Early Amazing Spider-Man 2 script featured character arcs that made sense

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are widely known for setting up plot points that leave a lot of people scratching their heads (STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN) and I wish I could say that THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 was any different, but alas, it came and went delivering a solid 20 minutes of relationship woes between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy along with 2 hours of messy character arcs and set ups for Spidey-verse flicks that we’ve heard nothing from since. Given that this was the lowest-grossing Spider-Man flick to grace us, I’m sure that’s playing a BIG factor. While there were plenty of issues, even in the earliest drafts, perhaps the blame doesn’t completely lie on Kurtzman and Orci afterall.

Everyone and their Aunt May knows about the Mary Jane scene that was cut, and I doubt anyone is missing that. However, one of the biggest character motivations made a little more sense in the original script. Electro, in the final film, hungers for attention and Spider-Man turns from best friend to foe simply because . . . Electro is not on camera? Does that make sense to anyone else? Apparently in the original script, he had a wheelchair-bound mother who didn’t take too kindly to him. Once he “dies” and comes back with his newly formed powers, he goes home to discover his mother receiving a huge Oscorp payout, and standing. There’s something very simple about that aspect that actually works. Is it perfect? No, but given the outcast he was, I’m sure that seeing the person that brought you into this world happier that you’re now that you’re gone would spark some deep-seeded psychological problems into rage, especially for the corporation who made that happen. This actually leads Electro to attempt to assassinate Harry Osborn, but when he sees that Osborn has been turned into the Goblin/also betrayed by Oscorp, the two decide to team up.

Changes like that aren’t rocket science but they make sense. Badass Digest list some other changes that you can check out here, like introducing J. Jonah Jameson’s character, and Peter Parker’s dad showing up at the end. While THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN had it’s problems, I feel it completely nailed the relationship between Parker and Stacey. The potential was there for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, but sadly the ball was dropped in a big, bad way. It’s been detailed what can happen when you try to set up franchises before focusing on the story at hand, but I hope they rethink their strategy when it comes to the next Spider-Man flick.

Perhaps it’s time to bring in Italian Spider-Man?