Does It Matter If The Movie Spider-Man Differs From The Comic Book Spider-Man?

[CBR News]

There's a new Spider-Man in "Superior Spider-Man" #1 that's clearly not the same version appearing in the next "Amazing Spider-Man" movie or Disney XD's "Ultimate Spider-Man" cartoon. SPINOFF asks -- does it matter?


Full article here.

[Number_5]

No, it doesn't matter. Longtime fans get over adaptations being different and film adaptations don't inspire more than a handful of people to become new readers. But try explaining that to Marvel.

[Nico Olvia]

I didn't even know that a new Spidey was around.

[The Dog]

I didn't even know that a new Spidey was around.

Yeah, it seems that spoilers:

Doctor Octopus was dying of cancer, so he hijacked Peter Parker's body and placed Petey in his, who then died of said cancer. So now Otto Octavius is apparently Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

end of spoilers

It doesn't matter anyways, because the only people who'll even know this are comic book readers. So, as far as the general public knows, Peter Parker is still Spider-Man.

[PretenderNX01]

Maybe it limits the potential for new readers, when I saw the X-Men movie I thought I'd pick up the comics but at that time Scott was fused with Apokolips and I didn't know where most of the characters were I'd just seen. I found the Ulitmate X-Men then easier to get into, same may have happened to Avengers fans who went for trades of The Ulitmates instead of whatever team is out now.

Only a tiny fraction of a character's fans read any comic book. The Spider-Man that's in movies or other adaptions have more viewers that week than any given issue has readers.

DC comics killed of Bruce Wayne when the second dark Night movie was out, didn't do anything to Batman in general because people know Batman from the Nolan movies, the Burton movies, the cartoons, the Adam West series. But I wonder if people looked at an issue and said "who's this Damian?"

DC also has the problem now of New 52, let's say kids tune into "Young Justice" and "Teen Titans Go" and wonder who this red guy is claiming he's Beast Boy?

Fans of either "Lois and Clark" or "Smallville" might go to see "Man of Steel" and pick up the comics and wonder why Ma is dead in the comics.

And speaking of "Young Justice" a lot of pre-52 concepts about the Titans are preserved there: Superboy being from Cadmus, Tim Drake being Robin #3.

"Green Lantern" is a different matter, there were definitely people who only knew JLU's John. At he same time, people in their 30s (which many fans are) are old enough to remember Hal from Superfriends.

Same with orange-shirted Aquaman (he wasn't always Captain Hook even if 90s fans and JLU fans might know him that way).

[The Batman]

Maybe it limits the potential for new readers, when I saw the X-Men movie I thought I'd pick up the comics but at that time Scott was fused with Apokolips and I didn't know where most of the characters were I'd just seen. I found the Ulitmate X-Men then easier to get into, same may have happened to Avengers fans who went for trades of The Ulitmates instead of whatever team is out now.

Only a tiny fraction of a character's fans read any comic book. The Spider-Man that's in movies or other adaptions have more viewers that week than any given issue has readers.

DC comics killed of Bruce Wayne when the second dark Night movie was out, didn't do anything to Batman in general because people know Batman from the Nolan movies, the Burton movies, the cartoons, the Adam West series. But I wonder if people looked at an issue and said "who's this Damian?"

DC also has the problem now of New 52, let's say kids tune into "Young Justice" and "Teen Titans Go" and wonder who this red guy is claiming he's Beast Boy?

Fans of either "Lois and Clark" or "Smallville" might go to see "Man of Steel" and pick up the comics and wonder why Ma is dead in the comics.

And speaking of "Young Justice" a lot of pre-52 concepts about the Titans are preserved there: Superboy being from Cadmus, Tim Drake being Robin #3.

"Green Lantern" is a different matter, there were definitely people who only knew JLU's John. At he same time, people in their 30s (which many fans are) are old enough to remember Hal from Superfriends.

Same with orange-shirted Aquaman (he wasn't always Captain Hook even if 90s fans and JLU fans might know him that way).

It's been my experience that most readers who do come in from the movies understand that they're 1) not going to be an exact translation but rather an adaptation, and 2) they're usually more interested in grabbing trades from the bookstore than monthlies from the comic shop. Anecdotal to be sure, but it's been my experience that both are the case. All the newly-minted Batman fans I've encountered want copies of "The Long Halloween," "Year One, and even "The Dark Knight Returns" sometimes. Not my issues from Morrison's run on the book.

[The Batman]

And, I guess, to answer Graeme's original question: No, it doesn't matter. Not really. Not in the long run at least.

[TheFerg714]

There's a new Spider-Man in "Superior Spider-Man" #1 that's clearly not the same version appearing in the next "Amazing Spider-Man" movie or Disney XD's "Ultimate Spider-Man" cartoon. SPINOFF asks -- does it matter?


Full article here.

In my opinion, the filmmakers can do literally whatever they want as long as it's good. If the film is quality, that's all that matters.

[Basara]

Besides, it isn't like we don't know that Peter Parker will be back from the dead once this run is over. So many times before, sidekicks, replacements, and even clones (shudder) have filled in the shows of popular characters who were dead/banished/retired. My personal favorite was Eric Masterson filling in for Thor, partly because Absorbing Man kept calling him "Sparky the Lightning Kid".

Eventually, Peter will come back from the dead and Doc Ock will be a bad guy once more. It always happens. All that remains to be seen is if this run of Doc Ock being Spider-Man will be remembered by fans as a good run or bad.

[SephirothDZX]

I'm okay with changes if the change makes sense or if they don't differ too much from the original idea of the character.

For example - the Iron Man movies completely bypassed the whole secret identity/bodyguard angle because it was outdated and cliche, plus every important character already knew Tony Stark was Iron Man anyway. I was also okay with movie-Batman having an all-black armored suit instead of blue/gray spandex.

Stuff I wasn't okay with was when Raimi gave Spidey organic webbing instead of web-shooters. That just felt like a lazy cop-out excuse to not worry about Spidey running out of web cartridges or anything like that. Plus that change also undercut the ability to show how smart Parker actually is (something Raimi's movies never did well), took away a somewhat key weakness of Spidey, and also negated one of the advantages the symbiote suit was supposed to have.

[G. Boney]

Stuff I wasn't okay with was when Raimi gave Spidey organic webbing instead of web-shooters. That just felt like a lazy cop-out excuse to not worry about Spidey running out of web cartridges or anything like that. Plus that change also undercut the ability to show how smart Parker actually is (something Raimi's movies never did well), took away a somewhat key weakness of Spidey, and also negated one of the advantages the symbiote suit was supposed to have.

I can agree with everything you said except the bold part. The new movie had the web shooters but the running out thing didn't happen there either.

[rhymeswithparc]

I think that it does matter that there are different versions of one character across various media since people who would explore new interpretations might not enjoy what they experience. I think that goes for people who would watch movies/shows and then read comics and vice-versa. I'm sure that people who enjoy a movie and then want to read comics for the first time want to do so because they want more of what they saw and anything else might turn them off. That being said though, I don't think that the comics really need to change to make it easy for people who come from the movies. I think that movies need to change to be more true to the tone and characterization of the comic at the time of its release.

[Basara]

I think that movies need to change to be more true to the tone and characterization of the comic at the time of its release.

*shudders to think of a Spidey movie made during the clone saga*

[smartalek]

I can agree with everything you said except the bold part. The new movie had the web shooters but the running out thing didn't happen there either.

One of his web shooters was crushed in a fight with the Lizard, if I remember correctly.

[Alex]

No, more people watch the movies than read the comics, as long as the character is likeable to the movie audience, changes don't matter.
See organic web shooters not causing the other 3 movies to not make money.