YMMV / The Amazing Spider-Man Series

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Does Aunt May know Peter is Spider-Man?
  • As noted around, Peter in the first film is quite polarizing. He's either interpreted as being a put-upon Nice Guy who spends the film at first lashing out at those who've hurt him before dealing with, and coming to terms with, his Uncle's death, integrated with a superhero film or a selfish douche bag who treats people like dirt the second he gains powers and doesn't learn at all throughout the film. Though many felt that the sequel presented him as a much nicer guy, he still suffers the consequences of his choices in the first film.
• Audience-Alienating Era: This film series unfortunately has the dubious honor of being seen as "the two Spider-Man movies that Sony made just to hang onto the rights before working out a deal with Marvel" in contrast to the (mostly) well-received Sam Raimi trilogy and Spider-Man's role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As such, a lot more criticism has been laid toward the duology since it's been released, putting the film series in a state that causes these movies to be seen less favorably to previous and forthcoming Spider-Man movies. The release of Spider-Man: Homecoming to rave reviews on par with Spider-Man 2 only further cemented this sentiment, with some going so far as to say this franchise could have never existed. Of course things have started to change since the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, as seen under Vindicated by History.
• Audience-Coloring Adaptation: Emma Stone's portrayal of Gwen and the writing emphasizing her being Peter's science equal and budding genius has ultimately bled over into later versions of Gwen, either in cartoons or in spin-off comics like Spider-Gwen and Spider-Man: Life Story. It has overwritten many of her previous depictions, either in classic or Ultimate Marvel.
• Base-Breaking Character: Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. Some people like his interpretation of the character, while others simply can't stand him, mostly due to him being Tobey Maguire's replacement. Interestingly, though, a number of these people are fine with him as Spider-Man, but consider Peter to be a weaker character than the versions from the comics or the other movies. Others think that Garfield is a good actor but is wrong for the part, while others are open with a more flawed and edgy Spider-Man but simply felt that it wasn't executed well.
• Broken Base:
  • Gwen being explicitly smarter than Peter (even Emma Stone says "he's the muscle, she's the brains") has also proven divisive; some fans are delighted that it turns her into a stronger, more capable character who knows her own mind and is a genuine asset to Spider-Man. Other fans feel her upgrade came at the expense of Peter who Took a Level in Dumbass compared with the comics or even the first film where he was portrayed as a genius and turns Gwen into a borderline Mary Sue (but then, that's always been an accusation thrown Gwen's way ever since the comics). Although all things considered, Peter is still portrayed as highly intelligent in these movies, performing scientific experiments and conducting an investigation into the deaths of his parents.
  • Also related to Gwen: her death in the sequel. While many think that it was executed well, others believe that it should have been utilized in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and that killing her off so soon only alienated the audience. Those who dislike her being killed off also make the case that Gwen's death worked in comics because she was actually a Satellite Character for Peter's romance with the far more popular and interesting Mary Jane Watson^note Mary Jane is the most significant female character in the comic in which Gwen died, contrary to its title. Making Gwen the central romance (someone who knows and accepts Peter as Spider-Man which Comics!Gwen never did) simply removed the original reason for her death, making what was already a textbook case of fridging in the comics, more gratuitous in the film, since all it does is make Peter brood and mood off until he's back to being the quippy guy in the climax, which many note is unbelievable for a hero who failed to protect and save the love of his life, having undergone too much trauma for the audience to realistically believe he can really be a Motor Mouth hero, whereas in the comics, he did achieve some form of catharsis by chasing the Green Goblin and then having the Goblin die and/or disappear for decades, while he healed and moved on to a more compelling relationship with MJ.
  • Also, was Gwen a better character in the first movie or the second one? Some claim that she was boring in the first film due to the more somber tone and more lively and interesting in the second, while others say she was closer to the Gwen Stacy from the comics in the first film whereas in the second she's just Emma Stone playing herself in a romantic comedy.
  • The concept of creating a whole slew of spin-offs (which would have introduced the Sinister Six, Venom, and possibly Black Cat) between The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was met with mixed reception. Although the idea was praised as far as a method of expanding the cinematic universe while giving the plot threads time to develop (as 2 was accused of trying to cram too much into one movie), others saw it as a series of blatant cash-ins. In addition, the implication that they would feature Spider-Man's supporting characters but not Spider-Man himself was disliked, leading some to believe that Sony was digging themselves in a deeper hole with green lighting these spin-off movies.
  • Speaking of the concept of a cinematic universe, whether the idea of Spider-Man having an entire cinematic universe to himself either would have allowed for a greater degree of character-development for the cast or substantially limited the creative potential of the series. Its somewhat notable that Spider-Man, being historically Marvel's biggest character, has an entire mythology to himself, including many side-heroes and supporting figures, completely divorced from most of the Marvel Universe (after all, you rarely see Prowler rubbing elbows with Captain America); as such, many feel that doing this would have given those elements a chance to shine in live action, something they'll undoubtedly never do as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, there's the question if those elements would have been important or even interesting enough to justify appearing in live action, and the obvious fact that Sony was likely pushing it to make more money.
• Can't Un-Hear It:
  • Despite the duology's polarizing reputation, Andrew Garfield's take on the wall crawler (in costume, at least) is appreciated and has a following. His return in Spider-Man: No Way Home not only vindicated him to many of his detractors, but also gave him new generations of fans.
  • Emma Stone's portrayal of Gwen Stacy is beloved by many.
• Character Perception Evolution: When the series began Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker was to some extent treated as Ron the Death Eater. This isn't because he was really that bad of a guy, and more to do with people nitpicking over his actions and portraying them in the worst possible light. This also might have something to do with him being less traditionally heroic than Tobey Maguire and more of a Classical Anti-Hero like in the comics. However over time this became a Vocal Minority and after the release of No Way Home Garfield's take on the wall-crawler is officially Vindicated by History.
• Complete Monster: Norman Osborn is the morally bankrupt founder of Oscorp Industries, using the company for selfish purposes amidst claims of good intentions. Having worked with Richard Parker to develop physiological mutations and enhancements, Norman planned to abuse their research in a variety of ways, namely selling biological weapons to foreign countries. When Richard refused to go along, Norman arranged the murders of Richard and his wife Mary. Continuing their research through the abused Dr. Curt Connors, Norman uses his emissary Ratha to pressure Connors into experimenting on humans, then to inject an experimental drug into an entire hospital of veterans under the illusion it is a flu shot. Norman further finances Ravencroft and its heinous, torturous experiments on inmates, and it is Norman's emotional abuse and neglect of his son Harry that plays a major role in the boy going mad. Though the desire to cure his degenerative disease partially motivates him, Norman cares most for power and legacy, and ruins countless lives to secure both.
• Critical Backlash: Despite the negativity they get, a number of people defend these films, believing them to be Truer to the Text compared to the MCU interpretation, with some even clamoring for a Marc Webb-helmed Director's Cut.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • There is a noticeable one between fans of this film series and those fans of the Sam Raimi film series who didn't want a reboot. This is notably in that Raimi opted out of a fourth movie and his cast left with him due to the problems presented by the script.^note For reference, the script included writing out JJJ and replacing him with Adrian Toomes, who Spider-Man would kill in cold blood, then have an affair with Adrian's daughter, who would be Black Cat In Name Only, ending with Mary Jane leaving him with their daughter and end with Spider-Man retiring in depression once more. For many, they were thankful for the reboot as it saved them from that.
  • Many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe wanted Marvel Studios to have the Spider-Man movie rights, and thus this film series was criticized for being an obstacle for that. In contrast, when these films were cancelled after the second film, and the character was rebooted again into the MCU, fans of this franchise took issue with the MCU more-or-less steamrolling over this take on Spider-Man, especially when the version in the MCU proved to be a Younger and Hipper Tag Along Kid for the Avengers who had a very divisive surrogate father/son dynamic with Iron Man. Not helping matters, the MCU movies would then repeat many of the same creative decisions these films made^note  (such as casting a classically handsome actor, going for a Coming of Age style, Peter being a Classical Anti-Hero, using a different supporting cast than the Raimi films, etc), but to a much warmer reception ^note (for instance, people often described the coming of age story aspect as 'dating' the first TASM film, but Homecoming was applauded for "homaging" John Hughes; Andrew Garfield was accused of being too handsome to be a believable loser, while Tom Holland's attractiveness lead to memes about people being glad to hear he's not underage; Garfield's Peter was accused repeatedly of being Unintentionally Unsympathetic for generally understandable bouts of anger, while Holland's Peter has his own selfish and callous moments excused due to his youth and inexperience; Emma Stone's Gwen is still regularly attacked by fans of Dunst's MJ, yet the MCU replaced Mary Jane with "Michelle Jones", an original character, while Gwen at least was Peter's original love interest), leading many to cry foul on the hypocrisy.
• Fanon:
  • In light of J. K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home, fans generally accept that this film series' version of JJJ, despite not appearing in the flesh, also has Simmons' appearance.
  • The idea of Spider-Man being bisexual has always been common in fanfics, but since the release of No Way Home it has become increasingly common to portray this version of the character as being bisexual, while a common storyline involves having him find his version of MJ who turns out to be a man. This is based on Andrew Garfield supposedly stating that he had suggested that MJ could be a man in this version which Sony was against.
  • Some people believe that this Flash Thompson is best fit to become Agent Venom, primarily due to being an Adaptational Nice Guy.
• Franchise Original Sin: A major complaint voiced about The Amazing Spider-Man Series, is Peter irritating audience because he is not fully committing to a decision with his girlfriend (i.e. going back-and-forth between It's Not You, It's My Enemies and Relationship Upgrade, and lapsing and backsliding as and when the plot chooses) can be traced to Sam Raimi film series, especially Spider-Man 2. At the end of Spider-Man, Peter decided that he can't endanger Mary-Jane since his superhero work nearly got her killed and brought personal trauma to Harry even if MJ returned his affections, but in the sequel, he's once again pinning for Mary Jane. This wasn't considered an issue in the Rami Trilogy for multiple reasons. Like in real life two years had passed between installments giving Peter time to mull over and reconsider his decision at the end of the first film, and Peter made the promise to stay away from MJ to nobody but himself. In contrast, the Peter of THIS series made a promise to stay away from Gwen to a DYING Captain Stacy and backpedals on the decision before the first movie ended. This results in Peter looking less sympathetic and more callous.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Among comic audiences, the ones who are most positive towards these films above the other trilogies, surprisingly, are the Peter/MJ shippers and Mary Jane Watson's comic fandom. Both the Raimi movies and the MCU movies feature an MJ who doesn't really act like Mary Jane (in the latter case, isn't even called "Mary Jane Watson"), which has been a sour point for many fans for a very long time. Though Mary Jane was ultimately Adapted Out of these films, Gwen was something of a Spiritual Adaptation, and as she dies, it was assumed that the third film would have lead to Peter meeting and moving on with Mary Jane. Both details make it surprisingly appealing to fans of the Spider-Marriage and Mary Jane's character in general.
  • Fans of these movies tend to be very positive towards the video game Spider-Man (PS4), as that video game almost feels like a Spiritual Successor to this Spider-Man. Peter's characterisation in the game seems to continue from where Peter was here, and though continuity is pretty clearly incompatible, it's pretty easy to view it as the sequel we never got. Likewise, while the game makes nods to all the previous films and past takes on Peter, the Amazing movies are so otherwise ignored that many appreciate that it didn't dismiss it.
  • Fans of these films appear to have gravitated towards fans of Henry Cavill's Superman from the DC Extended Universe, and after Spider-Man: No Way Home fans of Zack Snyder and his films. This mainly comes down to the fact that fans feel that both Cavill and Garfield were poorly treated by their respective studios and their films gave them little chance to really show their potential with the characters they were playing, and after the release of Snyder's well-received Justice League film many have shown their support of the #MakeTASM3 movement. This is actually not that surprising as the first TASM was released in 2012 while Man of Steel came out a year later, both were Darker and Edgier reimaginings in order to distance themselves from their Audience-Coloring Adaptation predecessors, and comic book fans tend to like both characters.
  • A minor example, but fans have gotten along with fans of Sony's Spider-Man Universe since the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home as the positive reception to Andrew Garfield’s return to the character has led many to hoping that the films will be made part of the SSU. This way Garfield can return as Spider-Man and have his story continued, while also fixing a common complaint about the SSU which is it’s lack of connection to Spider-Man (or in the case of Morbius trying too much to connect with the MCU’s version of the character).
  • The MCU’s take on the character has been divisive amongst Spider-Man fans, and as a result while there is still a small rivalry fans of this film series have bonded with fans of the Raimi trilogy on the grounds that their films are more true to the character than the MCU version.
• Iconic Sequel Outfit: The suit in the first movie has its fans, but was criticized for the many creative liberties taken with the design, especially the small yellow eyes. In response, the suit was redesigned in the sequel with large, white eyes for what is arguably the most comic-accurate Spider-Man suit to date, to much warmer reception.
• The Inverse Law of Fandom Levity: For all of Spidey's quips this is easily the darkest and most serious of all the official live-action Spider-Man films, with an emphasis on thriller aspects and heavy character drama, even moreso than Raimi's interpretation. The fandom on the other hand is a shitpost loving joyous group of people who constantly have the characters saying the most bizarre things ever.
• Magnificent Bastard: "Fiers" is a mysterious man always obscured by shadows, who demonstrates an uncanny ability to get into highly secure locations, like prisons. He is heavily implied to have had a hand in many of the events throughout the storyline, including the disappearance of Peter Parker's parents. Later revealed to be acquainted with Harry Osborn, with Fiers helping him to assemble a team to get revenge on Spider-Man, with their first candidate being mobster Aleksei Sytsevich. Fiers orchestrates Sytsevich's escape from prison, then grants him a rhino-shaped exo-suit he acquired from Oscorp, allowing Sytsevich to rampage across New York.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • APOLOGIZE ^ExplanationAfter the reappraisal of the duology following the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Many users on 4chan's /co/ board started making one word posts in all caps featuring the word "APOLOGIZE" paired with an image of Andrew Garfield in his Spider-Man suit.
• More Popular Replacement: One thing many people agree on is that Gwen was a better Love Interest for Peter than Mary Jane from the Raimi films was; whereas MJ was a Damsel Scrappy who often came off as unlikable, Gwen is more proactive and generally more likable. Many also think Peter and Gwen just have better chemistry than Tobey Maguire's Peter had with MJ.
• Older Than They Think: For the most part, many elements that earned these films flack under They Changed It, Now It Sucks! are in fact the films being Truer to the Text; the Raimi movies made a number of changes, but due to being a Gateway Series, to many they are the Spider-Man lore. These films choosing to swing closer to the comics lead to people used to the Raimi films' version crying foul on the films not making the same decisions. Some examples:
  • Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn being absent in Peter's high school years. This was an invention of adaptations like the Raimi films (as well as the Ultimate Universe and some other comic AU settings), but originally Peter didn't meet them until college. Granted, he didn't meet Gwen Stacy until then, either.
  • Peter being a Deadpan Snarker who, after gaining his powers, let his powers go to his head and struggled with impulse control, particularly his temper, and tended to not think things through. The Raimi films gave Peter an Adaptation Personality Change that instead cast him as a quiet Dogged Nice Guy and Extreme Doormat, even after gaining his powers (and him becoming a Smug Super was something of an Informed Flaw the audience never saw), while animated adaptations often skip over Peter's initial Character Development and save the early behaviour blunders for flashbacks.
    • Similarly, Peter being Tall, Dark, and Handsome; Andrew Garfield got derided for being "too attractive" in comparison to Tobey Maguire, with people believing Peter should be a much plainer looking guy given his status as the school outcast. In the comics and animated adaptations, Peter's never been depicted as an unattractive guy, rather he was bullied for being sensitive and skinny, but he rarely had trouble finding a date (rather, it was making it to the date on time he had trouble with), and was regularly described as being quite good looking. In fact, it was Mary Jane who had the crush on him from afar, rather than the other way around.
    • There’s the added bit of irony that even Tobey Maguire’s version of Peter Parker was a bit of a Clueless Chick-Magnet, with no less than 3 women being romantically interested in him, excluding MJ herself. Even Tom Holland’s version has zero problem attracting Liz in Spider-Man: Homecoming and MJ in Spider-Man: Far From Home while Garfield’s version has Gwen as the only woman interested in him.
  • The artificial web fluid. There was a surprising amount of flack for the film using mechanical web shooters, instead of this merely being a power Peter can do. The organic web shooters was an invention of the Raimi movies but traditionally, Peter utilised mechanical shooters of his own invention, being a Science Hero and all.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Andrew Garfield himself was seen by more than a few as this to Tobey Maguire, as these fans see Maguire as their preferred Peter. The "too soon for a reboot" feeling that plagued the first film for some didn't help this. Complaints usually involve Andrew's Peter being far less likable than Tobey's, which is mostly because Garfield portrayed the character as a Classical Anti-Hero whereas Maguire is portrayed with a more traditional heroic personality. Andrew's emotional range as an actor has also been called into question as being too flat and too wooden throughout the movies (though it must be said that similar complaints have been leveled against Maguire's performance). Other comic book fans, however, welcomed the film and reboot.
  • Richard Parker gets flak from fans for hijacking the plot of the sequel and removing much of Uncle Ben's impact on Peter. A lot of critics have noted that the entire subplot involving him and his operation against Oscorp was actually unnecessary for the story of the sequel and the time spent developing it should have been reserved for other characters.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Garfield's Peter + Emma Stone's Gwen vs Maguire's Peter + Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane. Even though it's a different take on Peter Parker, there was a lot of animosity towards the movies simply because people who adored the Peter/MJ relationship in the prior trilogy were opposed to any other relationship; subsequently, many have nitpicked the romance in the film. Conversely, many people who had disliked the romance in the prior trilogy (either because they saw it as a Romantic Plot Tumor, or were bothered by Mary Jane's Adaptation Personality Change and felt the relationship came off as toxic as a result), were much warmer to it here, largely because Gwen's Adorkable nature made her far more likeable and that the relationship between the two is much more supportive, even despite the troubles brought on by George Stacy's final request.
• Spiritual Adaptation: As noted by Gerry Conway and a few others, Emma Stone's Gwen is actually a more accurate take on Mary Jane Watson than Sam Raimi's films and that aside from her hair color, her background and her death, she's nothing like Gwen in any version. Many have also noted that Emma Stone would have made a perfect Mary Jane^note And indeed she noted that she initially thought she was playing MJ when the producers told her they wanted her to play Gwen had the film chosen to hew closer to Ultimate Spider-Man as Marc Webb otherwise did.
• Strangled by the Red String: The complaint in the original film trilogy was that Peter and MJ's romance dragged on too long especially since the movies never spend significant time showing them in a relationship. Some claim that this movie went to the reverse extreme with Peter and Gwen, who pretty much hook up in their second scene together without giving some sense as to what they see in each other, other than the plot demanding they hook up (with the actors chemistry really making it work as opposed to the writing). Many fans felt that showing Peter and Gwen in a relationship for most of the two films actually eased some of the frustration and improved on the Raimi films which milked the Will They or Won't They? to the hilt, but others claim that the focus on the romance comes at the expense of the superhero action rather than working alongside it.
• Supercouple: If there's one element fans remember very fondly of the duology, it's more often Peter and Gwen's relationship. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's (who were a couple during the film's production) chemistry is so good that even the film's detractors praise them. They constantly beat the Spider-Man Trilogy's Peter/MJ pairing (the adaptation of the Spider-Man lore's Super Couple) and the MCU Spider-Man's pairings with Liz Allan/Toomes and Michelle Jones in numerous fan polls even years after the duology's conclusion. In fact much of the criticism of TASM 2 was the decision to kill off Gwen, despite it being an iconic storyline from the source material.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The flip-side of negative comparisons to the Raimi films, as opposed to It's the Same, Now It Sucks!. Some of the most criticized changes, especially the artificial web shooters, tend to actually be things from the comics that the Raimi films changed, while the stuff about Peter having a genius scientist for a Dad comes from Ultimate Comics albeit the movies emphasizing Richard over Uncle Ben as Peter's main parental model was a step that even Ulimate Marvel did not take.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: More like Wasted A Perfectly Good Franchise, as many of the series' ideas did have potential both in isolation and as a way of differentiation from the Raimi films: bringing Peter back to high school, delving more into the lives of his parents, using members of Spider-Man's supporting cast/rogues gallery (Gwen Stacy, Flash Thompson, The Lizard, etc.) neglected in the Raimi series, basing the storyline off the highly-regarded Ultimate comics, setting up The Sinister Six, and having Harry Osborn become the Goblin instead of his father Norman. However, it's almost universally agreed that most of these ideas were poorly executed or outright squandered.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Despite the criticism directed at the writing and style of the films, the actors received a lot of praise. Many agree that Andrew Garfield is a good actor (after this film he went on to work with Martin Scorsese) and his chemistry and romance with Emma Stone is one of the most compelling element of these films, while Rhys Ifans, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, are all credited with doing good work with their limited parts.
• Tough Act to Follow: Marc Webb's prior movie being (500) Days of Summer, a romantic comedy. Many people who found the romantic scenes to be the best part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 even noted that he is very clearly a director best suited to romantic comedies, as when it comes to the superhero stuff, he fumbles and clearly isn't as interested in it. Others have argued that the reboot's fight scenes are more nuanced and well thought out, playing to characters' strengths and weaknesses.
• Uncertain Audience: Being only two films with contrasting tones inspired by other franchises naturally leads to this. The first film was a Darker and Edgier reimagining of the Spider-Man story which attempts to ground the characters and their powers more in reality, similar to The Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel. The second film, in response to the criticism and the success of The Avengers (2012), became far more colorful and fantastical while being more focused on setting up a cinematic Shared Universe as well a future sequels. As a result it's fans are divided over which film is better, as while some prefer the tone and more simple plot of the first film others feel that despite it's flaws the second film improved on several elements from the first.
• Vindicated by History: While the individual films themselves are contentious as ever, Andrew Garfield's take on Spider-Man saw a huge surge in popularity following the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, thanks to his fantastic performance and emotional character arc that wrapped up a few plot threads and fixed some problems people had with the second film's ending via a realistic Happy Ending Override. Less than a week after No Way Home was released, Twitter fan polls were overwhelmingly asking for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 to be made over Spider-Man 4 with Tobey Maguire.
• The Woobie:
  • Gwen (loses her father), Aunt May (loses her husband and sees her nephew go down a bad path) and Peter (loses his parents, his uncle, and has to live with the guilt of his girlfriend's father dying to save him, along with his girlfriend dying in the crossfire) all count.
  • Also, Peter was bullied most of his life, his parents left him as a child and died shortly after, and his uncle dies shortly after he gets his powers, with the film largely being about Peter coming to terms with his uncle's death. Some classify him as a Jerkass Woobie, though, thanks to his anger over Uncle Ben's death, and his Acquired Situational Narcissism from the spider bite.

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