If you haven’t been following the marketing of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, you really should be. The Daily Bugle, a Tumblr designed to fill in the gaps between the first movie and the upcoming villain-packed sequel, is basically the biggest nerd tease since The Dark Knight ensured you got a phone call from Commissioner Gordon. And it’s actually kind of glorious.
Essentially, as you may have guessed, it consists entirely of articles from the Daily Bugle, the New York Post of the Marvel Universe. The pace of articles has been picking up, too. And somebody in Sony’s marketing department is having way too much fun writing these, because they’re pretty much pure continuity porn crossed with a spot-on parody of the Post’s breathless writing.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the surprisingly deep references and gags the blog has featured:
- In its most recent post, written by Joy Mercado, we find out Curt Connors went to jail. His lawyer? Venom’s ex-wife. Eddie Brock himself has been upgraded: He’s a full journalist at the Bugle and has filed several articles
- Puma is generously funding repairs to Peter’s school after the Lizard trashed it, with reporting from Hobgob-er, Ned Leeds.
- The Shocker got his ass handed to him right after Christmas. Oh, and he was arrested by the Sin-Eater.
- Frederick Foswell is not a fan of his nickname. Also, the Enforcers are hanging around, because of course they are. It’s something of a running gag on the blog that Spidey beats their asses constantly.
- Alastair Smythe is working closely with his dad on “mobile technologies.”
- And, perhaps most hilariously, check out the “correction” at the end of this article.
We doubt that every single villain referenced here will show up in the movies, of course. But it’s so hilariously nerdy, and the references are worked in so naturally, that it becomes a game of spot-the-familiar name. Hopefully the movie is this fun, but at least somebody’s heart is in the right place.