Spider-Man: Origins to Overexposure

The origins of "Spider-Man" can be traced back to the year of 1962, when Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's masked hero first made an appearance in an anthology comic book by the name of Amazing Fantasy #15. Since that fateful release, Spider-Man has been plastered everywhere: from comics to novels, coloring books to video games, records to multiple waves of television series', and perhaps most notably, on the big screen.

In many ways, however, Spider-Man's true overexposure began in the spring of 2002, when Marvel's genetically-altered superhero took to the cinema for the very first time. This release, pitting Tobey Maguire's "Spider-Man" against Willem Dafoe's "Green Goblin", would open the franchise up to an immeasurable world of possibilities. Following rather overwhelming commercial success, Tobey Maguire reprised his role as Spider-Man in "Spider-Man 2" (2004) and "Spider-Man 3" (2007), defeating numerous villains such as Doctor Octopus, Venom, Sandman, and the lovable "New Goblin".

Unfortunately for dedicated Maguire fans, both production for "Spider-Man 4" and two additional sequels were cancelled in favor of a 2012 reboot, starring Andrew Garfield as "The Amazing Spider-Man". Rather than "quitting while they were ahead", Marvel Entertainment made a collective decision to rehash many similar plot points, alter Peter Parker's love interest and villainous counterpart, and begin the series anew. Garfield's role as Spider-Man would last merely two films, before a plethora of personnel issues gave way to Tom Holland securing the role in "Spider-Man: Homecoming".

The second Spider-Man reboot took to theatres on July 7, 2017. Holland's role as Spider-Man has been widely praised by critics, with a sequel currently scheduled to release in the summer of 2019. While Spider-Man is, indeed, among the most marketable of superheroes in the Marvel universe, a constant revival of the very same character can eventually become a bit dry to even the most dedicated of fans. Growing up, I was hopelessly devoted to the original Spider-Man movie trilogy; however, reboot after reboot has seemingly altered the entire series into more of a money-making device, rather than one of pristine quality.

Sadly, the production of Spider-Man films truly has morphed over time, eerily following in the footsteps of a more erratic Batman series. In all honesty, Marvel fans need yet another actor to portray Peter Parker about as much as DC fans needed Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck to portray Bruce Wayne (that is to say, not at all). At some point in time, it will be necessary for Marvel to invest in the creation and marketing of a new superhero, rather than ceaselessly revamping a failing movie series. Unfortunately, as long as movie tickets and Spider-Man memorabilia are selling, the number of actors willing to embrace this lovable web-slinger's role will only continue to skyrocket.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ranking Every Song From Paramore's "After Laughter"

Following the relative success of my rankings of Taylor Swift's " folklore " and Maroon 5's " Red Pill Blues ", I've decided to make these posts a semi-regular occurrence.  As I've followed Paramore religiously for over a decade, this one seemed like the next logical choice. Without further adieu, let's dive into Paramore's 2017 release entitled "After Laughter", an album that saw the band adopt an entirely new sound. 12. No Friend Three years have passed and I still don't fully understand what "No Friend" is, but I'm not convinced it's a rankable song. It sounds more like a dramatic reading of a poem drowned out by one of Paramore's jam sessions. Congrats, Aaron Weiss? In any case, please let me know if there's more I can give you. 11. Idle Worship Perhaps suffering from being linked to "No Friend" in such an inseparable way, something about this track is just a tad unsettling. From its
Read more

Why Quidditch Is Totally Ridiculous (Yet We Still Love It)

Image
On June 26, 1997,  Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling introduced the world to a remarkable new sport called Quidditch. In theory, Rowling's invention is fairly simple. For those who are unfamiliar with the game, I will provide a brief description of its rules.  Quidditch is played in a 7-on-7 format on flying broomsticks. Each team features three "Chasers" who attempt to throw a large ball (called the Quaffle) past the opposing team's "Keeper" into one of three circular hoops.  Every time the Chasers succeed in beating the Keeper, their team is awarded 10 points. Meanwhile, there are a pair of bat-wielding "Beaters" on each team who add to the chaos by clubbing two smaller balls (called Bludgers) at their opposition. However, the most important position on the field is that of the "Seeker", which is Harry Potter's position on Gryffindor's Quidditch team during his time at Hogwarts.  Each team has one Seeker who scours t
Read more

TWD World Beyond: Brave (Episode 1.01)

Image
On Sunday, October 4, AMC aired the series premiere of World Beyond , the third installment in The Walking Dead franchise. Though billed as a limited series (featuring only two seasons with a total of 20 episodes), World Beyond generated much anticipation throughout the fandom for a variety of reasons -- the most obvious being further knowledge about a three-ring emblem spotted on helicopters in each of the franchise's two established series. In "What Comes After" [ The Walking Dead : Season 9, Episode 5], protagonist Rick Grimes is rescued by a helicopter featuring this mysterious emblem -- an emblem that reappears in "The End of Everything" [ Fear the Walking Dead : Season 5, Episode 5], when Althea Szewczyk-Przygocki (better known as Al) encounters a woman named Isabelle with a top-secret mission. As the fandom has now spent two years wondering about the reoccurring emblem, World Beyond promised to address their curiosity while presenting the "comin
Read more