ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - This One Bad Scene in Amazing Spider-Man 2 Cost Sony Billions

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

ScreenCrush The Podcast tackles all the movie and TV hot topics, offering reviews and analysis of Marvel, Star Wars, and everything you care about right now. Hosted by Ryan Arey, and featuring a panel of industry professionals.

Today, we're going to take a look at one crucial scene in Amazing Spider-Man 2 that could have potentially cost Sony pictures billions of dollars. This scene tanked a cinematic universe. Welcome back Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Airy, and today we're going to explain the one scene that derailed the entire Amazing Spider-Man franchise. You see, at one point, Sony wanted to create their own MCU, a connected universe of Spider-Man-adjacent films, which include franchises based around Venom, Morbius, Craven, Madam Webb,

and originally Andrew Garfield Spider-Spiderman. Now, after The Amazing Spider-Man movies fizzled, Tom Holland joined the MCU, but Sony still tried to awkwardly marry this universe to the MCU with tacked on post-credit scenes in movies like Venom and Morbius. It has to do with Spider-Man, I think. So we haven't heard much about the something to do with Spider-Man I-Think universe since their release of Craven. All of these movies were panned by critics and fans,

but I think there's one scene in The Amazing Spider-Man, too, that is to blame for this downfall of a franchise. This one scene from 2014 illuminates the continuing live-action Sony Spider-Man problem. Now, for context, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, oh, it was a movie. The Webb duology got a lot of mixed reactions from fans. It was always going to be a Hercillion task to top the Ramey trilogy. So, Sony and Mark Webb's strategy was to be different. Instead of the typical nerd backstory, Peter Parker was a skater guy,

and they added a different love interest with Gwen Stacy. And there was also an unprecedented, strange obsession with Peter's biological father that we think tanked this movie, but we'll circle back to that in a minute. For the most part, the first Amazing Spider-Man movie was pretty well received. The changes were small, and they made this Peter's origin story feel similar, but different in a refreshing way. Same, same, but different. But above all, the movie shines because of this chemistry between their two leads, Andrew Garfield as Peter and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.

Their relationship is the heart of the film, and it's a lot more realistic when you stop thinking about how these guys are supposed to be 16-year-olds. How do you do, fellow kids? What? So, the sequel should have been easy. Put Peter and Gwen in a room together, let that will be able to. they won't they cliche continue, choose a fun villain we haven't seen before for the backdrop, and boom, you're golden. But we didn't get that. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 instead tries to pull the viewers' attention in a million different directions. It explores the deaths of the parkers,

and after a great opening swing sequence, zips us right to the introduction of Harry and Norman Osborne, and that classic villain immediately dies. We can't even be sad or feel anything about that because this was our only interaction with him. And later, we learned that Harry and Peter were off-screen best friends. So instead of flushing out their friendship, more, Peter spends the runtime moping around about his dad, which finally brings us to the worst scene in the Amazing Spider-Man movie. See, up until this point, we could excuse the lack of chemistry between Peter and Harry, or how Peter's a static protagonist, or even how Electro's power somehow come with free dental care. This scene, and what it tells the audience, is why the

Amazing Spider-Man 2 is just plain bad. It's my birthday. Now it's time for me to light my candle. Now at this time of the movie, Peter is at his low point. Gwen is about to move to London. Peter wants to save Harry's life from this degenerative disease, but he's worried that messing around with his DNA will create another monster like the lizard. And then Aunt May tells him about his father's old routine. He took the D train to work at seven every morning, came home at six every night. So then Peter decides to go to the Roosevelt train yard to clear his mind. So Peter retraces his dad's steps, just like Aunt May said, and the tracks reveal an abandoned subway car. He steps inside to see Petri dishes, experiments, and Richard Parker's computer.

Parker at the tiger from Life of Pie? No, Richard Parker is in Peter's dad. So in these movies, Richard Parker was an Oscore scientist. He and his wife, Mary, left Peter with Aunt May and Uncle Ben when he was little, and then they went off and died in a plane crash. In the first movie, Peter finding his dad's old briefcase is actually the catalyst for him to get his spider powers. Richard's notes were also the missing piece for Kurt Conner's lizard formula,

and in the sequel, Harry finds out that his dad and Richard Parker were trying to come up with a cure for this Goblin's disease. So, back in Richard's Subway Lab, a video plays on his computer. Richard explains that Oscor was exploiting his research and wanted the spider venom to be a weapon instead of a cure. But Oscore didn't know that Richard used his own DNA in the spider samples, which would then cause Oscor's experiments to always fail. This basically means that Peter only got spider powers because his dad happened to be the scientist behind radioactive spiders. So let me explain how this scene completely derails the movie,

which started off a chain of events that tanked Sony's cinematic universe. And then we'll talk about how this scene actually ruins the themes in this duology. So the scene comes a little after the halfway point, and this is typically the part of the movie where the hero learns all the information and becomes changed, like Steve learning about Hydra or the Death Star blowing up Alderon. Now, if this scene doesn't hit, then audiences will get bored because there's no escalation leading up to the final act. But Peter does not change after learning this new information. He finds out that his dad loved him and he wishes he could have been with him, and that's really it. We could have already assumed those things. You could argue, though,

that Aunt May's speech to Peter in the previous scene should have been the turning point of the film. As far as I'm concerned, you're my boy. We did the best we could. Your uncle Ben and I. Here, Peter realizes that the people who raised him are more important than whatever special DNA he has within him, which is the message of James Gunn Superman.

But instead, Peter looks for his dad's lab right after that scene, so it makes May's heartfelt speech seem like an afterthought. But also, when May talks to him, she tells him that his dad wasn't always a great guy. They said he was a traitor. But because that information is refuted immediately in the next scene, it means that Peter doesn't have to live with the shame that his dad might have been a bad dude. It's a meaningless revelation.

Now, the train scene could have been removed from the film and the final act would not change, but it also takes us out of the movie. It raises so many dumb questions. How was Peter's dad able to build this lab with nobody noticing? Like, I can buy that a corporation is creating supervillains, but a normal guy creating a hidden underground lab that raises with high, hydraulics and a special little coin-fed device. Like, that completely removes the idea that Peter Parker is an everyman underdog if his dad had the capabilities to build his own back cave.

Now, right after this scene, we watch Harry befriend Electro, break into Oscore, and then inject himself with this spider venom. However, there's no tension to this scene because we already know that Harry's going to turn to the goblin. He has the wrong DNA, as Richard Parker just confirmed. If the train scene was not in the movie, there would be some suspense in the scene, and then we would assume that Harry had a bad reaction to the formula. This would mean that Harry would be unlucky or tragic, but instead, it's all Richard Parker's fault. And now, the consequences of the third act and everything that happens are strictly based on Richard Parker's actions, instead of the characters that we've been following for the whole film. So, when Harry confronts Pete,

it is now no longer a heartbreaking battle between childhood friends. It's all about Peter's dad. Gwen does not die because Harry betrayed his best friend or because Peter couldn't save his best friend. She just dies because of Richard Parker. If Peter, If Peter didn't get closure from this scene, then Gwen's death would have hit even harder. Peter's hunt for answers and failure to save Harry would have resulted in Gwen's death, creating another person that he couldn't save. Hell, maybe the movie could have even ended on a cliffhanger where he quits being Spider-Man instead of this goofy rhino ending that tries to set up the Sinister 6 crossover film.

So that's how the train scene destroys the plot of the movie. But even worse, it dismantles the themes of these films. So I'm going to talk about how this subplot misunderstands the character of Spider-Man on a fundamental level. First, Peter's obsession with Richard is an insult to Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Like, there are scenes where May and Ben gets a monologue about how much they love Peter and how they work hard for him. And I get that Peter is a moody teenager, but how do we go from this?

You're a pretty great dad, right? To this. How dare I? How dare you? Or even this. It's even worse in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where May cries over earning enough money for Peter to go to college. Who doesn't know how to make ends meet, who has to take nursing, classes with 22-year-old kids so I can pay for you to go to college.

But then he uses May's sob story as a clue to find the Roosevelt train. You're a fraud, Spider-Man! Peter's reason for being Spider-Man is defined by his relationship with Uncle Ben and the trauma and guilt he feels over being responsible for his death. So, Peter trying to replace Uncle Ben and Aunt May or even resenting them for not being his parents makes that whole great responsibility line feel a little hollow. Not choice, responsibility. So that was a fucking lie.

This scene was supposed to be the big reveal. A huge catharsis for Peter since he spent two movies searching for Richard Parker. So we spent two movies on this mystery. Why did Richard leave? Would Peter be happier with his biological father around? What kind of work was he doing? Why did Mary leave with him? And to be honest, after finding out who gives a shit?

Richard Parker has never, ever played a prominent role in the Spider-Man mythos. Like in the comics, they did a story later on where he and Mary were CIA agents who died in Algeria, fighting against the Red Skull. I'm not saying that storyline would have made the web movies better, but I am saying we should have left the Parkers in the past. Like in the comics, the only real relevance that Richard and Mary have in Peter's life is that for a brief time, they came back, but then they were revealed to be Androids, giving Peter more emotional trauma. But again, it was not Peter's parents returning, it was Androids disguised as Peter's parents. But more importantly, this scene detracts from the central idea of Spider-Man. You see, Spider-Man is supposed to be an every man.

The idea is that anybody can wear the mask and that Peter is a regular guy who just wakes up every day and does the best he can for the rest of the world. But the Roosevelt sequence trades away the anyone can wear the mask message for a half-baked answer to an even more underbake conspiracy that nobody actually cared about. And guys, I want to let you know that right now you can get your very own Bonesaw versus Human Spider T-shirt during our Black Friday sale at our merch store. We also have brand new holiday designs like the new Doug ornament where he looks like Snoopy from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. We also have a Fox Force 5 t-shirt, and that's my secret. I'm always working with the Hall cunched over a desk. And don't forget to also pick up your life day commemorative shirt to celebrate the greatest moment in Star Wars history. In addition, for this week only, we have a ton of deals on our store.

40% off all apparel, 50% off collectibles, buy three get one free mug and pint glasses, buy two shirts, get one half off, and hoodies, hats and bags are all 25% off. Basically, if there's a screencrush shirt that you've always wanted, now is the time to buy. Links are below and those deals expire at the end of this week. See, Spider-Man became popular because we could identify with Peter Parker. He's an awkward guy who has real personal problems. In that way, we can relate to him because he embodies that every man archetype. And because everybody can relate to this hero, that means anybody can be this hero.

And this is what the Spider-Verse movies got right from the very start. My husband, Peter Parker, was an ordinary person. He always said it could have been anyone behind the mask. Anyone can wear the mask. You could wear the mask. The web movies also knew this too. One of Amazing Spider-Man 1's best scenes is Peter rescuing a kid from a burning car.

Put it on. The mask. It's going to make you strong. He tells this kid to put on the mask, not because it'll actually give him powers, but because the kid needs to believe in the symbol of Spider-Man and not in Peter Parker. Now, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suddenly remembers this message in the movie's final scene,

but it feels a little cheap here since 40 minutes. ago, we learned that Peter is only Spider-Man because his weird-ass dad put Parker DNA into a bunch of spiders. Gross! The web movies also have a loose anti-establishment theme because Oscor is creating all these supervillains. After all, Spider-Man's rogues galleries in these movies are made up of failed lab experiments. The Amazing Spider-Man 1 wanted us to sympathize with Dr. Connors since his funding was about to be cut, which led to him testing the lizard formula on himself. In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Harry is ousted from his company while searching for a cure for his disease.

Both of these characters are not only victims of Ozcor, but they were also victims of Richard Parker. His notes allow Connors to complete the lizard formula, which made him a crazy reptile man. What did I do? Other than possibly have a hand in the disappearance of your father and try to turn the entire human race into reptiles. And Harry couldn't know that the spider venom would kill him because it contained incompatible DNA. So which is it? Is OzCore and corporate greed the issue? Or are the events of this franchise just the mistakes of a singular scientist?

If you lose hope, then the Osbournes of the world really have one. Oh, you're one to talk. And not only that, but Richard Parker is a terrible hide-and-seek player. A hide-and-do you say right now? So get this. During this scene, Peter's dad goes on this long spiel about how he put his blood in the spiders. He goes on and on about his responsibility at Oscar being evil, but he's interrupted by young Peter calling out to him,

just like the flashback from The Amazing Spider-Man won. Dad! Dad! So this implies that he started playing hide-and-seek with his son, only to run down to the basement and start recording this goodbye video. And in the contents of the video, he complains about how much he regrets not spending more time with his only son. I always thought that I'd have more time.

Yesterday, you said tomorrow. So just do it! Your son is literally trying to play with you right now. Now, why would he do that to Peter? It's also a major coincidence, and it makes this movie feel really unbelievable, even though so he didn't really... Person!

Right, sorry. The most insane thing is that Sony knew this scene didn't work. That was really bad. Six months after The Amazing Spider-Man 2-hit theaters, Sony was hacked by an activist group protesting their other movie The Interview. So we found out from leaked emails that Kevin Feige saw early drafts of the movie and gave Sony notes, and he spells it out. Not sure what Peter learns at Roosevelt is entirely correct.

We're distracted by the idea that Peter became Spider-Man because of his father's blood. All this special backstory with his super-scientist dad fights with the idea that Peter is a normal kid from Queens who becomes the greatest superhero in the world. See, Feige understood the big idea here that Spider-Man is not a chosen one myth story. There are moments in the comics and other shows that play into Peter Parker's fate of Spider-Man, but the original recipe, the story that let everyone fall in love with the character in the first place, has always been about the little guy. How many little guys have scientists' fathers with hidden laboratories under abandoned New York City subway lines? This scene is just a gross

misunderstanding of the character. But on top of that, this conspiracy surrounding Richard Parker is the silver bullet that crippled Sony Spider-Man projects for the next decade. See, Sony knew this scene wasn't going to work. So why did they keep it in? Well, the franchise had become so entangled with this conspiracy and Richard Parker that it kind of needed to deliver an answer to the mystery they'd been building up to. Remember, it was part of the post-credits tease of part one. Did you tell the boy the truth about his father? True story, by the way, I saw that in Times Square and some guy yelled,

Who gives a fuck? Res, resident you? It was me. and nobody laughed because I was alone in the theater. But the main reason Sony created this scene was so Richard Parker could sequel bait us. But how can it be a sequel bait if he is dead? Well, that's the thing. Richard Parker wasn't dead.

That was going to be the big twist. Welcome back to the bonus round. In an infamous deleted scene, Richard Parker shows up at Gwen's grave to reunite with Peter. Now look, deleted scenes are always tricky in terms of canon, but Mark Webb said in the director's commentary that this scene was taken out just due to time constraints. He also felt that Peter didn't earn this.

reunion since he temporarily quit being Spider-Man. Now we know from cast interviews and reports that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was going to involve Richard helping to resurrect dead people, specifically Norman Osborne and Captain George Stacey. Part of the discussion was that possibly in 3, Spider-Man would be able to take this formula and regenerate the people in his life that had died. So I think it's safe to say that a deleted scene like this could have been moved to be a cold open for the third film. And the reason for all this sequel baiting really is the fault of the first Avengers movie. You see, The Avengers came out between the first and second Amazing Spider-Man movies.

That movie showed all of Hollywood how lucrative a connected universe could be. That's why we saw other companies try their hand at it, like the DC-EU, the Dark Universe, and the Monsterverse. So, of course, Sony tried to do this with the web movies. The first Amazing Spider-Man movie had one teaser, a post-credit scene teasing a mysterious man talking to Kurt Connors, but that's all.

But after the Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tries to set up the Osbournes. Felicia Hardy is the Black Cat, Alistair Smith, the Ravencroft Institute, Peter's dad returning, Doc Ock, the vulture, rhino, and two different green goblins, you know, because they also froze Norman Osborne's head. The Avengers showed Hollywood the path to really big bucks, so Sony suddenly wanted their own massive team-up film, so they scrambled to assemble a Sinister Six movie. They wanted Harry to build power in Ravencroft and eventually create a team to hunt down Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 even features schematics for the Sinister Six members,

so Sony were already trying to intrigue the audiences for these sequels. But the poor reception of the movie gave Sony cold feet, and they made it. to deal with Marvel Studios to share film rides for the character. So now, with Spider-Man and the MCU, Sony tried to make spin-off movies. When Venom did really well at the box office, they took all that money and they learned nothing. See, I think there is a way that Sony could have used a good version of Amazing Spider-Man 2 to create an interesting universe, made up of characters from Spider-Man's orbit. I mean, we've seen the comics spin-off and devote backstories to characters like The Black Cat, Silver Sable, Mysterio, and The Punisher, all of whom debuted in Spider-Man

comics. So imagine if the Roosevelt train station scene didn't exist. For one, the film would have been more focused and better received. Sony maybe would have had enough confidence to continue on with their web movies. But also, it would mean that they didn't have Richard Parker and his legacy in there to cede all of these other films. Instead, the films would have to be teased gradually with each successive movie. For instance, the Amazing Spider-Man 3 probably would have followed the original plan of featuring dead characters returning, like Norman Osborne, George Stacey, and hell, maybe even Gwen just to have Emma Stoneback. The newly revived Norman Osborne would assemble villains to Oscour, and we would get that Sinister Six film that was promised to us back in 2013.

The problem is, though, the studio had no patience to slowly introduce any of these elements. Instead, they loaded this film with allusions to future characters, and Richard Parker was the connective tissue between these storylines. If you drop him from the movie, and then suddenly the screenplay is free to focus on characters instead of plot. But instead, the scene is there to show Sony's intent to make Peter Parker a type of chosen one. You can see this reflected in the rest of their something to do with Spider-Man I-Think Universe. Morbius included pictures of Spider-Man in its trailers, and they held reshoots to

include the MCU's Vulture. Madam Webb marketed itself as connected to the Spider-verse animated movies when really it wasn't. And finally, after the success of the first Venom movies, its sequels were all about Chasing Noll, this Big Bad Spider-Man team-up villain who we will probably never see again. All the Sonyverse movies aim to set up some sequel or connection to Spider-Man that just isn't there, just like this Richard Parker scene did. It's almost like Sony was championing the character as their golden goose of an IP. And to their credit, it is Spider-Man.

He's really popular, but that's not all he is. Spider-Man is not a chosen one. He's like all of us. He's just a kid. The idea that anyone can wear the mask resonated with people so much that it became the central conflict and across the Spider-verse.

If Sony only listened to their creatives instead, the Sonyverse would still be alive and maybe worth watching. But that's just what we think. Do you think that Spider-Man should have stayed with Sony? Is there a scene that's worse than this one? Be sure to let me know down in the comments on our socials or on our free-to-join Discord server. And big shout out to Ethan In for writing this video.

And if it's your first time here, please subscribe, smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Airy.