[Cohost Archive] Some unorganized thoughts on Raimi Spider-Man and my (lack of) experience with superhero pop culture

So as part of my friend group’s weekly movie night I recently rewatched the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, which I hadn’t seen for quite a while. While I really enjoyed them overall (especially the second, what an absolute delight), it’s had me thinking a bit about my relationship with superhero media as a whole.

To preface, I’m generally not much of a fan of superhero stuff in general. There’s stuff I enjoy, but it tends to be something I only ever have pretty minimal exposure to. I think I’ve read about five Batman issues in my life, and I’ve read considerably more Star Trek comics than I have anything superhero adjacent.

As far as movies go, though? I’ve seen about two thirds of the ‘89 Batman movie, the Nolan Batman stuff, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Mans, and Spiderverse. That’s really about it. To this date, I haven’t seen a single MCU property, and judging by everything I’ve heard, I’m in no rush to start. Of course, seeing this trilogy again in the wake of the modern trend of superhero cinematic universes, has me morbidly curious about the MCU movie that brings Toby Macquire and all the others back.

But then the more I think about it, the more I realize that I just don’t want to see these characters again. I’ve picked up through cultural osmosis a few of the villains that return in that movie, which just leaves me wondering what more there really is to do with these characters, when from what I can see they’ve all had complete arcs that don’t leave any more room for more stories with them.

Maybe there’s more merit to the movie than it seems from an outside perspective, but I really can’t imagine myself enjoying it when so much of it seems to exist first and foremost to be recognized by diehard fans rather than to tell a story or explore the characters beyond the surface level. (It also doesn’t help that I have basically zero connection to Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man and even less for the new one.)

I think ultimately the reasons I’m not interested in the MCU are the same reasons I’m largely uninterested in superhero comics as a whole:

• Taking characters with entirely different concepts and aesthetics and mashing them together into a team, regardless of how well their designs mesh together.
• Constantly building up to the next big crossover event and never allowing room to breathe.
• Way, way too much homework to be caught up for each new entry.

Again, I could be completely wrong about all this but this is just how the genere always appeared to me. I think the reason things like the Raimi trilogy, the 90s-2000s DC cartoons, and Spiderverse work for me is that they tend to be more self-contained, and they know when to close the book and give their stories a definitive ending (though I guess the jury’s still out on Spiderverse).

I guess there’s not really any big point I’m trying to make here, other than the general question of: Is there actually something I’m missing with the MCU and things like that, or am I better off sticking to my tried and true strategy of checking out of all but the 5% of superhero stuff that seems worthwhile to me?

Comments