Sandwiched between two powerhouse blockbuster superhero franchises this summer, The Amazing Spider-Man seemed destined to be more The Mediocre Spider-Man. Audiences appeared open to (perhaps unfairly) dismiss the retelling  just due to the prematurity. Not having been a full five years since Raimi’s trilogy came to a very underwhelming close…it does seem a little rash. In fact, one of the reasons Sony rebooted so quickly was to keep Marvel Studio’s from acquiring the rights. While Spider-Man may retain his sticky popularity, many seem reluctant to adhere to the cast change and dissuaded to see a story they’re primarily already familiar with. Director Marc Webb has created a fan segregating rally call for or against the new, yet like it or not…it’s here nonetheless and begging the question of what future webs will be woven.

Title: Taking its moniker from the core comic title, it only seems appropriate to continue the trend with the foreseeable sequel. In an onslaught of varying titles and spin-off books, having had over a dozen alternates on stands through the years of his publication, the web-head has a versatile array of super-adjectives to choose from. From sensational to avenging, ultimate into friendly neighborhood, Peter Parker has been doused in titular flattery time and time again. Yet if I had to make a wager, I’d put my money on spectacular, the second longest running and original secondary title, to be the inevitable follow-up heading.

Supporting Cast: It’s said that characters are only as good as their supporting cast. Interactions and development are the fundamental crux of good fiction. Fortunately, in this friendly neighborhood, that stock is overflowing. Expect inevitable introductions of multiple universe-expanding side-cast players. Geek may be chic these days, but for a self-proclaimed nerd boy…when you really look at it, Silver Age Peter Parker got enough tail to stoked quite a few love triangles back in the day. The board  is set for the iconic redhead bombshell to drop. While Gwen Stacy may be his first and (arguably) deepest of loves, Mary Jane Watson never settled for anything but top billing. Why would the movies be anything different? Despite sporadic faithfulness to the source material, look for this MJ to be far less girl next door and far more model man-eater. Jackpot!

Daily Bugle: Even a superhero gets bogged down by their day job. Clark Kent has the Daily Planet, Bruce Wayne has Wayne Enterprises, the X-Men have Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, and Spider-Man has the Daily Bugle. These grounded aspects are what help humanize what otherwise could feel more like unidentifiable archetypes than human beings; Peter Parker’s being perhaps the greatest example of this pseudo-realism led in with the Marvel era. Unlike many super powered heroes, the wall crawler battled countless mundane daily routine issues to allow him to speak to a much broader demographic. Romance woes, high school bullies, teenage acne, and a doting elderly (and oftentimes sickly) aunt tortured his life in-between the heightened spouts with the likes of Electro and Lizard. When not saving the world, even Spidey’s got bills to pay!

Perhaps his greatest headache came in the form of J. Jonah Jameson. The Daily Bugle editor in chief has steadily plagued the life of our protagonist since his very first title issue, one before Peter even started his career as Spider-Man’s not all that mysteriously (if you really think about it) lucky photographer. With the presence of the Bugle seen in the viral campaign, I think it’s safe to say that the films will follow the source material and employ the web swinger post-origin. Jameson is certain to make a face-to-face loud-mouthed and stogy-smoking stink about the superhero menace sooner or later, ideally counter-acted by a scaled up role for the former glorified extra that was Robbie Robertson. Will Peter retain that classic photogenic appeal or will Webb spin him into Ultimate Spider-Man’s web page designer, only time will tell! One thing is clear, however…great Caesar’s ghost will it be hard to supplant the J.K. Simmons off the page performance. Sorry, wrong comic book news staff.

Villains: In the history of comic books, there are almost limitless annals of diverse and exceptionally villainous characters to pick and choose. Fan speculation tends to especially revolve around just that, who’s the next baddie to maim and misfortune? The failure of multiple superhero franchises rides on the over-saturation of numerous villain threats. Spider-Man 3 ring a bell? Yet pondering what rogues the writers will bring in is almost geek instinct.

The shoe in seems to be Green Goblin, the presence of Oscorp, the emphasis upon Gwen Stacy, and the shadowed Norman lending strong credence. Yet is it too soon for the Green Goblin to havoc New York once more? It sure didn’t stop them from re-doing Spidey in the first place. To avoid staleness, perhaps they’ll tweak Osborn into being more Hobgoblin this go-around. Despite being a departure, they’re the same general concept – Hobgoblin being born out of some petty thug ransacking an abandoned Green Goblin hideout. Some crooks just have no sense of originality! Perhaps he’ll be the mutated goblin monstrosity of the Ultimate comics. Plus can anyone really compete with Willam “I’m more goblin out of costume” Dafoe? All I know is…hopefully he won’t resemblance the green power ranger.

Death of Gwen Stacy: The life and times of Peter Parker are riddled with notorious tragedy, from the inexplicable loss of his parents to his irresponsibility that indirectly caused the death of his beloved Uncle Ben. Peter just can’t catch a break. His happiness is always strapped to a ticking time bomb. In one of the most scandalous stories in superhero history, Marvel plays an unheard of card to help usher in the grim and gritty Bronze Age of comics.

Head-over-heels for the girl of his dreams, the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) kidnaps Gwen Stacy in an attempt to lure the wall crawler into a Brooklyn Bridge confrontation eerily similar to the original films climax. Unlike the climactic events of the first Sam Raimi adaptation, the source material doesn’t have such a fairy tale end. The seemingly unconscious Gwen is tossed from the bridge, plummeting toward a watery grave. Spider-Man frantically shoots a web line, awkwardly catching her with a sickening “snap” echoing forth. In an unpredictable turn of events, Gwen Stacy dies. Not only did she depart, but fans (and Spidey) were left to wonder, did he himself accidentally cause her untimely conclusion?

With the Christopher Nolan popularized groundwork of comic book semi-realism, life-long fans should expect Emma Stone to be a short-term commitment. The deck is stacking that way, especially when you consider the family foreshadowing.  When questioned about the future of her character, Emma Stone said this:

“I think [her death is] a hugely important part of her story and of this incarnation of Spider-Man. I think that was very important to everybody. I think there’s a certain expectation and then there’s a certain awareness of mortality that Gwen has already, so I think that it was important to…just because her father was in the face of death everyday and so is Peter, so I think death always surrounds her. I think it’s a really important element to her character. I mean, she, as fans know, is kind of most famous for how she departs. So that’s a weird thing to play, knowing about such an iconic part of her existence.”