5 Spider-Man Storylines that Should Come to the Big Screen

With the box-office and critical success of The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony is no doubt already entering production for a follow-up. While my review of the film was a little more critical than most, I can’t help but recognize that this reboot to the wall-crawler mythos has great potential. However, with great potential comes great responsibility, lest follow-ups to Amazing end up in the depths of mediocrity.

Spider-Man films are arguably at their best when drawing straight from the comics for their stories – Spider-Man‘s faithful retelling of the origin, Spider-Man 2‘s take on “Spider-Man No More”, and Spider-Man 3‘s decent but flawed attempt on the “Venom” saga. Likewise, sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man should continue to draw heavily from the comics. Judging from clues left in Amazing Spider-Man, here are five potential comic storylines that could make their way to the big screen.

WARNING: Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man below.

Chameleon and Peter Parker’s Parents

It’s surprising how little Spider-Man media features the Chameleon, considering he is technically the first super-villain to face Spidey. First appearing in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Chameleon is the ultimate master of disguise, impersonating Spider-Man to commit robberies and to turn the public against him. However, one of Chameleon’s most memorable moments was a mid-90s arc, in which Chameleon tormented Spider-Man by seemingly bringing his parents back from the dead, only to reveal that they were actually Life Model Replicas (androids, essentially), all in a game to break Spider-Man’s mind.

The new movie sets up for this in multiple ways. The subplot of Peter’s parents is introduced in Amazing Spider-Man (frustratingly never resolved), and the incorporation of Chameleon could better connect it to the main plot of the film. Also, in the comics, Chameleon is hired by Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin, to create Spider-Man’s parent doppelgängers. Given that Amazing implies that Norman Osborn is pulling the strings behind the shadows, this thread would tie nicely to a potential sequel. Plus, the cerebral nature of Chameleon’s skill-set presents the movies to showcase a rather unexplored part of Spider-Man in film — Peter Parker’s genius.

Incidentally, the Chameleon happens to be the half-brother of another big time Spider-Man villain, which leads us to . . .

“Kraven’s Last Hunt” 

To comic fans, “Kraven’s Last Hunt” is to Spider-Man what “Knightfall” is to Batman. Given that The Amazing Spider-Man seems to carry many similar beats as Batman Begins, and the heavily anticipated The Dark Knight Rises appears to be drawing heavily from the “Knightfall” saga, there’s a decent chance Sony will follow suit with its Spider-Man counterpart for a potential third movie.

Basically, “Kraven’s Last Hunt” follows Kraven the Hunter tracking down what he considers the ultimate prey, Spider-Man, and doing the impossible — defeating Spider-Man. The scene of Spider-Man emerging from the grave in which Kraven buried him is still one of the most iconic in the Spider-Man mythos, and one that would look epic on the big screen.

Kraven is one of the few Spidey villains with the capability of pushing Spider-Man past his breaking point, physically and mentally. Seeing Kraven come alive on film would be incredible in its own right, as well as potentially carry more emotional weight if they utilize the relationship between Kraven and his brother, Chameleon.

“The Night Gwen Stacy Died” 

The moment Emma Stone was announced to be portraying Gwen Stacy in the Spider-Man reboot, comic fans worldwide proclaimed “Welp, she’s a goner”. Gwen Stacy’s death at the hands of the Green Goblin is easily the most memorable moment in Spider-Man’s history, and arguably the most important.

The Amazing Spider-Man makes numerous allusions to Norman Osborn, who is all but certain to appear in the sequel. Peter’s growing relationship with Gwen is the perfect set-up to tug some emotional heart-strings in the sequel, provided Sony decides to take some actual risks and kill off their bankable female lead (unlikely). Also, if Sony continues with the theme of drawing inspiration from Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Gwen’s death would potentially mirror Rachel Dawes’ death in The Dark Knight. 

Gwen Stacy’s death also transitions nicely into another pivotal Spider-Man moment . . .

“The Clone Saga”

One of the most divisive storylines in Spider-Man history, the “Clone Saga” features the return of Gwen Stacy, revived as a clone by the Jackal. Gwen’s return was hugely emotional for Spider-Man, and made the pain of ultimately losing her again all the more severe.

The Clone Saga represents multiple opportunities for Sony: It gives them leeway to kill off Emma Stone’s character in the second film, while having a legitimate reason to bring her back for the third.

The 1970s clone saga eventually gave way to an even more convoluted continuation in the 1990s, but that would be best ignored altogether (though would certainly be interesting to see on film).

“One More Day/Brand New Day” 

Well, not really. The  reality-changing event that shaped Spider-Man books in 2007 and 2008 was critically panned, and for good reason. In this arc, inter-dimensional demon Mephisto changed reality to end Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s 20+ year comic marriage, effectively erasing years of comic continuity, as well as bringing back characters long thought dead.

“One More Day” was universally derided for its massive retconning and plot holes, but it could prove to be an interesting source for adaptation in the next Spider-Man movie. Why?

That’s a still from the secret scene shown in the middle of the end credits for The Amazing Spider-Man. Who was that mystery man in the cell with Curt Connors? While many speculators have suggested Mysterio or Electro, the sinister and mystical nature of this scene have caused a few fans to speculate that this is indeed Mephisto.

While Mephisto’s mystical nature (he is Marvel’s version of Satan, after all) puts him beyond the scope of the more realistic universe portrayed in The Amazing Spider-Man, his reality-warping powers could make for an interesting statement on Amazing Spider-Man‘s status as a reboot, as well as potential for some sort of humorous meta-reference to the previous Spider-Man films. However, let’s just chalk this up to wishful thinking. Which brings us to . . .

BONUS: “Civil War” 

This one would be a long shot – it would not only require Sony and Disney to make a deal that would allow Spider-Man to appear in the Avengers film universe (which is more likely to happen than you might think), but would also require build-up across multiple films, which is unlikely considering the upcoming slate of Disney’s Marvel films seems to be building up to the arrival of Thanos.

Still, “Civil War” could potentially make for a crossover of even more epic proportions than The Avengers was. “Civil War” was a tentpole event in the Marvel Comics universe surrounding the “Superhuman Registration Act”, a law forcing all superhuman individuals to reveal their secret identities, splitting the Marvel heroes into two camps: The “pro-registration” team led by Iron Man, and the “anti-registration” team led by Captain America. This rift that explored the idealogical differences between the two characters (hinted at to an extent in the Avengers film), culminating in Captain America’s death and the revelation of Peter Parker’s identity of Spider-Man to the public.

The reason this would make for a great Spider-Man movie would be to explore the relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker, as well as seeing Robert Downey Jr. and Andrew Garfield on screen together. And then there’s, of course, the new outfit Stark invents for Spider-Man, the “Iron Spider” suit. Seeing that on film would be worth the price of admission alone.

Alas, this is wishful thinking at its best, with the Sony and Disney camps most likely unwilling to let their competitors utilize their film versions of these classic characters. But hey, one can dream, right?