2. Sympathetic Villains?
One of my biggest gripes about the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films was how every villain was in some way sympathetic; either they had good intentions and their genius turned them into monsters, or they were poor victims who were transformed out of the blue. ASM followed the same suit; Curt Connors was a likeable, ambitious guy undone by that very same ambition, and it's frankly just boring. Can't we just have a bad guy who is a bad guy because he's a douchebag and likes hurting people? To me, that is much more terrifying. The first screenshot of Jamie Foxx released as Max Dillon has the very same vibe as the previous four films, that Foxx is going to be playing a nerdy scientist who gets unwittingly turned into a monster. If Webb wanted to be a bit more daring, he would've adapted the Ultimate Spider-Man Electro, who is pretty much pure evil, just in it for his own gain, with no sob story to make you sympathise. Remember when the Joker said to Batman in The Dark Knight, "You have nothing to threaten me with"? That could have been achievable with Ultimate Electro.