A couple of months ago, Marvel and Sony announced that they'd be rebooting the Spider-Man film franchise, after 'creative differences' resulted in director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire dropping out of Spider-Man 4. This is just the latest reboot coming from Marvel, and highlights a very bizarre trend that I hope doesn't catch on. Reboots are becoming more and more frequent from Marvel. While DC is happy to let a failed series fall out of public consciousness before going for a second attempt, Marvel appears to think 3-year gaps are sufficient. They're wrong.
In 2008, Marvel rebooted its Hulk film franchise after Ang Lee's adaptation failed to catch on with fans (it was a tad over dramatic), and it looks like it might have to again after the recent The Incredible Hulk, which was more a retcon than a reboot (continues on from the first film, with origin details altered here and there) pulled in similar numbers. That film was extremely well received and I think Marvel is making a huge mistake not putting more faith in the series. Just look at the X-Men; the first film did reasonably well, but it was X2 that really made the series a hot property, and if Fox hadn't played tough with Bryan Singer who knows how huge it could have become. In 2008, it also rebooted its Punisher film franchise - for the second time - after its 2004 effort The Punisher starring Tom Jane failed to deliver the big bucks (note: it was shit). The Punisher: War Zone was also a commercial flop. Will it be fourth-time lucky for Marvel? Possibly. It's also announced reboots for its Daredevil films (both of which, 2003's Daredevil and 2005's Elektra, I thought were highly underrated) and Fantastic Four films (both of which really were quite awful. Filmmakers please note: giving a Latina a blonde wig does not make her look white).
While I was willing to bare with all these retoolings - despite how cash-grabby and disrespectful they are to people that paid to see the 'forgotten' films - the Spider-Man reboot really hits a nerve with me. Here you have what is undoubtedly Marvel's biggest film franchise being thrown in the trash because Sony and Marvel executives aren't willing to give Raimi - whose first two Spider films raked in the cash as well as the critical praise - more creative freedom. Their influence already destroyed the third film by shoving Venom (a character Raimi did not want in the film) down our collective throats, and here they are at it again.
And it's not just Raimi's departure that irks me, as I'm sure another director could take over the reigns with ease, but the entire rebooting of a continuity people have invested literally billions in. Even in the comic book medium, new writers pick up the story from where the predecessor left off. Here, however, characters and stories that people care about are being thrown in the dumper. And for what? Because "nobody" wants to see Spidey married? Bull. Just look at the reaction the Brand New Day storyline had to get a grasp on how Spidey fans feel about stories being heavily retconned. For an entire generation of people, Spider-Man is Tobey Maguire, and his great love is Mary-Jane Watson. Now we're getting some generic-looking teenager (Logan Ler-somthing, from the Percy Jackson movie [me neither]), and Mary-Jane replaced by Gwen Stacey, a character so bland she's not only completely forgettable in Spider-Man 3, but only really remembered for having died in the comics. Then of course comes the fact that the film will chronicle Peter Parker's high school years. So much for being groundbreaking. I admit that Spider-Man in high school is something that would be very cool to see (it was glossed over quite quickly in the first film), but it just feels wrong right now. While this would be alright, say, another ten years down the line, there is something off about a major film franchise being remade just four years after the last film hit cinemas.
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