Why THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Poster Is Bad News

Promising to give us “The Untold Story” and using some shadow blending in Photoshop, the image hasn’t seemed to make many waves, but there is some cause for concern.

teaser poster for The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Promising to give us €œThe Untold Story€ and using some shadow blending in Photoshop, the image hasn€™t seemed to make many waves, but there is some cause for concern. Aside from the slight hints of color on the figure towards the top, the picture might as well be black and white, which is oddly reminiscent of another teaser poster that was released for The Dark Knight Rises. Our hero is cornered, pressed between two brick walls and surrounded by absolute darkness. Now, the promise of hearing the supposedly untold story takes on a new meaning, as the poster seems to imply that it stayed untold because it€™s so dark and dismal. Spider-Man is usually depicted as a jovial character, a trickster. He cracks jokes and uses humor to infuriate his more dangerous enemies, causing them to make rash decisions and ultimately defeat themselves. Over the years, Spider-Man has become known as a down-on-his-luck, Charlie Brown-esque loser who copes with terrible odds and the responsibilities of having superpowers with his own unique brand of comedy. In the Ultimate Comics line that Marvel releases, which tells stories in the separate continuity of an alternate universe, Spider-Man is depicted as a runt with super strength who bounces all over the place and never shuts up. The Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies were great (well the first two anyway, but events that occured in the third didn't make it unsalvageable) but Spidey must have cracked about one joke per film. I€™m aware that everyone wants these action movies to be suspenseful and serious, but it would have been a tremendous service to the character to get someone with more comedic talent and experience. Yes, the character has had his darker moments and storylines, but that€™s not what the character is known for and it€™s not what makes him iconic. It would have been nice to finally see the wise-ass Spider-Man that we never got from Raimi, but it doesn€™t seem like we€™ll be seeing him in the new movie either. I love Nolan€™s Dark Knight movies, but if the cost of their success is every other superhero becoming grim, gritty and serious then I have to wonder if it€™s all been worth it.

Contributor

Trevor Gentry-Birnbaum spends most of his time sitting around and thinking about things that don't matter.