Next Spider-Man to feature teenage Peter Parker?

Am I missing something, or haven't the past movies always had Peter Parker as a high schooler? I just remember him riding the bus all the time in the first Toby McGuire one, and in the Andrew Garfield stuff he was obviously a teenager. I don't really understand why Marvel would unveil this thing that seems kind of lame. Granted, they said it won't be an origin story, but I'm pretty disappointed by this news nonetheless

Has there ever been a set of comics that are about an older Spider-Man? I think that might be a cool thing to try out, but man, I don't even know about Spider-Man anymore.

He was basically only in high school at the very beginning of the first (Toby) Spider-Man movie. After that he was at least in college.

In the 90´s cartoon he was well out of school as well. (Although he might have still been in college too, but he seemed like he was in his mid-20's.) Pretty sure the same can be said of the 60's cartoon.

I never read much of the comics, but I'm pretty certain the main Spider-man comic featured grown up Peter Parker.

Yep, both of the Spider Man movie series had, at some point, teenage Spider Man, and that's why they are both horrible.

Spider Man is not a hero while he is in high school, and If I remember correctly in the 90's cartoon he was in college when he got bit by the radioactive spider. The difference between a high school mentality Spider Man and a College -> mid 20's one is huge in my view. I personally think this is a large part of the reason I find both the Toby McGuire and Andrew Garfield movies to be really, really bad.

Hopefully they go back on this. I can't imagine they have any really solid ideas down for how Marvel is going to use Spider Man now, and since they (hopefully) bring him together with The Avengers at some point, it better not be a 17 year old version.

@takayamasama: I can't agree with that on the merits that Spectacular Spider-Man is one of the best iterations of the character out there (better than the 90's cartoon for sure) and it took place 100% in high school.

Teenage Peter Parker/Spider-Man can work if done right. That being said, I have a hard time seeing a teenage Spider-man playing off the Avengers well.

Its weird how they word their ideas about it, I dunno about whatever recent leak about it you may be talking about, but months ago when the Sony thing went down, they worded it as if Toby and Garfield's Spiderman were old farts and that they were finally looking for a young Spidey for a change. Maybe with the success of Kick Ass we'll get 11 year old Haley Joel Osmond Spiderman.

@feathered: In nearly all of the comics he's at least a young adult and for most of his existence he's been a full adult. More often than not he's an adult.

This is a big problem with Spiderman. He never really grows up and it's always "waah waah, uncle Ben died and I have all this responsibility now and I can't keep a girlfriend". Coming-of-age Spiderman has gotten incredibly stale. He doesn't really have any interesting villains to fall back on either. I don't have much hope that even the Midas Touch of Marvel can do much with the character. Even less now that he's going to be a bloody obnoxious, one-liner spewing teeny-bopper again.

@sinusoidal: If he's not spewing one-liners he's not a proper Spider-Man.

Damn, I was hoping the next Spider-Man was going to be Miles Morales. I just think he is the more interesting character of the two.

I feel like there's a "new" Spider-Man every year. I'm glad I stopped caring about comics, it must be exhausting at this point.

Spider man has spent about 80% of his time as a 20 something grad student. It's one of the many reasons he continually works a dead end job: student loans. Even Ben Reily (long story) was a coffee house barista. The garflied Parker was awful but his age wasn't the reason. Magure had it right: Peter has to be ark ward as hell so there is more of a contrast with wisecracking spidey.

I'm no comic buff, but wasn't there a future Spider-Man story where old Parker is crying about killing his girlfriend with radioactive sperm?

Yeah, the notoriously awful Spider-man: Reign:

I think they should have Peter Parker be a spider with a human head.

@sinusoidal:

Well then, what are people complaining about. This seems incredible and well-thought out and what a Spider-Man fan would want.

The reason they are putting him back in high school is because the thing that sets Spider-Man apart from every other superhero is that he was the first ever non-sidekick teen superhero and now that he's going to be in an actual shared universe for the first time people are going to want to see the comparison between a teenage hero and all the other mid-20's to 30's heroes that populate the MCU.

@sinusoidal: This looks horrifying and fascinating at the same time. Why is Spider-Man an old man?

Also isn't Andrew Garfield going to be reprising his role for the third movie? That second Spider-Man kind of made it seem like "stay tuned we're gonna crank out a bunch more of these!"

@jonny_anonymous:

The 90's Cartoon Spiderman wasn't a teen and he crossed over with plenty of characters in the Marvel Universe. It's more his philosophy that's different from other heroes, being a mite more light-hearted than the people he fights alongside. 'Course I don't know much, that "Reign" plotline seems way crazy and dark for Spiderman so I'm sure he has that side to him.

Well yes but that's not really the same as an actual established live action shared universe.

@sinusoidal: I can imagine this coming from a really bad fanfiction, I'm having a hard time believing this is real.

The two sweet spots for Parker are Teenage and College.

Spiderman works so well because he's way more of a down and out Superhero. The High School arc works best because it's about him dealing with the powers alone, which for a teenager is pretty messed up. He's mature enough to keep it in check (which the Garfield movie bombed on every time he showed off), but he still wants to use his powers to do good. Spectacular Spiderman is the best Spiderman cartoon period, and this comes from someone who grew up on the 90's cartoon.

College works better because hes dealing with the dead end jobs (as discussed by other people here) and balancing relationships and crime fighting. It results in what my friends and I call "Parker luck". Where Peter Parker simply can't catch a break.

Spiderman as a teen works best if he has to improvise. I don't recall in the Garfield movie anytime he couldn't sneak off to costume up. I think with Marvel studios track record we will get to see a better arc than we had before, although nothing will ever replace Spiderman 2 (Raimi) in my heart.

Parker being 15 by the time the first new Spider-Man movie hits will also answer an important question: if Spider-Man exists in this universe, where was he during the Battle of New York?

Well, he was ten years old. He was in a house in Queens learning to respect his aunt and uncle.

The whole point of him being a photographer was so he had an excuse to run around the city and be at crime scenes. Him being at school is just dumb.

Anyway, every time they feel the need to put some stupid spin on it. "This time he's a skater kid!" - what? When has that ever been a thing?

Kinda pissed that Garfield and Stone are gone now. They could have brought her back with a Clone Saga film, that would have been fantastic.

Honestly, there isn't a phase of Spider-man that I'm into. I've never regretted that Marvel didn't have him. The X-men are the ones I want to see them get back.

They're throwing all that out the door and rebooting it again.

That seems really stupid. He wasn't a bad Spiderman and visually it all looked pretty decent too. They needed to throw out the writers and get new ones, not the solid foundation they already had in place.

@l4wd0g: I couldn't agree with you more. I think this is the most disappointing thing about this announcement. They had a chance to do something new and interesting and maybe... I don't know, diversify the cast?

I know the majority of audiences are familiar with Peter Parker, and thank goodness they aren't doing another origin story. We've seen it twice now, we get the gist of it: bitten by radioactive spider, Uncle Ben dies, with great power comes bla bla bla...

I'm not asking for diversity for the sake of diversity. Diversity brings unique points of view, realistic representation, and potentially interesting dynamics. I know we're getting Black Panther, but who knows when we'll be seeing him (although I'm willing to bet he's showing up in Age of Ultron, since Ultron is made entirely out of Vibranium, right?). I'm glad that they're going to have an age gap between the characters. Right now you have a bunch of battle hardened heroes; it'll be interesting to see some smart-mouthed kid getting in way in over his head with these heavy hitters. Mix this with a Miles Morales Spiderman and I think it would just have more... Potential? Don't get me wrong, I think it's going to be great with Marvel back at the reigns. I never completely liked Maguire or Garfield (although I liked Garfield's quippy dialogue a lot more).

I just hope they bring back J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.

Makes sense for their movie series. Get a younger character for some variety in with the middle aged and 30 year old adults that make up the Avengers.

@rachelepithet said:

One problem with that, Haley Joel Osment is 27 years old.

Marvel should take inspiration from James Cameron's old Spider-Man treatment where, in an especially subtle wet dream metaphor, Peter Parker wakes up covered in web fluid.

I want an 8 and a half year old Spiderman. No powers or anything, just a movie about a kid making forts in his bedroom and throwing sticks at yucky girls. The only better movie would be zygote Spiderman.

@splodge: What if they do that, but use the story of when Peter Parker was sexually abused as a child?

Currently in the comics Peter is the CEO of his own company, Parker Industries. He was also married to Mary Jane since the late 80s but they've recently kinda retconned this. With those two things, Peter in my mind is firmly in his early 30s now in the comic.

@feathered: You're right about the movies, and it is a lame announcement. Also plenty of the comics go up to Peter and MJ in their late 20s to early 30s and married, I'd be interested in seeing that in a movie.

Much rather have a University age Spider-man.

Other than that J.K Simmons is the only thing that needs to return. Wouldn't complain if Elizabeth Banks returned either.

I'm at the point where I want a college age/adult Spider-Man. He's been in that age group since before I was even born, but we're stuck on this highschool BS which is annoying. Whatever, at least they are using Peter Parker: the way it should be.

Before this announcement, I was thinking they should have opened the movie with Gwen dying, Peter quitting as a result and Miles Morales taking over. I'm fine with teenage Peter Parker, as long as they stick close to Ultimate Spider-Man. The, "I could teach this class!!" Spider Man.

Josh Keaton is the best Spider-Man.

If you actually read quotes from Kevin Feige, this makes sense. So far all of the heroes in the MCU are adults. Other than the whole secret identity thing, having an adult Spider-Man wouldn't be adding much. And I think the younger he is, the more impactful he'll be for his role in Civil War (assuming they do reveal his identity to the public).

The quotes made me really happy, so Feige knows how to tell me what I want to hear if nothing else. I'm excited about seeing more of high school Peter Parker as long as they nail his character. Neither of the Spider-Man franchises managed that, for me. But we'll all see, won't we? There have been so many versions at this point that everyone wants something different. I'd be perfectly fine with Spectacular Spider-Man the animated series the live action movie, approaching something akin to current Dan Slott Spider-Man when he grows up.

I want the new spider-man to be voiced by the Team fortress 2 Scout !

Spider-Man was 16 when he got bit. He was in high school for about 2 years of the original run. And the Ultimate Spider-man comics (not the crappy ass cartoon) series went on for 10 years with Peter in high school and it was great. Really great. The Spectacular Spider-man cartoon series was also primarily in high school and was the best non comics version of that story. The closer this is to that the better.

Damn yes.

I am just so sick of the damn origin story already. I'd prefer them to just throw us in the middle of any arc with no explanation than to have to watch him get bitten by that dumb spider again.

And actually, if it really is going to be a teenage Peter, I'm just not going to bother watching it this time.

ummm.... the announcement said it would specifically NOT be an origin story..
http://www.craveonline.com/film/articles/845723

@the_ruiner: Ha, I probably should have read the OP more closely. Thanks.

My advice to anyone who doesn't get this announcement? Read Ultimate Spider-Man comics and watch The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon series. You'll get it.

I remember hearing speculation about Asa Butterfield possibly filling in the role for Peter Parker. I heard execs weren't thrilled about how much money the past Amazing Spiderman films did and it sucks that they were pitting the blame on Andrew Garfield who I thought was an above average Peter. If anything I'd probably put more blame on the director Marc Webb for making some of the most generic superhero films of all time. I for one wouldn't mind a change with maybe telling the story from Miles Morales point of view who seems like more of a plausible character in today's world. Not really sure how the world would react to a spiderman film without Peter Parker though.

@i_stay_puft: I think Morales would be a bad fit. Read the run of his original comic, and it's okay, but the best part is the origin with Prowler. The part they would not adapt if they decided to use him. Does his stories get better later? I'm pretty sure he's got a second comic going at the moment.