The Amazing Spider-Man 2


The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The sequel to Spider-Man |The Amazing Spider-Man], it is directed by Marc Webb and written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner from a story by Kurtzman, Orci, Pinkner and James Vanderbilt. The film features Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti and Sally Field. In the film, Peter Parker tries to protect his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, as he investigates his parents' death while also encountering the supervillain Electro and his childhood friend Harry Osborn.
Development of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 began after the success of The Amazing Spider-Man. DeHaan, Giamatti, Felicity Jones, and Chris Cooper were cast between December 2012 and February 2013. Filming took place in New York City from February to June 2013. The film was released in 2D, 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on May 2, 2014 in the United States, with two international premieres being held between March 31 and April 10 of that year. It grossed $716.9 million worldwide, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2014.
The Amazing Spider-Man film series was originally intended to continue with at least two more sequels and several spin-offs, most notably films centered on Venom and the Sinister Six. In February 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios initiated a deal to share the Spider-Man film rights and reboot the character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, cancelling future projects in The Amazing Spider-Man series. Tom Holland succeeded Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man beginning with Captain America: Civil War, and a new Spider-Man film series set in the MCU began with Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017. Both Garfield and Foxx reprised their roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which linked The Amazing Spider-Man films to the MCU using the concept of the multiverse.

Plot

, a scientist who left Oscorp, records a video message to explain his disappearance. He and his wife Mary flee aboard a private jet, which is soon hijacked by an assassin. The jet crashes and kills both Richard and Mary.
Years later, Richard and Mary's son, Peter, continues to fight crime as Spider-Man. After apprehending the Russian criminal Aleksei Sytsevich, Peter attends his high school graduation. He is dating Gwen Stacy but is torn by guilt, having promised Gwen's late father that he would avoid her to keep her safe. Due to Peter's reservations about the relationship, Gwen breaks up with him. A few months later, Peter's childhood friend, Harry Osborn, returns home to see his dying father, Norman Osborn, the CEO of Oscorp. Norman explains that his illness is genetic, and that Harry will soon begin having symptoms. Norman dies soon after, and Harry inherits Oscorp.
While working in an Oscorp laboratory, mild-mannered electrical engineer Max Dillon accidentally falls into a tank of genetically engineered electric eels, causing him to mutate into an electrokinetic being. Unaware of the extent of his power, Max wanders into Times Square, where he inadvertently causes a power outage. Peter arrives and helps the police apprehend Max, who is incarcerated at Ravencroft Institute. Gwen tells Peter that she will move to England if she earns a scholarship to Oxford University.
The first symptoms of Harry's illness begin showing, and he uses information his father gave him to deduce that Spider-Man's blood could save him. He asks Peter, who has been selling photos of Spider-Man to the Daily Bugle, to help him find Spider-Man. Peter is unsure what effects his blood would have on Harry, but is worried it could cause a dangerous mutation. Disguised as Spider-Man, Peter refuses to give blood to Harry, which enrages him. The vice president of Oscorp, Donald Menken, frames Harry for covering up Max's accident and takes control of the company. Harry offers to liberate Max, who now calls himself "Electro", in exchange for getting Harry back inside the Oscorp building; Max agrees.
Upon returning to Oscorp, Harry forces Menken to inject him with venom from genetically altered spiders. The venom turns Harry into a goblin-like being, and he puts on an armored suit that can heal injuries to his body. Meanwhile, Peter finds his father's video message, which reveals that his parents had to flee because Richard refused to collaborate with Norman on the creation of biogenetic weapons. Gwen is offered the Oxford scholarship, after which Peter professes his love for her and decides to move to England with her.
Max causes a power outage at a power station. Peter and Gwen arrive and overload Max's body with electricity, killing him. Harry arrives equipped with weapons, and discovers that Peter is Spider-Man. Swearing vengeance, he takes Gwen to the top of a clock tower. Peter subdues Harry but is unable to stop Gwen from falling to her death. Wracked by guilt and sorrow, Peter stops being Spider-Man.
Five months later, Harry is incarcerated at Ravencroft. When his associate, Gustav Fiers, visits him, Harry orders Fiers to break Sytsevich out of prison and provide him with Oscorp weaponry. Equipped with an electromechanical suit of armor, Sytsevich dubs himself "The Rhino" and rampages through the streets. Peter, re-inspired after watching a video of Gwen's graduation speech, returns to confront him as Spider-Man.

Cast

  • Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: A young man who developed spider-like abilities after being bitten by a genetically-modified spider. He uses these abilities to fight crime as the masked vigilante Spider-Man. Garfield said his performance involved exploring the idea of "being fatherless, being motherless, searching for purpose and finding a purpose within himself".
  • *Max Charles as a young Peter Parker.
  • Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy:
A high school student and Peter's girlfriend. When asked about Peter and Gwen's relationship in the sequel, Stone said, "She saves him more than he saves her. She's incredibly helpful to Spider-Man ... He's the muscle, she's the brains."
An electrical engineer who works for Oscorp Industries and is later mutated into a powerful electrokinetic being following an accident, then taking the alias of "Electro". Foxx described the character as "a nobody" who initially idolizes Spider-Man. He develops an obsession with Spider-Man after being saved by him and obtains his powers through an accident at Oscorp involving electric eels. Foxx stated that the character would be redesigned to be more grounded and that the villain's classic yellow and green suit would be omitted in favor of a modern look, as depicted in the film.
Peter's childhood friend and the son of Norman Osborn. He was sent away to boarding school around the same time Peter's parents disappeared and met him for the first time there. He eventually assumes the role of the Green Goblin after injecting a special serum of spider venom into his body, initially injected to provide a cure, which instead ushers his transformation into the Goblin.
Oscorp's Vice President and Head of the Board. He is often in dispute with Harry over his capabilities of being a CEO to Oscorp, claiming that because Harry is a boy, he is incapable of leading the company.
A pawn for the Russian Mafia who allies with Harry and receives an electromechanical and rhinoceros-like suit of armor from him, deciding to call himself "The Rhino". Giamatti said of his character, "He's a Russian mobster. Russians are always good villains. I have an ability to just destroy things", he said. "My accent is pretty hammy. I loved doing it. It seemed to me like an opportunity to be as over-the-top hammy as possible. It was really fun."
  • Felicity Jones portrays Felicia Hardy, Harry's sidekick at Oscorp. While Jones was only credited as "Felicia" in the final film, her surname was presented as "Hardy" in a marketing video for the film's release on digital HD formats.
  • Sally Field as May Parker: Peter's aunt. Field was critical of the lack of depth in her role; during a 2016 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, she said that "It's really hard to find a three-dimensional character in , and you work it as much as you can, but you can't put 10 pounds of shit in a five-pound bag."
Embeth Davidtz as Mary Parker: Peter's late mother.
Marton Csokas portrays Ashley Kafka, the head of Ravencroft Institute, and B. J. Novak appears as Alistair Smythe, Dillon's boss and an Oscorp employee. Kari Coleman, Charlie DePew, Skyler Gisondo, and Jacob Rodier reprise their roles from the first film as Helen Stacy, Philip Stacy, Howard Stacy, and Simon Stacy, respectively, with the latter being uncredited. Chris Cooper, who portrays Norman Osborn, the founder of Oscorp and Harry Osborn's father, and Denis Leary, who reprises his role as George Stacy, appearing as a soul in Peter's visions, are also in uncredited roles. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo appearance as a guest at Peter and Gwen's graduation ceremony. Michael Massee reprises his role as the "Man in the Shadows" from the first film, with the character now credited as "Gustav Fiers ". Shailene Woodley was cast as Mary Jane Watson and filmed scenes that were ultimately cut from the final film. Aidy Bryant appears as a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty.

Production

Development

In March 2011, James Vanderbilt was hired to write the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, after scribing the predecessor, before Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were hired to rewrite the first draft the following year, later joined by Jeff Pinkner; screenplay credit went to Kurtzman, Orci, and Pinkner, with screen story credit given to the trio and Vanderbilt. The sequel's villain was teased in the 2012 film. Webb stated that the origin story would further unfold in the second installment. In June 2012, Webb said he was unsure whether he would return, though it was confirmed on September 28, 2012, that he would return to direct the sequel. He stated that he "wanted to create a universe that not only can withstand but anticipate future storylines" while also "working in and of itself for one movie." Andrew Garfield had also expressed hope to reprise his role, and in September 2012, it was confirmed that he would do so. Emma Stone was later confirmed to be reprising her role as Gwen Stacy, having signed a contract for two Amazing Spider-Man sequels. The costume was completely redesigned to be more faithful to the comics, following the mixed reaction of the costume from the first film. The eye lenses were changed to be much larger and solid white, while specially screen printed fabrics were used to allow the color of the costume to change in different lighting scenarios. The web shooters were also modified to be more streamlined with the suit.
Actor J. K. Simmons expressed interest in reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy should the studio offer it to him. In October 2012, Electro was rumored as the next villain. Jamie Foxx was given the role. That December, Foxx confirmed that he was cast as the character. During an interview with MTV, Foxx explained that the redesign of the character would be more grounded as well as details of his depiction, which were based upon the Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Electro. Eddie Redmayne, Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth and Boyd Holbrook tested for the role of Harry Osborn while, Alden Ehrenreich and Brady Corbet were also considered. Michael B. Jordan also read for the role. On December 3, 2012, Marc Webb revealed that Dane DeHaan was chosen to play Harry Osborn. Paul Giamatti was confirmed as a cast member in February 2013. Felicity Jones confirmed her involvement with the film under an undisclosed role. Giamatti also indicated in an October 2013 interview that he would return in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 as well. On February 27, 2013, Chris Cooper was cast as Norman Osborn.
By October 2012, Shailene Woodley was in talks for the role of Mary Jane Watson. By March 2013, Woodley had concluded filming her small role. Garfield recalled, "I think all of were in our backyards. We had two or three scenes with me talking over the fence, and there was one with us riding together on a motorcycle that we never got to shoot." By mid-June, Woodley's role was cut from the film, with director Webb explaining it as "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship."

Filming

On February 4, 2013, Marc Webb posted on Twitter that principal photography had begun and that the sequel was being shot on 35mm film in the anamorphic format, instead of being filmed digitally as the preceding film was. Sony revealed this would be the first Spider-Man film to be filmed entirely in New York state, including a car pursuit scene that was filmed in Rochester because the speed laws are less restrictive in upstate New York.
It became the largest film production ever in New York state. The decision to film in Williamsburg, Brooklyn near the Passover holiday caused some controversy, as critics believed that this was culturally insensitive, and would cause problems with parking. The filming company decided to work with the community and then agreed to adjust its production activities for Passover. The producers had assembled a 200-person crew for the 10-day shoot in Rochester, with a total number of 250 local crew members and 150 local extras. The prominent scenes were shot mostly on Main Street of Rochester and were digitally remastered to look like New York City.
On March 1, a scene within the movie was filmed in NYC Chinatown's Nom Wah Tea Parlor. Consequently, Doyers street was shut down for the day of filming, with the businesses on the street being compensated for the inconvenience.
Gwen blurting out Spider-Man's real name after he binds her to a car trunk was unscripted, an ad-lib by Emma Stone.
On June 25, Webb posted on Twitter that filming was completed. Soundstage work was done at Grumman Studios and Gold Coast Studios, both in Bethpage, New York, and at the Marcy Armory in Brooklyn.
The film initially did not have the teaser for the Sinister Six spin-off film, but after test audiences criticized that it was unclear whether Harry had died in battle with Spider-Man, been incarcerated, or escaped, the filmmakers decided they needed to do a scene with Harry after the battle in order to establish his fate. The viewing of Gwen's speech was also a late addition, as initially the film instead had Richard Parker meeting Peter at Gwen's grave. After a great deal of deliberation, the return of Richard Parker was replaced because the majority felt that it over-complicated the story, infantilized Peter by making it seem that he needed his father's support to resume being Spider-Man, and was one emotional blow too many after Gwen's death.

Visual effects

designed the CGI visual effects for the film. The digital composition of the film, including the scene where the battle of Spider-Man and Electro in Times Square, took one year to complete. The sets of Times Square were built in Gold Coast Studios with the green screens and most of the scenes were digitally re-designed by computer. The photography and VFX team took over 36,000 photos of the Times Square in order to re-create the location digitally. In addition, the animation team captured over 100 billboards during the photography process.
The film was 3D conversion|post-converted from 2D to 3D], in part because the production team wanted to shoot 35mm film. Dan Mindel used Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 and 200T 5213, while the second unit shot day exteriors on Kodak Vision3 50D 5203. During the production, 20 layers of lightning CGI effects were applied to depict Electro. Jamie Foxx was photographed as Electro by the KNB EFX team and the skin colors used to show the moods of the character. A total number of 1,600 visual effects shots of the film was originally filmed in 2K resolution and then converted into 4K resolution with the help of color grading. To give the visual effects a realistic look, sound designers Addison Teague and Eric Norris and re-recording mixers Paul Massey and David Giammarco mixed the background music using Auro 11.1 cinema sound technology and the film's soundtrack was remixed using Dolby Atmos, Auro 11.1, and Dolby Surround 7.1.

Post-production

The film was mixed in Dolby Atmos and Auro 11.1 in the converted William Holden Theater. The mix for both was completed by Paul Massey and David Giammarco.
A mid-credit teaser scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past was added to the film after its London premiere, due to an existing deal between Webb and 20th Century Fox, in which Fox allowed Webb to direct the film if Sony would promote the X-Men film for free. The scene, set during the Vietnam War, shows Mystique, a rogue mutant, trying to infiltrate a military camp led by William Stryker in an attempt to recruit fellow mutants Havok and Toad. The scene's inclusion sparked confusion among some viewers in the United Kingdom, who thought it meant an X-Men–Spider-Man crossover film was being planned, based on how Marvel Studios and Disney Studios |Disney] use codas within the Marvel Cinematic Universe to promote future films.

Music

After James Horner declined to return for the sequel, Webb hired Hans Zimmer to compose the music for the film. On October 25, 2013, Pharrell Williams revealed to Billboard that he would co-compose the score with Zimmer. Webb and Zimmer formed a supergroup with Williams, Johnny Marr, Mike Einziger and former Eurythmic, David A. Stewart, to create the music for the sequel. Eventually, Stewart did not participate in the film's music, and the supergroup, credited as The Magnificent Six, a reference to the Sinister Six, was composed of Williams, Marr, Einziger, Junkie XL, Steve Mazzaro and Andrew Kawczynski assisting Zimmer. The soundtrack for the film was released on April 18, 2014, by Columbia Records and Madison Gate Records. Hans Zimmer described his work for this film as different from previous works by him, thus revealing one of the themes for the film, which was first heard on the website.
On March 31, 2014, Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lamar recorded a song titled "It's On Again", which was uploaded to SoundCloud. Keys announced the song on Twitter and credited Zimmer and Williams, along with Lamar and herself for the song, indicating the song as a part of the film's soundtrack. Webb described the song as "upbeat and exciting".

Marketing

The release of the film in the United Kingdom was advanced to April 16, 2014, two days ahead of its original release date of April 18. Deadline reported that, in addition to the production budget, the film's marketing budget was $100–150 million.
On July 17, 2013, Sony released a clip from the film with the first released footage of Jamie Foxx as Electro to encourage attendance at the panel, at San Diego Comic-Con. At the panel they premiered a four-minute trailer, which was not publicly released but eventually leaked on the internet. Viral marketing for the film included a version of the Daily Bugle on the blogging service Tumblr, which included references to Kate Cushing, Detective Stan Carter, the "Big Man", Izzy Bunsen, Joy Mercado, Donald Menken, the Vulture, Hydro-Man, Spencer Smythe, Ned Leeds, Anne Weying, J. Jonah Jameson, Shocker, Alistair Smythe, Doctor Octopus, Eddie Brock, The Enforcers, and Puma. Marc Webb posted a photo on Twitter with a message written in Dwarven language revealing that the first trailer would debut prior to 3D screenings of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
On December 8, 2013, it was announced that new footage from the film would be presented during New Year's Eve festivities at New York City's Times Square. The film was further promoted during the World Wide Fund for Nature "Earth Hour" campaign. The cast was present at the launch of the 2014 event in Singapore. Disney Consumer Products announced a merchandise product line for the film at the American International Toy Fair on February 17, 2014. Additionally, McDonald's released Happy Meal toys themed to the film.
In March 2014, Gameloft and Marvel announced the launch of a mobile game of the same name for smartphones and tablets. It was released on consoles afterward. Kellogg's released an application featuring the film. Evian served as a promotional partner of the film. On April 1, 2014, the brand released an advertisement "The Amazing Baby & Me 2" featuring Spider-Man and a baby version of him, as a follow-up to their original "Baby & Me" campaign. The film partnered with NBCUniversal for advertising. Spots for the film appeared on Bravo, E!, USA, Syfy, Telemundo, and mun2. A customized page was created on Fandango. In May 2014, Marvel announced that Spider-Man's costume from the film would be shown within Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
In March 2024, Sony announced that all of their live-action Spider-Man films would be re-released in theaters as part of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary celebration. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was re-released on May 13, 2024.

Home media

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for digital download on August 5, 2014, and was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on August 19, 2014. The Blu-ray/DVD release includes an alternate ending in which Peter Parker's father meets Peter at Gwen's resting place. Creative agency Deckhouse Digital was hired to produce several animated GIFs ahead of the film's Blu-ray/DVD release as part of a sponsored ad campaign on Tumblr.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 received a standalone 4K UHD Blu-ray release on March 1, 2016. The film was later included in The Spider-Man Legacy Collection, a 4K UHD Blu-ray collection which includes the first five Spider-Man films, and was released on October 17, 2017.
In April 2021, Sony signed a deal with Disney to let Sony's titles, including past Spider-Man films, films in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, and other Marvel content to stream on Hulu and Disney+. A significant number of Sony titles began streaming on Hulu starting in June 2021. It includes films from 2022 onwards. While the deal only concerns the United States, titles from Sony Pictures begun to also be added to Disney+ in regions outside of the U.S., as early as June 2022. This includes most Spider-Man films, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Reception

Box office

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 grossed $203.6 million in the United States and Canada and $513.3 million in other countries for a worldwide gross of $716.9 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $70.38 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it one of the top 20 most profitable releases of 2014.
The film grossed $8.7 million on its early Thursday night showings. It finished its opening weekend in first place with $91.6 million, almost $30 million more than the opening-weekend gross of the first film. Upon opening, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had the second-highest domestic opening weekend for a 2014 film, behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In its second weekend, the film grossed $35.5 million and dropped to second at the box office behind newcomer Neighbors. It was similar to the 61.5% second-week drop of Spider-Man 3.
Outside North America, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened on April 16, 2014, to $2.73 million in the UK and to $190,000 in Belgium, while opening to $1.44 million in Australia and $1.11 million in Germany. Within a few days, the opening gross in the UK increased to $15 million, breaking The Lego Movies record for having the country's largest opening weekend of the year. The film's release in India was the biggest opening weekend for an American film at that point with. Its final box office collection was $13.44 million there, one of the highest of all time by a Hollywood film. In China, the film played on 11,002 screens, which is the biggest release of any film in history. On its opening day in Hong Kong, the film earned $1.23 million, the highest opening gross in the territory.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 holds an approval rating of 51% based on 312 reviews, and an average rating of. The site's critical consensus reads, "While the cast is outstanding and the special effects are top-notch, the latest installment of the Spidey saga suffers from an unfocused narrative and an overabundance of characters." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, lower than the "A−" earned by its predecessor.
The Los Angeles Times said, " overstuffed with plot lines, set pieces and villains, although stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone do their best to give the movie heart." Tim Robey of The Telegraph said, "Marc Webb's Spider-Man sequel is overstuffed with high-voltage villains, but the sparks between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone save the day". Mike McGranaghan from The Aisle Seat gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of four, calling it "the Batman & Robin of the entire Spidey series." Jon Niccum of The Kansas City Star gave it a score of 1.5 out of four stars and said, "One must go back to the Joel Schumacher Batman fiascos to find a director more disconnected from his superhero source material." Simon Reynolds of Digital Spy said: In a mixed review, Michael Burgin of Paste Magazine said, "Ultimately, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is noteworthy for one thing—not waiting until the third or fourth film to achieve the overstuffed, increasingly garish look one associates with less popular and outright ridiculed franchise efforts." Kim Newman of Empire scored the film three out of five stars, saying: "A few too-broad gags aside—and even these are in the funky spirit of '60s Marvel—this is a satisfying second issue with thrills, heartbreak, gasps, and a perfectly judged slingshot ending." Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter said:
Guy Lodge of Variety said, "Redundancy remains a problem, but this overlong superhero sequel gets by on sound, fury, and star chemistry." Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, stating that "It's about 20 minutes too long and it's overstuffed with too many characters and too many subplots, but there's enough good stuff in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to warrant optimism about the next chapter of the franchise." A negative review came from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, giving the film two stars out of four, he said: "Things go wrong quickly with Amazing 2. Am I the only one who hates the word Amazing to describe a movie that isn't? Just asking." IGN reviewer Daniel Krupa gave 6.9/10 and wrote: William Harrison of DVD Talk rated the film as 3.5 stars of 5 stars as "Recommended".

Accolades

Legacy

Cancelled sequels and spin-offs

Sony had originally intended the film to launch an expansive film universe around Spider-Man to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2013, Sony announced a third Amazing Spider-Man film with a release date of June 10, 2016, with Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner returning to write and a fourth film with a release date of May 4, 2018. The series was to include spin-off films featuring the Sinister Six and Venom, with Drew Goddard writing and directing the two-part Sinister Six and Kurtzman directing a Venom Carnage script co-written by himself, Orci, and Ed Solomon. Garfield had discussions with Goddard about reprising his role as Spider-Man in Sinister Six. Sinister Six Part 1 had been planned for a November 11, 2016, release. Additionally, by August 2014, Sony had hired Lisa Joy to write the script for a 2017 female-lead film featuring Felicia Hardy / Black Cat. Sony announced plans for a spin-off based on Spider-Man 2099 to be released in late 2017. The character later appeared in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, voiced by Oscar Isaac, and was heavily featured in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a main character in an antagonist role. He is also set to feature heavily in the final installment in that trilogy, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
However, between December 2013 and the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in May 2014, Garfield and Webb stated that while they would both return for the third film, neither was certain of their involvement in the fourth with Webb confirming that he would not be directing. Following the mixed critical reviews and franchise-low box office performance of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the future of the franchise was unclear. By July 2014, Orci had left the third film to work on Star Trek Beyond. The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which would have included Chris Cooper returning as Norman Osborn and focused on Peter recovering from Gwen Stacy's death, was delayed to an unspecified date in 2018, and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 was moved to an unknown date.
Following the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, Emma Stone was revealed to be in talks to return as a resurrected Stacy in the 2017 female-lead film and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 as the antagonist Carnage. Sony was further revealed to be in talks to have Sam Raimi return to the franchise to direct a new trilogy for his version of the character along with a Spider-Man vs. The Amazing Spider-Man movie and was in discussion with Marvel Studios about including Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: Civil War. Marvel reportedly was unhappy with some of the terms of the proposed arrangement including the film rights staying with Sony and both talks allegedly ceased. In early 2015, a deal between the studios that allows Spider-Man to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was reached, effectively cancelling The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. Speaking to Amy Adams for Variety's Actors on Actors YouTube series in 2016 Garfield described himself as being left "heartbroken" by his experience on working on The Amazing Spider-Man films.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures co-production, Spider-Man: No Way Home, was released in 2021. Being an adaptation of Marvel Comics' multiverse stories, it temporarily transported alternate reality versions of Spider-Men and other characters across the multiverse to the main Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity. This includes characters from both movies in The Amazing Spider-Man duology, as well as the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi. Garfield and Tobey Maguire reprise their roles as Spider-Man. No Way Home also includes a roster of villains from earlier Spider-Man films; Jamie Foxx returns as Max Dillon as portrayed in this film, along with Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina reprising their versions of Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius from Raimi's trilogy. In limited roles involving voice acting and use of archival footage, Rhys Ifans reprised his role as Curt Connors from The Amazing Spider-Man and Thomas Haden Church returned as Flint Marko from Spider-Man 3.
Following the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, No Way Home depicts Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker as being haunted by his inability to save Gwen Stacy from her fall and ends up saving Michelle Jones-Watson from a similar fate in that film's climax.