Image Credit: David Gabber/PR Photos; Marvel EntertainmentGwen Stacy is an incredibly important figure in comic book history. Sadly, the vast majority of moviegoers probably only know her as “That random girl in Spider-Man 3 whose existence made no sense, much like everything in Spider-Man 3.” Well, Gwen’s about to make a big comeback. Like, Downey-Jr.-in-Iron-Man big. As EW’s Nicole Sperling reported last night, Emma Stone will be playing Spidey’s original love interest. (Yes, Emma Stone seems better-suited to play red-haired Mary Jane, but Hollywood is Bizarro-world and life is chaos.) Which begs the question: Who is Gwen Stacy, anyways?
Stacy was a late addition to the Spider-Man mythos, first appearing as a fellow classmate when Peter Parker started attending Empire State University. Giving hope to nerds everywhere, Gwen found Peter’s smarts ridiculously attractive. (Isn’t college, like, a billion times better than high school?) Most of Gwen’s relatively short character history is fraught with indie-movie tragedy: Her relationship with Peter was on a perpetual spin cycle, with misunderstandings and poor circumstances constantly conspiring against the two lovebirds. Gwen was never a particularly well-rounded character in her original incarnation — when you got past her gorgeous sadness, she was boooring – but in the rebooted Ultimate universe, Gwen was reimagined as a punkish, semi-badass cool girl. It’s a good bet that Stone will be playing something closer to this later Gwen Stacy.
There’s also the important matter — Potential Spoiler Alert — of Gwen’s untimely death, one of the most defining moments in comics history. (Despite a couple of clone storylines, it’s also the one comic book fatality that hasn’t been retconned out of existence.) There are plenty of variables at work in the Spider-Man reboot, but the fact that they seem to be refocusing the storyline on Gwen could point to a more tragic storyline.
PopWatchers, is all this casting news getting you more excited about the new Spider-Man movie? Does the potential for a full-on romantic triangle fill you with glee, or dread? Personally, I’m a Mary Jane loyalist, but after ten years of Kirsten Dunst, it might be time to change my allegiance.
Read more:
Spider-Man female leads: They’re getting closer
Andrew Garfield: Getting to know the new Spider-Man
No. Having the storylines the attached to Mary Jane go back to Gwen AND hopefully a “real” comic book movie death (You seem to forget ?uncle Ben still died, as did Norman Osborn and, we assume, Doc Ock), will be cool, but the while movie is just not needed at all and I’d rather they just made the next 3 Spiderman movies we were all expecting with The Lizard and co.
Let’s face it Venom, the only thing in Spidey 3 that didn’t make sense as far as I’m concrened, was the cause of most of 3′s problems and he was forced into the story by the suits, because he was such a popular characeter and they wanted to sell more toys. Americans also seem to forget that 3 was by far the most successful Spidey film, outside the /US and worldwide and is nowhere near as hated as the net would have you believe. They should have left Venom out or spread his origin over 2 movies. Falling out of the sky next to Peter Parker, that was awfull. The other stuff was pure Spiderman and people just didn;t get that. The black shirted “dark” peter was pretty perfect dark nerd stuff. Plus it’s hard to hate anything with enough James Franco in it.
I completely agree (although 3 had a LOT of problems, they screwed Venom. I love Topher Grace, but he was terribly miscast).
Jason Todd’s death was the most defining death in comics mythos. That said, I think it is good to have Stacey with a more prominent role, it does not change the unfortunate fact that Andrew Garfield will be playing spiderman
Several deaths in comics trump Jason Todd’s death: Bucky; Supergirl; Flash. Jason Todd’s death was a big deal only because it was supposedly done as as the result of a reader poll.
Indeed he was. I also like him but he was not right for the part and both Brock and Venom were poorly written and dumped into a storyline that neither needed them nor had room for them. I was expecting the Symbiote to get to Earth (on Jameson’s space shuttle given Spidey 2) and Parker to use it and get “dark” then at the end or just before the end get the suit off and in the credits, or at the end of the credits we’d see Brock and the Symbiote unite all ready for Spidey 4, which would have Venom and finally poor Dylan Baker would finally get to become the Lizard.
Yeah as with much of DC’s “modern” history the hype was far bigger than the event. The alleged vote and the idea that one computer whizz managed to program his PC to dial the kill Robin number endlessly and hence tip the balance was indicative of some of their more desperate attempts to catch up to Marvel. I think a lot of people voted for the character of “Robin” more than Jason, and possibly didn’t even know it wasn’t Dick Grayson they were killing. On the bright side it did lead to a more convincing Robin with (thanks Tim Burton) a much better costume and a sense that you couldn’t just take any reasonably fit kid off the street, slap a costume on them and suddenly make them able to fight crime and heavily armed men 3 or 4 times their size. It was a “good death” though, echoed in the recent, superb Home market movie Batman: Under The Red Hood.
Oh it was also a lot better than that other desperate attempt to match Marvel sales (with something that didn’t have Bat, dark or Detective in the title) The “death of Superman”. You know that one where the Hulk falls into a parallel universe where the DC characters live and develops a hideous calcium disease that causes his bones to grow outside his body and his skin to revert to its original grey. Ah Doomsday Smash! Those weren’t the days eh?
What? Spiderman 3 tried to change the whole iconic story of how Spidey became Spidey. Uncle Ben was not killed by the Sandman by accident. Spiderman 3 should be wiped from existence.
If you take that attitude then a large number of Spiderman comics and cartoons need to be wiped too; between the 6 million clones and Peter’s parents not really being dead and any other amount of changes. His strength varies wildly too, especially in the movies. As does Spiderman I for the mixing of Mary Jane and Gwen Stacey and Goblin’s powers and death (at Least); Spiderman II for most of it’s treatment of Doc Ock and his abiity to take punches on the face from a Spiderman strong enough to stop a runaway train. Oh and the organic Webshoters (thank you James Cameron) which I actually thought were a very good idea. One of those “oh yeah of course, why weren’t they always like that” moments.
There’s a lot of throw the baby out with the bath water with Spidey 3. There’s a LOT of good in that film. Sandman was excellently played both by Thomas Haden Church and the effects people; The creation scene where he has to find the will to solidify was excellent cinema.
Pretty much everything with James / Franco was, of course, gold and seeing a Peter and a Spiderman who seemed to be at peace and having a good time was an interesting move and worked well with his , all to brief, slide into darkness. Yes, as stated above, the arrival of the symbiote was ludicrous, and Brock / venom was given far too little time and far too shoddy a story and lines to be an annoying distraction from the Harry Osborn and Sandman stories. In fact you had a wicked suspicion that Rami, annoyed at having to fit Venom into Spiderman 3 did his best to both restrict him to minimal screen time AND make him so dull that no one could ever want to see him return. However distracted by finally being happy, Peter would surely have noticed something wrong with Mary Jane before he does: but even that you can put down to time wasted on Brock/Venom that should have been spent showing a progressive decline in Mar Jane’s career and Peter’s dark side coming to the fore.
I agree that Venom was a major problem in “Spider Man 3″ (and that it wasn’t really Raimi’s fault), but that was far from the only problem.
Jackal mentioned the way they shoe-horned Sandman into Uncle Ben’s murder. It’s one thing to change something when you translate it from comic to movie (like the Joker killng Bruce Wayne’s parents in Burton’s “Batman”), but changing a crucial plot point in your own established movie universe if flat-out moronic.
Also, I can’t speak to how “3″ is regarded outside the U.S., but I wouldn’t put too much stock in its box office receipts as a measure of it being “by far the most successful Spidey film.” I’d actually argue that a good portion of “3″s success (other than the fact that it was a big movie everyone saw) was the good will that carried over from “Spider Man 2.” (Same applies to X2, and “The Last Stand”, which actually out-grossed X2.)
All that being said, I like the apparently more dramatic direction the reboot is going in, but it still seems too soon. And if there were going to be more Spidey movies, I would’ve liked to have seen Raimi and Co. get a chance to bounce back.
I’m not saying everyone loves the film outside the US at all, but it was a much higher grossing film than the first 2. The similarity of the grosses from 1 & 2 mostly negate the “goodwill” argument. I get it and I know it’s true for other films, although it’s much less of a factor in X3′s gross than at first thought. Amongst non comic book fans, the majority of the audience, X3 is pretty well thought of. It may be a far inferior film to X2, but the increase in action, effects, and simplified plot make it may people’s favourite X film. (Sad I know.) The bump from X2 to X3 wasn’t massive but it was an improvement. However it still had the standard superhero split where there tends to be more made in North America than the rest of the world. Spiderman 3 smashed that balance by making 62% of its gross from outside North America, even factoring the decrease in the North American gross that’s a massive swing; a jump of almost 40% in the grosses from Spiderman 2 to Spiderman 3 can’t be explained just by goodwill or tick price increases. This is all the more so when you consider that the grosses weren’t all front loaded, as you’d expect in a goodwill gross, where people rush out in weeks 1 & 2 but don’t go back for more and bad word of mouth slows new audiences too; also in N. America the film continued the, minimal, drop from film to film. 2 made $30m less than 1 and 3 made $37 less than 2. I just think they (we) were more receptive to the good in Spidey 3 and not so concerned with the flaws. Again that’s not to say there weren’t flaws just that the weight of the flaws doesn’t drag down the sum of the good. There are a number of people, including “top” reviewers who see 3 as the best film and better than 2, which they found uneven and too eager to be mean to Peter & Spiderman.
Regardless of all of the above Spiderman 3 is by far the most successful in box office terms. A jump from around $410m – $420m for the first two movies to over $550m alludes to a general liking of the film far more than it does to just going once because the other movies were liked.
Given the way Spidey 4 was dropped and the new spidey picked up I get the feeling that following the forcing of Venom on Raimihe was expecting to get more of his own way this time but the studio didn’t want to lose their “toy making” ability. The irony I see is that many of the criticisms of both 2 & 3 were based around the darkness and the balance of drama to action / fun, yet here people are thinking this may be a “more dramatic” film?
Excelsior! and all that…….
therealeverton-
You’ve made an incredibly-detailed and eloquent argument as to why the goodwill from “Spider Man 2″ may not have played a huge factor in “Spider Man 3″ being the highest-grossing/most successful film in the franchise. I thoroughly enjoy chatting with people who know their stuff, or at least do a little research and thinking before they speak.
Here’s my quick and humble rebuttal: after “Spider Man 2″, “Spider Man 3″ went on to gross almost $900 million worldwide. On the other hand, after “Spider Man 3″, they stopped making “Spider Man” movies (with Raimi). That’s all I’ve got.
I was never a big Gwen fan. Yes, the punk rock version was more well rounded, but compared to MJ she was just so uninteresting.
I’ll say it now so millions of people avoid the mistake: Emma Stone IS A NATURAL BLONE, NOT A NATURAL REDHEAD.
Doesn’t matter, 90% of people don’t read other posts, somebody will still mention about her being a redhead.
True but I think Jennette Mccurdy would have been a better Gwen and Emma would have knocked it out of the park as MJ
I agree with Emma as MJ, I was shocked to see her playing Gwen. Emma seemed to have that playfulness that MJ has.
ha! Had time to hit the caps lock key, but not the N, eh?
umm make that the D key….
whoops…it’s just that i was so annoyed at how many people complained about her being a natural redhead on the article that announced who she was playing.
Um, am I the only one to remember that the last person to play Gwen (just three years ago), Bryce Dallas Howard, was also a redhead.
Given the casting and the director, I’m gonna agree that we’ll probably see a more serious interpretation of the Spidey mythos in this new movie, probably also meant to set it apart as a new, different property than the delightfully campy Raimi movies (well, those first two delightfully campy ones, anyway).
They can go as serious as they want, but Spider-man MUST be funny. If he’s not, it’s not Spider-man.
I wanted Dianna Aggron as Gwen…
And they wanted someone who could act.
Ditto what Tom said.
and i want someone who knows actors when the see them. Dianna is amazing!
Have they even offically said if this is a sequel or a reboot?
I don’t think they’re calling it either, just a new series of films set, at least at first, bak in high school.
I always preferred Gwen to Mary Jane. I haven’t read the “Ultimate” version of Spidey, though I suppose that, now that we’ve had two good movies of the real, true Spidey followed by a terrible misfire with No. 3, maybe it’s time for the fans of “Ultimate Spidey” to get their big screen movie.
New Spidey, new girl… good way to reboot.
“it’s also the one comic book fatality that hasn’t been retconned out of existence”
Nope. Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben is still (thankfully) dead.
Though I am a huge Spidy fan, I am not sure if a reboot is the best approach. Also, with Spidy 3 it was clearly too much to mix all Though I am a huge Spidy fan, I am not sure if a reboot is the best approach. Also, with Spidy 3 it was clearly too much to mix all that. It is the common misfire of 3 movies. Look at batman (with two face and riddler), X-man, Spidy. They all had way too much in the movie and by doing this the movie seemed rushed and not as fluent as the previous films. Now Emma Stone playing Gwen. I would have preferred her play MJ. I think her sass would really make the part. I honestly thought that Tobey McGuire did well as Peter Parker and it may be hard to fill those shoes. Also, changing the events to the origins of how he became Spidy and why is very poor form. It’s the same with the Man of Steel reboot.
I just hope they try to stay along with the lines of the comics, since that is why they are doing these movies anyway. If the comics where never made or have such a strong fan base then people really wouldn’t care about if it stayed true to the original story line; but since they are such a huge hit fans will be discourage if they steer away from what attracted us to the story to begin with
that. It is the common misfire of 3 movies. Look at batman(with two face and riddler), X-man, Spidy. They all had way too much in the movie and by doing this the movie seemed rushed and not as fluent as the previous films. Now Emma Stone playing Gwen. I would have preferred her play MJ. I think her sass would really made the part. I honestly thought that Tobey Mcquire did well as Peter Parker and it maybe hard to fill those shoes. Also, changing the events to the origins of how he became Spidy and why is very poor form. It’s the same with the Man of Steel reboot.
I just hope they try to stay along with the lines of the comics, since that is why they are doing these movies anyway. If the comics where never made or have such a strong fan base then people really wouldn’t care about if it stayed true to the original story line; but since they are such a huge hit fans will be discourage if they steer away from what attracted us to the story to begin with
Batman Forever’s problem was Schumacher running straight to the Adam West campyness and completely ruining the much cooler atmosphere and tone Burton had established, not an overabundance of villains–both Batman Returns and Batman Begins had the same number of villains as Forever.
True. Also “Batman Returns” actually had 3 villains if you count Christopher Walken’s Max Shreck (I’m assuming you were referring to Catwoman and Penguini), who was probably an even bigger villain than anyone else in the flick.
Yep, what rian & Mr Holloway said. It has nothing to do with the number of villains, by definition no X-men film could be any good as they all require large numbers of heroes. villains and ambiguous players too. Batman begins and Returns had plenty of villains, but they also had good stories and good directors who were on form. Not yes men who agreed to make feature length commercials for the merchandise department. The producers insisted on Venom and they got him and it killed the movie. Too brief to make a real impact and too much to allow the rest of the movie to breath.
sorry some how it was posted ontop of each other
Here is how it should read
Though I am a huge Spidy fan, I am not sure if a reboot is the best approach. Also, with Spidy 3 it was clearly too much to mix all that. It is the common misfire of 3 movies. Look at batman (with two face and riddler), X-man, Spidy. They all had way too much in the movie and by doing this the movie seemed rushed and not as fluent as the previous films. Now Emma Stone playing Gwen. I would have preferred her play MJ. I think her sass would really make the part. I honestly thought that Tobey McGuire did well as Peter Parker and it may be hard to fill those shoes. Also, changing the events to the origins of how he became Spidy and why is very poor form. It’s the same with the Man of Steel reboot.
I just hope they try to stay along with the lines of the comics, since that is why they are doing these movies anyway. If the comics where never made or have such a strong fan base then people really wouldn’t care about if it stayed true to the original story line; but since they are such a huge hit fans will be discourage if they steer away from what attracted us to the story to begin with
SPOILERS: let me introduce Gwen and explain her importance. While Mary Jane was Peter’s first crush, Gwen was the second girlfriend in Peter’s life, after secretary Betty Brant. She was not a fan of Spider-Man, as she believed Spider-Man was responsible for the death of her father. The scene in the first Spider-Man movie involving Mary Jane and the cable car full of kids appears in the comics, minus the cable car and kids… and Gwen instead of Mary Jane. Peter catches her with his web line, but the stop snaps her neck, killing her. This is a huge event in Pete’s life, obviously; he’s never the same. It’s one thing to let someone by who goes on to kill your Uncle Ben… it’s another thing to have someone die at your own hand while superheroing. It’s a brilliant story. The overreaching arc of Spider-Man and Peter’s girlfriends is that he lost the one person who loved him just as Peter– something I was sad to see missing from the Sam Raimi version, especially since Mary Jane was so well cast…
I like your summing up but Mary Jane isn’t Lois “shallow” Lane. She loved Peter for being Peter too.
AFTER Gwen. She was shallow and unconcerned with anything substantial before Gwen died. She was a teenager. She grew up a bit after, and that opened the story to the phase where she and Peter fell in love and later married. I *love* Mary Jane as a character, but in my opinion, she isn’t substantial to Peter, either– she’s the lively, beautiful girl that Peter wants because she represents a lot of things he didn’t get in high school. Later, definitely, she mellowed out, Peter found a different way to love her, and they connected… but when we’re talking early Peter Parker, you’re talking about the nerdy kid who suddenly has the power to kick the football hero’s butt, tempered by the death of his uncle into playing it meek to hide his hero identity. Man, I *hope* this revision does not take us out of high school and into college quickly.
I wonder if they will write in Gwen’s death in this installment, or rather save it for the potential sequel.
As much as I love Emma Stone, I do really want Gwen to die. It’s iconic. To me Gwen dying is like UNcle Ben dying. It has to happen and it has to stay put. I guess I rather her die in the sequel, and have Peter and MJ get together in the third.
Oh of course I agree with you. She will definitely have to die to stay true to the comics. I’m just wondering if they will tell her full story with Peter in this first movie, or if they will drag it out more and kill her off in a sequel.
It’s too early for a reboot and Raimi’s actors are too old to look the part. I think they’d better wait some more years.
Since all the comics are targeting the next generation, its only ideal that they focus on the Ultimate series. Clearly Spider man 3 was screwed up. They shouldn’t have brought Venom yet and stuck with their original plan on the Vulture and the lizard. The producers knew that Tobey and Kristen were on their last movie (according to their contract). So thought bringing Venom made sense to boost popularity and revenue. I am not familiar with the actors too well, but even after Tobey was cast I had some doubts (he usually plays serious roles) but I believe this will help the franchise gather a new fan base.
I’m not sure it will bring any new fans to the table. I mean Avatar II apart there’s not a lot wrong with a sequel making $890m! almost $100m more than its predecessor! It’s going to have to be different enough to make those not happy with the change of cast & director make the effort. It will also come out in a Superhero filled year and on the back of several very different Marvel movieverse films and another Batman.