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With Great Power: How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood During The Golden Age Of Comic Book Blockbusters
This is the Golden Age of comic-book blockbusters.
Since his introduction in August 1962, Spider-Man's pop culture reach has extended from comic books and clothing to video games, toys, and television shows. His strongest impact, however, is in the feature-film realm, where eight different Spider-Man movies collectively boast more than $7.2 billion in worldwide tickets sold.
If Hollywood had a superhero throne, Spider-Man would be sitting on it. Of the five highest-grossing film franchises in Hollywood history, Spider-Man now plays a pivotal role in three: the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the four-film Avengers franchise; and the Spider-Man series. This ranks the character ahead of James Bond, the Transformers, every on-screen Batman, and Peter Jackson's complete Tolkien series in Hollywood's box-office hierarchy.
Marvel's wall-crawler has come a long way since his earliest days, but his cinematic journey has yet to be documented. Unusual, since Spider-Man's Hollywood history is littered with A-list names (such as James Cameron and Leonardo DiCaprio), behind-the-scenes squabbles, franchise reboots, and Tom Holland preventing Disney from booting Spidey out of the MCU. The prized creation of Marvel guru Stan Lee has helped create and cultivate the current Golden Age of comic-book blockbusters, and lessons learned on the Spider-Man franchises are applied to all comic-book movies today.
Veteran film reporter and author Sean O'Connell uses his exclusive access to directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters to get the inside angles on Spider-Man's climb to the top of the superhero heap in With Great Power.
Since his introduction in August 1962, Spider-Man's pop culture reach has extended from comic books and clothing to video games, toys, and television shows. His strongest impact, however, is in the feature-film realm, where eight different Spider-Man movies collectively boast more than $7.2 billion in worldwide tickets sold.
If Hollywood had a superhero throne, Spider-Man would be sitting on it. Of the five highest-grossing film franchises in Hollywood history, Spider-Man now plays a pivotal role in three: the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the four-film Avengers franchise; and the Spider-Man series. This ranks the character ahead of James Bond, the Transformers, every on-screen Batman, and Peter Jackson's complete Tolkien series in Hollywood's box-office hierarchy.
Marvel's wall-crawler has come a long way since his earliest days, but his cinematic journey has yet to be documented. Unusual, since Spider-Man's Hollywood history is littered with A-list names (such as James Cameron and Leonardo DiCaprio), behind-the-scenes squabbles, franchise reboots, and Tom Holland preventing Disney from booting Spidey out of the MCU. The prized creation of Marvel guru Stan Lee has helped create and cultivate the current Golden Age of comic-book blockbusters, and lessons learned on the Spider-Man franchises are applied to all comic-book movies today.
Veteran film reporter and author Sean O'Connell uses his exclusive access to directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters to get the inside angles on Spider-Man's climb to the top of the superhero heap in With Great Power.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2022
3 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 21, 2023
With Great Power: How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood During The Golden Age Of Comic Book Blockbusters basically follows the story of the multiple attempts, fails and finally triumphs of bringing Spider-Man to the big screen. I really liked Sean O'Connell's book about the Snyder Cut, so I wanted to read this one as well. The end result was incredibly well done, but I would have liked it to go more in depth on a number of the stories. Perhaps maybe we can get an expanded version with a higher page count one of these days.
Special Thanks to Applause, National Book Network and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.
Special Thanks to Applause, National Book Network and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.
March 10, 2024
primary takeaway: Total Puff PieceThis is easily the most pandering / publicity-friendly MCU monograph not to be directly published through Disney (or one of its ancillaries).
With the lone exception of one [previously reported] "incident" involving a hysterical, food-throwing-Amy-Pascal, this is exactly the type of re-visionist-history Disney-Marvel's Publicity would generate in-house -- that, or the author's credentials are still developing/too fragile to publish a sincere, updated, retrospective, 'warts and all,' without fear of industry reprisal, e.g. rescinding some of those direct lines of cooperation with principle players exhibited herein?
What's worse, the author offers nothing new; Nothing that hasn't already been broadcast, rather, he's just recycling previously-published production anecdotals filtered through aforementioned PR-friendly, controversy-distiller.
E V E R Y T H I N G With Great Power has to say about No Way Home (2021) totally transcends 1990s SNL-sketch The Chris Farley Show :
he literally guffaws-summation every meta bit, battle(s), and finale.
Example: making-of No Way Home anecdotal...
“Pascal and Feige first reached out to Maguire, who was intrigued by the love and celebration for the preexisting franchises that he heard in the No Way Home team’s intentions”"...by the love and celebration..."?? Srsly Fck Off!
You definitely won't read about how Sony courted Jake Gyllenhaal for their first Spider-Man sequel after Maguire thought he was Johnny Big Balls, demanding they re-negotiate his fee for an exorbitant sum (against everyone's advice) only to get his ass handed to him when his "bad back" ploy blew up his face. Not only does the author redact this bit of SM2 pre-production infamy (from Sony's Spider-Man timeline), he totally fails to connect its direct reference in No Way Home; instead, citing the 'back-adjustment' scene (in NWH) as "charming" inter-play between the two blockbuster talents. He triflin.
tl;dr: Anyone sincerely interested ought to look elsewhere; specifically, from where the author clearly sourced several chapters from, imo...
The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies by Ben Fritz
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman
January 19, 2023
For movie geeks who are really into Spider-Man. Some interesting insight into bringing the web slinger to the screen (Leo DiCaprio as Spider-Man directed by James Cameron? Almost happened!). It makes me want to watch all the movies again in order.
January 31, 2023
Solid read, fun walk through nostalgia. Was hoping for new pieces I didn’t know but that’s more on me than the author. Still learned a few new things but book felt to be repetitive at times, especially toward the end of the book.
April 19, 2024
“I feel like there’s always a Kraven the Hunter pitch. Even on movies that aren’t Marvel movies, we’re like, ‘What if Kraven the Hunter showed up?’”
Contains a few factual errors and patches of awkward writing, but the readability factor is high. “With Great Power” oddly doesn’t seem to spend that much time on any given Spider-Man movie (except No Way Home, which gives the book structure as a unifying grand finale tying everything together), but has fascinating details on various unmade movies and sequel permutations. I’m charmed that the book earnestly uses the SPUMC acronym many times. 2002 Spider-Man rules!
Contains a few factual errors and patches of awkward writing, but the readability factor is high. “With Great Power” oddly doesn’t seem to spend that much time on any given Spider-Man movie (except No Way Home, which gives the book structure as a unifying grand finale tying everything together), but has fascinating details on various unmade movies and sequel permutations. I’m charmed that the book earnestly uses the SPUMC acronym many times. 2002 Spider-Man rules!
November 18, 2022
With Great Power is astonishing, amazing, spectacular, and any other adjective used to describe everybody's favorite neighborhood Spider-Man. I honestly thought I knew all there was to know about Spidey's cinematic history, but I genuinely learned a lot reading this book, and it was also just fun to read. If you love Spider-Man (and who doesn't?) then pick up this book.
May 25, 2023
A fun book to read about the history of Spider-Man in cinema. While I'm already familiar with the facts and information that Sean O'Connell discussed here, I was still entertained and in awe of how the character became a bigger global icon. If you're a fan of Spider-Man, it is definitely a good read.
Read
October 12, 2024Been reading this one on and off since January but decided to power through once I found out the audio book was on Hoopla.
As someone who has always been interested in the character of Spider-Man, I will say that I did already know a good deal of what the book covered, but getting to read it in a collected work all at once was fun for sure.
As someone who has always been interested in the character of Spider-Man, I will say that I did already know a good deal of what the book covered, but getting to read it in a collected work all at once was fun for sure.
October 31, 2022
This is a fascinating look at the history of comics’ most popular characters. While Spider-Man has had many successes it is Sean's analysis of what didn't happen that I found to be very captivating. If you are a fan of the webhead I highly recommend you check it out!
January 26, 2024
As a Spider-Man fan I always wanted to know how Spider-Man made it to the Moveis and upon reading this book I learned it was touch and go at first with who owned the rights and getting a story together and so on but when it finally came together with Tobey Maguire, then Andrew Garfield and then Tom Holland
January 19, 2023
Really great read! An in-depth dive into the history of one of pop culture's most enduring superheroes that's equally informative and interesting. O'Connell leaves no stone unturned and includes some great anecdotes and interviews from key players.
April 14, 2023
If you’re a fan of Spider-man, Marvel Studios, or superheroes in general and want to know more about the behind-the-scenes development of this particular franchise, then definitely read this book!
I need to provide a little bit of context before continuing: I heard about Sean O’Connell when he started interviewing folks who were involved in the Release The Snyder Cut campaign for his first book. Sean reached out to me at that time, and we had an excellent conversation. He did a great job highlighting the real-life drama behind Zack Snyder’s involvement with Warner Bros, as well as giving the fans behind the campaign a more than fair representation of the movement. So I am already grateful for the care Sean showed in writing that first book. I also started listening to his Reel Blend podcast and it’s now one of my favorite movie podcasts.
When Sean announced that his second book was going to be a passion project about his favorite superhero, I knew that he was going to approach the cinematic journey of Spider-man with the dual lens of a fan and a great journalist. This book reflects that balance perfectly!
I found myself learning lots of great new stories about the trials and tribulations of bringing Spider-man to the big screen and also getting reminded of some items that I had learned about before. The items that I found myself most interested in were Raimi’s unproduced Spider-man 4. Part of me still wished he had made this, as the third film was lacking for me and many fans. Yet Raimi’s first two films with Maguire remain personal favorites in the superhero genre, and seeing how well those two films were executed despite some of the BTS difficulties was enjoyable to read about.
The other great story Sean O’Connell highlighted was the Shailene Woodley material which was cut out of TASM 2, in which she was cast as Mary Jane Watson. I have a deep loathing for both of Webb’s TASM films. When Woodley was originally announced to play Mary Jane, I was ecstatic because I felt that was a role she was born to play. The way Shailene Woodley presents herself in real life (at least in her 20’s at that time) to me seemed like she was a real-life Mary Jane! She was pitch perfect casting and became the only thing I was excited to see in TASM 2. So when we learned that she was removed, my interest in the film plummeted, and the end product was hardly satisfying. While I still want to see that footage, reading about Woodley’s cut role in Sean’s book was definitely a highlight.
By the time Sean got to speaking about Tom Holland and Sony’s sharing deal with Marvel Studios, you could feel Sean’s excitement towards those events ramp up on the page. I share Sean’s enthusiasm for Holland’s Spider-man, and reading about all the elements that went into the Spidey sharing deal between Sony and Marvel Studios was a delight to read, reminding me of how I felt when those various news stories broke - all the way from Spidey joining Captain America: Civil war, to the John Watts films, the “divorce and re-marriage” of the Spidey sharing deal between the two studios, and finally the culmination into Spider-man: NWH.
As an outside observer, it’s fair to say that following Spidey’s journey from the comics onto the silver screen has often been an emotional roller coaster. I could not be happier with where Spider-man is now in the films. Sean’s book spotlights this emotional journey while providing helpful and insightful context from so many involved in the development of this character’s franchise.
In short, Sean O’Connell’s WITH GREAT POWER book is a joy to read and will provide wonderful context to how and why this great character has both failed and succeeded at the box office, web-slinging his way into our hearts multiple times over. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book!
I need to provide a little bit of context before continuing: I heard about Sean O’Connell when he started interviewing folks who were involved in the Release The Snyder Cut campaign for his first book. Sean reached out to me at that time, and we had an excellent conversation. He did a great job highlighting the real-life drama behind Zack Snyder’s involvement with Warner Bros, as well as giving the fans behind the campaign a more than fair representation of the movement. So I am already grateful for the care Sean showed in writing that first book. I also started listening to his Reel Blend podcast and it’s now one of my favorite movie podcasts.
When Sean announced that his second book was going to be a passion project about his favorite superhero, I knew that he was going to approach the cinematic journey of Spider-man with the dual lens of a fan and a great journalist. This book reflects that balance perfectly!
I found myself learning lots of great new stories about the trials and tribulations of bringing Spider-man to the big screen and also getting reminded of some items that I had learned about before. The items that I found myself most interested in were Raimi’s unproduced Spider-man 4. Part of me still wished he had made this, as the third film was lacking for me and many fans. Yet Raimi’s first two films with Maguire remain personal favorites in the superhero genre, and seeing how well those two films were executed despite some of the BTS difficulties was enjoyable to read about.
The other great story Sean O’Connell highlighted was the Shailene Woodley material which was cut out of TASM 2, in which she was cast as Mary Jane Watson. I have a deep loathing for both of Webb’s TASM films. When Woodley was originally announced to play Mary Jane, I was ecstatic because I felt that was a role she was born to play. The way Shailene Woodley presents herself in real life (at least in her 20’s at that time) to me seemed like she was a real-life Mary Jane! She was pitch perfect casting and became the only thing I was excited to see in TASM 2. So when we learned that she was removed, my interest in the film plummeted, and the end product was hardly satisfying. While I still want to see that footage, reading about Woodley’s cut role in Sean’s book was definitely a highlight.
By the time Sean got to speaking about Tom Holland and Sony’s sharing deal with Marvel Studios, you could feel Sean’s excitement towards those events ramp up on the page. I share Sean’s enthusiasm for Holland’s Spider-man, and reading about all the elements that went into the Spidey sharing deal between Sony and Marvel Studios was a delight to read, reminding me of how I felt when those various news stories broke - all the way from Spidey joining Captain America: Civil war, to the John Watts films, the “divorce and re-marriage” of the Spidey sharing deal between the two studios, and finally the culmination into Spider-man: NWH.
As an outside observer, it’s fair to say that following Spidey’s journey from the comics onto the silver screen has often been an emotional roller coaster. I could not be happier with where Spider-man is now in the films. Sean’s book spotlights this emotional journey while providing helpful and insightful context from so many involved in the development of this character’s franchise.
In short, Sean O’Connell’s WITH GREAT POWER book is a joy to read and will provide wonderful context to how and why this great character has both failed and succeeded at the box office, web-slinging his way into our hearts multiple times over. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book!
November 1, 2023
There's certainly nothing "wrong" with this book, it's very informative and taught me a lot I didn't know, but the presentation is quite dull as opposed to books I've read about similar topics where you really hear the author's voice.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews