Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Why Spider-Man Shouldn't Be in the Avengers

There's been a lot of buzz lately over the possibility of Spider-Man in the next Avengers film. As far as I can tell, everyone is excited and hopeful that he'll be in the next one, but I have a different opinion. Spider-Man shouldn't be in Avengers 2, or whatever they call it, for anything more than maybe a tiny cameo.

First of all, let's look at the comics themselves. Spider-Man was not a founding member of the Avengers. Of course, Ant-Man and Wasp were also founding members, but they aren't popular enough to have movies. He doesn't fit naturally with the Avengers, at least not the ones portrayed in the movie. All of Spider-Man's possible roles are already taken. Iron Man is snarky, Iron Man knows technology, and Bruce Banner knows science. Not to mention both Stark and Banner are experts in their fields while Peter Parker is a high school student. Spider-Man would be relegated to either making the jokes rejected from Iron Man, or yelling "My Spider-sense is tingling!" every time something bad happens. In combat, he can't do much more than Captain America, just with more webs.

"But Spider-Man is in the Avengers now!" You say, correctly. But look at the Avengers now. No Bruce Banner, first of all. Spider-Man's whole science thing has gotten more proficient as of late, so he's actually valuable in that sense. Second, the time when he really fit was around Dark Reign. In that, Captain America was dead and replaced by Bucky, who dressed in black and carried a gun. Hawkeye was instead Ronin, and most of the team had no compunction against killing Norman Osborn. Spider-Man was the heart and soul of the team who reminded them that they were the good guys. Look, however, at the movie universe. You have Captain America, the paragon of good, and Iron Man, having reformed as a weapon's maker, is almost as spotless in his record now. There's no dark and gritty there for Spider-Man to counteract. He's just another justice loving guy among too many.

Also, there's the omnipresent issue of movie rights being split between Marvel and Sony. No way Sony is going to completely let go of the Spider-Man movie license, but I'm sure they want a piece of that Avengers money, so they'd be willing to broker a deal. However, any such deal would be bound to come with a lot of stipulations. Either a minimum screentime or minimum number of lines, that would certainly mess with the writers, especially Joss Whedon, who tends to get all flustered by meddling. Second, there's no good way to introduce him into the series. Either he jumps in with little explanation just to be there, or they waste Avengers time making shit about him. All the films before the Avengers were written to make Avengers possible. Spider-Man is written just about Spider-Man, without the interconnectedness the other films share. Including Spider-Man would bring up far too many plot holes if he isn't part of the Marvel Movie Universe from the start. Where was he when Abomination destroyed Harlem? Was he just hiding when aliens tried to invade? So much revolves around New York in Marvel, and you can't shoehorn these events in at the last second.

Spider-Man, as his movie is made now, should not be in the Avengers, as they are now. He just doesn't fit in, character-wise or plot-wise. If a lot were to change I would be warmer to the idea, but at this point I'm against it. Now all it would bring is a pointless cash-in that cheapens both the Avengers and Spider-Man.

2 comments:

  1. So I agree with the idea, but not with his facts getting there. So first he talks about Spiderman not being the original group. Well neither where Hawkeye or Black Widow, and they were in the first one! I think it's okay to move past that roster now.
    Second he comments that Peter Parker is a high school student, but he is a prodigy (you see anyone else coming up with anything like web shooters? Not even 60 years later in real life?). They are going on the Ultimate story line for the new movie. So his parents were both also top scientists (who created the Ultimate version of the Venom Suit). He has been exposed to advanced science all his life.
    And as for his role in the group, well how about cocky inexperienced person with super powers. Even as he gets older in the comics, they still keep going back to the idea that he doesn't plan it all out as well as say Captain America, or Iron Man. The reason it takes him so long in the comics to join a group, is that he knows that would require him to get serious about his being a super hero, and he doesn't want to have to deal with it.
    Then he asks were was Spiderman during the events of the first film. It is actually a problem I have with the comics. I keep asking myself the same question. Sometimes they kinda deal with it, having them hear about the events happening while they are busy doing something else (or just thinking that they will leave it to the real super heroes, because they would only get in the way. A major MO for Spiderman). But often time they ignore it.
    I think that the character could fit in. Why couldn't Spiderman decide to just drop in when the city is being destroyed. They could even offer him to join, but he turns them down (happened several times in the comics). Thus allowing him to just appear for some action, and disappear just as quickly. But I also feel that it would be unnecessary. It might be good for the series to show other super heroes, just to show that the Avengers don't live in a bubble. But I don't feel that it needs to be Spiderman. He has got his camera time, give this spot to someone else. Maybe even as a way to to seed up the idea for another marvel character that will be unconnected to the Avengers movies (they have been talking about a Doctor Strange movie allot).

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  2. Your first point is a good one, yeah, neither Hawkeye or Black Widow were founding members, but they were Avengers members longer than Spider-Man, currently. For webshooters, in Ultimate, he didn't create them himself entirely, he modeled them off some plans left from his dad. If this movie is based off Ultimate Spider-Man, that takes away his prodigy status. And even if he did make webshooters, that would mean he happened to be very good at adhesives, which might not necessarily make him a good fit in an Avengers team.

    A quick cameo I haven't much of a problem with, that could work out, but the way the rights stand, it'll be all or nothing.

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