In the last 20 years, audiences have been treated to not one but three versions of Spider-Man. Each adaptation — each led by a different director — bring their own unique flair to the story of the web-slinger. Each trilogy has had its own take on the costumes and origin story, going from extremely grounded inThe Amazing Spider-Manto Tom Holland’s Spider-Suit courtesy of Tony Stark. But only one film series has strayed from the unspoken rule of Spider-Man’s look — the web-slingers themselves.
BothThe Amazing Spider-Manand the MCU’sSpider-Manhave their respective Peter Parkers create devices that allow them to shoot webs to swing across landings and even whole cities. The two films dedicate their own montages to the creation of the shooters, which look like complicated bracelets on each wrist that release webs at the flick of a wrist. But the first modern live-actionSpider-Manfilms — directed byEvil Deadcreator Sam Raimi — included a version of Peter Parker without a web device. Instead, Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire in the original trilogy) possessed the power to create webs himself, which shot out from his wrist.
RELATED:The Multiverse Could Be Bad News for Sony’s Spider-ManThis choice was a risk back in 2002 whenSpider-Manwas first released. Mechanical web shooters are how Peter Parker whips around New York inthe original Marvel comics, complete with an edition dedicated to their creation. But when it comes to film adaptations, fans should know that nothing is sacred until it is made canon on screen. But why change Peter’s abilities?Spider-Man’screative team had a reason that looking back after almost 20 years, makes a lot of sense.
Before Sam Raimi (who will be returning to superhero films with the upcomingDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) was named director ofSpider-Man, the project was in talks to be helmed byTerminatorandAvatardirector James Cameron. In Cameron’s original treatment for a potential Spider-Man film, Peter Parker gained powers from a radioactive spider bite that fans of the comics were used to — crawling on walls, incredible speed, and an innate spidey-sense — but added that he could shoot organic webs out of his wrists, getting rid of the web-shooters entirely. The reason? If Peter Parker’s bite leads him to climb like a spider naturally does, what’s the harm in having him create his own webbing like a spider? Eventually, Cameron left the project and Raimi took over but kept the idea of organic web-shooters.
Organic webs did allow Raimi’sSpider-Manan element that becomes more and more sparse with each new adaptation — silly comedy. After learning of his initial powers,Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parkeris allowed to fail (many ridiculous times) at pulling a web out of his wrist. He finally gets the hang of it, only to be unable to stop swinging and faceplanting into a billboard. WhileThe Amazing Spider-Manand the MCU’sSpider-Manhave a few scenes of Peter understanding his abilities, but never get to go as far as Raimi’s first trilogy did.
So why go back to the comic book’s mechanical webs? The answer just may be in the timing.The Amazing Spider-Manand the first of the MCU’sSpider-Manfilms were released in 2012 and 2017, respectively. Both were created after the release and acclaim ofThe Dark Knighttrilogy, Christopher Nolan’s dark take on Batman and Gotham City. The films were praised not only for the performances of Christian Bale and of course, Heath Ledger but also for their realistic portrayal of a superhero, taking on a more dreary tone than the comic book films that came before it. AfterThe Dark Knight, directors of superhero films took a more modern approach, getting rid of some elements of characters that make them a little campy, canon or not. Perhaps the directors ofThe Amazing Spider-Manand MCU’sSpider-Manfollowed the trend set by Nolan and opted for more realism in their adaptation of Peter Parker. And the results so far have been great.
While Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker has a mixed reputation, it brought the character to deeper places and gave fans a live-action Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone.) The MCU’sSpider-Manfilms have turned Tom Holland into a superstar and given on-screen adaptations to villains like Mysterio. That’s not even mentioning the multiversal, star-studded eventSpider-Man: No Way Homeis shaping up to be, with villains from Sam Raimi’sSpider-Manreturning like Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina) and The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe.) It’s still unknown if Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will be returning as their respective Peter Parkers,but fans sure are hoping. Regardless, it’s still interesting how something as simple as a web-slinger can change a character like Spider-Man.
