Villains Abound in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

Remember how Spider-Man 3 mucked up the blockbuster Marvel franchise so badly that Sony needed to reboot the series entirely just 10 years after it began? Most folks attribute Sam Raimi’s baffling narrative misstep to the film’s surplus of supervillains, forcing Sandman, Green Goblin II (or “New Goblin”) and Venom into a single, overwrought story due to studio mandates. It didn’t work, making it all the more refreshing when Marc Webb’s 2012 reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man, stuck with one baddie — The Lizard — and helped us all forget that Spider-Man 3 had more scenes featuring Tobey Maguire’s scrunched-up boo boo face than genuine superheroic spectacle.

Now, Sony is preparing to unleash The Amazing Spider-Man 2 upon the moviegoing populace next summer, putting Andrew Garfield back in the tights as Peter Parker uncovers new truths about his parents’ mysterious past while furthering his relationship with doomed high school sweetheart Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Oh, and he also has to deal with Electro (Jamie Foxx), The Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and an already-evil Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan). So yeah, we’re back with three villains … because that worked so well for these movies last time.

Skepticism aside, this movie looks pretty damned entertaining, and I’m looking forward to seeing where Webb takes the story this time around. This series is clearly borrowing a great deal from Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man, which is what got me back into comics in a major way in the early 2000s. There’s promise here, let’s just hope Sony’s learned from their previous mistakes.

Check out the first official trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 below.