVEL!
Like any Spider-Man fan or Marvel fan will tell you who loves the movies, the infamous quote that roams the comment section of many sites
"Give the rights back to Marvel!" and it still goes. Over the years since Iron Man in 2008 was released, a lot of fans contemplated the idea a lot of what if Marvel did have all the rights to their superheroes? Thus when it was announced that Spider-Man would be rebooted, a lot of ideas scurried the whole entire internet about Garfield joining the MCU, rumors of Oscorp Tower appearing in the Avengers, more and more questions. Then the Sony Hacks happened, where it was revealed that talks were actually being discussed on what Sony would love to do with Spider-Man and that was to give it back to Marvel. Not only give them back though, but lend it to them of a 60/40 deal, combining forces to create a new trilogy again not focused on the origin, or making sure he shows up in Civil War, and thus the idea has brewed and seems more and more possible.
+Spider-Man joins other heroes
+Spider-Man joins the entire MCU
+A bigger universe
+A complete Civil War story
-Muddled with other heroes
-Cluttered around with other heroes
-Convoluted explanation on how he fits into the MCU
This is the most obvious that every single CBM fan wants on this site, and maybe other Spider-Man fans. Of course that the universe will be bigger, Marvel will have retained everything it has ever loved. Yes, it would be a cool idea to see Captain America spar with Spider-Man. It would be a cool idea for Hulk to even battle Spider-Man, or Peter & Bruce exchange notes on scientific theories for future battles on enemies. Hell it would be cool for Stark to know of Otto Octavius or know of Norman Osborn. It would be cool, but is it really worth it?
Think about it. You get all of that, and then what? You wait those 2 to 3 years waiting to see that 10-15 minutes of glory to your inner man child, and then what? You eagerly await another 2-3 years for a solo movie just for Easter Eggs, adding on more years to see the same thing once again back and fourth, what does it matter? The way I see the MCU, it is very lucrative, but lucratively flawed where there is still time to fix everything you have. We are only at the eve of Phase 3 now, but even then what has it accomplished. There is still a lot of unanswered questions we need to wait more and more years for, still a lot of inconsistencies between films all because of contract signing, but even then what is the whole reasoning for it? You wait these 2-3 years to see a Spider-Man movie to have easter eggs or to have the Marvel Studios name brand just cause you feel entirely secure about the idea of Spider-Man being part of this vast universe. Is security what you truly need for this ficitonal character, or do you want to see a big great Spider-Man movie.
Point is, you really do not need Marvel's help, nor does it have anything to do with Sony ruining Spider-Man. Sony is giant entertainment group that oversees a lot of production value within its games, movies, Blu-Rays, hardware and more. What you need is the right creative team, it isn't always Marvel, because maybe Sony can create the best Spider-Man movie that many will love. What Spider-Man needs is the respect that many other superhero movies need, rather than following up on a cinematic universe or joining it. That isn't what Spider-Man started out for, it was to make a great movie, not to just copy or blend in with the crowd and that is where a lot of the mistakes of this new rebooted series comes from. You didn't worry about Easter Eggs, you didn't worry about what the future may hold or what this leads into, you didn't worry about any of it. You were assured that a good movie was coming out, and that is what is important. A good Spider-Man movie that manages to create something special for audiences and offer a difference in the genre. That is what Spider-Man needs, that is where it needs to go. Whether or not its continuing what has been going on, or actually going the James Bond route, I want to see grade A material when it comes to this.
I am really beat, so that is how I feel on where it needs to go, whether you agree or not, is entirely up to you. Thanks for reading.