The very fact that there’s a Tumblr for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is, in a bubble, completely understandable. Several films have been using that social network service to reach out to audiences and it gives a chance to advertise photos, videos and text at the same time, as well as interact with eager fans. The issue is just, in a bubble, how it fits in with the new approach to the character over at Sony, who charged hard away from Sam Raimi’s analog trilogy to have a sexy, spiky-haired Spidey skateboarding and playing games on his cell phone. It’s an aggressive strategy to appeal to young audience. It’s also, in keeping with Sony’s flashy new edict for the character, absolutely desperate: Tumblr is so two years ago.
A new article just popped up at the Daily Bugle Tumblr (cute), teasing a little more about the film’s plot. The piece explains exactly why the Osborns were not in the first The Amazing Spider-Man, pretending it wasn’t because they were trying to launch a new franchise a la Batman Begins and sought to avoid repeating old foes. Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) remains in isolation for a period of months, due to some sort of sickness, which could either be helped by the Goblin Serum of the comics, or it could be a red herring, an excuse to get him, and the obvious father-to-son villain progression, out of the way. Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), meanwhile, is more of a party boy than his father (and more than sullen James Franco) and he’s partying/studying in Europe, delaying his eventual takeover of the company, which would involve a return to New York.
The trailer seems to suggest that Osborn and Peter Parker are old friends, so an admittedly fresh twist would be the tension between two young friends who have changed greatly since they last saw each other. Having Harry in Europe as a jet-setting type certainly accomplishes this, and the prospect of Garfield and DeHaan (so good as a superpowered type in Chronicle ) acting against each other does promise more charge than pitting Tobey Maguire against James Franco. The article also closes with this painfully-winking quote: "He may be a little green, but the future is bright." At the very least, they aren’t pretending that Osborn becoming the Green Goblin is a surprise, but do these movies really have any surprises anymore? They’ve been promoting this film, half a year away, as if surprises are the enemy.
A very cute detail is that the article is penned by a Joy Mercado, who is actually a character in the Marvel universe, a Bugle writer who eventually became one of the bevy of women Peter Parker dated over the years. She was never turned into a villain, which tends to be the fate of most of Parker’s friends, but the Sinister Six movie is still a few years away. Keep hope alive, Joy Mercado.
