Those who dislike Marc Webb’s current run through The Amazing Spider-Man films (and even those of us who defend his efforts) view them as works in progress. We often read about scenes and characters, in both 2011’s The Amazing Spider-Man and this summer’s sequel, that were supposed to be included in certain scenes, only to find out that they didn’t make it into the final cut that finally reached theaters. And now, according to a new report, a MAJOR character was supposed to surface in the closing minutes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but didn’t.
We have to get into deep spoilers for this summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 here, so stop reading if you haven’t yet seen the film and still plan to.
So many of the major changes made to Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were documented throughout the process. As you likely know, Shailene Woodley was cast as Mary Jane Watson, but left the project when her scenes were cut. Now, thanks to a report done by Badass Digest, we are learning that Peter Parker’s father, the believed-to-be-deceased Richard Parker (played by Campbell Scott), was originally supposed to return in the closing minutes of the sequel and get Peter back on his heroic track.
Whoo boy, that would have been bad.
According to the site, an early draft of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 script had Richard Parker – who dies in a plane crash at the start of the film – returning at the movie’s conclusion. At this stage of the movie, Peter has quit being Spider-Man, because his calling cost him his soul mate, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Instead of Peter finding a recording of Gwen’s graduation speech however, it is Richard Parker returning from the supposed dead to deliver the famous "With great power…" speech. There’s no explanation as to how Richard Parker survived the plane crash at the beginning of the film (though we technically do NOT see him die on screen). And there’s no mention if Peter’s mother, Mary (Embeth Davidtz), survived the crash, as well.
Either way, this would have been a bad idea. It would have been as bad as bringing back either Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) or Gwen Stacy. The loss of these characters shape the emotional journey of Peter Parker, and to restore any of these characters would have felt cheap.
These aren’t the only major changes suggested by the early draft of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Reportedly, we were supposed to get a few scenes with The Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, with an action scene that sent Spidey and Electro through the newspaper’s offices, and the printing press. Electro’s mother also was supposed to be a factor in Max Dillon’s life – something Jamie Foxx told us when we interviewed him at Comic-Con. But that never materialized.
Screenplays are works in progress. It does seem, however, that Marc Webb shoots way more than he needs for his films, and then Sony (or powers above him) tell him what he can and can not include. We have heard rumors about Norman Osborn appearances, Dr. Ratha cameos, and more. Do you think these changes would have improved The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Or made it much worse?
