Some General Things I Want To See From The New SPIDER-MAN

**ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN**

Spider-Man is getting rebooted (again) and its hard to get excited about yet another Spider-Man that runs the risk of being another letdown. Still, as a huge Spider-Man fan, here are some general things I'd like to see across Civil War, Infinity War, and the new trilogy. 

A MORE CARTOONY SPIDER-MAN IN DESIGN AND BEHAVIOR

We saw a cool little “prototype” costume in 2002’s Spider-Man and another in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man but showing the evolution of his costume in this new universe could and should even play into the story itself. Perhaps he starts with a usual home-made costume (would love to see the Ben Reilly one used or a variation) before Iron Man and/or The Avengers provides him with a more “cinematic” uniform. One of the key things I want from this new Spider-Man is the cartoony movements and design seen across the comics and cartoons. A key example of this would be the moving eyes that have been absent from the live action adaptions. With Deadpool being the first CBM to utilize it I honestly believe the moving eyes can now be done (the movement can be easily explained as being part of the suit's tech). Anyone who has watched the cartoons or read the comics knows that the eyes are an important part of Spider-Man’s personality and expression. Another part of the costume I’d like to see adapted from the comics who be the arm-pit webs. A combination of the texture and design of Raimi’s costume, the eyes of Webb’s, the moveable eyes of Deadpool, and the arm-pit webs of the comics it could end up being the perfect Spider-Man costume put to screen. The character’s personality is also key. The Raimi films nearly perfectly captured the duality of nerdy, quite Peter Parker and witty, funny Spider-Man (though the latter could be said was lacking). TASM instead gave us a cool dude, hipster Peter Parker and douche-bag Spider-Man and it was awful (though improvements were made in the sequel). The new film should stick close to the comics. Having Spider-Man being young also could help differentiate him from the rest of the Avengers. I’d love to see a montage of Spider-Man just annoying Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, etc... So long as they nail the personality. 

MARY-JANE WATSON AND ONLY MARY-JANE WATSON

An element sorely missing from the ASM films (and totally mishandled in the Raimi films) was the greatest love interest of all time aka MJ. And while Marvel has been intent on destroying their relationship in the comics for the better part of the last decade, MJ should be integral to this story. This is a Spider-Man who is back in high school in a film apparently inspired by John Hughes; thus MJ (above all other love interests) should feature. On a personal level I want MJ to already know Peter is Spider-Man, thus strengthening their dynamic and adding a new element to the plot. If they’re skipping the origin then they can certainly skip the “discovery” that Peter is Spider-Man (which we saw already with MJ in Spider-Man 2 and Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man). The casting of Holland as Peter may make the casting of MJ difficult. Holland is still a teen and looks really young. Had they cast a 20-something that could pull off a teenager they could hire other people of a similar age - e.g. Jane Levy would be a perfect MJ (and could pull off a teenager) but looks far older than Holland. Someone Holland’s age, who also doesn’t look older may be difficult to cast. My picks are Bella Thorne (The Duff) or Stefanie Scott (Insidious 3). 

Edit: When I say "only MJW" I mean as a love interest. There should absolutely be a large supporting cast of other high school friends including characters like Flash, Gwen, Harry etc... 

A BALANCED TONE AND ORIGINAL LOOK/STYLE

Spider-Man walks the fine line between camp and grit. And it’s no surprise given that he’s a colorful super powered character, who, unlike other characters of a similar nature, is considered largely street-level. The Amazing Spider-Man attempted a darker approach and failed miserably while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 attempted to return to the style and look of the Raimi films but came off more as a parody of said films. As of now only a couple incarnations of the cartoon and the first two Raimi films have managed to accurately walk this fine line and its imperative to the movie that the film makers understand this. The MCU’s track record is a bit mixed in this department. While the first Iron Man and the two Captain America films have been solid in this area, the majority of the others aren’t in the slightest. Further, Spider-Man runs the risk of becoming another generic Marvel film. GOTG was a success because of how different it was to the rest of the MCU - Spider-Man has to have a distinctive tone and style to differentiate it from the greater MCU or it may face the same fate as Ant-Man (which was basically a repackaged Iron Man with Paul Rudd doing a Chris Pratt impersonation). 

NEW VILLAINS

After the underwhelming “New Goblin” in Spider-Man 3 and the mediocre Green Goblin in TASM 2 enough is enough. It’s time to put the goblin to rest. The same goes for the other live action villains so far. No more Venom, Sandman, Lizard, and Electro - and especially no more Green Goblin and Doc Ock (purely because they are easily the two best Marvel villains put to screen thus far and can’t be topped). Unfortunately the MCU villains have been pretty weak so far. From the laughably generic (Yellow Jacket, Maleketh) to just the laughable (Ultron, Mandarin), Marvel has had little luck with bringing some of its most important villains to the screen. Spider-Man has some of the most iconic and significant villains and it’s important that they are done justice.

Edit: Norman could absolutely appear but I'd rather they either save his transformation into the Goblin for much later or not at all. Feige has already confirmed new villains will be used regardless.