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Spider-Man coming to the MCU!


Brad Redfield

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I think what readers can relate to is the story of a young person going through changes, gaining greater faculties than he is accustomed to, and learning how to deal with the new responsibilities that entails. The reason the Spider Man formula works so well is that it's really about growing up; that's why Marvel keeps coming back to it with other books like Ms Marvel, Nova, and yes, Ultimate Spider Man.

I've never read a comic with Miles in it, so I can't speak to that really, but for myself, I want Peter Parker Spider-Man.

I personally think some of the backlash against the new-looking, different-people-in-familiar-suits Marvel U also has something to do with growing up. Like, letting go of the stories we were all reading 15, 20, 30 (40?) years ago and being open to admitting that 1) they were good stories, but they don't need to keep being retold in the same way, and 2) maybe we don't have the exact same outlook, experiences, and way of relating to the stories as the new generation of readers does – but having read them first doesn't make our outlook or framework for them inherently more valid.

Edited by Lobsterman
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Could be. There's certainly a lot of old fart syndrome in discussing these things. And, of course, comics were never intended to maintain a reader's interest for decades; the idea was that you'd grow out of them (or at least out of the juvenile stuff) and move on to other things. I wonder sometimes if Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails exchanged long angry letters when Barry Allen first appeared on the scene about how Jay Garrick is the "real" Flash.

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As an old fart I actively embrace many of the changes that I see in some of the comics I read yet it continues to irritate me how Marvel themselves just can't let go of the past . Thor would be the latest example ...... was there anybody out there who hadn't guessed her alter-ego ? The Old Man Rogers character is also bloody irritating ..... what on earth is the character doing anywhere near a comic ?

Edited by buttheadsmate
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Put yourselves in the shoes of Marvel Studios.

A rival studio has been putting out Spider-Man movies since 2002. You finally get a chance to make your own Spider-Man movie and you're NOT going to have Peter Parker under the mask? No. That'd be like Tim Burton saying in 1988, "You want a Batman movie? Okay, but it's not going to be Bruce Wayne. People are so over that Adam West/Super Friends guy. It's time for something new!"

Still, I can totally see Marvel Studios using Peter for the next four movies (Civil War and the Sony solo trilogy) and then introducing Miles in the final film. These people think long term, for better or worse.

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I can see that long-term thinking pretty clearly with their casting of a younger actor. And with the upcoming (All new, all different) Spiderman title that will be featuring Peter taking a mentoring role over Miles, it wouldn't surprise me if Marvel Studios' plan is to utilize Tom Holland as the focus of the films for the next decade or so, and then bring in Miles to 'rejuvenate' the franchise, with a clearly aged Holland taking on the mentoring role.

Aside from the long wait, I think I could get behind a plan like that. It would give Miles enough traction (in terms of accumulated comic history) to make the film transition feel a bit more natural.

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I personally think some of the backlash against the new-looking, different-people-in-familiar-suits Marvel U also has something to do with growing up. Like, letting go of the stories we were all reading 15, 20, 30 (40?) years ago and being open to admitting that 1) they were good stories, but they don't need to keep being retold in the same way, and 2) maybe we don't have the exact same outlook, experiences, and way of relating to the stories as the new generation of readers does but having read them first doesn't make our outlook or framework for them inherently more valid.

This is true, but if you're going to make fundamental changes to the guy in the mask, then. . .why make it Spider-Man at all? The reason Spidey is popular is primarily because people are nostalgic for it. Every kid grew up with Spidey. If it's just the nerdy young kid going through changes that connects everyone to him, then they could create essentially the same character, give him slightly different powers, make him a woman or a different ethnicity, make him avenge the death of a teacher or friend instead of an uncle, and BAM--any studio can do it with any given new character. But no, the connection is based on the suit, the powers, and yes, Peter Parker. Maybe I am an old fart, but I don't want to see Bucky Cap, or lightning Superman, or '70s street fighting Wonder Woman, or Azrael Batman unless they are temporary diversions from the core, now iconic characters I grew up reading. I don't care much about Kick Ass, or Valiant, or Deadpool, or anything else I didn't have around me as a kid. If I put all my nostalgia behind me, I personally wouldn't bother with comic movies at all. There are loads of movies out there that are significantly better than the best comic movie, after all. And I think both comic companies and movie studios realize that this drives interest in these characters. Otherwise, we wouldn't still have Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, etc. etc. appearing in these comics/movies. But we do. . .
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Marvel Studios has yet to have to deal with the aging/unaffordable actor issue but it seems the recent comic book recasting of key characters is a way to get comic fans on board with the notion of someone else in those role. While I'm having a tough time seeing the diminutive Natalie Portman as Thor, I have no problem seeing Don Cheadle as Iron Man or Anthony Mackie as Captain America.

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A story that can grow and change organically instead of in a hamfisted, All-New! sort of way is one of the things I'm most looking forward to in the MCU. Seeing Peter Parker grow up as a hero, learn from the likes of Cap and Iron Man, team up with Daredevil, get married, and eventually earn a spot on the Avengers is something the MCU can develop in a more natural way than the comics have been able to manage. If they can do that sort of thing then at some point the all-different, all-marketing characters can be used and feel like they're a reasonable progression of the story.

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I TOTALLY agree, stack. The potential to watch Holland grow as Peter is the REAL appeal here, and it's why I'd rather see him in the role than an older Parker. Though it does present an interesting question/challenge: if they're going for the "growing into/out of the role" angle, how will they handle their timeline? The events of Iron Man vs AoU took place... what? five years apart? At the most? Do we know? Point is... will they age Spidey in real time and risk doing the same to the older heroes?

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It's been my impression that generally time in the MCU passes more or less like the real world so the time between movie releases is approximately the same amount of time the characters have experienced. I'm sure there are exceptions but a at least since Avengers that seems to be the case.

As long as the actors want to stick around I don't know that aging is a huge worry. RDJ is going to be 54 by the time the second Infinity War is released. That's not young, but I doubt anyone is really going to be freaking out that he looks like an old man, and if they move him to more of a mentor role he could easily appear well into his 60s. The other major actors (besides Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle) are younger so, at least in theory, they could appear for a while yet if they're interested. And if those actors are eventually the elder statesmen of the MCU then we'd get to see Spidey in his prime mentoring younger heroes like they've tried to show in the comics for decades, except now it would ring true.

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