When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits theaters on May 2, 2014, it will be the fifth straight Spider-Man movie set in New York. Knowing that, a fan at San Diego Comic-Con asked star Andrew Garfield what other famous Spider-Man comic book stories he'd like to see on screen. Garfield said, "I'd like to see him with The Avengers...but I'm not supposed to say that." The crowd went wild.
It was just one of the many awesome things discussed during the panel. Director Marc Webb explained how the first film was meant to set up multiple movies and that Rhino (Paul Giamatti) is mostly in this one to establish a fun tone. Dane DeHaan talked about Harry Osborn's complicated relationships with Peter Parker and Norman Osborn while Jamie Foxx spoke about Electro's costume and origin. Oh – and they screened about 3 minutes of never before seen footage. Read about the footage here, and hit the jump for everything else.
To start, it must be said Sony Pictures really went all out with the Amazing Spider-Man 2 panel. They unleashed Hall H's two extra screens for a panoramic view (the first time of 2013) and created an elaborate joke where "Spider-Man" himself was going to be on the panel. A video began the event that showed Spider-Man braving the Comic-Con crowds to swing across the street and climb his way into Hall H. He then walked on stage in full costume — obviously Andrew Garfield based on his voice — but answering only to "Spider-Man." He talked about what it was like to be a superhero, spoke about Andrew Garfield as if he wasn't real, and candidly revealed that swinging and climbing can get boring when you do it every day. Really funny stuff. He told Jamie Foxx he loved Django Unchained and even got him to sing the Willie Beaman song from Any Given Sunday. Here's a brief taste:
Here are some other bullet points from the panel -
Webb talked about how this film, and the previous one, set up a new world. "We wanted to build a universe that was a little more elaborate and would unravel over a few movies," he said. "In order to do that I had to retell that origin story with new idiosyncrasies and nuances. Once we finished that, we felt incredibly liberated." This film starts with a Spider-Man who is very happy to be Spider-Man and even gets cocky. That is, until, Electro appears.
Webb described the character of Electro as basically a God who literally can't be touched. Later he expanded on that explaining Spider-Man's webs conduct electricity, causing a major problem, and Electro can jump through electrical sockets to move around. How do you defeat someone like that, he asked. Someone jokingly screamed out, "Water!"
A fan asked Webb how the film was going to work with so many different elements: Electro, Rhino, Mary Jane, the Osborns, etc. "I don't want another Spider-Man 3," the fan said. Webb emphatically said "The main villain in this movie is Electro" and that despite it seeming busy, it has just the right amount of elements. As for Giamatti's Rhino, he's only in a few scenes to "establish a fun tone."
Foxx was asked to talk about Electro and he explained how the story was crafted so you really felt that Max was filled with venom and would really want to burn the city down. His mother forgets his birthday, he hates his life, then Spider-Man is nice to him.
Garfield was asked about his recent comments regarding Spider-Man possibly having an interracial gay relationship. He said while it really didn't make sense in these movies, since we've already see him with girls, he believes Spider-Man is an every-person who can stand up for anything.
His emotional avenue into the character is imaging Spider-Man as an older brother and Peter Parker as the younger brother, who is always in the shadow of his older brother. That's based on Garfield's own life — his older brother is a doctor, which Garfield suggested is a real-world sort of hero.
Dane DeHaan explained that in this movie, Harry and Peter are childhood friends but Harry goes away to boarding school. Once they both graduate, Harry has to reconcile with both Peter and his father Norman, played by Chris Cooper.
Foxx explained he never thought they'd put him in the green and yellow suit because the character is so raw and realistic.
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci were brought on to write because Kurtzman's son is friends with producer Matt Tolmach's son.
