Why do so many people hate TASM series?

[Spider-Tiger]

In fact, I actually think that's true for other Marvel adaptations. Like the X-Men in comics are famous for boasting a great range of female characters, with Storm being the Marvel female character with most appearances (and three other X-Ladies in the top 10 - Emma, Jean, Kitty) but the movies make it a story of three old white dudes (Logan, Xavier, Magneto). As bad and weak as Susan Storm was in the Lee-Kirby days, I think the Fantastic Four movies are even worse, like Tim Story's Fantastic Four with Jessica Alba kept making jokes about how hot she was

I haven't read much of the Fantastic Four and barely remember those movies, but I agree that the x-movies left much to be desired in its handling of the women. Storm and Emma in particular (my personal favorite x-women) were shadows of their comic selves.

Exactly. I found Emma Stone's Gwen unbelievable. In the comics, even the Lee-Romita era made her neurotic (accidentally since they intended the character to be a nice girl but didn't execute it well), like she had an obvious oedipus complex being very close to her father and falling for a boy who is so much like her father and constantly trying to mould Peter to be even more like her dad, all the while not entirely aware of the full spectrum of character both her father and Peter had.

The problem with Lee-Romita Gwen wasn't that she didn't have any flaws, but that she lacked depth and consistency. Whatever flaws she had were momentarily used to stir up drama between her and Peter in a typical silver age fashion and then forgotten shortly afterwards.

Interestingly enough, what 616 Gwen and Emma's Gwen have in common is that they are predominantly plot-driven characters. The plot demands that 616 Gwen be the main love interest and more popular than Mary Jane so let's just borrow some characteristics from MJ, redesign the character, and ignore what came prior. The plot demands that Emma's Gwen be adored prior to her death so let's idealize the character and make her immediately supportive of Peter's vigilantism. With both characters you can see the strings behind the writing. (To be fair though, this is an issue that occurs repeatedly with several characters in the TASM films.)

Raimi's portrayal of Mary Jane certainly has its problems, but what she has in common with 616 MJ is that she is far more character-driven. Aside from seemingly always being in the wrong place at the wrong time, most everything about MJ from the character's occupation to her relationships with Peter, Harry, Flash, and John are a product of or influenced by insecurities brought about by an abusive childhood. That's good writing.

Well he's still presented as an impressive force of authority which isn't to be questioned. Like we are meant to assume on face value in that dinner scene that the cops knew what they were doing when Spider-Man barged in on what turned to be a "sting operation", and likewise at the end, George Stacy's final moment is intervening and using force to stop the Lizard from killing Spider-Man. George Stacy presents a figure of authority and masculinity whose approval is worthy of earning in the movie. It matters in the movie that the cops of NYPD come around to Spider-Man.

I never got that impression from watching the film, but I suppose I'm due for a rewatch.

[Frontier]

...I think people are really over-thinking Captain Stacy here. He was just the typical "tough but honest cop who hates vigilantes but who grows to understand what they're really about" who is also the father of their love interest for secret identity drama.

[Dboi2001]

I haven't read much of the Fantastic Four and barely remember those movies, but I agree that the x-movies left much to be desired in its handling of the women. Storm and Emma in particular (my personal favorite x-women) were shadows of their comic selves.

I never understood why people hated the XMen movies or why people thought it didn't focus enough on other characters but that is a discussion for another thread

I never got that impression from watching the film, but I suppose I'm due for a rewatch.

Because that wasn't the point. This guy just wants to get triggered. As someone else mentioned Stacy was just a hard nosed cop

[Jman27]

...I think people are really over-thinking Captain Stacy here. He was just the typical "tough but honest cop who hates vigilantes but who grows to understand what they're really about" who is also the father of their love interest for secret identity drama.

in my time here everything is over analyze and break down then again its the same for when I watch One Piece YouTubers

[Dboi2001]

Of course more teens worked during the 60s. Depression tend to come short on jobs. However the idea that Peter should help provide for his elderly aunt and uncle was a big deal in the 40s not the 60s. And no 50 percent of teens didn’t work in the 60s and especially the 2000s. And only 20 percent of teens in high school have jobs today and in 2012 it was 16 percent the lowest ever recorded. So no Peter isn’t a moocher grand dad just because in your day you were paying the house rent and electric bill

https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/youth-employment

[NC_Yankee]

Here is my take: Liked Emma Stone. Best love interest in a live action Spider-Man movie. Disliked: Tom Holland. Simply got Peter wrong ( disliked him like I did Clooney in Batman and Robin). Hated: Dane DeHaan ( his Harry Osborn is one of the worst characters I ever saw in a comic book movie (on the level of Alicia Silverstone in Batman and Robin? No not that bad ( Silverstone is my all-time least favorite actress), but just to be mentioned with her speaks volumes of how I hated his version of Harry).

[Agent Z]

Here is my take: Liked Emma Stone. Best love interest in a live action Spider-Man movie. Disliked: Tom Holland. Simply got Peter wrong ( disliked him like I did Clooney in Batman and Robin). Hated: Dane DeHaan ( his Harry Osborn is one of the worst characters I ever saw in a comic book movie (on the level of Alicia Silverstone in Batman and Robin? No not that bad ( Silverstone is my all-time least favorite actress), but just to be mentioned with her speaks volumes of how I hated his version of Harry).

Don't you mean Andrew Garfield?

[NC_Yankee]

Don't you mean Andrew Garfield?

You are correct.

[Triniking1234]

Before I start, I'll probably guess that some people (mostly the normies) initially disliked ASM1/2 because they believed they kept Spidey from being in the MCU so they were glad to see the movies ill-received after ASM2.

Now personally, I don't like the Gwen Stacy character but that's mostly because (a) she was absent for most of my Spidey reading career and (b) she wasn't a very good character in the issues I did read about her. So after Spectacular Spider-Man where she's portrayed pretty well, ASM turns her into a miracle girlfriend for Peter who supports his superhero antics AND has enough knowledge to help him out with his hero-related problems.

Lizard and Electro are okay but they're up there in the list of easy to adapt to movie villains. When's Big Wheel? Can't believe they wasted Jamie Foxx on that crappy Electro tho. Not sure why they went for "misunderstood loner" instead of just straight up a-hole.

ASM had the missing parents subplot which doesn't even factor into the main comics anymore but they were trying rather hard to differentiate themselves from Raimi so they stuck it in. ASM2 added Osborn drama and Sinister Six teases. Unbelievable.

They could've subverted expectations and have Gwen survive ASM2 but nah.

So ASM1 was alright; probably tied with Homecoming but ASM2 is worse than those 2 and Far From Home.

[Dboi2001]

How exactly did he get Peter Parker wrong? He acted like Peter from the Ultimates comic run

[irhyme]

TASM1 The part where Peter steals another dudes ID. And that guy gets dragged out by Security. Not funny at all. cringe moment.

TASM making ugly & uncool villains. Look at MCU Spidey and even Raimi Spidey they make cool villains. look at MCU Vulture and Mysterio.

Versus TASM Lizard, Rhino and Goblin looks meh. Having awesome cool Villains makes for awesome movie.


Over the top quips maybe awesome to Spider-man comic fans, but to the General audience they sound obnoxious.

They killed the father Capt Stacy and then killed the daughter Gwen Stacy. That's just awfully nightmarish scenario to some cultures.

[daredevil1]

I have always found it inexplicable that so many people dig their heels in about loving these movies, and I have to honestly say I consider them pretty much the very worst of all the Marvel films, minus I guess DTV shlock like Man-Thing or the 90s Fantastic Four, etc. Complete soulless cash grabs and sorry, I can't stand Andrew Garfield and never have. I would sum up my feelings this way- people who defend them seem to just love him and thus overlook how ghastly the quality of the movies are, while things like Spider-Man 3, Daredevil, Ang Lee's Hulk, and on and on never get a pass. His defenders seem to be young zoomer kids who grew up with these disasters and haven't formed critical thinking yet, and- more relevant for here- people who love the portrayal of Spider-Man post-Brand New Day. He is not in any way shape or form playing the pre-2007 Peter Parker. He's not even playing Ultimate Peter, who wasn't so... annoying. Yeah, I guess if you like Dan Slott's writing, he's pretty much spot on. They're adapting pretty much no era from the comics except the idea Marvel has been trying to push of the character in media for the last 15 years of a hyperactive manchild. That's not how I see Peter, and I'll take less humor if that's the trade off.

But even if you didn't think Tobey Maguire quite nailed it, the Raimi films capture the tone of classic Spider-Man pretty perfectly. Things like mechanical web shooters and smarts quips do not a Spider-Man make, but the movies around these trappings are just dire. Beyond the horrific plots, is your idea of the tone a Spider-Man movie should have that of a Millennial Twilight/Electronic Dance Music Sony set-up for a universe to keep the film rights? Just because it got a few more gags in, really? Nobody is claiming Superman 4 "isn't so bad" just because Reeve is in it... just as something like Batman Forever is needlessly crapped on, these movies are inexplicably overpraised beyond what they ever deserved, and the difference is old boomers didn't have to listen to anyone saying "Batman & Robin needs to be reevaluated, ride or die on George Clooney" by people who saw them as kids, everyone just kept quiet and let it go... I found it a little classless when Christian Bale made fun of the bat-nipples to prop up the Nolan films at the time, but how I wish they made fun of TASM movies at this point instead of this pretending they weren't as bad as they truly are.

[PCN24454]

I feel like a lot of the hate comes from the fact that the MCU was picking up steam and their most popular superhero wasn't going to be a part of it.

TASM1 The part where Peter steals another dudes ID. And that guy gets dragged out by Security. Not funny at all. cringe moment.

TASM making ugly & uncool villains. Look at MCU Spidey and even Raimi Spidey they make cool villains. look at MCU Vulture and Mysterio.

Versus TASM Lizard, Rhino and Goblin looks meh. Having awesome cool Villains makes for awesome movie.


Over the top quips maybe awesome to Spider-man comic fans, but to the General audience they sound obnoxious.

They killed the father Capt Stacy and then killed the daughter Gwen Stacy. That's just awfully nightmarish scenario to some cultures.

I hated the Raimi Spider-Man and Goblin designs, so that's one reason why I find the love of Raimiverse and hate of Webbverse so jarring.

[daredevil1]

Preferences aside, the Webb films feel like the movies we would've gotten in 2002 if Sony had hired a hack director and gone with a pretty boy like Freddie Prinze Jr or Heath ledger, and jammed it full of their shlocky contemporary pop culture references instead of adapting the comic. Smallville in particular suffered from this, and I found it inexplicable when Mark Waid or Alex Ross acted like it was the second coming of Jesus. We lucked out with Raimi in that we got someone who had genuine love for the 60s comics and the tone, and unashamedly dared to make them a little campy or uncool if it served Spidey. I never get when people act like the Webb movies were somehow Spider-Man "done right," we dodged a bullet with the Raimi trilogy that ended up hitting disastrously with Webb.

[PCN24454]

Preferences aside, the Webb films feel like the movies we would've gotten in 2002 if Sony had hired a hack director and gone with a pretty boy like Freddie Prinze Jr or Heath ledger, and jammed it full of their shlocky contemporary pop culture references instead of adapting the comic. Smallville in particular suffered from this, and I found it inexplicable when Mark Waid or Alex Ross acted like it was the second coming of Jesus. We lucked out with Raimi in that we got someone who had genuine love for the 60s comics and the tone, and unashamedly dared to make them a little campy or uncool if it served Spidey. I never get when people act like the Webb movies were somehow Spider-Man "done right," we dodged a bullet with the Raimi trilogy that ended up hitting disastrously with Webb.

Ehh, it’s better than the cringeworthy tone that the Raimi films had imo, and considering how many cringeworthy moments TASM had, that’s saying something.