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.