“That is something that I wanted to fix…”
Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb spoke with SFX.com about Spider-Man’s costume change from the first film to the second film, which puts the character back into something that more resembles his iconic regular costume:
That is something that I wanted to fix. On the first movie my thought process was really about how a kid would make this costume. The eyes were smaller because those were the lenses he could find – we went out and tried to use material that a kid could find. It was all about trying to make something a little more real. This time around we really just embraced the version of the Spider-Man costume from the comics. We put the belt back on and the big eyes. I realised how important certain parts of the iconography are to the fans. There’s something in the subconscious that reacts really positively to those big eyes. It makes them feel friendly and there’s a primal connection that people feel to that, both as children and adults. We tried to honour the colour and the brightness and the specificity of that costume.
…
We liked the bigger eyes from the Ultimate Spidey. It’s interesting. Often the proportions of illustrations are quite different than they are in reality. You like the idea of certain things but the reality is… some of the eyes take up half of the surface area of the face. If you put it in a realistic environment it looks totally absurd and bizarre. Illustrators accentuate body parts and angles and it changes from frame to frame. We’re working in a world of live action.
For more, check out SFX.com.
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Sorry Mr. Webb, your explanation is not adequate. If the intent was to make it look like a kid did it, check out the wrestling scene from the original Spider-Man #1. That is what a high school kid would create.
As for the changes to this costume? Thumbs up! Much better and makes me hopeful that ASM2 will not suck like the first one. Still not a fan of the casting and character choices in this series, (Andrew sorry dude, do not like your Peter and no JJJ???), but if they can at least get the costume right, then it is a step in the right direction. Plus I always thought Electro, if done right, would be a good visual choice for a movie…so maybe, just maybe this franchise has a chance with this fan…
@7: They show him sewing the mask, taking lenses from sunglasses to use for the mask, looking up spandex bodysuits online, and screen printing the design onto the bodysuit.
Nowhere in the first movie do they explain how he made the suit, do they?
Really glad they fixed the costume for the second movie, but his explanation for why the costume in the previous film looked like it did was just ridiculous.
First of all, the ASM1 suit was much more complex than the more comic accurate one. It looked much less believable that a kid could have made it.
And second, who gives a rat’s ass if it looks like a kid made it? It’s a frickin’ comic book movie. Nobody but the uptight people making these movies cares about crap like that. We just want to see a good Spider-Man movie where he looks like he does in the comics. No need to overcomplicate it!!!
I know when I was a kid, I had full access to Nike’s basketball shoe design studio. I am so thankfull that they flixed this huge error in judgement that was the first suit.
Also, large eyes being introduced in the Ultimate version of Spider-Man? Todd McFarlane may have an issue with that statement.
@1: He did say that the fans had something to do with it.
@2: Obviously he can’t go back and say he screwed up. The last time someone did that about the Spider-man video games it was generally regarded as a poor decision by the podcast crew. Granted, this situation isn’t the same.
But even if it was revisionist history, that explanation works for me. I didn’t have too many problems with the first costume.
I guess I’m just overjoyed at how the costume looks now. I can’t really see a way of making it look any better.
This is nonsense. The horrible design choices in the first costume had NOTHING to do with it being believable a kid made that costume. The design they chose could just as easily be changed to the classic comic design without it being any more or less believable that he made it himself.
What about the horrible leg strip makes it something a kid could have made other than the trouser part being just blue? What about the head webbing was more believable that a kid made it? Same with the weird glove design. And other than being yellow, there was nothing wrong with the eyes on the first costume (although they are better on the new one)
This is revisionist history. It is far more likely that the reason they had such a radical design change was to differentiate it from the previous movies.
I wasn’t a big fan of the first movie but I really like the trailers for ASM2.
Uh-huh. Yeah, sure… I’m certain it had NOTHING to do with the fan reaction to the suit.