Interesting points. It continues to intrigue me how our opinions of these movies are shaped by our experiences and namely how the comics influence those experiences. As you said, whenever you read a comic, Spidey made you laugh and so now, naturally, you look for him (Tobey) to make you laugh in the movies. Well, I'm coming from the background of having almost no prior experience with these characters outside of three main cartoons - Spiderman & His Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk and He-Man - and the Hulk TV show. I never had access to the comics and, in general I suppose, I'm not interested in them. I just like the characters and the Hulk's story appeals to me the most.
Oh definately. It's one of the main reasons I have been writing a script (that of course will probably never be accepted lol, just to try my hand at the whole thing in my spare time.) with an unconvential hero, no comics, no tv shows, nothing for people to reference. On the plus side, it's the pure form, and nothing to condence to fit to a movie screen. On the bad side... no brand name recognition and no one willing to take a chance with it.