Amazing Spider-Man 2 Nods to Other Spidey Medias

Spider-Man vs Green Goblin

Comparing a movie to any other media of the same materials is a little unfair. The movie is its own version of the material. I’m not saying that It’s better or worse, it’s just different. With the blockbusting 92 million dollar weekend Amazing Spider-Man 2 had, it’s safe to say that it was a hit. I was one of those fans that enjoyed ASM 2. Some of what I enjoyed most were its little nods to other sources of Spider-Man media. Here are just a few of my favorite moments.  Warning, if you have not seen the movie please stop right here as there are massive spoilers ahead.

The Parker’s Death:

This scene was a nice mixture of the Ultimate Spider-Man and the Amazing Spider-Man death of Peter’s parents. In Ultimate, Mary and Richard were scientists working for some cure for cancer; and in Amazing they were spies for the US Government. In ASM 2 they were scientist. In both comics a plane did go down. In Ultimate it’s very confusing on why the plane went down and how old Peter was when they died. It also dealt with clones and Hulk’s death or injury (long story). The movie went with a similar story to the Amazing comic. In the comic, the Finisher was hired by the Red Skull to kill them. He sabotaged the plane thus killing the two. In ASM 2 we don’t know who the assassin was, who hired him, and if he survived the fall for sure (I’m going no because he hit the tail hard, but anything can happen in comic movies). This was was a nice nod to Amazing. The movie made its own while taking bits from both comics, which was nice to see.

Spider-Man Theme Song:

Oh that song. For those who don’t know, the cell phone ringtone for Peter’s phone is the theme song for the original 1960s Spider-Man cartoon. Hearing that song ring made a cool moment for anyone who watched the cartoon as a kid, myself included.

Gwen to Europe:

Ok I’m going to try and explain this one because this was pretty cool. In the Amazing comic book, Gwen leaves for Europe to cope with her father’s death. She would have stayed in America if Peter just asked her to marry her, but Peter couldn’t, knowing he was part of the reason George died. We find out years later that Gwen went to Europe to give birth to Norman Osborn’s kids after she had an affair with him. Lost yet? Well this storyline wouldn’t fit in the movie. One reason is because Norman is dead. So how do they send Gwen off to Europe? Scholarship to Oxford!  It was a nice change to see Peter saying he will follow Gwen anywhere.  It fit with her character while keeping the nod to the comic.

Electro Video Game Battle:

I gamered out when this scene hit the screen. In Spider-Man 2 Enter Electro (the video game), the final battle is between Spider-Man and Electro after Electro gains a ton of electrical power from The Bio-Nexus Device and a massive conductor tower where he utters those famous words “I am a God.” This is very similar to the final battle between the Electro and Spider-Man in ASM 2, even down to Electro calling himself a god. How did Spidey end up winning game? He overloads the device to defeat Electro. In ASM 2 Gwen helped Peter overload Electro to defeat him.  Another great nod while changing just enough to make it fit the movie.

Gwen’s Death:

Give me a second because in both the movie and comic this was a very hard moment for me… ok let’s do this. In the Amazing Spider-Man comic Gwen was thrown off a bridge by Norman Osbourn as Green Goblin. Spidey shot his web  down to catch her, but the force of the stop snapped Gwen’s neck. He failed to save the one he loved. Her death in the comic book is still debated today with no clear cut answer to how exactly she died. Did the force of the stop kill Gwen or was she dead before the web got her? I will go into my personal theory in a later blog post. In AMS 2 we had Norman (check), the Goblin battle (check), Gwen falling (check), and the web catch (check). By using these three important points the movie was able to change other subtle things to make the scene its own. For example, there was Harry instead of Norman, no bridge, no Goblin throwing Gwen, no neck snap, and no Goblin getting away. Instead we got a clock tower (side note the clock stop at 1:21 a nod to the issue that Gwen died in), Gwen falling because of broken clock, her head bouncing off the floor, and Goblin going to jail. It might not have been exactly like the comic but it was close enough and different enough to still be amazing.

What were some of your favorite nods the movie made to past media of Spider-Man? Please let us know in the comments.  Until next time, keep enjoying our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.