10 Ways The Amazing Spider-Man Was Better Than Homecoming
5. Peter And The Lizard Had A Relationship
The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Homecoming both had underwhelming villains: Michael Keaton was terrific as the Vulture, but we never saw enough of him, and the development of Rhys Ifan’s Lizard was tarnished by a lot of scenes being deleted. Neither of them were as fun, memorable or as colourful as Raimi’s gallery of tortured antagonists, but the Lizard had the more believable impact on Peter through having formed a bond with him.
Working together at Oscrop, Dr. Curt Connors and Peter Parker developed a level of friendship, respect and trust as they attempted to finish Richard Parker’s cure that would “change the world”. While not as good as it was in Raimi’s Spider-Man movies, the drama surfaced from the hero and villain being friends, resulting in a confrontation with some emotional weight attached to it.
Although revealed to be the father of Peter’s homecoming date, Keaton’s Vulture is a stranger. He and Peter essentially only know each other as their masked alter-egos, and this makes the final conflict between them impersonal and emotionally numb.
A prior friendship is an almost guranteed way of adding layers of intensity to a hero and villain rivalry, and The Amazing Spider-Man is proof of this, even if the execution wasn't as smooth as in Raimi's trilogy. Still, while Keaton's Vulture lacked this intensity, he wasn't as bad as dino-Rhino, emo Harry Osborn and Joel Schumacher's Electro.