Does It Matter If The Movie Spider-Man Doesn’t Match The Cartoon Spider-Man?

Sunday, January 6th, 2013 at 7:00am
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Does It Matter If The Movie Spider-Man Doesn’t Match The Cartoon Spider-Man?  

Next Wednesday sees the release of Superior Spider-Man #1, Marvel Comics’ new series in which Peter Parker has been replaced by… someone else (I’ll save the spoilers for under the jump, in the unlikely instance that you haven’t read the story or seen the news somewhere else). Thing is, that’s clearly not the version of Spider-Man that’ll appear in the next Amazing Spider-Man movie or Disney XD’s Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. But does it matter?

Of course, that’s not to say that the animated Peter Parker is necessarily the same character as the movie Peter Parker, either. They may share a name and a power set, but the movie incarnation of the character is far more tortured and angst-ridden than the animated version – and, perhaps more importantly, has a somewhat different set of motivations (I’d argue that Amazing sets up a Peter Parker driven not by what happened to Uncle Ben, but by the mystery of what happened to his parents, and finding some way to not only answer the questions arising from their disappearance but also avenge their likely deaths in some way, but YMMV). Sure, the difference between Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker and Drake Bell’s is minor compared with the Otto Parker that now exists in the comic books, but it essentially brings up the same issue: How much fidelity between different versions of the same character in different media is necessary?

The notion that there are multiple interpretations of Spider-Man as a concept is curious, though, pushing the notion of Spider-Man as brand or franchise over character; it reduces the character to particular signifiers, scrubbed clean of the long history of the comic book incarnation. Spider-Man ceases to be one entity, but becomes a generic name for a number of similar ones, independent of each other in the same way that Batman did in the 1960s, with the Adam West incarnation seeming like a different person with the same name as the version that appeared in the comics, yet becoming the version the world came to remember and believe in for decades afterwards.

But is the brand name and fairly consistent costume enough to make all of these different characters “Spider-Man” in equal measure? If that’s the case, then could an audience embrace Miles Morales, the comic-book Ultimate Spider-Man as “Spider-Man” in a movie? I’m unconvinced; I suspect that there’s a core “Spider-Man” myth (or, at least, identity) in the mass pop culture mind, and that anything that doesn’t conform to that is dismissed by the majority of people. For most people, Spider-Man has to have a Peter Parker who has to lose his Uncle Ben and go from zero to hero, even if most people in the story don’t know that, and that’s the basis of the character; everything else within that is up for grabs.

(Of course, this leaves both current comic incarnations of the character, Miles and Otto, as anomalies, which is interesting; perhaps both are the result of over-familiarity with the Peter Parker character and concept…? And yet, both still feature Parker as an influence in their respective comics, even if it’s just in the suggested legacy that the new characters have to live up to.)

It isn’t just Spider-Man that has these problems, of course; most people knew Green Lantern (if at all) as John Stewart through the Justice League cartoon before Hal Jordan strode onto the movie screen, and DC Comics found itself essentially re-creating Green Arrow in the image of the Smallville version for its New 52 comic relaunch, before the CW’s Arrow offered up a more serious take and the comic has undergone a course correction. For DC, Green Arrow is clearly considered a malleable enough concept to play with in that way, and bring in line with the mass consensus of “who” he is; is that the way to manage these kinds of expectations, or is Marvel’s take on Spider-Man more what you’d like to see, with each version being free to bring whatever it wants to the party even if that may be confusing to newcomers meeting a new version for the first time…?

I have no answers; I’m genuinely curious: Would you rather see one take on a character across multiple media, or let everyone in charge of each version do what they want? Use the comments and share your wisdom, people.

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  • Atalanta44

    Other people have stated this already, Peter will be back in 2014 and if Superior Spider Man is a success, that character will be allowed to continue too, like Scarlet Spider Man. Superior Spider Man will be Peter’s nemesis and be a neat villain.

  • Psyberduck

    On the one hand, I tend to see comics through a mythological lens, such that today’s Spider-Man is yesterday’s King Arthur or Odysseus. And as time has gone on, those stories have been retold by different authors, such that the Arthur in “Idylls of the King” and the Arthur in the “Merlin” TV series are different in a variety of ways, while still being the same core character.

    On the other hand, is raises all kinds of questions for who the core of Spider-Man really is. In Ultimate Marvel, I can accept Miles, because Ultimate has become this kind of cool sand-box “What If?” universe that, unlike the main 616 Marvel earth, doesn’t have to bear any resemblance to it own. So the USA can be divided by civil war, Kitty Pride can lead a resistance X-Men, cats and dogs can live together, and Peter can actually die and leave behind a legacy. But in the main Marvel, the editors and writers have shown a steadfast commitment, right or wrong, to status quo. No attempt to replace a main character, not Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Johnny Storm, or Thor, has ever stuck, and Bucky, Rhodey, Spidey, and Thunderstruck, respectively, have all given way to their predecessors coming back from the dead and taking up their old mantles. 

    Main Marvel seems to try to keep everything essentially unchanged, such that I feared AvX was going to end with Hope walking into the bathroom, finding Bobby Ewing in the shower, and realizing the entire Post-M-Day storyline had all just been a dream. (That’s an 80s joke, kids, ask your parents.) But that *is* what “Brand New Day” did to a lot of plot and character development that had been building, including Peter’s marriage to MJ, and anything he gained in “The Other” in terms of powers or self-understanding. So I can’t imagine this Otto-side-of-me Parker will last, unless this is a dramatic way to reverse “Brand New Day” and put the character back on his pre-Bendis-retcon path.

  • Dave Witham106

    Marvel are determined to make their characters accross all media as similar as possible, or at least so it seems with the introduction of things like Nick Fury Jnr. Personally, I do not believe that this will entice movie fans into reading comics as the audiences for the two media are largely different. Meanwhile Fury Jnrs introduction (at the expense of a classic Silver Age character) seems to have patronised and alienated many existing comic fans – myself included – who want our movies and comics to remain distinct from each other. 

  • http://profiles.google.com/avanta72 Adam Avant

    Probably so.  Ha.  But I’m also a realist.

    And the numbers back me up.

  • Aldimes

    There’s a connected question I’d like to pose – how many new readers does a comic acquire after it becomes a movie? Not many would be my guess. I live in Prague, and a couple of years ago I taught 15-year-olds who knew about the FF, Superman, Batman and the Hulk only through the movie versions. They were all aware of the comics versions, but would probably not dream of reading them. Just as fewer people read the original James Bond novels now, and I hope the Downey Sherlock doesn’t do it to Holmes. Movies are so dominant that their version of a character seems to become the accepted one.

  • Mrsnowden

    Yes, and?

  • matt

    It has nothing to do with a hissy fit and everything to do with minimalism. Take Marvels Exiles for example (from a couple of years back). Once Chris Claremont came onto the book he utterly destroyed it, it became horrible. Fans of the book tended to hate it once he came onto it. I dropped the book because it became bad/ weird. Why would I continue to read Exiles just to have every issue of Exiles when I could save the money and the space in my long boxes for good story lines. I don’t care how much of an avid comic reader you or anyone is there is NO reason to drop over 100 bucks a week on comics. There NEVER is that much good out. But guys in my shop persist with it just because comic collectors are obsessed with completion. My argument has nothing to do with events like Fear Itself and everything to do with crap story arcs

  • matt

    And also character development is meaningless in Marvel and DC. It only matters in Events and very specific story lines. Take the Thanos Imperitive for example. In that story Star Lord and Nova both essentially died fighting Thanos. Cut to Marvel Now and Star Lord is back essentially retconning Thanos Imperitive. Why did they do this? because 1 we have a guardians movie coming out in a couple of years and 2 NOBODY READS COSMIC MARVEL so who cares if you retcon it. Did the character development matter in the story? yes? does it matter in the long run? no. Were no more then x amount of issues away from them retconning this spiderman doc ock thing. In all honesty you could get by JUST reading EVENTS at marvel and still understand whats going on. 

  • Dfc2896

    Cool story, whenever I get comics I see plenty of people are my age who buy comics, and then when I visit other stores I see people my age, when I’m in Barnes and Noble I see people my age, at conventions I see people my age. Your situation is your situation, I was just joking about the fact Jon C started with no one under 20 reads comic, when I see and know plenty of people who do read comics, that’s just my situation, and maybe it’s the exception, but whatever.

  • Jim H.

     Aside from what you mentioned, Hawkeye’s costume was changed, and an entire new Avengers book was created just for people who want to see the movie line-up together, starting with a plot featuring the character teased at the end of the movie, and characters were brought back from nowhere without explanation because they’ll be featured in another movie.

  • matt

    I did say this was from observation of the store i go to, it can be completely isolated 

  • REALITY CHECK

    In fairness— ANY major story from the big 2  is usually retconed within a few months. ( these days anyway. Used to be decades now its months).

  • reality check

    The majority of readership is well over 20. Id go so far as to say the bread & butter of the entire industry is  mid to late 30s.

    under 20 readers do exist. But they are not weekly readers plunking down more that $20 .

    THe under 20 demographic is scraps. 
    Sure there are ARCHIEs & so forth… but the average sales of Archies or kids comics PER WEDNESDAY is minimal to nothing.

    So in 2013  Spiderman comics not reflecting other media of Spiderman – doesnt mean anything.
    BUT if you were to ask me this question in say 1993– then i would tell you it would be a big deal.

  • REALITY CHECK

    1000% true. Scary and sad.  We have been hearing for decades that kids dont read comics anymore… but nowadays that can be proven so true…. 10% of that blam has to go to the weekly MARVEL COMIC READER who for the last 3 yrs  has continued to purchase $3.99 comics- sending Marvel the message that you will pay ANYTHING for your Marvel fix.

    Heck $2.99  for 20 pages  ( which these days reads as just a scene from a 6 chapter story that doesnt even have an ending when comprised into trade)  isnt worth it either.

    There is a difference between taking time to flesh out characters & stories… and just padding things out to 3 or 6 issues what can probably be told BETTER in just 1 issue.

    Comics from the big 2 are really not worth it these days.  Id rather spend more on an indi that put their hearts into it.

  • REALITY CHECK

    I would dare to challenge you on how many kids come into your store on a weekly basis.  ANd then askyou how many NEW books they buy? 

    At best you might have 3 or 4 locals who just happen to be into it for the next few months before they realize 4 bucks an issue is a waste of money & time

  • Omegasaga

    and how much do you spend per week on comics??  Are you buying at least $20 per week?

    Is it every single week too?

    Cause IF not then your demographic doesnt realy matter that much. Not when you compare that to guys who stop in twice a month to pick up a stack of books for like $150-200 per trip.

  • Nightfyre

    Very true… the movies may garner some sales from young readers.  Least my friend buys his young son a spider-man comic if he gets good grades.  Granted he’s more adapt to draw pictures in them (i mean i drew stick figures running with Godzilla in my brothers comics, shhh no tell anyone!!) then actually reading the comic.  

    It’s hard to market comics nowadays like you use to in the past.  There’s electronics to compete with now, mass media fronts and even grabbing their attention long enough to finish the comic can be a problem in some cases.  

    Though I guess doing short 3-6 panel comics on a page might keep people coming back each day. They’re short and not long winded which speed seems to be the thing now.  Get it through to me as fast as you can or I walk away.     

  • NightLife9000

    Yes It does. People identify with Peter Parker. They sympathize with him, admire his never say die attitude. The idea that he does the right thing even when it costs him. Now let’s replace him with a mass murdering psychopath. Someone who has gleefully killed his way though multiple story lines. It would be like having the Red Skull transplant Hitler’s brain into Captain America body or having Lex Luthor doing the same to Superman.

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