What can the MCU do to bring this Franchise back to its glory days?
Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation back again with some more Superhero talk. After months of speculations and casting rumors, yesterday finally saw the confirmation of not only The new Spider-Man (Tom Holland) but who would direct the web-slinger's newest movie outing in 2017 (Jon Watts). Tom Holland as Spider-Man is confirmed to be making a cameo in Captain America: Civil War before he swings onto his own movie the next year. With this announcement came a bit of backlash: Some of it stupid (Peter Parker is white WAAAH), while the more logical backlash justified.
This will be Spidey's Second movie reboot within five years and frankly, some people are a little fatigued of Spider-Man. Which they honestly have a right to be. As much as I enjoy Spider-Man's movies (Yes even TASM 2), I will admit that they are a little...formulaic (Peter is Spider-Man and is having fun, villain with some type of personal connection to Peter wants to kill him and take over the city, Peter has relationship problems with his girlfriend). People are tired of seeing the same old same old, and with Spidey now in the MCU, things need to be shaken up and I think I have a few ideas to get people interested back in Spider-Man movies.
The First way to bring people back to Spidey's movies is the title
This may not make sense for some people, but the title for Spider-Man's next big movie could in fact Spark interest back in Spider-Man. Throughout the duration of Spider-Man's movie career, we've seen two of the most Familiar Spider-Man titles used: The traditional Spider-Man title and The Amazing Spider-Man. So the only Adjective (Among the many used for him) that can be used now to cement Spidey's place in the MCU is Avenging. Just picture this: The trailer for the new Spider-Man movie starts off with a showing of all the Avengers that have come before, after that you have some type of saying like: "A new Hero swings his way in." then it cuts to The Spider Logo on Spidey's Logo and you have the title: 'The Avenging Spider-Man'. The title and that trailer really sells it if that's how Marvel markets it, and it might just trick some people into thinking one of the Avengers might be in the movie.
Second we have: Bring more focus to Peter Parker's High School Life
I know some people are tired of seeing Pete in High School, but if it has to happen a third time, let's do it right.
When Marvel began their search for their new Spider-Man, they sought out a younger actor and they picked 19 year old actor Tom Holland to play Peter. This shows that we will have Spider-Man back in high school. People will moan and groan about this, but honestly it's a good idea to do. One of the reasons Spider-Man became as popular as he did was BECAUSE he was a teenager in high school with ordinary teenager problems; they're why he connected to so many younger people. Spider-Man's High school years were the biggest years of his mythos. The movies before merely touched on Pete's high school life but they were so quick to make him graduate. What Marvel wants to do (and they should) is bring more focus on Peter Parker's personal life throughout those years.
If you want a great example of how High School Student Peter Parker should be in the movies. Look no further than The Spectacular Spider-Man Cartoon. In its first episode, you had Peter who was so full of confidence a couple of months after being Spider-Man and was determined to make big changes to his high school status now that his summer break was over. When he gets to school, his confidence is destroyed and he's back to being 'Puny Parker'. That's the kind of stuff I want to see with these new movies, Show that even after he gained his powers and became Spider-Man, Peter's still one of the unpopular kids and that he's still a victim of bullying. Show Peter's desire to want to be The Man, the cool guy that gets what he wants, and how that conflicts with his sense of responsibility (Not just in High School but with him searching for a job to help his Aunt). If Marvel can pull this off, then the new Marvel Spidey movie will really stand out.
Next on this list: Play up the vigilante that can't be trusted angle
This was something that was done in 'The Amazing Spider-Man' back in 2012, but its sequel dropped that whole storyline in favor of making him a really big and beloved hero. Spider-Man in the comics was not this loved hero that the movies portray him as, he was a guy that the police were constantly on the lookout for, a guy that the media constantly made him out to be this evil guy and because of that he wasn't respected by a lot of people. In The Ultimate comics, Spider-Man made a rookie mistake by trying to just bust in and attack the Kingpin, that ended up with The Kingpin twisting the situation into making Spidey a bad guy and because of that the police went after him. So who's to say we can't have that happen in the movies?
Another thing to consider is J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle, the head of the Anti-Spidey camp. The newspaper company Peter works for would have a VERY good reason for not trusting him. Think about it: Everyone knows the identities of The Avengers are in the MCU; Daredevil is the only hero with a secret identity. When you consider this, The material with the Bugle writes itself. Jameson would be completely against Spider-Man because you can't trust a guy that hides behind a mask. And since Tom Holland will be around as Peter for a long time for the foreseeable future, he can be this hero who's always slammed by the media and slowly build to becoming this loved and celebrated hero.
Speaking of Daredevil, On to Point Number 4: Stand alone Team-up Movies
This has a possibility of happening now. That's amazing...
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but the number of heroes in The MCU are steadily increasing. Between the movies, Agents of Shield, and the upcoming Netflix series, the roster's growing fast; and many fans have pointed out, these characters shouldn't be in just their own movies/series, they should also crossover into other stuff. And with the success of Daredevil's first season and The Punisher confirmed for season two, now would be a great time for those two to team up with Spidey for a movie (This of course would be some time AFTER his first movie). These three characters have teamed up before in The Avenging Spider-Man comic (I'm sure they've done so elsewhere but it's the only example I can think of) and with how well Daredevil's doing on Netflix, I believe it's only a matter of time before he makes his way into the movies, what better way to do that than with a team up movie where he, Spidey, and the Punisher have to deal with some new gang war or take on The Enforcers?
#5: Make it Personal, Fresh and Interesting
Very Generic Sentence but allow me to elaborate
A lot of people have the idea that Spider-Man is a larger than life hero in the Marvel Universe but in reality, he kind of isn't. He's just a guy from Queen's New York in a world that's much larger than he is. If you want a more apt comparison, he's a small fish in The Pacific Ocean of Marvel Superheroes. What this means is that you don't need big city shattering world, changing plots in these movies like they all previously had. With him now being in The MCU, you can have Peter Parker be this kid in a world much bigger than him as he's normally portrayed as.
Another plus to these new movies is there isn't as much of a need for Spider-Man villains to be grand and want to morph the world into their image (Looking at you Lizard). A lot of Spider-Man's rogues are just mooks that want to rob some banks to make a couple of bucks, or want a revenge scheme. These reasons are why Spider-Man's first movie villain shouldn't be one of his biggest enemies, but have him start off very small, have his first movie be him taking on some random hoodlums and then he runs into his first "big" villain via The Vulture, or Shocker. Or hell, you could introduce Black Cat and she and Spider-Man team up to deal with Tombstone. With the second movie, you could introduce Kraven, a villain that wants to hunt and kill Spider-Man just for the sport of it. Hell, you can even introduce Morbius and spin that off into a Blade reboot!
When I say the movies need to be more personal, I mean for them to bring more focus on not just Peter, but his supporting cast. They are just as important to Spider-Man as Peter himself is. I want to see Mary-Jane done right and to be more than just Peter's love interest. Same for Norman and Harry Osborn. They are more than just "The Goblins", especially Norman. The MCU has a chance to build towards Norman's transformation into The Green Goblin, show off the slimy businessman he is. With Norman now in the MCU you could even do The Dark Avengers proper.
What this long essay is trying to show is that with Spider-Man and his characters in the MCU now, the sky is the limit for what Marvel can do, They have all the tools at hand to not only bring new life back to the Spider-Man movies, but to also create the Definitive Spider-Man movie.
Til next time folks, I'm The Shaman of Animation...and now that I brought it up in a blog post, I'm off to watch some Spectacular Spider-Man.
Seriously, if you haven't seen The Spectacular Spider-Man, do it. It's F**King Awesome!
Take Care...
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