First thing’s first, there is no denying Spider-Man: Homecoming was a great movie. It did not fail to hold interest or entertainment and it is probably fair to say that it is one of the best reboot movies out there.
But...
It definitely did not surpass the original Marvel Spider-Man franchise in the 2000s. Director Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie in 2002 began the superhero craze that spread throughout our society.
There are a couple reasons why the originals are better than the newest reboot.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming lacks an origin story
- The villain in Homecoming was uninteresting
- The new Spider-Man was nothing without his suit
The new Spider-Man was first introduced in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. Homecoming immediately jumps into Spidey already being a superhero and references how he helped the Avengers out in Civil War. Ironman, Tony Stark, acts as his mentor and shows him what it means to be a good hero. The film did not show how this teen came to be the web-shooting, crime-fighting superhero. It immediately feels like there is something missing. In the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker’s origin story is iconic. We watch a scrawny teen with horrible vision get bitten by a radioactive spider and transform overnight. He wakes up with newfound muscles and 20/20 vision. Oh, and he developed some pretty cool spider senses. While the new film does include Peter’s Aunt May, Uncle Ben is left out. It is hard to think about Spider-Man and not associate him with Uncle Ben because of Raimi’s film. The lovable character gave Peter the movie’s most memorable words of wisdom; “With great power, comes great responsibility.” A superhero film is not complete without showing the hero’s beginnings.
The newest on screen Spider-Man villain, the Vulture, lacks depth and is unmemorable. He is a man that sells alien weapons and has made a mechanical suit that allows him to fly. It is undeniable that he challenges Spider-Man, however, he is not the best villain that has appeared on screen. Compared to the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus in Raimi’s film, the Vulture falls short. The goblin and doc oc are more developed in that they were involved in Peter’s life from the start of their films. The furthest development that the Vulture had was the plot twist that he was the father of the girl father that Peter was crushing on. That seemed vaguely familiar to the Green Goblin turning out to be Peter’s best friend’s father in the original. Like Spider-Man, you got to see the villains’ origins in Raimi’s film. That immediately makes them more dimensional. The reasoning is explained in regards to why the Vulture decides to be “bad,” but we aren’t shown his full transformation into a super-villain.
In the film, Tony Stark takes away Peter’s suit thus taking away his ability to be Spider-Man. Peter actually says to Tony that he is nothing without the suit. In Raimi’s Spider-Man, the suit was a way for Peter to become a hero symbol and hide his identity. He still had his Spider capabilities without the suit. The new Peter had a highly technological suit that was developed by Ironman himself. The old Peter’s powers make him a more interesting Spider-Man because they come straight from his origin. We saw him struggle to control his powers when he accidentally shot a web at a lunch tray and launched it at his high school tormentor, Flash. In Homecoming, anyone could have put on the suit and had Spider-Man’s powers. In the originals, no one could be like Peter Parker unless they forced the same radioactive spider to bite them.
Homecoming appeared to have been produced so that Spider-Man could be added to the highly successful Avengers franchise. Again, it was a great movie, but it should not be deemed the best Spider-Man film of all time. Toby McGuire will always be Peter Parker, the weak and timid kid from Queens that got bit by a spider and turned into New York City’s guardian angel.
