SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE

We’ve talked about “MARVEL SUPERHEROES” before in the past but now I’d like to take some time to talk about my favorite MARVEL COMICS superhero: “SPIDER-MAN!”

Did you know that “SPIDER-MAN” has appeared in 19 different movies [If you include the “VENOM” post-credits scene with the “PETER PARKER” and “MILES MORALES” cameo!] [No more spoilers from this point on, I promise!] that also includes a couple of films currently in production?

That list includes:

• “SPIDER-MAN” An unauthorized 1969 live action short film Directed by then unknown filmmaker named DONALD F. GLUT [Who also cast himself as “SPIDER-MAN”].

• “SPIDER-MAN [THE 1977 PILOT EPISODE]”, “SPIDER-MAN STRIKES BACK” [1978] and “SPIDER-MAN: THE DRAGON’S CHALLENGE” [1981]. Three made for T.V. movies from the hit T.V. series”THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN” starring NICHOLAS HAMMOND as “SPIDER-MAN/PETER PARKER”. “THE PILOT EPISODE” was Directed by E. W. SWACKHAMER, “STRIKES BACK” [a.k.a. “DEADLY DUST PARTS 1 AND 2”] and “THE DRAGON’S CHALLENGE” [a.k.a. “THE CHINESE WEB PARTS 1 AND 2”] was Directed by RON SATLOF. The sequels were also shown regularly on the T.V. series as normal two-part episodes.

• A 1978 Japanese film that was also called “SPIDER-MAN” [a.k.a. “SUPAIDAMAN”] [I’m sure I spelled that wrong!] is released. Starring SHINJI TODU [Again probably wrong!] as “THE JAPANESE SPIDER-MAN/TAKUYA YAMASHIRO” and Directed by KOICHI TAKEMOTO [wrong again!] and was Produced by TOEI CO. LTD. This film was also apart of it’s own weekly “SPIDER-MAN” T.V. series.

• “THE SAM RAIMI SPIDER-MAN TRILOGY” including “SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE”[2002], “SPIDER-MAN 2/2.1” [2004] and “SPIDER-MAN 3” [2007] With RAIMI Directing all three theatrical films that casts TOBEY MAGUIRE in the lead role!

• “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN” [2012] and “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2” [2014]. The reboot series Directed by MARC WEBB and starring ANDREW GARFIELD.

• “THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE” films “CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR” [2016], “SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING” [2017], “AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR” [2018], “AVENGERS: ENDGAME” [2019] and “SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME” [also 2019]. All starring TOM HOLLAND as the famous “WEB HEAD”. “CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR” and “AVENGERS 3 AND 4” are Directed by brothers JOE and ANTHONY RUSSO and “SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING AND FAR FROM HOME” is Directed by JON WATTS [who also Directed “HOMECOMING”].

• “SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE” [2018] is the very first feature-length animated theatrical movie from MARVEL STUDIOS even though it is Co-produced by COLUMBIA PICTURES and SONY PICTURES ANIMATION and is also the very first animated movie starring “SPIDER-MAN”! It is being Directed by BOB PERSICHETTI, PETER RAMSEY and RODNEY ROTHMAN. As the title suggests, this film has more than one “SPIDER-MAN”! The film focuses on a new “SPIDER-MAN”, “MILES MORALES” who is “PETER PARKER’S” replacement in MARVEL COMICS’ “ULTIMATE MARVEL/ULTIMATE COMICS UNIVERSE” after the death of that universe’s version of “PARKER” in the comics story “THE DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN”.

  “MORALES” will be introduced to a whole universe full of “SPIDER-MEN/WOMEN/ANIMALS”! “SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE” will feature the voice talents of SHAMEIK MOORE as “MILES MORALES/SPIDER-MAN”, JAKE JOHNSON as an older and more reluctant “PETER PARKER/SPIDER-MAN”, HAILEE STEINFELD as “GWEN STACY/ SPIDER-GWEN”, LIEV SCHREIBER as “WILSON FISK/THE KINGPIN”, JOHN MULANY as “SPIDER-HAM”, LILY TOMLIN as “AUNT MAY” and NICOLAS CAGE as “SPIDER-MAN NOIR”!

  The next three films are not like the other entries on this list because even though “SPIDEY” is involved with these titles, he is not the primary focus.

• “VENOM” [2018] is the first film to be set in “SONY’S MARVEL UNIVERSE” and may or may-not become apart of “THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE”. The film stars TOM HARDY as “EDDIE BROCK/VENOM” and is Directed by RUBEN FLEISCHER. “VENOM” is along time “SPIDER-MAN” villain who made his big screen debut in 2007’s “SPIDER-MAN 3” with TOPHER GRACE cast as “VENOM/EDDIE BROCK”.

• “MARVEL SUPERHEROES 4D” is a special “4D” attraction with multiple versions of the show located at MADAME TUSSAUDS museums in London, New York and Las Vegas with a new version now playing in Bali, called “MARVEL SUPERHEROES 4D: AVENGERS BATTLE IN BALI” [TOM KENNY voices “SPIDER-MAN”].

• “DISNEY’S PHINEAS AND FERB: MISSION MARVEL” is an animated crossover between “DISNEY’S PHINEAS AND FERB”, “MARVEL’S AVENGERS ASSEMBLE” and “MARVEL’S ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN” with actor DRAKE BELL reprising his role as “SPIDER-MAN”.

[A possible poster for GLUT’S 1969 fan-film.]

[An ad for the NICHOLAS HAMMOND T.V. series.]

[The Japanese version of “SPIDER-MAN”.]

[SAM RAIMI’S “THE SPIDER-MAN TRILOGY”]

[MARC WEBB’S “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2-MOVIE COLLECTION”]

[Posters of “SPIDER-MAN” and “THE AVENGERS” from “THE MCU” franchise.]

[Posters for “SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE”, “VENOM”, “MARVEL SUPERHEROES 4D” and “DISNEY’S PHINEAS AND FERB: MISSION MARVEL”.]

Now that’s all done, let’s get to the fun stuff already!

Did you know that there was going to be three more RAIMI “SPIDER-MAN” movies?

Plans for “SPIDER-MAN 4”, “SPIDER-MAN 5” and “SPIDER-MAN 6” were already in development with RAIMI set to Direct all of them and actors TOBEY MAGUIRE and KIRSTEN DUNST [“MARY-JANE “MJ” WATSON”] were set to return as well. But RAIMI was unhappy with every version of the script that he looked at. Combine that with “SPIDER-MAN 3’S” bad reception and SONY’S refusing to push back “SPIDER-MAN 4’S” intended release date and that was all it took to convince RAIMI that the series was all over!

Similar plans were considered for the reboot “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN” except SONY’S new plan would borrow heavily from MARVEL’S then newly established “MCU”! This included “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3”, spin-off films featuring “SPIDEY’S” enemies from “THE SINISTER SIX” and solo films focusing on his friends and allies! However, “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2” failed to meet everyone’s expectations and star ANDREW GARFIELD had a falling out with the head of SONY PICTURES which ultimately cancelled the series.

[A would-be poster for what would have been “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3”.]

The original “SPIDER-MAN” comic book was created in August, 1962 by Writer/Editor STAN LEE [originally named STANLEY MARTIN LIEBER] [December 28, 1922 - November 12, 2018] and Writer/Artist STEVE DITKO [November 2, 1927 - June 29, 2018]. May they both rest in piece. “SPIDER-MAN” first appeared in the MARVEL anthology comic book title “AMAZING FANTASY #15”. But his debut was met with some opposition from MARVEL’S Publisher MARTIN GOODMAN who had problems with “SPIDEY” being a teenager, considering that teenagers could only be sidekicks at the time, and that he would lose just as much as he would win. Despite all of this, GOODMAN agreed to let LEE have the character appear in the final issue of the series “AMAZING ADULT FANTASY” - which was renamed “AMAZING FANTASY” for that one issue because LEE wanted to draw in a younger audience - because MARVEL had already decided to cancel that series and LEE wanted to get the whole “SPIDER-MAN” character concept out of his system. They were both pleasantly surprised to discover that “SPIDER-MAN” was an instant hit!.

[“SPIDER-MAN” in his very first public appearance.]

[“SPIDEY” [left] and his creators, STAN LEE [center] and STEVE DITKO [RIGHT], in three separate images grouped together into one picture.]

Did you know that “TITANIC” Director JAMES CAMERON made an R-rated version of the first films’ script?

Early versions of CAMERON’S “scriptment” had “ELECTRO” and “DOC OCK” [who would’ve been played by ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER] as the main villains, a lot of profanity and both “SPIDER-MAN” and “MARY-JANE” doing some very “adult business” on top of the Brooklyn Bridge! It was very R-rated indeed. What’s even more surprising is that STAN LEE himself actually approved CAMERON’S script!

[JAMES CAMERON]

Did you know that they literally held spider auditions? That’s right, the spider that bit in the first film was not a special effect, it was very real! Director SAM RAIMI wanted the perfect spider for the moment where “PETER PARKER” receives the initial bite, but the spider that most resembled Raimi’s vision was a black widow. It would obviously be too dangerous to use a real black widow, so entomologist Steven Kutcher brought in spiders to “audition” for RAIMI. Eventually, they found a spider that looked just right to play the part.
 

There was just one problem: the color. The solution: makeup. RAIMI explained that he wanted the scene to look as realistic as possible, and CGI just wasn't up to snuff then. So they went all “ROCKY HORROR” on the spider instead, painting it with red and blue accents.

[A real spider wearing red and blue make-up.]

Did you know that four “SPIDER-MAN SUITES” were stolen from the set of the first movie?

The suites are worth $50,000 apiece! The police managed to catch the thief, a former SONY Security guard, who also stole a $150,000 “BATSUIT” from WARNER BRO.S’ “BATMAN” sets in 1996.

[One of the many different versions of “THE BATSUIT”]

Did you know that Producer LAURA ZISKIN fooled some SONY executives with some CGI-animated “SPIDER-MAN” footage?

One of the chief hurdles in producing Spider-Man was creating the convincing illusion of a man swinging between New York City skyscrapers. The production called on Industrial Light & Magic pioneer John Dykstra, who realized that some shots would require a fully computer-generated version of the title character. The shots Dykstra and his team came up with were so convincing that producer Laura Ziskin decided to see if they could fool Columbia chair Amy Pascal and Sony chair John Calley.

“I called up John Calley and Amy Pascal and told them we’d put Tobey [Maguire] in the suit and had him crawling up a building, and we’d shot a test and wanted to show them,” Ziskin recalled. “We went to the screening room and I showed the test of CGI Spider-Man—they thought it was Tobey! Then I told them that was the computer-generated Spider-Man.”

[Visual Effects Designer JOHN DYKSTRA]

Did you know that “UNCLE BEN’S” car that appears in the first movie is actually belongs to SAM RAIMI?

THE OLDSMOBILE DELTA 88 [aka “THE CLASSIC”] is featured in almost all of RAIMI’S films which includes “THE EVIL DEAD” franchise!

The car is not the only cameo to be spotted in this film. the list also includes:

STAN LEE [a random citizen in all the “SPIDER-MAN” films],

BRUCE CAMPBELL [ “THE FIGHT PROMOTER” in “SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE”, “THE THEATER USHER” in “SPIDER-MAN 2” and “THE FRENCH MAITRE D’” in “SPIDER-MAN 3” - he was also “THE NARRATOR” in all the movie tie-in video games including “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN”.],

Former WWE superstar “MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE [“BONESAW MCGRAW],

R&B/SOUL Singer MACY GRAY [appearing as herself in the TIMES SQUARE PARADE fight scene.],

and “XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS” star LUCY LAWLESS [“PUNK ROCK GIRL” as well as a few RAIMI film collaborators.

[“SPIDER-MAN” - TOBY MCGUIRE - VS. BONESAW MCGRAW - RANDY SAVAGE!]

HUGH JACKMAN was actually going to appear in the film reprising his role as “WOLVERINE” from “THE X-MEN” film series. But for some reason his costume went missing, forcing filmmakers to abandon the whole idea!

[JACKMAN as “LOGAN/WOLVERINE” from 2000’s “X-MEN: THE MOVIE”]

Well true believers, that’s all the info that I have for you. Until next time. As STAN LEE would say: “EXCELSIOR!”

MERRY CHRISTMAS!