10 Reasons We've Already Given Up On The Amazing Spider-Man 2
3. An Overbearing Emphasis On The Spider-Man Universe
Marvel Studios struck gold when it smartly set all of its phase one movies within the same universe, culminating with The Avengers, and then kicking off a second phase of connected films. Other studios are now following Marvels model, with Fox reportedly linking the X-Men and Fantastic Four movies, and Sony planning on developing a franchise around Spider-Man villains, the Sinister Six and Venom. There are still questions aplenty as to how Sony is going to develop a movie that features a group of villains as the main characters. But putting that aside, from the looks of The Amazing Spider-Man 2s many trailers and promotional images, Sony risks hitting viewers with an avalanche of references to the broader Spider-Man universe. In the very first trailer we saw images of Doctor Octopuss mechanical arms, and the Vultures wings two key members of the Sinister Six and more than a year ago, a Twitter pic of mysterious locker that could be a reference to the Venom symbiote appeared. Then theres the Daily Bugle Tumblr page that mentions other comic book characters who could potentially appear in future movies, like J. Jonah Jameson, Ned Leeds and others (but no Mary Jane for now). Its fair to question whether or not Sony is focusing too much of its time and resources setting up its broader universe and using The Amazing Spider-Man 2 more as a springboard, rather than as a self-contained work of cinema. Marvel famously started connecting the dots to The Avengers in short teaser sequences at the end of all of its movies. Typically, only one other Marvel Studios character/film would be referenced in these teasers (Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man, Thors hammer at the of Hulk, etc.). These teasers were incredibly effective and well-received, in large part because they didnt inundate the audience with too much information. Sonys approach for Spider-Man appears to be completely the opposite, which ultimately dilutes the product and confuses the audience as to what they should be watching for.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
