5 Ways Sony Can Move Forward With The Amazing Spider-Man Franchise

I feel legitimately bad for Spider-Man fans, because in an age where comic book films and television shows are all the rage, the popular wall-crawler has had a rough go of it at the multiplex. Sure, we got two great films with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 that in turn helped kick off the current superhero craze, but since then there's been a steady decline in quality and overall interest in the red and blue web slinger. Sure, each film has its fans and certainly has its merits. In fact, I'm actually a fan of The Amazing Spider-Man and didn't feel that this year's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 deserved the hate that was thrown at it. However, the new series of films have caused more contention with fans and more problems for Sony than we could have imagined. Despite earning over $700 million at the box office, TASM 2 has been criticized heavily for being the lowest-grossing Spider-Man film and was not the exciting first step toward a greater Spider-Man shared cinematic universe that Sony had in mind. For months now we've been hearing of the studio's plans to not only make more Amazing Spider-Man films, but to expand the web head's universe to include villain-centric spin-offs for Sinister Six and Venom as well as an as-yet-unrevealed film centering on a female character. But over time those plans have steadily become less sure, following the delay of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and the total disappearance of The Amazing Spider-Man 4. By all accounts, it looks like Sony doesn't quite know how to proceed with the franchise, and are reportedly exploring several different options at the moment. While we wait for the eventual announcement about Spider-Man's big screen future, we've compiled a list of five possible ways that Sony could move forward with the franchise and leave the ill-fated The Amazing Spider-Man 2 behind them. 5) Hit The Reset Button Again While it's without a doubt the least appealing option, Sony could just call it quits on the Amazing Spider-Man franchise and reboot the series all over again. Bring in a new creative team, recast the role, and learn from past mistakes in order to get the character right. It's not a route I think the studio will take, but it is something that's on the table if necessary. Sony would, of course, likely lose a huge chunk of the fanbase with another reboot a mere three or four years after the last one, considering how many felt that Sony didn't wait long enough after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 to hit the reset button and jump into The Amazing Spider-Man. This is reportedly one of several ideas that Sony executives are considering at the moment, though instead of scrapping all of TASM they may do a "soft reboot" within the upcoming Sinister Six movie, recasting Peter Parker and having him team up with the titular villains in order to take out some larger threat. Something like that could work, theoretically, and might be easier for naysayers to swallow. 4) Keep Going With The Current Franchise Of course, one of the things Sony could do is, well, not do anything different at all and continue with the Amazing Spider-Man franchise as planned. Yes, TASM 2 was a disappointment, but the movie grossed over $700 million worldwide. Yes, the film didn't make as much as the studio wanted and it's the lowest-grossing Spider-Man film to date, but it came nowhere close to being a flop and still earned Sony a nice profit. Scrapping the entire series and the current world-building plans becuase of one bad entry just seems foolish. What Sony can do from here on out is stop interfering so much with the creative process and allow Marc Webb to make the films they want to make. Studio interference was a huge hinderance on both TASM 2 and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, the two worst entries in the franchise. That's no coincidence. By regrouping and focusing all of its energy on making the best films possible, Sony could easily overcome the problems presented with TASM 2 and win back some fan goodwill with Sinister Six and The Amazing Spider-Man 3. That would certainly be better than starting from scratch once more, and show audiences some faith in the property and in future films. 3) Shelve Spider-Man And Focus On Spinoffs For Now Before the new Spider-Man rumors broke last week, the current plan seemed to be to shelve the franchise for the time being and focus on supporting heroes and villains instead. Sinister Six is next on the docket and has a November 11, 2016 release date. Then of course there's Alex Kurtzman's Venom film, and the recently-announced female-led spinoff planned for 2017. In the last twelve years we've gotten five Spider-Man films, so the evidence of diminishing returns may have to do as much with quality as it does with quantity. Spider-Man may be one of the most popular comic book characters on the planet, but there's only so much you can do with him on film, storytelling-wise, before things begin to feel repetitive and seeing the character on screen becomes less exciting. Audiences definitely felt that when The Amazing Spider-Man hit theaters, so perhaps giving the web head a little break would be the best course of action. An all-villain team-up film presents problems of its own, but it's something that hasn't been done yet in the superhero film genre, so the sheer novelty of it is sure to pique the interest of downtrodden Spidey fans. We've also been clamoring for a female-led superhero film for quite some time now, so Sony could cash in on that interest and be the first studio to quench that thirst. You know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. I bet that if you left Spider-Man alone for a few years, audiences would be excited to see him back on the big screen in, say, 2018 or so. It's not like Sony is currently at risk of losing the rights to the character, so patience and careful planning are at their disposal. 2) Make A Deal With Marvel The mere fact that Spider-Man isn't in Marvel's hands is a point of contention for a lot of fans. As one of the biggest Marvel comics characters and a frequent member of teams like the Avengers and Fantastic Four, Spider-Man feels awfully lonely in his own little cinematic universe. Audiences are clamoring to see Peter Parker on screen with Tony Stark or fighting alongside Hulk and Captain America, and it's hard to blame them. It would be great to see Spider-Man share the big screen with Earth's Mightiest Heroes and to be connected to the ever-expanding Marvel cinematic universe. Unfortunately, how cool something would be isn't what drives the decision-making process in Hollywood. It's business. And up until now, business has mandated that Spider-Man and the Avengers exist separately. Last week, however, we saw a glimmer of hope that Spider-Man could cross over with Marvel, and that Sony executives were willing to come to some sort of agreement with Marvel's camp to make it happen. We're not quite sure how true that is, but there's no denying that a move like that would be a serious boon to both studios and beneficial for all involved. It would help reignite interest in Spider-Man and satiate the appetites of diehard fans. Plus, it would help Marvel expand their brand even more while bringing an incredibly popular and important character into the fold, which could help lead to adaptations of fan-favorite stories like Civil War. 1) Introduce Miles Morales If the rumors of some sort of Sony/Marvel agreement aren't true, then the studio has one more really great option worth exploring: Miles Morales. Morales is Spider-Man in the Ultimate version of the comics, and took the mantle after Peter Parker's death in 2011. The half-hispanic, half-African American was based in part on Barack Obama and actor Donald Glover, who voices the character in the Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors animated series. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the character of Miles Morales, check out the amusing clip below. Andrew Garfield has even stated that he would like to "pass the torch" to a character like Miles Morales in the Amazing Spider-Man films someday, but producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad threw a wrench into that idea by saying that they were "only interested" in seeing the Peter Parker Spider-Man on the big screen. That notion seriously cripples the creative freedom of the Amazing Spider-Man franchise and negates one of the easiest way to give the series a quasi-reboot. By having Andrew Garfield's character either die or retire as Spider-Man in TASM 3, and then pass the mantle on to a character like Miles Morales, it effectively reboots the property without hitting the reset button. Give the newly-refurbished franchise an Ultimate Spider-Man name change, and it brings a fan-favorite character to the big screen for the first time, adds some much-needed diversity to the superhero genre, and could reinvigorate interest in the brand by infusing some new life into it that audiences haven't seen before. So, those are our five ideas for what Sony could do with their Amazing Spider-Man film franchise. What did you think of our list? Are there any ideas or possibilities that we missed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.