Spidey's Back!
Last updated: 12/10/2007 - 15:48
Tobey Maguire?s Peter Parker completes a trilogy of Spider-Man films with the release of number three...
Spider-Man 3
"...cram-packed with loads of wow factor, lots of belly laughs and tons of excitement." - Polly Graham (The News of The World).
The third feature in Columbia Pictures? phenomenally successful Spider-Man franchise hits UK cinemas in May. Spider-Man 3 reunites the cast and filmmakers from the first two blockbuster adventures for a web of secrets, vengeance, love, and forgiveness that looks set to transport worldwide audiences once more into the comic book world of the web-slinger.
"Not just the best Spider-Man but also the best superhero movie" - Jonathan Ross.
The film ? once again based on the legendary Marvel Comics series of the same name ? finds our hero Peter Parker seemingly striking a balance between his devotion to girlfriend Mary ?MJ? Jane (played once again by Kirsten Dunst) and his duties as a superhero.
As ever in the life of our friendly neighbourhood wall crawler there is a storm brewing...When his iconic red and blue ?Spidey? suit suddenly changes - turning jet-black and enhancing his powers - it transforms Peter at the same time, bringing out a dark, vengeful side of his personality that he struggles to control.
Venom Strikes!
Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes over confident and starts to neglect the people who care about him most. Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new ?black spidey? suit and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet to leap from the pages of the comics to do battle on this big screen: Sandman and Venom, threaten him and everyone he loves.
The character of Spider-Man (note the hyphen there ? folk missing it off all over the place when mentioning the films is reputedly a major bug-bear to the character?s creator, the legendary Stan Lee) first appeared in the 1960s.
Back in 1962 a failing Marvel comic title (Amazing Fantasy) tried out a new hero deemed as 'too scary' for younger readers ? thinking that it would vanish without a trace. That character was Spidey himself. The title was soon to vanish from comic book stores, but the Spider-Man character was a whirlwind success with readers ? partly down to the ingenious nature of Stan Lee?s script and partly down to the amazing look artist Steve Ditko created for the hero. So it was that by 1963 another ?Amazing? tile hit the shelves ? this time the book of the friendly neighbourhood wall crawler himself: Amazing Spider-Man #1.
Of the three adversaries in this film (the trailer shows us the appearance of what appears to be a new 'Green Goblin' type character - played in vengeful style by the Goblin's son from the first two Spider-Man films) the Sandman is the oldest, first appearing way back in Amazing Spider-Man #4 in 1963. The 'new' villain Venom is - by contrast - a bit of a newcomer to the Spider-Man canon, first appearing as recently as 1984 in the comic books - in the cross-continuity fest. Secret Wars (vol. 1, #8).
Follow this link for more on the origins of the Marvel Sandman character (not to be confused with DC comics' two similarly named characters - 'The Sandman' (by Neil Gaiman) or the 1930s-based character 'Golden Age' Sandman. For more details on the Venom character click here.
Forty-Four Years
Now, some forty-four years ? and countless comic books, action figures, TV movies and animated series ? later Spider-Man is still going strong at Marvel. With a library of nearly 5,000 proprietary characters, Marvel is now one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel continues to be involved in licensing, comic book publishing and toys, feature films, DVD/home video releases, video games and television (principally animated 'Saturday morning' serials) based on its characters. Marvel's characters and plot lines are all - as with Spider-Man - created by its comic book division.
Directed by Sam Raimi (TV?s Xena: Warrior Princess, The Grudge and The Grudge 2) Spider-Man 3 re-unites leading man Tobey Maguire (Seabiscuit, The Cider House Rules, Pleasantville, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Deconstructing Harry) with his co-star in the previous two Spider-Man feature films Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette, Elizabethtown, The Virgin Suicides, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
For more information on all things Spider-Man related you could do a lot worse than check out the following web-headed links:
A tie-in computer game: has been produced to match the new film, allowing PC and platform gamers to fight some of the battles from Spider-Man 3. The title is released by Activision for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii and PC. You can visit our 'Gaming' section for a full feature on this web-slinging new title. Coming Soon?
Following on from the huge success of the Spider-Man trilogy - and the lesser imapct of other properties such as The Fantastic Four/Rise of The Silver Surfer double-header from Twentieth Century Fox, fans of Marvel Comics have even more to look forward to as far as future film productions go.
Marvel has optioned dozens of other characters - and with a back-catalogue of over 4,700 proprietary characters in its extensive library and toy, comic book, new media and game business all supporting the films releases the 'Marvel'ous age of movies looks likely to continue for years to come. Currently on the horizon are: Dr. Strange, The Sub-Mariner, Werewolf By Night and Cloak and Dagger (all with Dimension Films),Iron Fist (Artisan), Deathlock (from Paramount) and - most imminently - Iron Man (pictured, right) - due in cinemas everywhere 2 May 2008.Spider-Man 3 the live action feature is out on now on double disc DVD and Blu-Ray.
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