Spider-Man: Lotus is a 2023 Fan Film, written and directed by Gavin J. Konop which serves as a composite adaptation of The Night Gwen Stacy Died, Spider-Man: Blue, and The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man.
Warden Wayne stars as a guilt-ridden Peter Parker, who is still struggling to recover from the loss of Gwen Stacy (Tuyen Powell), having pushed Mary Jane Watson (Moriah Brooklyn) and Harry Osborn (Sean Thomas Reid) away from him, and contemplating hanging up the suit for good until he receives a letter from a terminally ill child (Maxwell Fox-Andrews), requesting that Spider-Man pay a visit before he passes away. Thus begins a journey reflecting on the nature of grief, responsibility, and as Peter Parker begins to truly understand the importance of Spider-Man.
This film gained particularly widespread attention during the lead-up to Spider-Man: No Way Home when Jon Watts personally reached out to Konop to congratulate him for his efforts.
In June 2022, Konop and Wayne found themselves mired in controversy after a series of offensive and insensitive tweets dating back four years were uncovered, with Wayne releasing a public apology for his behaviour. Group texts with racist and ableist slurs were also leaked which resulted in Konop announcing his brief leave from social media. Shortly afterward, various elements of the movie started leaking out online, and the VFX teams all washed their hands of the project, briefly putting the fate of the fan film into question. Eventually, it was decided that Konop would still release the film in early 2023. After releasing a final trailer, Konop and Wayne addressed fan concerns in a Q+A where they took further responsibility for their prior behaviour. Not long after, further allegations were leaked online, accusing the Green Goblin actor John Salandria of grooming a minor, and that Konop tried to cover it up.
The first trailer can be watched here.
The film was scheduled for a Youtube release on August 10th, 2023, after a delay due to underestimating the time it would take to upload, the film came out a day or so later, it can be viewed here
Spider-Man: Lotus provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Jerkass: While Peter Parker didn't take Gwen's death well in the comics, this version of Peter Parker is much, much worse in how he handles it: beyond lashing out at his friends like in the comics, he walks away from a terminally ill child after throwing a grief-induced fit at one point and uses several goons as human shields when fighting the Shocker, both of which are things canon Peter Parker, even at his lowest points, would never do.
- Author Tract: Peter's "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards MJ, basically calling her a selfish narcissist, feels less like something Peter would say, and more like a hate-post from a Gwen Stacy fan.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: The Movie. Peter spends basically the entire plot mourning Gwen Stacy's death and blaming himself for it.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: Tim, the little boy who idolizes Spider-Man and wants nothing more than to meet him in person one time before he dies. Though downplayed in that his exact diagnosis is never told to the viewer and he actually looks pretty healthy for a child diagnosed with "terminally ill".
- Moody Trailer Cover Song: Will Cookson's Alone in the Dark is swapped out halfway through the trailer for an instrumental, orchestral cover which incorporates the main theme at the tail end.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Spider-Man costume in this film is a near-perfect recreation of the 60s-era Lee-Ditko suit, swapping out the black highlights for dark blue fabric.
- One of the Daily Bugle issues taped to Tim's wall has the headline "Spider-Man No More?" in reference to the three-issue arc that Spider-Man 2 partially adapted.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Peter gives an extremely caustic one to Mary-Jane when she attempts to ask him out to a party, accusing her of being vapid and shallow and trying to make the aftermath of Gwen's death all about herself. He even goes so far as to yell at her that she never cared about Gwen or him.
- The Green Goblin gives one to Peter as Spider-Man in a guilt-induced nightmare, telling him that Gwen's death was his fault and that he brings death everywhere he goes.
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: In his "checking in" tape with the late Gwen, Peter states that he isn't Spider-Man because he wants to be; he is Spider-Man because he feels like he has to be.
- Wham Line: Much like No Way Home, the Green Goblin's involvement is revealed by having him let out a malicious cackle in the final trailer.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ms. Harrison gives Spider-Man an earful when he admits to basically crushing her terminally ill son's ideal image of his hero simply because Peter thought the kid "needed to hear" that Spider-Man isn't as perfect as he thinks. Ms. Harrison basically tells Peter to get his act together and that this visit isn't about him and his baggage, it's about her son and granting him his life-long wish before he passes away. It’s this and later Tim showing him how much Spider-Man has meant to him and the thousands of lives he saved that finally gets Peter out of his slump.
