How Produce Spider-Man In Visual Media
With Captain America: Civil War we saw yet
another incarnation of Spider-Man on the big screen. While the character was
enjoyable and fans are hopeful this will be a version we like because Marvel
has their cinematic hand in the cookie jar, Sony still has a big say in the
character. It’s been difficult finding exact details of how the character
can be used by both studios. The basic summation is Marvel does what they want
with the character and Sony does what they want. The worlds are connected
in the Marvel Cinematic universe but Marvel has little say in Sony’s
films. Another report has it that Marvel is running the show and Sony is
collecting the checks. I doubt Sony would take such a hands off approach
to one of their biggest franchise characters.
The potential for Marvel’s lack of input into how
Sony is creating their movies and Spidey character is what’s scary.
Marvel has proven to run their universe of stories fairly well. Sony has
failed with the character of Spider-Man in 3 out of the last 5 non Marvel Studio affiliated films. Since the Sony/Marvel deal is on the rocks, perhaps Sony will take a different approach with the character instead of another attempt at a blockbuster movie and unique movie universe.
With this reboot of the character in Marvel,
are we forced to witness another death of Uncle Ben? Thankfully no, Marvel/Sony didn't subject us to that, but they might do flashbacks someday. Much like the never
ending cycle of seeing Batman’s parents murdered in visual media.
Additionally, every time Spider-Man is retooled in movies, TV, and even the
freaking comics they restart him back at high school. The appeal of
Spider-Man’s comic book isn’t that he was forever in high school, it was that
he graduated and went onto college, then completed college and became a graduate
student, etc. Peter Parker/Spider-Man gradually attained life
events. This resonated with fans, as they grew so did the
character. Constantly rebooting him in high school is a disservice to
Stan Lee and his idea of an evolving character. Even DC comics jumped in
on the idea comic characters aged. In the 1980s Dick Grayson, the
original Robin finally ditched the sidekick persona to become Nightwing.
A film studio missing the fan appeal of the
character is nothing new. They are thinking audiences want to watch
films starring 30 year olds playing 15 year olds and it's just the price we pay to
avoid Hollywood child labor laws. His constant reboot as a high school
student can be waived away as a plot point as long as the story is
interesting. There is also hope that the character will evolve and he’ll
eventually go to college.
The Spider-Man films have proven people like the
character but all his stories need to be personal ones. His rogues
gallery is pretty decent but none of them are epic world changing battles for
humanity. So all Spidey is left with is personal vendettas with each
villain. It worked well for the Raimi Spider-Man, we were willing to digest it
again for Spider-Man 2, but once they recycled it again in Spider-Man 3 with
each villain (Venom his professional photography rival, Sandman the real dude
that killed uncle Ben, and Green Goblin 2 his former best friend) having a personal vendetta against Parker it became too much.
Spider-Man needs to be a TV show (preferably on
Netflix or HBO). Spider-Man was made for the small screen. Peter
Parker’s story is long and winding and needs to be told gradually. His rotating relationships with family and friends is so robust
they are wasted on a 120 minute film. His rogues gallery has such depth
but a film script does not have time to do any of these villains
justice.
So how would a Spider-Man TV show work?
Well for starters just steal the Buffy the Vampire Slayer format. Each
season should be one main villain that Spidey must face. He can interact
with smaller villains episode to episode but the focus needs to be an overall
season long story arc. Don’t stretch out any villain past one season
because then you drift into character stagnation. Each episode should be
character driven, much like season 3 – 7 of Star Trek the Next
Generation. Buffy did the same thing but I want to reference other shows
where this format works too.
So what we have is a Spider-Man show where his
main villain for the season is The Green Goblin. We can have episodes devoted
to Normal Osborne, Harry Osborne, their relationship as father and son, the
relationship with Peter, Peter’s life with Aunt May, juggling school, work,
etc. Take the best stories from the comics and translate those to the
small screen. Peter Parker is a regular dude who gets superpowers; he’s
not made for epic battles. He’s meant to juggle petty crooks like the
Rhino while trying to pass his chemistry midterm.
The first season shouldn’t even have
Spider-Man. It should be about a 17 year old Peter Parker getting his
powers and using them to make quick bucks. Don’t make him too young
because it’s a story about growing into adulthood. It should culminate
into a two part season finale where Uncle Ben gets killed and Parker stops
being selfish and starts helping people. So you get to meet Uncle Ben and
love him like a TV dad should be loved and dreading the day he’s violently
killed. The films' always made Uncle Ben likable but you’re constantly
waiting for him to get capped so we can get to the web slinging fun. An
entire season devoted to a teenager on the fence of becoming a huge douche or
really awesome kid is story worth watching for 10 episodes but not more than
that.
Season 2 is how about what type of superhero he
should be. How will he honor the death of his uncle? Season 3 is figure out how to have a relationship
and be spider-man with Gwen Stacy. Then at the beginning of Season 4 we
kill Gwen Stacy and he starts a rebound romance with Mary-Jane Watson.
That’s the basic idea. Spend time
cultivating each character in Peter’s life and then add drama that screws it
up. Flash Thompson goes from being a bully to one of Peter’s close
friends in the comic. A story of how friendships change is fun. The
films never moved Flash past stereotypical bully. Some of it’s bad
writing. Most of it’s because they just don’t have the time to do the
character justice. That makes for boring storytelling.
Parker doesn’t need a team, in fact the entire
show can be about how he’s not managing the crime fighting well because he has
no team. All other superhero shows have some central crime fighting hub
where team Arrow, Buffy, CSI gather and plan how they are going to fight each
episodes big bad. With Spider-Man you can toss that gimmick out the
window. He uses his regular Parker genius brain to solve the problems on
his own or through inadvertent and coincidentally topical life advice from Aunt
May or Robbie Roberson. People like smart leading characters. Jason
Borne always used his wits in the films to survive and it’s the more fun
aspects of the films. Spidey films lack the depth to probe Parker’s
genius.
Daredevil has proven not all comic characters
should be on the big screen but can excel on the small screen. Spider-Man
doesn’t deal with the world ending stuff Captain America might deal with.
Spidey’s issues are localized to NYC and typically deal with local thugs.
Spider-Man’s real appeal is in his personal relationships. To really
explore the different characters in Spider-Man’s life it would take a TV show
multiple seasons to do them justice.
Looking at the cartoons; Spider-Man the Animated
series and Spectacular Spider Man. Both those shows delved into each character
in spidey’s life. They had solid stories that created three dimensional
characters. The ongoing failure of the Disney Cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man
does not have any devotion to character. It’s just one giant toy add
meets a bugs bunny cartoon. It’s targeted at a younger demographic that
will buy toys. It’s completely understandable that a cartoon is made to
generate toys and marketing but it’s sad that the content of story suffers. In
the 90s there were shows like Batman the Animated Series, X-Men, and Gargoyles
that told solid stories that 10 year olds and adults could enjoy, that would
sell toys but also not talk down to kids. The new breed of cartoons talks
down to its audience. Ultimate Spider-man is the prime example.
So while it can be said that Spider-Man belongs
on the small screen it has to be done the right way. If they produce a
Spider-Man show that’s like Smallville it would be an insult to the
character. While Smallville was fun and lasted 10 seasons, the teenage melodrama
was painful, the “my life’s so hard” whining of Clark Kent was enough to make
the audience root for Lex Luthor. The Spider-Man TV show really needs to
base its entire concept off Buffy/Angel. Ahh you know what? Screw
this Buffy/Angel were perfect let’s just rewatch those shows.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
