When news emerged about ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ getting a sequel, many assumed that a trilogy was on the way. Then, when ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ was set to include a few new villains, it was easy to see that the Sinister Six was coming our way by the end of the series. However, Sony threw us a curve ball when they announced plans for a third and fourth movie in Marc Webb’s Spidey franchise. With that news, things suddenly aren’t so clear and we’re left to wonder how the director plans to fill out a quadrilogy (if he’s stays on for the whole thing).
Up until this point, the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ films are set up to explore some untold aspects of Peter Parker’s life. In a recent interview with Crave Online, Webb revealed his approach to the Spider-Man franchise now that it’s been expanded by suggesting that focus on the young hero could be shifted elsewhere in the Spidey-verse:
“Well, I think this was conceived of as a trilogy so there was a defined architecture to the story we were telling and we had sort of a rough outline of what was going to happen. I think [for] the fourth movie, what we’ve discovered is there are so many ancillary characters, that have enormous, cinematic potential that there may be other ways to exploit those characters, in a way that is exciting and fun and worthwhile. It might not just be a Spider-Man movie.
I think there’s… You know, what was fun about the comics is that there’s an entire sort of encyclopedia of characters and stories and histories and nuances and idiosyncrasies and off-shoots. I think that that is something that seems to be really successful and has a lot of potential so it’s sort of, as yet, undefined, but intentionally so.”
For some that might come off as “Oh, Spider-Man isn’t going to be the star anymore even though the movie is named after him.” However, I see this as Webb’s way of shifting the spotlight from one protagonist to a team. In the web-slinger’s history, he’s teamed up with some amazing friends, so it’s very possible that these vague comments from the director could be pointing towards a few heroes popping up to take on the Sinister Six. So, even with other characters stepping up, that won’t make it less of a Spider-Man movie. It might just turn into a Spider-Man and Friends movie. And if that’s the case, this fourth movie might be the perfect time to introduce Black Cat or crossover with the Fantastic Four and bring the Human Torch into the fray. Maybe even Spider-Girl or Firestar. Finally, though I’m not quite sure who the studio has in terms of characters, if they could include Cloak and Dagger in somewhere that would be most excellent. Of course, before any of that talk can really get off the ground, we still have two movies in between to finish up first.
What do you think about Marc Webb’s comments about the fourth ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ film? If it does turn out to be an ensemble cast, what characters do you hope to make an appearance alongside the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler? Let us hear it in the comment section.
‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Chris Cooper, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore, and Sally Field is set to hit theaters in 3D on May 2, 2014.
