Sony is Rebooting Spider-Man...With Whom?

Spider-Man as we know him in cinematic form is no more.

Sony and director Sam Raimi (along with his cast, including Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst) fumbled talks on bringing back the web-slinger on a fourth and fifth installment, leading to a break and the news that Raimi and his actors will not be back.

This is something of bittersweet news, and the sour taste of "Spider-Man 3" continues to linger on our palette like so much spoiled cottage cheese, but the promise of a new day and a fresh start for Raimi was encouraging, at least initially (the rumors of Vulture and his daughter "Vultress," played by John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway, wasn't exactly setting fanboys' spandex on fire), but calls for a Spidey reboot will now be heeded.

Mike Fleming of Deadline Hollywood reports that Sony's short list to helm this new Spidey franchise includes James Cameron, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, but the frontrunner might be "(500) Days of Summer" director Marc Webb.

Webb is both the riskiest and safest choice for the studio; he's a young up-and-comer, would come cheaper than the others, and is probably the most likely to play ball with the studio. But he can still be the face who can inject some fresh blood into the franchise. He certainly captured young-adult angst well in his previous effort, but how would that translate into midair action sequences?

Most tantalizing to me is perhaps Wes Anderson, whose big-screen web-slinger would surely be the sarcastic quip-machine Raimi's wasn't, but would still probably have a hint of the irreverence his predessor brought to the table as well.

Cameron and Fincher too would be two directors with a singular visual style, and Cameron's work with Avatar could conceivably continue with Spider-Man, especially if plans for a 3D Spidey continue to move forward.

The current script, written by James Vanderbilt, calls for the new film to focus on a high school-age Peter Parker who is coming to terms with his powers and how to use them. Personally Spider-Man is one comic franchise that could work like James Bond does, where we can have multi-film arcs, but also can make a new film with an entirely new villain without hitting the reset button.

In comic book terms that could now be the "Incredible Hulk" corollary, where the reset occurs without having a new origin story (which among genre fans is quickly becoming passe anyway), but just jumping into a new story and continuing from there. It frees the filmmakers from the limitations set by the franchise without necessitating a whole new, ponderously long restart, and allows them to almost pick and choose what they want to keep and jettison.

Is it a cop out? Sure, but that doesn't mean it's not a viable option or will keep the film from being good.

And here's another thought: as with previous Marvel characters, there is a time limit that the studios have before rights revert back to Marvel. If that happens, Spidey could be melded back into the Marvel Universe, leaving him free to interact with heroes with existing film franchises like Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, and forthcoming ones like Captain America and Thor, not to mention the Fantastic Four and Daredevil, who have both been rumored to be getting Marvel reboots of their own.

Either way, the golden age of comics-to-film is still going strong.