Director Marc Webb is off and swinging on what’s likely to be a long old press tour spruiking **The Amazing Spider-Man 2 **and has already delivered notable news. In a chat with The Daily Beast, he revealed that this movie marks his penultimate Spidey-outing and that after The Amazing-Spider Man 3 he will bow out of the franchise.
“I’d like to be involved as a consultant”, he explained of his future plans, “and I’ve already talked to these guys about it, but in terms of directing it, that will close out my tenure. I’ve had so much fun doing it, but after the third movie, it’ll be the time to find something else.”
It’s significant, of course, because The Amazing Spider-Man 4** is already pencilled in for release on May 4, 2018. The vacancy will bring **Cabin The Woods **man Drew Goddard into play as a potential heir, with a lot of directors likely to be put one or both hands up for the job. Probably not Terrence Malick, admittedly.
In a far-ranging interview, Webb disclosed some other titbits related to the forthcoming second instalment. He straight-batted rumours that Felicity Jones would be playing a villain (her character “works in OsCorp” is all he’d said) and was unsurprisingly tight-lipped about the movie’s big bads. “Electro’s really the main villain in the movie,” he stressed. “Rhino makes a brief appearance.”
Compared his Harry Osborne, Dane DeHane, with his predecessor in the role brought out a more expansive Webb. “I wanted [Harry] to be as smart as Peter Parker,” he said. “James Franco is a very intelligent man, but his Harry Osborne was a little bit dopey. This Harry Osborne is incredibly sharp. Harry and Peter are bound by the loss of their fathers and their abandonment issues. In Raimi’s film, Harry is trying to protect Peter from getting bullied or whatever, and in this one, they’re more like brothers.”
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 arrives in UK cinemas on April 18, a year and a month before part 3 lands. Check out the superhero-sized extended trailer here.