Against all possible odds, I talked my way into Hall H this afternoon and caught the tail end of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 panel. How I got in is between myself and the Comic-Con Gods (I’m forever in their debt). What I saw, however, is between you and I. So I recorded the above video blog to break down exactly what was shown during Sony’s Spider-Man panel.
Want the highlights?
- The action is much bigger. The clip started with a massive police car chase with Spidey leapfrogging from car roof to car roof in pursuit of Paul Giamatti’s Russian gangster character. At one point, Spider-Man grabs the truck’s steering wheel and says, “Let me help you with that!”
- There’s plenty of humor in the footage. Spider-Man, according to Webb, is very confident in his Spidey suit, and that shows. He’s cracking wise all throughout the clip, and it’s awesome.
- Electro is the main villain. We get a lot of footage of Jamie Foxx with his comb-over and his lack of confidence. At one point, during the car chase, Spidey rescues Max Dillon, who will become Electro – and he pays attention to him. That’s key. He tells Max, “You are somebody. You are my eyes and ears out here.” And he makes Max a fan. Temporarily.
- There a montage of action footage. We see a LOT of Spider-Man fight sequences. There are a few things that stood out in the montage. Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) standing in front of a bridge, with the outline of the structure perfectly framed-- clearly asking us to think of the "Death of Gwen Stacy" comics arc. A quick shot of green vials … maybe Goblin serum? And a quick shot of Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), in bed – sick – and speaking with Harry (Dane DeHaan).
- The clip ends with Electro in Times Square, hovering over the crowd while pulling power from the billboards and shooting lightning bolts toward the ground. At one point, he blasts a cop car into the air. It careens toward a crowd, but Spider-Man leaps on the car in mid-air and catches it before it it’s the ground. “Need a hand?” he asks a nearby police officer.
The footage, to coin a phrase, was amazing. The panel was light and unstructured, but the footage reel sizzled (pun probably intended). Electro is going to be a formidable villain, very cinematic and bursting with energy. Spidey’s sarcastic humor is front and center, and the seeds for a larger story are being laid. We’ll have PLENTY more Spider-Man information coming in the next few days, so keep it here!
