Marvel and Sony Have Reportedly Found Their New ‘Spider-Man’ Director
Last year, back when it still seemed possible that Sony may try to continue their Amazing Spider-Man reboot and before they teamed with Marvel to relaunch Spidey in a new film series that will connect with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ScreenCrush Editor-in-Chief Mike Sampson and I put together a list of ten directors we thought could save the Spider-Man franchise. One name we both immediately thought belonged on the list was Drew Goddard, the man who directed The Cabin in the Woods and was then slated to direct the Amazing 2 spinoff The Sinister Six.
“But let’s be honest,” Mike wrote in that piece. “Goddard is too good to be working on some half-assed offshoot about villains connected to movies that people weren’t all that crazy about in the first place. We’d love to see what Goddard could do with Doc Ock, but not in a Sinister Six movie, in a full-on Spider-Man movie. Just chuck that Sinister Six script in the trash (at least for now), and give Goddard the keys to the new Spidey universe.”
Apparently, Mike and I are mind-readers. Or at least good judges of talent. Either way, Latino Review now reports Goddard will be the man to launch Spidey for the third time onscreen, as the writer and director of the new Spider-Man series, which they say is tentatively titled Spectacular Spider-Man. More from their article:
“The thinking at the moment is that Sony will faze out all the Spidey Verse films they were developing. Yes even the Aunt May film (that was real!) and focus on a story involving Spidey versus the Sinister Six. At one point they were developing a film that was just going to be a spinoff called The Sinister Six. That’s scrapped but the big news is that the director of that film, Drew Goddard, will write AND direct the Spectacular Spider Man movie.”
Latino Review also reports that this new Spider-Man will not contain another origin story, and begin with the character already a superhero. They claim Sony and Marvel will cast a “new actor, probably an unknown” as Peter Parker, who’ll start off in high school and grow with the part “a la Harry Potter.” Supposedly Iron Man will make a cameo in the film, and Spidey will “audition” to join the Avengers before facing off with the Sinister Six (who may eventually get that spinoff that Goddard was supposed to work on before the Amazing Spider-Man series crapped the bed).
That all sounds good to me. Goddard’s a great writer and director, and as we wrote in that piece last year, he’s far too qualified for a Sinister Six movie. This guy has the chops to return Spidey to his former cinematic glory. Give him the power; he should be more than up to the responsibility.