The first thing to say, if this is true, is that it really is a shame that
Sony and
Marvel couldn't make the deal
before Captain America: Civil War came to us in 2016. Spider-Man, having been so crucial to the storyline, being absent, feels wrong to me. But, even so, Civil War provides a fantastic launchpad to new characters within the universe. At least, that is what
Marvel seems to be doing.
With Doctor Strange slated to make his big screen debut mere months after the third solo film for our beloved Captain America, it seems, to me, that Captain America's third outing will provide the ground work for more and more superheroes to appear and make themselves known. This leads me to believe that this will be where we will see the after-credits scene of Peter being bit by the spider. This works, at least for me, on so many levels. One level is obviously that it teases Spider-Man as a new property, yet again. Second, and more importantly, it uses his origin so that we don't have to revisit it. This, also, answers the question as to why Spider-Man never showed up before in any of the other films. He simply wasn't Spider-Man yet. And, this way, when his first film comes out, it'll already have been quite some time between the origin and his official big screen debut.
Given
Marvel's current slate, I would make the first Spider-Man in their film universe come out on June 16, 2017. This gives
Marvel some breathing room between their
Guardians of the Galaxy sequel (May 5, 2017) and
Thor: Ragnarok (July 28, 2017). It is also, still, a prime release date and places it right in the middle of the summer. Now, I don't think we can entirely get away from an origin
type story for Spider-Man in this film. I don't mean that we revisit Spider-Man's origin but, rather, that we see Spider-Man really rising to prominence in this film past just being a street level hero. I believe that, in order to do that, we need to start Spider-Man out as a street level hero, no different than Daredevil. I would separate him from Daredevil a little bit so give him a different crime lord than the Kingpin. I would probably do Tombstone (as I loved what they did with him in
The Spectacular Spider-Man). Now, this really begins to enter into fan fiction territory and fan casting as we have already established how
Marvel could do this logically (again,
Sony will likely be in "creative control" but without Arad and Feige serving as Producer along with the Russos, which makes the scheduling more practical as it isn't being developed, primarily, by
Marvel).
I know it has been said a million times but I'll say it again: Logan Lerman would be a fantastic choice for Spider-Man. Sure, if you've seen the
Percy Jackson movies, you can really see how weak he can be. However, if you look at
Perks of Being A Wallflower, Lerman can be an extremely strong actor. It also doesn't hurt that Logan Lerman was practically Peter Parker in that film and could transition easily from that role to Peter Parker. Given that, he also has a baby face and can look really young. If they shoot in 2016, Lerman would likely still look young enough to portray a sixteen year old (my ideal age as it will be a year into Spider-Man's established crime fighting career). Again, I think Peter should have two friends in Gwen Stacy (AnnaSophia Robb) and Harry Osborn (I don't know). This will allow us to take a break from the love interest thing but also have a present female in Peter's life, essentially ready to go for him. Now, we can get into the story.
Before we start off, yes, I totally want the
Ultimate Spider-Man costume, in all its tic-shaped spider glory coming to the big screen. It'll help differentiate it from previous costumes and symbols but still retain that spirit. Plus, regardless of how we feel about the movie,
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had a damn near perfect costume. Alright, now we will get onto the film.
Tombstone is the leading crime boss in New York City following Daredevil's escapades and the vacancies of power left by him (yes, we can even reference Daredevil as a cheap plug for the Netflix show). Peter's uncle, Ben Parker, had been killed under his regime. Much like in the second volume of
Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter revisits the criminal underworld after finding the I.D. he took off his uncle's killer the day he caught him. This leads Peter to the Enforcers, who, when beaten, reveal that they work for Tombstone. Peter realizes that he can catch the big fish and goes after Tombstone. However, Tombstone was smarter than Kingpin was, in that he enlisted superhuman help to counteract superhuman interference. Sandman, Flink Marko, is the first supervillain that Peter has ever run into and Sandman proves to be too much for Peter to take down. Peter is forced to flee. Much like in the second volume of
Ultimate Spider-Man, Gwen and Peter do a sort of dance on the side about going to a movie but Peter finds himself too occupied to go to the movie with Gwen. Also, throughout the movie, Aunt May is trying to get Peter out there again (as he became secluded after Ben's death) and wants him to meet Mary Jane Watson. Peter refuses to do so throughout the film, stating that he is perfectly fine.
Peter, also, already has the job at the Daily Bugle where he works as both a photographer and a web designer for the newspaper. Through the newspaper, Peter is handed information on how Tombstone's building is being upgraded with a new secruity program. Peter uses this information to understand how the secruity program works and realizes that he can gather evidence on Tombstone's wrongdoings. As Peter devotes himself to this research and his after school job, we start to see that his grades are slipping in his classes. This will provide the conflict with school and being a superhero that we really didn't see other than in the best one,
Spider-Man 2. Peter is able to figure out about the recording software and breaks into the tower again as Spider-Man. Sandman reforms but Spider-Man manages to set off a smoke alarm, making it difficult for Marko to break apart and reform elsewhere. It allows Spider-Man to pretty easily to defeat Sandman after taking their fight outside and Sandman nearly destroys Stark Tower. Peter collects the evidence he needs but confronts Tombstone on his way out. The two fight and Spider-Man nearly loses before he flees because he says that he already has all that he needs. After we see Peter deliver the information to Foswell at the Daily Bugle, Peter is seen finally trying to patch up things with Gwen.
The final scene before the credits roll is going to be much like
Ultimate Spider-Man #13, where he tells Gwen (instead of MJ) about his secret identity. Gwen and Peter nearly kiss before Peter is called down by Auny May. May has ambushed Peter with meeting Mary Jane as Gwen comes downstairs too. Peter is blown away by Mary Jane and Mary Jane delivers the jackpot line before the credits finally roll. This will allow for a bigger relationship drama to take place in the second film, which I would have build the friendship between Gwen and Mary Jane in the end as Peter and Gwen finally start dating in that film. Of course, the sequel would come after the
Avengers sequels so that would probably be a film that ends with Peter's graduation from high school and Peter and Gwen finally getting together after the high school graduation. However, that is a story for another time. This is the way that I would do this film.
So, do you guys agree with the direction I would take the new Spider-Man franchise? Do you think the date that was set would be a good time for Spider-Man to make his new big screen debut? Obviously comment below and let me know. And, as always, keep it courteous. I'll see you guys next time!