The Amazing Spider-Man franchise ruins the heart of what makes Spider-Man special by changing Peter Parker's origins. First created as a comic book character by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spider-Man quickly became a household name in the superhero genre, garnering many cinematic adaptions. The most notable live-action iteration hails from Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise which secured its spot in popular culture, paving the way for Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 and Tom Holland’s Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man in 2016.
Among all the superheroes in Marvel’s roster of extraordinary personas, Spider-Man is, by far, the most relatable to audiences mainly because of his humble origins. Characterized as a nerdy nobody, Peter Parker is essentially the least likely to be suspected as a superhero in disguise; ironically adding to his charm as the quirky friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. However, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man film dismantles the mold by tweaking Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man origins, implementing a direct connection to the Oscorp scientist that's responsible for the Spider-venom research that made Spider-Man possible.
Amazing Spider-Man's Origin Changes Stan Lee's Intent
Stan Lee has always been particularly proud of Spider-Man, attributing Peter Parker’s popularity to his lack of otherworldly nature or exceptional origins, compared to things like Tony Stark’s intelligence, Steve Rogers’ heart of gold, and Thor's godliness. Parker’s ordinariness resonates with general viewers, so much so, that Spider-Man becomes the hero everyone could be rather than a representation of heroes that audiences want to see. In numerous interviews, Marvel's late Chairman Emeritus Stan Lee surmises that Peter Parker’s dual-persona dilemma functions as one of Spider-Man’s most endearing qualities; specifically his continuous effort to balance Parker’s real-world problems and Spider-Man’s crime-fighting agenda, echoing the everyday struggles of everyday people.
As the embodiment of the "invisible" demographic or people often overlooked for being average, Stan Lee's Spider-Man was intended to highlight secret potential, unrewarded kindness, and social responsibility as some form of great power. The Amazing Spider-Man retcons Peter Parker's Spider-Man origin story by purposefully making Richard Parker (Campbell Scott), his father, as the franchise's creator of radioactive spiders, as well as, implicating that Peter's DNA contains the key to his spider-venom research's success. By doing so, Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man adds a circumstantially exceptional trait to Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker, making him "special" in a way that denounces Stan Lee's resolve for the character.
MCU Spider-Man (Almost) Makes The Same Mistake
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man almost would have suffered the same criticism, if the MCU hadn’t corrected it with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Contrary to Maguire and Garfield’s Spider-Man origin story undergoing a similar “Uncle Ben loss”, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man removes this plotline and starts midway into his web-slinging arc. Debuting as the famous web-slinger in Captain America: Civil War, the teenage Peter Parker is taken under Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) wing as a superhero-in-training. As Iron Man’s , the MCU’s Spider-Man gains exceptionality by having access to Stark Technology, enmeshing his abilities with state-of-the-art tech; again, going against Stan Lee’s intent with Spider-Man’s character as an everyday hero.
However, the MCU leisurely fixes this problem by making its Spider-Man trilogy into one big origin story of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man; transforming him from Stark’s lackey into the MCU’s very own friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. By the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) successfully enacts the spell where everyone forgets that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, signifying his status as a nobody who has spider powers. Now that his friends lost all memory of him and his Stark Industries perks since vanished, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker becomes the very essence of Stan Lee’s envisioned Spider-Man, repairing the trilogy’s The Amazing Spider-Man failure for its Marvel Cinematic Universe iteration.
