Spider-Man (The Amazing Spider-Man Films)

"We all have secrets; the ones we keep, and the ones that are kept from us."

- Peter Parker in the trailer of The Amazing Spider-Man


 * This incarnation of Spider-Man is about the character from the Marc Webb film series. For other Spider-Man incarnations, check out the disambiguation.

Spider-Man (real name: Peter Parker) is the titular main protagonist of the The Amazing Spider-Man films directed by Marc Webb. He was an ordinary high school student until an investigation at Oscorp led to him being bitten by a genetically modified spider.

He is played by Andrew Garfield, who also played Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network.

The Amazing Spider-Man
In the film's beginning a young Peter is playing hide and seek with his father only to stumble onto his father's study having been ransacked and his parents quickly pack up and leave and take him to his Aunt May and Uncle Ben to watch him for them for a few days and his father promises they will be back.

Thirteen years later Peter is a seventeen year old attending Midtown Science High School in New York. He is a social outcast bullied by many of the popular students, most frequently Flash Thompson. He got his hopes up when he thought Sally Avril was asking him out for a Friday night date, but she just wanted him to take pictures of her boyfriend's car. Although he was unpopular, he had interests in skateboarding, photography and is very gifted at science. As Peter walks out of the school building he sees Flash harassing a boy named Gordon. When asked by Flash to take a picture with his camera of Gordon's humiliation, he defended Gordon and told Flash to put him down, repeating his demand a second time after calling Flash by his real name of Eugene. Flash then began to beat him up but Gwen Stacy ends the fight, she starts to slowly take a bit of interest in Peter who is revealed to have a crush on her.

When he arrived home he was tasked with helping his Uncle in the basement which had become flooded. As Peter helped move things away from the water he stumbled upon his father's briefcase which had been hidden. Looking through it Peter learned of the plane crash that killed his parents and that his father used to work with Curt Connors at Oscorp in cross-species genetics. Wanting answer Peter went to Oscorp the next day and managed to get in after pretending to be a high school intern though discovered Gwen was both Connor's assistant as well the intern's tour guide and thus was recognized. Peter managed to impress Connor's with his scientific knowledge of both cross-species and science in general and upon inquiry of his identity Gwen covered for him and said he was her high school's second best student which Peter tried to somewhat challenge. After Gwen told him to behave himself and not do anything to get both him and herself in trouble, Peter immediately snuck off after bumping into an executive carrying files identical to his father's cross species project symbol. Peter followed him to a lab and used the access code he saw the man use in order to get into the lab where he found several genetically enhanced spiders producing spider silk cables. After accidentally causing the laboratory to fail, dozens of the spiders fall onto Peter who panics and flees the room after swatting them all off. However one had managed to stay on him under his clothes and bit his neck, injecting him with it's genetically enhanced venom.

On the way home Peter began to feel ill and fell asleep on the train where, while unconscious, a group of men decided to try and have a laugh at his expense by putting an open beer bottle on his head in the intent it would splash over him when he awoke. However the moment a drop from the bettle hit his head, he flung himself to the compartment's ceiling and stuck long enough to shock the other passengers before falling to the floor. Noticing he had accidentally flung the beer onto a women, he tried to help her get it off though wound up getting stuck because of his awakening powers and, getting stressed by the men from before to get away from her, he does so only to end up tearing her shirt off. Peter then has to fend off the now angry men but he takes them all out by accident with his powers, apologizing repeatedly until one attacks him with his skateboard only to break it on Peter's arm.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man is seen in pursuit of criminals carrying a truck full of plutonium (dangerous chemicals) through the city. Whilst talking to Gwen Stacy on the phone, he sees a vision of her late father, Captain Stacy, and is reminded of the promise he made to stay away from Gwen. During the chase, he saves the life of a man named Max Dillon. Afterwards, Peter meets Gwen at their high school graduation ceremony where the two share a kiss. However, later in the evening, Peter tells Gwen about the visions he's been having and insists that he needs to keep his promise in which Gwen breaks up with Peter. Upon hearing the news of Harry returning to New York City and the death of Norman Osborn, Peter Parker visits Harry and the two are reunited after ten years. Later that night, Peter meets Gwen in attempt to maintain a friendship, and Gwen tells Peter that an opportunity to Oxford University means she has to move to England. Before the two can discuss it, Max accidentally shuts off the power to Times Square whilst looking for electricity to power himself. Max is seen all over time square where he is actually seen. Spider-Man attempts to calm the situation down. Spider-Man then saves people from his destruction. As Electro is replaced by Spider-Man all over Times Square which Electro then thinks Spider-Man is nothing but selfish. But after the police try to snipe him, Max thinks that Spider-Man has betrayed him, Spider-Man tries to calm him down but fails and Electro, in rage, attacks. Spider-Man eventually stops him and he is taken to Oscorp to be tested on. Harry begins to show symptoms of his illness and uses the device his father gave him to deduce that Spider-Man's blood could help save him. He asks Peter for help finding him but Peter refuses, unsure of what effects the transfusion would have. Parker visits Harry again, this time as Spider-Man, but again refuses. He then goes to Gwen Stacy and finds her then tells her about the situation and also gives her luck. Peter uses information left behind by his father to locate the video message Richard left. In it, Richard explains that he had to leave New York because he wasn't willing to go along with Norman Osborn's plans to use what they had created for biological weapons with his research. Peter then receives a voicemail message from Gwen, telling him that she was offered the job in England and was heading to the airport to fly there earlier than expected because of an earlier class. Peter manages to catch her and professes his love for her, and the two agree to go to England together. They are interrupted by a blackout caused by Electro. Peter takes Gwen down where the police are and Gwen helps him with his web-shooters to go against Electro. Peter heads off to fight with Electro having the upper-hand. As Electro has Spider-Man in the air and is electrocuting him, Gwen comes in a police car and hits Electro, against Peter's demands. The two plan to defeat Electro by overloading his electricity supply. Just after they do so, Harry Osborn arrives, now as the Green Goblin, and figures out Spider-Man’s identity and that he wants revenge for being refused the life saving blood transfusion. Goblin takes Gwen and drops her where Spider-Man catches her. The two fight at the top of a clock tower, and Spider-Man manages to subdue the Goblin. However, during the fight, Gwen falls and is supported by a web connected to one of the gears. The gears gives way which causes to cut the web, and Gwen again falls. Goblin is then defeated and Peter tries to save Gwen using his web. As Peter webs to catch her, she hits her head on the floor dying instantly from the impact. Five months pass and Spider-Man is nowhere to be seen in New York, as Peter spends every day at Gwen's grave. Meanwhile, Harry Osborn is visited by an unknown identity who tells him that they have found a man suitable of operating a large suit of armor developed by Oscorp. The man is Alexsei Sytsevich - the criminal stopped by Spider-Man once before. He attacks the city streets in the mech-suit, going by the name The Rhino. Peter is inspired by a recording of Gwen's graduation speech and makes his return as Spider-Man to fight Rhino.

Personality
Peter Parker had all the qualities of a 17-year old teenage crime fighter; shy, smart, broody, aggressive, sarcastic, troubled, awkward and intelligent. Perhaps Peter never truly got over his parents leaving him and then dying in an unfortunate plane crash, he possesses a scientific curiosity and is considered something of a geek at his school which made him a target for the local bully, Flash Thompson. Peter had a tendency to use humour as a defensive mechanis, a trait that was only amplified when he became Spider-Man using sarcasm and wittiness before and during his fight with criminals.

However behind this naturally upbeat demeanou Peter also possesses a tragic and lonely side, brought on by the immense huilt lf the death of the people he held close, most specifically his Uncle Ben who was killer Peter met and actually let walk free simply to spite the owner of a convenience store. Another contributing factor for his guilt was his crush, Gwen Stacey's father dying at the hands of The Lizard while trying to save Spider-Man and with his dying breath he asks that Peter keep his daughter of his vigilante activities which he fails to honour and this causes PTSD and even hallucinations. What proved to be a final straw for Peter was the woman he loved, Gwen Stacey died in his arms during a fight with The Goblin and for a few months he hung up being Spider-Man but eventually returned when the city was under threat.

Peter also had a vengeful side to him, specifically before he truly become Spider-Man he used his newfound powers to search for the criminal who killed his Uncle Ben and presumably planned to return the favour however it quickly evolved into something more righteous. This was also shown when he humiliated the bully Flash in front of his entire basketball team. After getting his newfound powers form OsCorp, Peter had difficulty controlling them and was unintentionally destructive which was shown when he destroyed his bathroom, a football goal, a basketball net and the front door.

Peter was also something of a poor liar, every night he would return home with different scars and would tell a ridiculous to cover it up. Over the course of the first and second film Peter eventually became obsessed over finding out what happened to his parents and if a third was ever released it would have been about him getting over Gwen's death.

Powers/Skills
Of course, like the original comic book counterpart, Spidey has super strength which allows him to punch through metal plates easily. He also has super-enhanced speed, agility, equilibrium, senses & endurance. His increased metabolism allows him to heal moderate injuries within the space of a day without medial attention. He can climb up walls & has devices which shoot webs. He is also a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant & is an exponent of science & technologies.

Behind the Scenes

 * Andrew Garfield was signed up to appear in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and possibly the planned Sinister Six spin-off film. However this didn't come to pass as in 2015 Sony made a deal with Marvel to once again reboot the Spider-Man franchise so the character can appear in Marvel's shared cinematic universe of films. As the new cinematic universe Spider-Man ignores the Garfield films, this leaves the character's fate and the Sinister Six storyline incomplete.
 * Before Andrew Garfield was announced for the lead part, Taylor Lautner, Josh Hutcherson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Logan Lerman, Robert Pattinson, Jamie Bell, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Angarano, Michael Cera, Alden Ehrenreich, Zac Efron, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Xavier Samuel, Jim Sturgess, Drake Bell, Liam Aiken and Anton Yelchin were also considered to play the lead role.