The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits theaters today, so naturally people are starting to wildly speculate about the future of the franchise! Which villains will be in the Sinister Six movie? Is Folk-singer Spider-Man the new Emo Spider-Man? Is Spider-Man ever going to hang dong? I’m not criticizing anyone for it; it’s become part of our culture. We can’t take the time to enjoy what we’ve got because we’re too focused on what we’re going to get next. Honestly, most of you are already thinking about the next post you’re going to read. But that’s okay, because a recent scientific study shows that no one ever reads the last sentence of the first paragraph. That’s why I feel comfortable telling you that I have a tiny penis; you’ll never read it.
It turns out that audiences aren’t the only ones talking about what they want to see in upcoming installments of major film franchises. Andrew Garfield recently told Comic Book Resources his feelings about what he’s like to see down the road from the Amazing Spider-Man films:
I think one of the amazing things about Spider-Man is that you don’t see skin color when he’s in the suit. You don’t see any religious beliefs. You don’t see any denominations. Everyone can project themselves into that suit. It’s incredibly powerful in that way. So of course I think it’s important that the openness, the casting, in terms of who could be Spider-Man, could be absolutely anyone. A hero is a hero, whether you’re a man, woman, gay, lesbian, straight, black, white or red all over — it doesn’t matter.
Miles Morales was a huge moment in this character’s comic book life. And I do believe that we can do that. It’s something I’m really interested in figuring out; an eloquent way of coexisting, or passing on the torch. I don’t have an answer, but I think it’s actually a really important move. I think it’s a really beautiful and important move.
Now, it doesn’t matter that Garfield only said that because he was desperately trying to prove his comic book credentials. It doesn’t matter that the writer coerced that little speech out of him at the very end of an interview with the full intention of plastering it as the headline. Nope. The only thing that really matters is that Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, the producers of Amazing Spider-Man 2, immediately put the kibosh on that rumor in an interview with The Playlist:
The one thing you cannot do, when you have a phenomena that has stood the test of time, you have to be true to the real character inside – who is Peter Parker? What are the biggest effects on his life? Then you can draw in time, and you can consider today’s world in many ways. But to have multiple ones… I don’t know if you remember, but Marvel tried it. And it was almost the end of Spider-Man.
That’s right. When you have a phenomena that has stood the test of time, you have to be true to the character inside. And that character is white on the inside, because webs are white, and they come from inside a spider. I’m sorry, that’s not fair of me. I don’t believe that Arad and Tolmach have any racial motivations for keeping Peter Parker as the star of The Amazing Spider-Man movies. Their motivation is purely financial.
Miles Morales has only been Spider-Man for a few years, and just in an alternate universe. Peter Parker is still Spider-man in the main Marvel Universe. When I say Spider-Man, 99% of people think of Peter Parker. When I say Ultimate Spider-Man, at least 50% of people still think of Peter Parker. Kyle Rayner is my favorite Green Lantern, but to most people Green Lantern is Hal Jordan. And that brings us right back to the beginning. People speculate about what’s next because they want something new, not something different. A Miles Morales movie could make a lot of money one day, but that day isn’t here yet.
Via Comic Book Resources and Screen Rant.