Content Leak: The film was one of the victims of the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, though as it had already been released, the leak only detailed information on some of the background drama behind the scenes.
Andrew Garfield stated that he felt that the amount of Executive Meddling that was applied ultimately hurt the final product, and that the removal of several subplots (such as further exploring Peter's life without his parents or his uncle) in favor of others left a negative impact on the movie. Still, he did say that he still enjoyed working on the movie, and that he did like Kurtzman and Orci's original script prior to the studio making several major changes to it.
James Horner, the composer of the first film, disliked the script to this movie so much that he refused to serve as a composer to this movie. One point in particular that turned him off from the project was the death of Gwen after much of the movie was dedicated to her romance with Peter. Like Garfield, he criticized Sony's Executive Meddling over letting Marc Webb tell his own story.
Alan Fine, Marvel Entertainment's president, claimed that he "wanted to burn the [script's] draft after reading it" in a leaked e-mail - the draft which seems to have been the basis for the final film.
A minor example with Jamie Foxx. While he did enjoy playing Electro in this film, he wasn't a huge fan of how the character got blue skin after gaining his powers. His redesign giving him his natural appearance with yellow electricity in Spider-Man: No Way Home is what encouraged him to come back to the role many years later.
Almost. Felicity Jones plays Felicia Hardy. And one of Felicia's comic aliases is Felicity...
A Throw It In! example. Jorge Vega plays Jorge, because the child actor was having trouble responding to instructions with other names.
Deleted Role: Shailene Woodley was cast as Mary Jane Watson, and even filmed scenes. Her role was ultimately cut from the film because the filmmakers felt there were too many characters and wanted to streamline the film, whilst also providing greater focus on the Peter/Gwen relationship. The producers of the film have since said that the footage will not likely be included on the DVD, given that it apparently didn't make any sense in any cut of the movie. Shailene herself commented on it after the movie came out, saying she shot about five minutes worth of scenes and that she was thankful it was being cut - if they were gonna introduce Mary Jane, they couldn't just toss her in awkwardly.
The scene of Richard and Mary Parker aboard the hijacked plane was originally going to be much longer.
During Peter's and Gwen's high school graduation, Flash goes up to Gwen and thanks her for all the tutoring for college.
Max is celebrating his birthday until the power shuts down, leaving his mother with no power for her oxygen tank. Max fixes the tank and tells his mom that it's his birthday while his mom continues to make fun of him.
When visiting Oscorp to discuss Harry's illness, Peter is met by Felicia in the lobby and escorted to Harry's office. There, Harry has a test pilot demonstrate Oscorp's new prototype battle-suit, the same one that Harry himself wears in the climax. Harry explains that the suit is designed to repair injuries and protect the user in combat, explaining why he later puts it on when transforming into the Goblin.
After turning into the Green Goblin, Harry goes on a rampage at Oscorp and begins using pumpkin bombs to attack the military operatives, then personally throws Donald Menken to his death. After seeing Felicia's reaction to his appearance, and seeing it himself in his reflection, an enraged Harry demands that she leave before flying off to confront Peter.
After Gwen's funeral, a living, bearded Richard Parker appears to Peter and encourages him to continue his work as Spider-Man, including delivering the famous "With great power comes great responsibility" line.
In one version of the film's final shot, Spider-Man lifts the manhole cover with his hand before throwing it at the Rhino. In the finished version, he grabs it with his webs.
The reason why the X-Men: Days of Future Past footage was in The Stinger of the theatrical release of the movie — check the main page for more details.
Kaz Hirai (Sony's CEO at the time) apparently had a hand in the editing process of the film, in spite of his limited experience with editing in general.
There were a ton of changes made to the movie's script, as detailed under "What Could Have Been". It's been rumored that said changes were done to appeal to the studio instead of being for story purposes.
Franchise Killer: While the movie did make money, it fell far below Sony's expectations, and the more polarized critical reception definitely left its mark. The idea of setting up a shared universe (which was started with this film, as the first film was very much a standalone story) that mainly consisted of Villain-centric stories was met with criticism, considering that reception to the main franchise wasn't positive enough to warrant interest in expanding to other characters, let alone villains. Sony and Disney instead teamed up to have Spidey debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, before starring in his own movies that are made with the involvement of both Sony and Marvel Studios, while the story arc that this series was attempting to tell was shut down prematurely.
Lying Creator: Marc Webb stated in an interview that Rhino built his own armor, which was supported by all the Russian stickers and emblems on it. In the movie the Russian markings are removed and it was built by Oscorp.
Missing Trailer Scene: The scene where Harry informs Peter that Oscorp has been monitoring him was cut, as were the scenes of Gwen visiting Aunt May while looking for Peter, Peter sitting on a building, and Norman's remark that "We have plans for you, Peter Parker...". The scene with the Man In the Shadows walking past the Oscorp equipment was also altered, with the Venom symbiote being replaced with Rhino's armour.
Spared by the Cut: Donald Menken is last seen running away after Harry transforms into the Green Goblin. A scene set immediately after this where Harry killed him was cut from the film.
Stillborn Franchise: Although the movie is a sequel, it qualifies for the trope since was meant to be the launchpad to a Spider-Man Cinematic Universe - one with 13 other movies in development set for release before 2020. That changed when the movie didn't meet Sony's financial expectations, the writers found themselves limited by not having access to a lot of content from the Marvel Universe to work with, and when Marvel Studios outright offered them a better deal that cost them absolutely nothing to carry out. While it appears as though Sony will still continue to go forward with making tons of Spider-Man movies and spinoffs (albeit at a more reasonable pace), it will now be done inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe instead of one limited to just Spider-Man. The long-term story arc revolving around Oscorp, Peter's parents, and the Sinister Six was also abandoned completely; the next version of Spider-Man initially had nothing to do with this version, and it would take Spider-Man: No Way Home before this continuity would be revisited in any way.
Throw It In!: According to the commentary, Gwen yelling "PETER!" when Spider-Man webs up her to the hood of the police car and subsequently throwing her hand over her mouth (as she had just shouted his real name in public) wasn't in the script, but they decided to keep it in.
Toyless Toyline Character: Despite a heavy presence in promotional material for the movie, the Rhino was almost completely absent from any merchandise. Hot Toys showed off a prototype for a high end figure of the character, but it never went into production.
Fandom Nod: Spider-Man notes how bad of a name "Shocker" really is.
Franchise Killer: For Activision's run on the Marvel license as a whole. It was already on shaky grounds beforehand, but not counting the later remaster of the Deadpool game, this was the last new game made. Rather tellingly, it took more than four years for there to be another majorSpider-Mangame, and Activision has nothing to do with it.
, and that the removal of several subplots (such as further exploring Peter's life without his parents or his uncle) in favor of others left a negative impact on the movie. Still, he did say that he still enjoyed working on the movie, and that he did like Kurtzman and Orci's original script prior to the studio making several major changes to it.