MC2 in the TASM-Verse

 

Following on from the recent Spider-Man: No Way Home villain posts, my post about the various Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie trilogy references, easter eggs and connections in the MC2 got some nice responses so I figured I should attempt a modest sequel of sorts. This one detailing the (admittedly far fewer) connections between the MC2 comics and the Marc Webb directed The Amazing Spider-Man duology of films. Since both Amazing films were released after the MC2’s published history ended, the references and connections (intentional or otherwise) will obviously only flow in one direction. Let’s look at the MC2 in the TASM-Verse.

 

 

This first one is probably just an unintentional similarity but one I can’t get away from. Not only does Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker have amazing hair, when he tries on his father’s old glasses early in the first film, he resembles May ‘Mayday’ Parker in her own debut appearance in What If #105.

 

 

Ever since the first time I watched The Amazing Spider-Man in the cinema I’ve felt the scene where a newly empowered Peter takes a basketball from Flash Thompson and slam dunks it through the hoop and destroys the backboard looked awful familiar. This can only be swiped from the aforementioned debut of Spider-Girl in What If #105 where the emergence of Mayday’s powers is heralded by her leaping high into the air during a basketball game and performing a slam dunk which shatters the backboard. Even if this was not an intended reference, it’s an extremely unusual coincidence as Peter was notoriously unathletic and isn’t associated with basketball whereas Mayday is by contrast an athletic high school basketball star well before her powers developed.

 

Jumping from the films to the games now, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game features a very small cameo by Spider-Girl in the form of a comic glimpsed on the shelf of a comic shop you can visit in-game. I included this cameo appearance in my updated Evolution of Spider-Girl in Video Games YouTube video. The cover depicted in the game is Spider-Girl #39. Just a nice little easter egg inclusion.

 

 

That might be it, if I’ve missed anything please let me know! Hopefully you’ve seen how much crossover and recycled concepts different adaptions utilize from the MC2 Universe. Not sure if I should try and turn out more of these sorts of posts. Let me know what you think!

 

Until I realize far too late that I’ve missed a super obvious reference or connection, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raimi-Verse References in the MC2

 

Following on from the recent Spider-Man: No Way Home villain posts, for no specific reason today’s post will be about the various Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie trilogy references, easter eggs and connections in the MC2, including those I consider too coincidental not to mention. For short, here’s Raimi-Verse References in the MC2.

 

First up, here’s one I’ve always thought was ahead of it’s time and almost certainly unintentional. In Spider-Girl #5 we first meet the MC2’s Venom symbiote. When the symbiote bonds to it’s former original host Peter Parker we get a variation on both the Spider-Man and Venom’s costumes combined dubbed ‘Spider-Venom’. Now, to me this looks way too similar to Spider-Man 3’s Venom costume design for it *not* to be an inspiration. Of course, it’s more than likely a huge coincidence but it’s amusing that this comic was published in 1999, a whole seven years before the film was released. On an unrelated note, as far as I’m aware this may also be the first example of the symbiote replacing a host’s lost limb using it’s own bio-mass over a decade before ‘Agent Venom’ was a concept.

 

When a mysterious new Spider-Man first showed up at the Daily Bugle in Spider-Girl #32, he was rocking a new costume design which included classic eye-pieces and a red and black colour scheme. Additionally, the stylized spider emblem on both the front and back of the costume bore a very familiar design. While the front is a larger, modified version of Peter Parker’s own, the back with the red colour is remarkable for it’s strikingly similarity to the one first seen on screen a year later in the first Spider-Man movie.

 

Another fun detail -again more than likely unintentional- is the fact that this new Spider-Man (actually Gerry Drew, the son of the original Spider-Woman) is capable of producing organic webbing much like the Raimi-Verse’s version of Peter Parker (Spider-Girl #37). Meanwhile Peter’s ability to produce organic webbing wouldn’t be introduced in the Main Marvel Universe until 2004’s Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #20 in what was most likely an attempt at synergy between the comics and films.

 

This next one is probably my personal favourite. While attending an engagement party for Normie Osborn and Brenda Drago, Mary Jane points out to Peter a fellow partygoer’s uncanny resemblance to someone he should know all too well. Needless to say, Peter doesn’t see the resemblance and instead thinks he looks like Tobey Maguire (Spider-Girl #82). Of course, the man MJ points out is Reilly Tyne aka Darkdevil aka the son of Ben Reilly aka the clone brother of Peter Parker himself which makes this joke all the more amusing.

 

Okay, this one was so obvious I really have no idea how I nearly missed it when compiling this post! After hanging up her webs as Spider-Girl months prior, May ‘Mayday’ Parker suddenly finds herself in need of make-shift disguise. Thus, the short-lived adventures of the Red Hoodie Girl begin (Spider-Girl #1-#2, Avengers Next #1). Obviously, this look will seem very familiar to anyone who’s watched the original Spider-Man movie as it’s Peter’s ‘Human Spider’ wrestling costume.  

Calling back to the concept of producing organic webs, Peter’s second child, Benjy is shown to have developed just that ability, first in Amazing Spider-Girl #9 and later in Amazing Spider-Girl #30 when the infant manages to save himself and his mother from a deadly fall at the hands of a returned Norman Osborn. This is nicely foreshadowed in a scene where Peter and Mayday discuss organic webbing while producing a fresh batch of web-fluid together in Amazing Spider-Girl #20).

 

There’s also a nice little Raimi-Verse Spider-Man costume reference on the cover of Amazing Spider-Girl #11 featuring Peter Parker strung-up by Carnage’s tendrils, his Spider-Man costume adorned with the spider-design of his film counterpart.

 

That’s all I have for now, if you think I’ve forgotten or overlooked a reference to Sam Raimi trilogy, let me know! I thought this would be a nice little bit of fun to close things out for now.

 

Until I learn they’ve brought Tobey’s Spider-Man back… with a daughter in tow, I remain

 

frogoat