First came the Spider-Man series starring Tobey Maguire.
Now he's played by Andrew Garfield (in The Amazing Spider-Man).
Why didn't they just make a new generation, such as the first Spider-Man's son?
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3Because the studio feels that this will make more money. That's the only reason decisions like that get made– DVK-on-Ahch-ToCommented Dec 18, 2013 at 16:09
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7Also, Spider-man doesn't appear to have a son as far as I know. Starting a franchise over (re-booting) is commonplace at this point, but rewriting an established completely against history does not seem to be a viable commercial gamble.– Meat TrademarkCommented Dec 18, 2013 at 16:33
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@DVK: that's part of it, but also I think Sony loses the rights to the character if they don't use it after a long enough period of time. It's easier to use new actors than to wrangle the old gang back together, so reboot.– John BodeCommented Dec 18, 2013 at 17:29
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@JohnBode you don't have to reboot to replace actors. For example Superman Returns. Perhaps not the best Superman movie, but it also wasn't the worst.– ZoredacheCommented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:25
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3@MeatTrademark Parker and Mary Jane do in fact have a daughter in the comics. If they ever bring her to the screen, hopefully they do a better job of it than was done with Catwoman, Elektra and Supergirl.– Kyle JonesCommented Dec 18, 2013 at 20:09
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3 Answers
The reason for the different actors is because it is a different universe. The two movie series are based on two separate Spiderman story lines. In which the characters are very different including the different love interest, Mary Jane for Spiderman's original universe and Gwen Stacy in the Amazing Spiderman. The characters sometimes overlap but they do not interact in the same way in the different universes.
My guess is that it's basically a matter of focus testing and wanting to stick to what the average film goer is familiar with.
The general population knows that historically speaking, Peter Parker is Spider-Man. This fact changes in the comics, but the average man-on-the-street - if they know Spider-Man's identity will likely say Peter.
When The Amazing Spider-Man was released, many viewers (like my mother) who didn't follow the production or the trailers closely, went in not understanding that the film was a reboot of the franchise, despite it not being hidden or denied by the studio at all. They just assumed that it was a new Spider-Man and that it must be a continuation of the Raimi/Maguire movies.
To begin a new franchise - with the same titular character and a different identity would only confuse the average viewer.
Studios also run the risk of confusing or upsetting fans or people vaguely familiar with the characters.
Take the examples of Kingpin, Nick Fury or even Perry White. Historically, all three are white males in the comics. Many fans were outraged that Michael Clarke Duncan was chosen to play Kingpin, or that Lawrence Fishburne was chosen to play Perry White. There was even confusion as to just why Nick Fury was being played by Samuel L Jackson - even though the Ultimate version of Nick Fury was based on him.
In the end, while literally taking a character to a whole new generation, it can be more trouble than its worth financially - and that's all the studios care about.
answered Dec 18, 2013 at 17:22
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Sure, sure, but you also had Batman The Next Generation (slightly paraphrased; too lazy to look it up) at one time. Films starring "the son of Zorro" aren't doing too bad either... etc. Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:40
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2@MrLister Batman Beyond featured Bruce Wayne as a main character. Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:43
The reason there are different characters playing Spider-man because they are completely different imaginings of it.
Think about this, in Toby's Spiderman series Spider-man was able to shoot web from his palms. Now in the comic books he never had this ability until I believe it was well into the comic book series.
The new series is a remake of the Spiderman franchise trying to follow in a closer path to the comic book, hence why Andrew creates the webshooters like in the comic book.
Anytime you see a movie about a Superhero or comic in general and they change actors it's most likely because they are doing a complete and separate story than the previous one.
Same thing happened with The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk, two completely different imaginings of the Hulk with different actors.
answered Dec 27, 2013 at 19:25
