Sequels Spider-Man 4 Theme

[BobJM]

I think Spidey would have to do something to get people to hate him. I mean, everyone loved him in SM3. JJJ smearing him wouldn't be enough.

I always thought there would be a scene where Spider-Man decides to help Lizard escape police custody so that he can continue working on a cure to save his teacher.

Of course, there would be civilians around and someone would have a camera phone and that would end up being the front page of the Daily Bugle the next day.

 

[ThatDamnNinja]

I think the very nature of Spider-Man trying to protect the Lizard from being killed would be enough to turn the public against him.

 

[chaseter]

Like I said, spend the first act building the relationship between Spidey and Capt. Stacy, then kill him off during the first battle with the Lizard. Spidey is blamed for the captain's death, providing the impetus for Kraven's hunting the Lizard.

I agree with this, which brings me my idea of Spider-Man 4's "theme": failure.

Captain Stacy dies, and Spider-Man deals with his first real failure as a superhero. Throughout the film, Spidey thinks that he'll fail Dr. Connors by not curing him. Of course, there's a happy ending.

It's a somewhat loose theme, but I think it could work nicely.

Great ideas

Failure and Redemption should be the theme for SM4

 

[BobJM]

If SM4 is the final movie, I don't think it should end on such a somber note.

I like redemption, but I think it should also be about hope.

 

[IamProdigy]

Sam Raimi is a smart man when thinking of a theme or two for a Spider-Man movie and then picking a villain or villains to expand those themes. There's no other comic-book adaptation films that have themes, and they just have the hero and the villain; but choosing what the hero must go through and the villain(s) that helps that journey makes the whole hero/villain battle that more complex and interesting.

 

[chaseter]

If SM4 is the final movie, I don't think it should end on such a somber note.

I like redemption, but I think it should also be about hope.

It is high time that Spider-Man is knocked off of his high horse. Him gloating all the time in SM3 was a bit much. But also, the themes must be polar opposites. You cannot have power without respobsibility, you have to choose the right thing, sacrifice, you cannot forgive with hate and revenge in your heart. Peter must learn a lesson from one of the themes and the villian must reflect the other. I also think hope sort of falls into the redemption category. They would certainly make great movie posters like they did with SM2. Spider-Man needs a great fall and it is something Peter has not yet gone through...being at the top one moment and then suddenly at the bottom.

I think accidentally letting the cap. or Gwen die is a great plot device to bring him down to where he has to redeem himself.

 

[BobJM]

Or becoming New York's most wanted by helping the Lizard escape as opposed to allowing police arrest him.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Yeah, the boy is getting too tall.
Smart man, it's usually when everyone has already written in their head what villain(s) and story should be told, and cling to them, is where a lot of disappointment comes in. Some people are already saying The Lizard/Kraven motif or they'll be disappointed.

Exactly. I feel people's perception of SM3 prior to release had a lot to do with some of the whining that went on about it (not all of it, but a good portion of it). I am not going to make that mistake others seem to make.

 

[SamuraiSon6]

Let's not turn Spider-Man into an afterschool special. I think Spider-Man 2 had it right, in terms of having a theme, but not driving into your skull like Spider-Man 3 did.

I'm not sure how to condense it into a neat little two word package, but I think Spider-Man 4 should essentially revolve around the conflict Peter has within himself regarding the Lizard. I mean, we've got the Lizard, a savage, mindless beast who is occasionally killing innocent people, but Peter is also one of only a handful of people who knows that it's really Dr. Curt Connors, who he cares about and respects deeply. The Lizard is very strong, and not easily subdued, so a capture isn't simple.

Not only is he faced with his own crisis of conscious, he is faced with a public that becomes hysterical in their fear, and begins to resent Spider-Man for not bringing the crisis to a close more quickly, and begin to demand that the Lizard be killed (which of course raises a question within Peter; is he being selfish? he wants to search for a cure, but the longer he waits, the more people die; is the cost too much? is he putting his own desires before the greater good by continuing to spare the Lizard, despite the death and destruction he causes?).

Enter Kraven, a man more than willing to and more than capable of giving the public exactly what they want by killing the Lizard. Quickly, the conflict between Kraven and Spider-Man becomes well-publicized, and the media and public opinion sways in Kraven's favor.

So the Peter is faced with an intense internal conflict: personal moral crisis; conscious vs. public pressure; as well as a complicated external conflict: defeat Lizard, keep Kraven from killing Lizard, keep Lizard and Kraven from killing him).

I think that's more than enough to fill the moral theme quota.

there is your movie right there.....