Spider-Man Director Jon Watts Reveals His Comic Book Influences

Marvel and Sony's new Spider-Man won't make his big-screen debut for another seven months, and he won't get his own solo film for another 15 months after that. As such, it's going to be a while before we get any concrete plot details about the rebooted franchise.

But in the meantime, director Jon Watts is dropping some intriguing hints. In a new interview, he revealed which books he's reading as research for his new Spider-Man movie. Find out what Watts' Spider-Man comic book influences are after the jump.

Den of Geek got the chance to ask Watts which comic books he's been reading in preparation for the Spider-Man movie. Here's his response:

Ultimate is great. I love Ultimate. We have the freedom to pull from anything, but I really like what [Brian Michael] Bendis did. A lot. That felt like... that was Peter Parker back in high school. And, spending as much time with his high school problems as it did with his superhero problems, which I think is really a lot of fun.

There's also some really funny comics stuff, like, the Archies. I don't know if you've ever seen the Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane series, but they have this really great anime-style illustration, and it's all just about Peter Parker's relationships. It's like the soap opera of Peter Parker in high school. Those are really funny, too.

I'm just sitting around reading comic books all day — it's a pretty great job.

There's only so much these comments tell us about Watts' Spider-Man movie, since we don't know exactly what he's getting out of these titles. Maybe he's looking to adapt a specific storyline from them, or maybe he's just trying to get a grip on their overall tone.

However, these picks do fit with what we've heard before — that Watts' Spider-Man movie will be a "coming-of-age high school movie" with a John Hughes vibe. If we can stretch the speculation a bit, they may also suggest that Mary Jane Watson, not Gwen Stacy, will be the primary love interest in Watts' Spider-Man reboot.

Watts' Spider-Man movie arrives July 28, 2017. Tom Holland will make his first appearance as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, due out May 6, 2016.