The Spiderman movies have definitely
changed the story from the comic book. Watching the first of the film , I
wasn't happy with the depiction of Peter Parker as more self-centred
and vain, which is unusually in the context of the comic books. At this
moment, Peter Park goes through so much crap that it's a wonder he
doesn't commit suicide (it's kind of like Jack Bauer in 24).
Some
factual points that were changed, which I'll agree was necessary to
make a decent movie, are as follows: The Venom costume is an alien being
acquired during the Secret Wars battle with the Beyonder (which was one
of the best "cosmic" series Marvel has put out). Spiderman doesn't want
to kill villains; even when he is beaten and pulverised, he holds back
from taking the ultimate step (in fact, it is rare to show people dying
in the comic books). Harry Osborn is more like the depiction of Normie
Osborn (the son of Harry and Liz Allan) who is friends with the daughter
of Spiderman (Spidergirl). Gwen Stacy is killed by the first Green
Goblin (Norman Osborn). The people of New York have rarely been on the
side of Spiderman. J. Jonah Jameson has always had a point in saying
that it is people like Spiderman who create the villains. And so on.
It's
difficult for me to reconcile what I know of Spiderman's history with a
movie story that does its best and I admire that. A problem with the
movies is that they can't intersect with the other characters from the
Marvel Universe. It would be great to have movies like the Secret Wars
or the Infinity Gauntlet, War, and Crusade series where a bunch of the
Marvel superheroes get together and the stories make more sense (for
example, explaining the origin of the Venom symbiote), but I guess that
would be a logistic and budgetary nightmare.
Halfway
through the movie, the story gets in line with what you'd expect from
the book. The rejected symbiote bonds with a humiliated Eddie Brock to
become Venom, one of the coolest villains to be introduced in the later
years. The Sandman is a villain who is ambiguous. And Spiderman has a
run of bad luck and is pummeled constantly but triumphs in the end
against all odds.
I
once wrote a review of the Batman series where I connected them to a
lot of the comic books (I own a huge number of Spiderman comic books)
and some other reviewer criticised my review. The perspective I offer is
fairly unique: it is based on an experience I can't ignore or negative,
and I think it helps place the movie in context of a long history of
the books. So if you're interested in the saga of Spiderman beyond what
you see in the three movies, I recommend buying some of the great story
arcs of Spiderman just to see how complicated and mythological the
creations are.
