I was just watching The Amazing Spider-Man a movie I have seen only twice before, once in the theater and once off Redbox. This time was the first that I really started to focus on the themes of conspiracy and scientific espionage throughout the film. So this is where my examination, I first noticed when Peter was putting on his father's glasses as a teenager that his prescription was seemingly the exact same as his father's. Really there's nothing there for looking at, it is quite common in the real world for sons to have the same eye glass prescription as their fathers. But something in this scene really sparked my interest and awoke me to the possibility of a plausible theory for this new rebooted universe. Uncle Ben sees Peter wearing his father's glasses and says- "oh my god, you look just like him!" This is not that odd a thing for an uncle to say about his brother's son but as I said it was more the implication of what Uncle Ben was saying rather than his actual words.
Next up. In a deleted scene, where Dr. Ratha confronts Curt Connors in his sewer lair he also speaks to Peter for a moment. It seems as though Ratha knows something that Peter doesn't, skip to about the 1:05 mark in the video below to see what I mean.
When he is speaking to Peter in the deleted scene Peter is explaining to him that the science behind Connors' serum was flawed at which point Ratha says "well it's working quite well on you. Do you ever stop and wonder why? Do you have any idea what you really are?" This is weird, Ratha is a head honcho at Oscorp, the company behind the genetically engineered spiders that gave Peter his powers, so he obviously knows something we don't. But think about what Ratha says here, he gives him two pieces of information. One, that the formula used to fuse together human and animal DNA developed by Curt Connors and Richard Parker was inside Peter somehow. Two, he asks Peter "what" he really, almost referring to him as though he is a laboratory experiment gone right, the pinnacle of Oscorp's hopes and dreams. Which brings me to my next subject...
Oscorp. If we could say that Spider-Man has any one enemy throughout the progression of this series it is most definitely the shadowey applied science company. Examine what Oscorp is working on. It's goal is to create a better man by embedding him with the natural abilities of animals. The serum created by Richard Parker works basically as a stem cell, taking the selected attributes of the wildlife chosen and bonding it successfully to human DNA. The problem with this is that the serum has to be applied correctly otherwise the animal DNA could start to take over and you either end up dead or a monster, like the Lizard.
We know one of the reasons Oscorp is looking for these advancements in human genetics is to cure it's CEO Norman Osborn who is terminally ill. Osborn's son Harry as it seems was a childhood friend of Peter's (probably not from school. They probably developed a friendship as children, playing together whenever Richard brought Peter up to the office to keep each other busy while their father's were working. It has also been revealed that during his adolescence Harry has been away at boarding school. Harry is using his genius intellect to snoop into Oscorp's files and has uncovered the research used to imbibe a human with animal abilities. He has also discovered that Oscorp has had Peter Parker under surveillance, leading him to ask the question why? When Harry uncovers the truth about the dark projects his father's company has become involved with he starts to mess with the experiments himself.
I think we will see a progression in the serum as the company takes Curt Connors' research and uses it to make the formula more effective. Why do I think this? One word: Electro.
Max Dillon is a weak person, he is lonely, has low self esteem and nobody cares about him. In short, Max is the perfect target for anonymous experimentation under the guise of a "freak accident" that Oscorp can use for underground human testing that has not been approved by the board. So Max Dillon is somehow exposed to a new version of the serum (possibly in gas form) and is sent to fix an electrical circuit. We know that the serum only opens up a template in the person's DNA, then all it needs it to be exposed to what? Animal DNA. And suddenly the platform opens up beneath Max's feet and he falls into a vat of genetically engineered bio-electric eels, mutating Max and giving him the ability to absorb and produce bio-electricity. We've seen from the trailer that at some point Harry comes across Electro and gives him the black suit to monitor his electricity levels. At this point Harry has probably become a key player in the Oscorp conspiracies and has uncovered the mysteries of his father's company. He has also probably been confided in by his father.
Now, Norman Osborn is sick, but what is he sick from? Do we know? Well, if you look at the trailer you get one shot of Norman sick in bed, and his appearance is quite shocking.
As you can see half of Norman's face is green and mutated and his eye is dilated, which is remeniscent of one other shot in the trailer:
So Norman Osborn was experiment with the serum created by Richard Parker and Curt Connors, but rather than add animal DNA to the serum to give himself the abilities of another creature he (like his Ultimate universe counterpart) adds his own human DNA to the mixture trying to unlock the true unlocked potential of the human genome. But as the serum is not ready it steadily begins to kill him. When Harry confronts Norman about the things he's uncovered about Oscorp Norman convinces his son to act in his interest. Harry goes to an underground facility full of prototypes for the projects Oscorp is working on but he uses the new and improved goblin serum on himself and uses a prototype armor and glider to attack Spider-Man. But why attack him? Because Osborn needs Peter's DNA.
Norman Osborn knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and he also knows how and why. This is where everything really comes together, Peter's DNA was exposed to the adaptive serum before he was born so that it could accept the powers without external mutation. Anyone who is not born with the serum already in their DNA is not adapted enough to not mutate completely, case in point: Lizard, Electro, Green Goblin.
But let me ask the other question on everyone's mind: who is the man in the shadows?
I don't know. But for the sake of my argument I'll choose the only person who makes any sense.
Miles Warren AKA the Jackal. The reason I believe this, and this is the real core of my theory that Peter is in fact a clone of his father. Mary Parker (his mother) would still be a surrogate for the embryo but Peter would be a cloned experiment created by Richard Parker from his own DNA and supplemented with the serum. Richard Parker did this without Oscorp's knowledge, but when he discovered that Oscorp was actually going to use these super humans as mercenaries and soldiers to take control of the world's governments he hid the fact that Peter was a genetically engineered embryo. But when Oscorp thought that Richard was up to no good and broke into his house to look into his research he knew he had to leave so they would think he was fleeing with his formula. While in fact, he was hiding Peter in plain sight. A good plan, until Peter's DNA was exposed to the genetics of one of the genetically altered animals that his genome was coded to accept and use to alter himself. Miles Warren is Norman Osborn's spy and top cloning specialist at Oscorp, he has been keeping tabs on Peter's activities to see if he is really a clone and whether or not he is Spider-Man. Now, I don't know if any of this is true. Your guess is a good as mine as to who the guy in the shadows actually is but please let me know what you think.