As with the first movie, many fans noticed that a lot of the scenes in the trailers and TV spots for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn’t make their way into the final cut of the Marc Webb helmed sequel, but it turns out that there were a lot of other pretty huge alterations made during the writing stages of production as well.
Badass Digest have revealed just ten of these, starting with new details on how Shailene Woodley’s Mary Jane Watson was originally set to be introduced and exactly what her role in the movie would have consisted of.
As we all know Shailene Woodley was cast as Mary Jane Watson, shot some days and then was cut from the movie. The original script includes all of the MJ scenes, and she’s introduced as the Parker’s new next door neighbor. Her dad is an abusive drunk and she’s a waitress who builds motorcycles in her spare time. She has a Spider-Man tattoo on her wrist, and she’s clearly interested in Peter, who is totally hung up on Gwen. At one point Spider-Man confronts MJ’s dad, telling him to lay off the girl. At the end of the script Gwen comes to Peter’s house before heading to London; he’s gone but she meets the new neighbor. They have a friendly exchange and MJ says that she always attracts dickheads and asks Gwen what her advice is to get a guy like Peter. “Date a nerd,” Gwen says before heading off to die, basically giving MJ the okay to get with Peter.
They thens hed some light on Max Dillon’s relationship with his mother, revealing that the woman who forgot his birthday (as Jamie Foxx revealed in an interview) led to the villain becoming livid when he returned home from his accident to see the wheelchair bound woman now on her feet and receiving a pay off from Oscorp. It’s this which drives him to Times Square. However, forget Max’s mom as a much bigger introduction was also set to take place!
JJJ’s in the original script, as is Robbie Robertson. We see Peter, who is a student at Empire State University, bring his first Spider-Man pictures to JJJ, who gives him a tour of the Daily Bugle. JJJ complains that the internet is killing the newspaper business; later, Spidey and Electro’s first fight send them crashing through the Daily Bugle offices and the printing presses.
Despite being killed off in one of The Amazing Spider-Man‘s deleted scenes, Dr. Ratha was also set to return, taking on the exact same role that Colm Feore’s Donald Menken did. Dr. Kafka meanwhile was originally mean to be a woman (as in the comic books) and Electro would have broken himself out of Ravencroft, teaming up with Harry Osborn after attempting to kill him at Norman’s grave. Harry’s arc also played out quite a bit differently originally:
In the original script Peter actually gives his blood to Harry Osborn. This is a huge improvement over the finished film, where Harry just injects himself with spider venom. In the original script the Goblin suit is better explained – it isn’t for military use but was specifically built in secret for Norman Osborn. When Richard Parker wouldn’t give his blood to Osborn (the Parker DNA still being the key to it all), the suit went into Norman’s boathouse where Harry finds it.
Of course, Harry was the one responsible for Gwen Stacy’s death. While that plays out almost exactly the same in this earlier draft, Peter Parker’s love would have hung on to life long enough to demand that Peter never give up, giving him the motivation to continue as Spider-Man. However, as in the film, he would still walk away from the role for a while…until a very surprising return!
The finished film has a terrible bit at the end where Peter quits Spider-Man for a bunch of months, and this time passes by in a montage. The same thing happens here! But instead of finding a tape of Gwen’s super on-the-nose graduation speech, Peter is approached by… his dad! Yes, Richard Parker shows back up at the end of the script, and he tells Peter he’s been watching him for years. He’s seen him become Spider-Man and everything. It’s Richard who convinces Peter to become Spider-Man again, and in his last scene in the movie he tells Pete “With great power comes great responsibility,” FINALLY working the famous phrase into this new series.
That’s quite the cliffhanger, and a deleted scene on the Blu-ray (“Peter Meets His Father”) could be an indication that we’ll get to see this one. Why they decided against it – clearly at the last minute if they shot it – remains to be seen.
These are obviously some major alterations to the final product and it’s hard to say whether or not they would have changed the movie for the better or worse. What do you guys think? Be sure to let us know in the comments section!
SOURCE: Badass Digest
