The original “Spider-Man” films are an interesting case study in early-to-mid-2000s superhero storytelling. The first film, directed by Sam Raimi, is largely responsible for the superhero resurgence that we are experiencing today, building off the ‘Matrix’-inspired “X-Men” film from 2000 and injecting a comic book tone both in the story and visuals, leading to record-breaking box office. Then the second film became even more beloved by fans and critics. However, the ill-fated third film, with its bloated story and crowded cast, sent the ‘Spidey’ franchise into freefall, leading to a failed reboot attempt, and then Marvel Studios’ ultimate save in recent years.
But that wasn’t always going to be the case. In true superhero fashion, there exists an alternate universe where writer David Koepp has his way and the original “Spider-Man” trilogy panned out very differently. As explained to Collider, the man behind the scripts for “Jurassic Park” and 2002’s “Spider-Man” had a completely different idea for the Raimi sequels. An idea that might have saved us from “Spider-Man 3.”
“Basically [my trilogy idea] was the telling of the Gwen Stacy/Harry Osbourne story but I spaced everything out differently,” said Koepp. “I wanted Gwen to be killed in the middle of the second movie, because that follows sort of the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ model, and I had different villains I wanted to use. Just a different way to tell that story.”
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Fans of Raimi’s trilogy will note that in the second film, Gwen was never introduced and the story continued the love story between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Stacy wasn’t brought in until the third film, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, but the famous storyline where she is killed never was touched upon. Instead, she just played a role as the “other woman” that almost broke apart Peter and MJ.
Would Koepp’s plan to change the sequels led to a better trilogy? That’s hard to say. “Spider-Man 2” is oft-regarded as one of the best superhero films of all time. But would fans sacrifice that film for a better Gwen Stacy storyline and the possibility of a great third film? Probably not.
But you know what fans would have definitely sacrificed? The terrible reboot from 2012 featuring Andrew Garfield as Peter and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Those two “Amazing Spider-Man” films do, in fact, tell a modified version of the infamous Gwen’s death story, but everything else about the films is pretty bad. And in fact, when Sony was planning the sequel, “Amazing Spider-Man 2,” which would kill Gwen, the studio called on Koepp to help with writing. But by that time, the magic was gone and the writer wasn’t interested.
“There was a time maybe seven or eight years ago when I was gonna come back for a couple ‘Spider-Man’ movies, after they’d done their first ‘Amazing Spider-Man.’ On the very first ‘Spider-Man’ I sort of planned out what I thought the first three movies should be, and then all the assorted personalities it didn’t work for me to keep writing the ‘Spider-Man’ movies… So I was excited to come back and try to finish the story I started telling in the first one, and as we were about to agree that I was going to do that, I pulled out all the old stuff and I started outlining those two movies and I thought, ‘Boy, you can’t go home again. That moment has passed. The time when I was really feeling it was 10 years ago, and there’s no point in trying to recreate it.’ So I bailed.”
Koepp is now far removed from superhero storytelling, as he’s prepping the release of his new film, “You Should Have Left,” a new horror from Blumhouse, which is arriving on VOD later this month.