• The word "retcon" rarely works out. Ever. It's only used when you've got 40+ years of continuity to deal with. So why the hell would anybody retcon a movie series that is only 3 films long? WHY? I love Raimi, but he shouldn't be handling Spidey anymore. Though I'm of the opinion that the initial conception of the movie series should've stuck with a teenage Peter Parker...at least you could give his emo-ness some legit pathos if he was 15 and Uncle Ben just died.

• I'm very confused by some of the comics here. Spider-Man 3 threw out all of the comics stuff? Heck it was thrown out from the beginning. 1. Spider-Man's angst is supposed to be over the death of his first girlfriend Gwen Stacey and then Mary-Jane is the one who picks up the pieces afterwards. The whole ending of the first movie tried to completely bypass this vital plot point and subsequent movies seem to be trying to evoke the same emotions without it. It really isn't working though. 2. Spider-Man might be socially inept in the comics, but not to Tobey Macguire degree. Then again, this might be partially due to the fact that he's acting more emotionally damaged than he ought to be. 3. Why the hell do all of Spider-Man's bad guys have multiple personality disorder? Seriously! 4. Why do they keep killing off all Spider-Man's major villains? No wonder the plot feels so thin in every movie when none of the bad guys ever gets the opportunity to form a history. 5. Why, when attacked by beer cans, doesn't Green Goblin kill everyone? So much for being psychotic, he's useless. If that's the major bad guy, Spider-Man's not going to have any trouble at all. 6. Okay, I've been teasing you up til this point, because this is the only criticism that needs to be made: Why doesn't Spider-Man ever take the mick? You got that? The one distinctive feature of Spider-Man (asides from climbing up walls and swinging on spiderwebs) is that he uses humour to humiliate the bad guys he fights. That he makes wisecracks. When does Tobey Macguire's Spider-Man do this? Never! As such, it's not Spider-Man, end of story. Okay, perhaps we might argue that Spider-Man is too traumatised by... um,... the death of his elderly uncle to make jokes. But seriously, Spider-Man's been a lot more traumatised in the comics without it stopping him. P.S. I'm also very confused by anyone claiming that Spider-Man was the best movie. It was extremely boring. This was perhaps unsurprising when the movie is attempting to set up characters who seem to have no personality. This seemed somewhat improved in the second movie where we could take their lack of personality for granted, having already had their dull backstory explained to us. (Though I'm not quite sure why Raimi decided to have Spider-Man unmasked on the train in the second movie. What was up with that?)

• Confused by some of the COMMENTS. Not comics. Sorry about that. Doh!

• Gotta comment on the Spidey 2 posts. Besides The Dark Knight, it's the best superhero movie ever. The movie has amazing action set pieces, but they're perfectly balanced with character building. It's equal parts character study and action film. Raimi's visual style is a perfect match for the action. The scene of Doc Octopus climbing up a wall seemed right out of a comic panel, but in photorealistically rendered. It left me as giddy as a little girl.

• That's hardly a reason to hate the movie since we don't know what it's gonna be about.

• He died in the first one? I dont remember that part

• The...guy...was...kidding! Chatting up the rubes so they're more interested in buying whatever he has to sell. That's all! Jesus!!! Hey, remember that photo of Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia in what looked like white Danskins/superhero costumes? Wasn't it GREAT how prominently that scene figured into last season's remaining Heroes episodes? You DON'T? Well maybe there's a freaking lesson for us all there, FanBoys: Learn To Take A Joke!!!!

• sounds like he was making a joke of the obvious(and superlame) retcon in spidey3. maybe it was such a dumb stunt even he knew it...hopefully. if not, well...it could be the most unitentionally funny scene in the series, and there are a few. spidey 1 was the best. spidey 2 was limp dick, and overrated. spidey 3 was bad, heartburn-you-think-you're-having-a-heartattack bad. the good news is: the single best fix to all these really bad movies is to make their runtime at an hour and a half, that way the audience is annoyed at the end instead of almost violent. you think this is snark but it's also 100%.

• Papa John's pizza sucks.

• Right now this sounds like typical nerd over-reaction and nothing more. C'mon, do you really expect this guy to have some kind of major role in the next movie? I'm sure he was just messing around. That Chameleon theory sounds interesting though. Either way, if it happens I don't see a problem with Uncle Ben being referenced in the next movie. Yes, even though he's been referenced in every Spidey movie so far. After all, the murder is a vital element to Spidey's character, the reason he puts on the suit and fights crime in the first place. And besides, he's been brooding over Uncle Ben for almost 50 years in the comics to this day, in addition to still not being able to go past a bridge without crying about Gwen even 30 years after she died. It won't be the end of the world if Michael Papajohn and Cliff Robertson make another cameo. Actually, I almost want the burglar to get a prominent role in Spidey 4, just so Michael Papajohn can go on the interview circuit and I can hear his name over and over. They could get Papa John's to put up money for the movie without having to do product placement...every interview with Michael Papajohn would double as advertising! Oh, and Spider-Man 3 is a lot better than the internet gives it credit for, but that's what the internet does. On the World Wide Web, if a movie isn't spectacular it rapes you, forces you to eat your own excrement and gives your children leprosy. If it's a good movie it cures cancer, brings sight to the blind and makes brussel sprouts taste like candy.

• did anyone ever think he was being sarcastic? or they're redoing his death scene (ie flashback that doesn't change the story) or has every lemming jumped off the cliff in their hatred for summer comic movies? i spent three weeks stitching up my wrists after i heard there was no squid in watchmen....

• Greedo Shot Uncle Ben First!

• ahh yes...the next summer movie you decide to hate...seriously is there any pleasing you? You probably hated the Dark Knight too.

• If Spider-Man 4 is based entirely on the story from Amazing Spider-man #200, then I am all for it.

• Really? Really? Spider-Man 2 was just "The First Spider-Man With A Different Villain Who Is Also A Scientist That Peter Knows - The Movie". The first Spider-Man is probably the greatest comic book flick ever. SM2 was not.

• Um. Before we all go around hating a movie before a script is even completed, I remember hearing a theory that Papajohn could be a disguise of the Chameleon. Which would make for an awesome break-you-down-mentally mindfuck scene for Spider-Man.

• I think that the actor who played the Uncle Ben almost/kinda killer was just trying to start rumors is all.

• I bet Peter trades a life with Mary Jane for a life with an alive Michael Papajohn. The devil will be played by Joe Quesada. Also, more dance numbers.

• I don't see the issue. Comics do this kind of crap all the time. why not do it in the movies, too.

• Raimi has lost his touch. After seeing Spiderman 3 I realized the only way this franchise could be saved is if 4 started with Peter waking up and realizing all of 3 was a dream. But no director can supress their ego enough to admit that one of their movies was so dreadful that they should retcon the entire thing. If it happened, I think it'd be the earliest point in any movie that an entire theater crowd would stand up and cheer.

• they should just kill off gwen stacy not that the actress is a horrible one or shes unattractive its just how the story should work but oh sam raimi fucked up and killed off the green goblin twice he really cant do that now can he? he destroyed 3 and pretty much killed the only redeemable thing about that film which was james franco. now he wants to kill off uncle ben for what the fourth time? every single film has to have that stupid fucking flashback in it and its fucking annoying. i mean does he srsly expect everyone who wants to see spiderman 4 to have never seen any of the other movies? and you know what i actually hate the character of spiderman mainly because of those reasons. hes a whiny little brat who focuses on how shitty his life is and just fucking complains tooo much. ooooh booo whoo my uncle ben died, guess ill become a super hero. oh no my best friend is a villain and he stole my girlfriend, waaaaahhhh. the only other girl i could get is killed...by my own fucking hands and i never even know it! waaaahhhh imma go cut my self and swing across the fucking city spiderman is the poster child for emo kids everywhere

• Wow I hope that doesn't happen. Working that angle for the movie would just prove they have no idea what to do. Virtually every movie doesn't have to have a tie-in into the killing of Uncle Ben with a villain being there or causing it just to give Peter motivation. With the retcon in Spider-Man 3 "the guy that originally killed Uncle Ben until we added someone else" provides less motivation/drama now if he comes back because Peter already forgave Sandman. So mister "guy who offed Uncle Ben originally" is even more meaningless and they can't even do the story from the comics as well. He doesn't show up all the time in the comics and the second time he shows up it ends everything by him dying from a heart attack with Spider-man upset. Ah well…just maybe this is false.

• Geoff, I thought that the happy get-together between Peter and MJ at the end of Spidey 2 was nicely offset by the understated scene of her looking out at the window, not that happy that he was taking off to be Spidey. Excellent foreshadowing of their upcoming problems.

• Not only do I agree with TemporalSword about Spidey 2, I would contend that the retcon of Uncle Ben's death wasn't even that bad. Not when compared to Venom (totally unnecessary in that movie, and far less compelling than Sandman), the Gwen Stacy/MJ thing (since MJ is the GS of the movies, GS didn't even need to be there). Really Spider-man 3 was the germ of a good movie with a bunch of crap thrown in for no good reason other than to fill out the time. It could be worse though, Michael Bay could be directing Spider-Man 4.

• umm...this didn't come from raimi...it came from a guy who i didn't know had a name other than "the guy who killed uncle ben in spider-man." signing pictures. that's all. let's not treat what he says as gospel just yet...and to answer his question of "who says i died in the first one?" everyone. everyone says that. now sign the picture so i can post it on e-bay. idiot.

• "Spiderman 2 was as perfect a superhero movie as you can get." Agreed until that horrible ending. Harry discovering the Goblin lair as the final scene? Awesome, and it should have ended there in a classic comic-style cliffhanger. But Happy MJ running through NYC in a wedding dress? Fodder for the MTV watching teenage girls there only to see Kristen Dunst and totally the wrong feeling. Then again, Rami upped the camp factor in the third movie, so maybe it wasn't a mistake so much as a misread. (I'm fine with them getting together, but Karl Kessel said it best: Spider-Man is Daffy Duck. He's at his most entertaining when he's losing.)

• Ha! "Gentle Pressure." What a great Short. Thank you, MattK.

• Hard for nerds to compare and contrast SINCE THEY BASICALLY THREW ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE COMIC OUT THE GODDAMN WINDOW WITH THE THIRD MOVIE THOSE DUMB FUCKS. Ok...it's all good I'm done

• "If I tell you, I'll have to shoot you." Doesn't he mean "I'll have to bump into the main villain who will be introduced and given a tragic, tenuous tie to the main hero because I didn't approach and use gentle pressure?" Man, Uncle Ben hasn't been overused this much in the comics, and the movies keep coming back to him! Cliff Robertson's probably gotten more out of playing a dead man than Bruce Willis! You open the comics now, and whose death is mentioned more often? Gwen Stacy! And that was 121 issues into Amazing Spider-Man! Someone kill off another character already and give Peter more than just a one-tracked mind!

• No, it's spider man 4 turn off the dark, and he fights the dreaded swiss miss who really killed uncle ben.

• Is this Spider-Man 4: Brand New Day(He doesn't even remember having an uncle!) ooooooor Michael PapaJohn starring in Spider-Man 4: The Clone Saga(The killer is a clone!)? Right? Who's with me on this? Raimi seriously go fuck up some other movie.

• I disagree. Short of The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2 was as perfect a superhero movie as you can get.

• I have to agree surely why keep dragging up this Uncle Ben shit??

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