Marvel has tasked John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein with writing their new Spider-Man series. Today, they’re speaking about their plans for the first time.
As previously reported, the new Spider-Man series will be inspired by John Hughes’ high school projects like The Breakfast Club. That concept was the focus of Deadline’s interview, and the two screenwriters happily confirmed the rumor. “It helped that Kevin Feige wanted to draw on the spirit of John Hughes for this Spider-Man, and we had just written and directed a sequel to a John Hughes-created franchise with Vacation,” said Goldstein.
Daley told the outlet that Marvel’s Spider-Man will follow a Peter Parker who takes his time in figuring out who he is and what he does with his powers. They also described this project as an “action comedy.”
“We definitely were attracted to approaching it from the standpoint of a real kid,” he said, “a high school geek who, just because he gets super powers he doesn’t really want, doesn’t become a superhero right away.”
“It’s a long journey,” added Goldstein, “You don’t want him to become someone capable of saving the world by second act. There is a wish fulfillment opportunity here in that few superheroes are given powers like this, and then has to navigate how to use them in a responsible way. Peter Parker is a geek, like us, and one of the very few superheroes who would actually read comic books. Stan Lee has said he wrote it that way, with wish fulfillment in mind, where most superheroes are very handsome adults, with superpowers. This is a real kid we’re talking about.”
The screenwriters said they’ll be meeting with Spider-Man director Jon Watts soon to hammer out more details. We suspect one of the things they’ll be thinking about is how they can play their story out over the long-term — rumor has it that there will be one Spider-Man movie for each year of high school (that would be four years, for those of you who don’t live in the U.S.).
The first film in the Spider-Man series opens July 28, 2017. Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, is rumored to appear in next year’s Captain America: Civil War.
It’ll be the first time we get to see Peter Parker / Spider-Man alongside the Avengers, so needless to say, everyone is excited!
Do you like the plans for ‘Spider-Man’ so far?
Related: Oscar winner Marisa Tomei cast as Aunt May in new Spider-Man movies
