My Spider-Man rant
Intro: Forgive me if you find this post underwhelming because I will be focusing on one thing involving this character. I might go off-topic in this rant; I have to do that to make my point. I can't talk about this character without talking about the impact he made on people, or lack thereof.
I don't have anything new to say about this character that's already been said. Really, it's a miracle that this character is well-known to the public. The reason I said that is because the late Stan Lee's editor at the time was against Spider-Man because no one likes spiders. Then again, no one likes Bats, and Batman is a hit, so was that a fair argument? I consider this character Marvel's Superman more than Captain America. The reason why is because he's not put in a position to kill people, unlike Capt. Both of them also struggle with balancing being a hero with their personal life. I like the moments this character deals with bullies in the Amazing Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man; he either fights back against them or speaks up for himself. I just wish he would do it more often.
Spider-Man is one of the few comic book characters that became successful outside the comics with cartoons and video games. Sidenote; it's a shame that other Marvel characters couldn't succeed in cartoons and video games. Don't get me wrong, we had some success with the Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man, and Captain America, but no one capitalized on them. I'm surprised that Spider-Man PS4 was a hit because the Amazing Spider-Man tie-in game and Web of Shadows told the same story. As far as stopping an infection from spreading. Despite that, I enjoy the cartoons and video games. The live-action movies are a different story. Before I get into that, I want to address two things about the Spider-Man mythos that annoy me.
But first, I want to address the fans; they should be ashamed of themselves over how they reacted to the PS5 remastering of Spider-Man PS4. If I were in charge of making the next Spider-Man game, I would tell my employees to stop working on the game until I see a compilation of the fans on their hands and knees apologizing to Insomniac. There is no reason for them to react that way over something so small. Do I really have to comment on the controversy around the Spider-Man Lotus fan film? We've all done things that we are not proud of; if you can't forgive someone, then you should be canceled. (To be fair, I can understand why people have a hard time with forgiveness because of suicidal empathy; however, that's not the case here.) That's my problem with cancel culture; it's disingenuous. If everyone's life were public, we wouldn't have cancel culture because we're all guilty of doing something like this or worse.
I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of the "with great power comes great responsibility" quote. (This is another reason why I consider this character Marvel's Superman. Does this sound like something Superman would say?) Not because I disagree with it, it's because responsibility is a double-edged sword, and people don't talk about that enough. For example, Bruce Wayne watching his parents get murdered didn't turn him into Batman; he did that to himself. Let me put it like this, if someone shot you, are you going to wait for the shooter to treat your wound, or are you going to call 911? If the answer is to call 911, then that's my point. It's not Bruce's fault that his parents were murdered, but he's responsible for how he deals with it. You can't dedicate your life to fighting crime and then expect people to feel sorry for you that you don't have a life outside of that. The same goes for the Punisher; you can't commit mass murder and expect sympathy from anyone. There are better ways of coping.
I don't understand how this character made such an impact on pop culture when people don't accept responsibility for anything. People in power don't take responsibility for creating resentment, segregation, and promoting or encouraging terrorism with a might makes right mentality. Parents and society are pointing the finger at each other instead of taking responsibility for why the youth is acting up. Law Enforcement doesn't take responsibility for why the public doesn't trust them. No one is taking responsibility for COVID-19, or why public schools are going down the toilet. (Well, that depends on where you live.) Casual gamers are not taking responsibility for why they suck at Elden Rings. Women don't take responsibility for why men don't want to put a ring on it. How are we holding the shooter's feet to the fire when we blame mental health for why they do it? The list goes on and on; that quote will lose its meaning if we keep this up. I would like to see a Spider-Man movie that deals with different aspects of responsibility. For example, is there such a thing as taking too much responsibility?
If the answer is yes, then where does the line draw?
This is what bothers me about the Hulk movies and TV shows. Why have a character that can turn green when he's angry if you're not going to explore different aspects of that emotion? Miles Morales is another thing that bugs me about the Spider-Man mythos. I don't like this character, not because he's a bad character, it's because he's a copy of Peter Parker. I know Spider-Man into the Spider-verse changed some aspects of the character, but that doesn't change the fact that he's the same character as Peter, but with a different look. Now I wouldn't have minded that if he were from a different universe where he got bitten by the spider instead of Peter. Speaking of Miles, what's going on with him? I mean, first the writers made him evil, then you turn him into Thor, and now the Hulk. I don't get it why create a new character if the writers are not going to separate him from Peter? This leads to another issue I have with Spider-Man, which is having different versions of the same character. When writers do that, you reduce Spider-Man to a mantel. Turing Spider-Man into a mantel takes away from what makes Peter Parker Spider-Man in the first place. Legacy characters are one of the many problems I have with comic books in general.
I mean, where's the value in these characters if anyone can be them?
How is this any different from giving people who participate in the Olympics a gold medal? The gold medal loses its value when you do that. Look, I don't mind someone else being Iron Man or Captain America if it's for a short time and if that person doesn't have the same backstory as the character that they're filling in for. The only exceptions to this are the Nova Corps and Black Panther. because they are space police, and the Black Panther is a mantle that's been passed down from generation to generation.
In case you didn't read my reviews of the Spider-Man films, I didn't like most of them. We had three actors who played Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and none of them embraced this character, in my opinion. The reason why I feel this way is because none of them display how smart Peter Parker is or how funny Spider-Man can be. Tom Holland was more sarcastic in the Uncharted movie than he was as Spider-Man; that's saying a lot. I'm not saying he didn't make jokes as Spider-Man, but most of it is pop culture references.
Sadly, J Jonah Jameson is the only character Hollywood got right. I'm sorry, I do like Aunt May from the Raimi films, Uncle Ben, and Harry Osborn from the Amazing films. I would be surprised if we don't get a movie where JJ Jameson's son becomes Manwolf or JJ Jameson fall from grace trying to discredit Spider-Man by using Scorpion. Another thing that bugs me about these three is that most of the bad guys know Peter is Spider-Man. This wouldn't have happened if they had kept their mask on!!! To be fair, some of them figured it out, but that doesn't change the fact that Peter should be more careful with keeping his identity a secret. The Green Goblin is the only character who knows that Peter is Spider-Man in the comics, as far as I know.
I didn't watch No Way Home because the writers wasted that movie to give us a sinister six movie. (I mean five.) That's a shame because that movie could have been good if the writers had focused on Peter dealing with the stress of everyone knowing he's Spider-Man and clearing his name. Doing that would make up for Marvel Studios not adapting that part of the Civil War comic book in their Civil War movie. In that comic, Peter not only has to deal with everyone knowing he's Spider-Man, he's conflicted about being on the right side of the registration act. This is what Spider-Man comics do; they tell stories about the internal conflict first and the external conflict second. I'm I the only one who finds it insulting that No Way Home tried to hide the fact that the other two Spider-Men are in this movie? I mean, this is the worst-kept secret since Star Trek into Darkness. I feel bad for Tom Holland because he never got a chance to carry a film. First, he was overshadowed by RDJ, and now he'll be overlooked by nostalgia bait. What's the point of casting him to play this character if Marvel Studios has no confidence that he can stand on his own?
The villains are another thing that hurt these movies for me; most of them are not written well. Because of that, most of them feel like the villain of the week. It's a shame that The Amazing Spider-Man films didn't work out because both films were overshadowed by their competition. I don't know what Sony was thinking, trying to build a cinematic universe with Spider-Man alone. I can understand making a spin-off film or two, but a whole universe, really? After seeing the plans Sony had for this universe, I'm glad that it was discontinued. Well, something must have happened between then and now because Sony is making solo films of Spider-Man villains. I don't plan on watching them for reasons I explained in my villain's rant. Also, I don't see the point in these movies. I mean, what's the endgame? If this is what Sony's Spider-Verse looks like, then I'm not impressed. Wait! Why am I talking about universes? I thought that's what into the Spider-Verse was doing, so why do we need another one? Making a Spider-Verse is a mistake because, first of all, there are not enough interesting characters to justify this universe's existence.
Second, the Spider-Men and women's abilities are not different enough to where they can stand out.
How is this any different from giving each Power Ranger a solo movie? If anyone should get a solo movie is Agent Venom. That's saying a lot because I find Flash Thompson/Agent Venom annoying. I mean, you don't get to torment Peter and then be an anti-hero, screw you. He also gives him backhanded compliments outside the comics. Do you see why I find this character so aggravating? For this movie to work, Peter has to beat the crap out of Flash to the point where Flash is sent to the trauma room. After that, Peter visits him because he feels bad about how badly he beat him up, and they both reconcile. After that, it's all she wrote.
As far as suggestions for future movies goes, hire people who care about this I.P., and the studio needs to stop undermining the director. With that said, I would like to see a story around an older Peter Parker because we got bits and pieces of what an older Spider-Man could look like in Spider-Man PS4 and into the Spider-Verse movie. Also, I'm getting tired of seeing him in a high school setting. That's saying a lot considering these movies haven't done much with this character in that setting. Seriously, who asked for a series of his freshman year? Now I wouldn't have minded that if the writers had added nuance to Peter being in high school. I would be interested in seeing unscheduled stop get adapted into a movie. We don't get a lot of superhero movies that are limited to two or three locations.
Also, have Black Cat as a love interest for Spider-Man. It could be hard to bring her into the films because people will compare her to Catwoman. She would create an interesting love triangle. I say that because when Spider-Man reveals that he's Peter Parker, she wasn't happy about it. I know this has been done before; however, it wasn't done well. I like how this character was used in the Spider-Man 2 video game, because she boosts Peter's morale to be Spider-Man and causes Peter to have to choose between someone he loves vs someone Spider-Man loves.
I would also like to see a Spider-Man movie with him, Black Cat, Anti-Venom, Agent Venom, and Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin. Having those characters would create an intreating dynamic considering that they all know each other. Another thing Hollywood should take notes on how Spider-Man PS4 took creative liberties with the source material. That game did it in a way that it still feels like Spider-Man for the most part. I mean, I'm not crazy about MJ being a Lois Lane clone, or Harry could be Venom.
That's all I have to say about this topic, for now. What do you think of the movies and what direction should they take?