That's hardly a change from the first series, is it? Wrestling match (for the third time) notwithstanding, Tobey's Spidey wasn't exactly quick with the quips.
Well, yeah, a common complaint about the Raimi movies is that Spider-Man didn't do much of the wise-cracking. Since the trailer makes the movie look so dark I'd guess we won't see any wise-cracking this time around either. But it looks like we will get the webshooters.
Yeah, I think the thing is that Parker *is* dark for a little while. Especially between Ben being shot and the robber being unmasked. Within the comics that's, what, two pages? The longer that is spent on the origin (especially delving into why, specifically, he was orphaned), the less time he's actually the Spider-Man that Spider-Man is supposed to be.
It's not just the origin, though; the biggest missteps in the comics have *always* been tied to pushing Parker to be darker and more morose. Like robot-Richard and Mary coming back, that drove him over the edge for a while (I think that was one of the times MJ left him, but it might've been when she was so stressed out she started smoking). Or like the clone saga, when he got so stressed out that he slapped his pregnant wife. I mean, the dark can work in short doses -- Gwen Stacy dies, he's upset for an issue and kills the Goblin, and then he bounces back. It still haunts him, and some people write it off as "Spider-Man just uses his humor so he doesn't have to deal with feeling depressed", but that's Spidey. I think.
Yeah, exactly. I think it was Kevin Smith that had a really great quote about Spider-Man that I thought was dead on. He said he's "the Charlie Brown of superheroes". He takes physical and emotional beatings but nothing really breaks him long-term.
The darker stories work, though, in some cases. Gwen Stacy's death, Harry on drugs, getting buried alive by Kraven, etc. But the point is that he's got heart and intelligence and he always comes back. That's one of the things that makes him such a great character.
The vibe I get from this new trailer is that this isn't that guy.
