Spider Man and his Amazing Friends

When we last left Spider Man, he was swinging off to reboot his life, with a new home made costume and return to a more classic, Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man.

This opens up the opportunity for something fans have wanted for quite a while, but it's only now, with the merger of companies that it's finally possible.

The post credit scene I wanted for this Spider Man was meeting two fellow young people, Bobby Drake & Angelica Jones with her little friend Miss Lion, just into the world, but also with special abilities, and a team up seems like just what they'd all need for their next journey in life, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.

Spidey is looking for a new beginning, about to start college and looking for some new friends, it only seems appropriate as many other parts of the MCU reset after the events of Endgame and the world has forgotten Peter Parker, it's a great new start all around for him.

This  is also a perfect way to introduce mutants into the MCU, explaining that they've been around for a long time.  No need for some dramatic and possibly ridiculous storyline to force them suddenly into this universe.  Let it just be that they have been a closely guarded secret.  This can also help explain he line Nick Fury had in the Avengers, "the world is filling up with people who just can't be matched." and part of that, could be the X-Men and other mutants.  At some point, when they meet, Professor Xavier should thank Peter for his "great sacrifice", without going into any explanation for the statement.

It would seem that several of the Spider Man villains of old won't be part of this Spideyverse, Doctor Octopus probably won't pop up, and Norman Osbourne said, "someone's living in my house and there is on OsCorp", seems doubtful that Sandman will be here again either.  That still leaves a great host of awesome villains like Hobgoblin and Kraven can come along.  We've already seen Vulture, King Pin and Shocker (who was a great villain in the comics) plus we don't necessarily know that Mysterio is dead, he could always come back.

To me, the characters Morbius and Venom are too dark for this version of the Spiderverse, they would be much better suited to the Andrew Garfield universe, even though they are trying to set them up for this universe, it just doesn't fit.

Spider Man & His Amazing Friends is a much smarter and lucrative way to go for Feige and the Disney/Sony version of the Spider Man storyline.

I know this is absolutely insane, three Spider-verses going on at once, but it could be a success storm for Marvel, Disney and Sony if they can pull it off, and I believe they can.  We've seen other film franchises ruined by taking a brighter world and forcing it into dark places, and vice-versa, so why not let them each have their own?  There are multiple publishings of Spider Man in comic form, why not in films?

THIS is the next daring step that Kevin Feige needs to take for Spider Man.

Spider Friends.... GO FOR IT!!!

 

Andrew and the arrival of Madame Web

Seeing the two former Spider Men in the new film was a truly great moment, but it also allowed us to see deeper into each of them and see their differences.

What we saw from Andrew Garfield's version, is that he's the tragic Spidey, the lonely one, the lost one.  He lost his parents, lost his Gwen and has yet to find his Mary Jane.

Garfield did a great job, as he had done in his films, but seeing him with these other two made you wonder what happened to him, in his universe after he was returned.

In this version of Spider Man I see the opportunity to introduce one of the characters from the Spider-verse that crosses over them all, something that this Spider Man could really use in his journey, a guide, Madame Web.

McGuire's version seems a bit old for this to be introduced on him now, Holland's version is looking for a whole new way in the world but Garfield's version is the one who needs Madame Web the most.

She not only could help guide him on his journey as Spider Man but also on his personal journey to find out the mystery of his parents.

Garfield's personality and look seem to be good for a more mystical Spider Man and a bit darker New York.

After a couple of very rough nights, both in which he wasn't in time to save everyone from tragedies, Parker is wondering if it's all worth it, even with what he learned from the other Spidey's, he's really not sure of himself.

As he swings into a dark alley to retrieve his clothes and head home, the dark alley turns into a very deep hole in space, as he finally lands and dark bluish/purple light comes up and there sits Madame Web. 

Web tells Peter that Spider-Man is a very crucial thread throughout the multiverse, a part that even Stephen Strange doesn't yet understand, and that's why there are so many of them, his core is special to the web of existence.   The mantra of Spider Man, "With great power comes great responsibility" is part of Peter's core being in each universe.   She explains that Peter Parker is one of the few beings in the multiverse who doesn't have a "dark side" in some other realm, that he is a beacon of Good.

As far as his love interest, this would be the perfect universe to introduce, The Black Cat, Felecia Hardy and her style and history seems to fit here.  Hardy comes from a very rich family, Peter would be a fish out of water in that aristocratic world, could make for the humorous parts of the films.  The Tobey-verse has, in my opinion, the bast Mary Jane Watson, and the Holland-verse is rebooting, open for many possibilities, but The Cat just seems to fit here,

It's this that sets up his confrontation with Morbius.  Yes, I know there are scenes that set him up for the Holland-verse but I think this is the one that the Venom and Morbius characters need to be centered in, it just seems to feel like a more perfect fit than the Tom Holland universe.  I'm very excited for the Morbius film but it just all seems far too dark for the MCU of today, but would work in the Andrew-verse perfectly.

In one of the post film scenes of, No Way Home, we see Eddie Brock (why he was brought to that universe is unknown, he had no idea who Peter Parker or Spider Man even were at all), this should set up them coming to NYC.

Like Morbius, the Venom storyline is pretty dark, and a lot more violent than the Holland films have seen so far, why mess up that formula when it works better here?

This, to me, would fix that mistake of Brock in the Holland-verse, and yes I think it was a major mistake.  Let Holland's version find Venom the way the character did in the original story, during Secret Wars.

With the introduction of Madame Web we could also see the different Spider Men come together again in some kind of convergence like we saw in the 90's animated series, allowing some characters to jump from one universe to another.

 

Spider Man : Rebooting the Tobey-verse

Going into Spider Man No Way Home, I had some specific ideas on what I would like to see in the upcoming life of Spider Man (Tom Holland), but came out with some completely different ones.

The film was VERY GOOD, bordering on great, but left out some things that should have been in, and was a bit disappointing in other ways, I'll get into details later when more have had a chance to see it.

But, it did also make me completely relook at the McGuire and Garfield versions of the character and see that there are some genuine possibilities for more films on both of those parts of the Spidey-verse.

Given that McGuire and Dunst have more dramatic acting experience, I thought that this could be the more dramatic version of the character.  Plenty of web-action but with much deeper and emotional tones to the stories.

In my opinion there should be two constants in the multiple Spider Man universes, JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and, the yet to be introduced, Madame Web, hopefully they find the right actress who can portray the part across them all.

Speaking of J Jonah Jamison there was one line he had in the second Spider-Man movie where he was trying to name "Dr. Octopus" for a headline and came up with a name "Doctor Strange" but acknowledged that the name was already taken, who was he talking about?  Does this mean the sorcerer supreme already existed in this existence of Spider-Man?  If he does exist in that thread of the multiverse, who else might be there?

Back to the subject at hand, Mark Of The Man Wolf, would be a pretty deep and dramatic way to go for McGuire's version of the character.

This is one of the most memorable and well known of the classic Spider Man stories, thanks a lot to it's radio-style dramatization to a record-storybook set from the 1970's.

I had the original comic and story record as a kid and went years before I even tried to listen to it with the lights out 😆, looking back I'm amazed they made that story into a record for little kids.  Given the popularity for werewolf stories is still high, this could draw in new Spider Man fans.

This is a really intense story and changed J Jonah Jameson, until they changed him back, but I'd suggest this JJJ gets taken down a notch or two with this story, it could even be a two part film set.

Another reason to save, and extend, the Tobey-verse is that they have, Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavious, aka, Doc Ock.  At the end of, No Way Home, he was still in possession of his extra arms and had the chip putting him back in control not only repaired, but highly upgraded.  One can really hope that he survived when he returned to his world and was able to help save the city.  This would make for a unique version of the Spidey-verse where Otto is not only still alive and attached but also a possible ally for the future.  This actor/character pairing is just too good and too popular to let go.

Bottom line is, there are still viable possibilities for the Tobey McGuire version of the Spider-verse, if he and Dunst are willing to make a go of it.


 

The Missing Spider Man, Nicholas Hammond

It's not really a spoiler if I tell you about something that's NOT in the new Spider Man, is it?  Oh well, if you saw the title of this, you know already, might as well read on... 

It's probably out now that all three of the cinematic Spider Men make an appearance in, No Way Home, but should there have been a fourth?  I say yes, there should have, in the person of, Nicholas Hammond who played Spider Man on television from September 14th 1977 to July 6th 1979.  Despite the fact that Marvel monarch Stan Lee didn't like the show, a whole lot of us kids back then LOVED it.  It's that connection through the ages that should have put Hammond in the new film, if only briefly.

To me, the best way to have done it was during the scene with all of them at Ned's home, while they are standing around and talking...

A knock at the front door, the Peters convince Ned to open it because, "super villains don't knock", but the three Spider Men get ready for anything as Ned approaches the door.  When he opens it, an older gentlemen is standing there with a kind, somewhat grandfatherly look on his face, "Hi, I'm Peter Parker, I have a feeling I belong here, right now." he says calmly.  Ned, stuttering and even more lost than ever opens the door and invites the older man in.

As he walks into the living/dining room, he looks over the three young men, smiling almost with pride, his eyes misting up a bit.  "It's nice to see the legacy carried on from so many different places." the older man says.  The three just look confused.  The old man reintroduces himself, "I'm Peter Parker, and I became Spider Man in my world back in 1977."  The three are now starry eyed but still confused, the older man looks as if a lightbulb just went off in his head, "oh, none of you have met her yet, makes sense now."  Even more confusion with the three.  "Don't worry about what you have to do, Spider Man has a purpose, no matter which world you come from, it won't be easy, far from it, but seeing you gathered here, I doubt there isn't anything you three can't do if you work together."  "Are you hear to help us?" says Holland, "No, my web-swinging days are over, I just wanted to let you know that more than one world is counting on you, someday, you'll all understand more."  With that, the older man simply leaves.

It's an ultimate teaser for, Madame Web and many will understand the implication of how the universes are connected, and is another teaser for how these worlds could come together again.

The television show was a great thing when we were kids and this would not just help connect the generations in the film but in fans as well, not to mention some bonus action figures of the classic TV Spider Man 😉 $$$ and a great way to celebrate the release of the original series on DVD/Blu-Ray, with Hammond doing some PR for it all.