A deleted scene from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would have recontextualized the film’s abrupt ending and changed Garfield’s Peter Parker moving forward.
One deleted scene from Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would have set Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker on a completely different narrative course. Following Spider-Man and Gwen as they deal with Oscorp and the newly-created Electro, the film mixes effective and genuine emotional beats with confusing and overly-long narrative set-ups that are never followed through on. However, including one deleted scene would help some parts of the movie make more sense.
While the second Garfield Spider-Man movie teased several potential plot lines that were never explored after the franchise was rebooted with Spider-Man: Homecoming, one particular thread that seemed to take up an unnecessary amount of screen time was the death of Peter’s mother and father. The first 20 or so of the film covers their attempted escape with proprietary research and eventual death, but this aside lacks the payoff that it seems to set up. With this deleted scene, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 reveals Peter’s father to be alive, adding rationale to the film’s opening and recontextualizing Peter’s journey moving forward.
The climax of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is deeply tragic as Peter comes close but ultimately fails to save Gwen Stacy as she falls. Her death, which comes after the couple has reconciled and made plans for a future together, shakes Peter and makes him question whether being Spider-Man is worth the cost to him and his loved ones. His ultimate decision to put the suit back on makes sense on a macro level, but in the movie, it feels rushed and without proper setup. Peter’s father being alive fixes that to a degree.
An extended cut of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with the deleted scene reinstated would give Peter proper motivation to step back into the role of Spider-Man after his father says the iconic “With great power comes great responsibility” line. Furthermore, it leaves Peter to end the movie on a slightly more positive note. Peter Parker is known for enduring tragedy, but reuniting with his father would have ended the prematurely-canceled franchise on a bitter-sweet note.
Richard Parker’s Return Completes The Amazing Spider-Man’s Flashbacks
Giving Peter Parker’s parents some fleshed-out backstory makes sense in an attempt to differentiate the Amazing Spider-Man movies from other adaptations, but the second entry spends too much time on flashbacks that ultimately lead to very little. Their research could have been handled in a quarter of the screen time, but Richard being alive justifies his and his wife’s story being explored. The canceled The Amazing Spider-Man 3 would have presumably dealt with the repercussions of Richard reappearing and would explore his feud with Osborn and Oscorp.
It’s unclear if the early-movie flashbacks were altered after Richard’s end scene was cut, but the flashbacks don’t actually show his death. While the plane that he and Mary are on is shown falling through the sky in flames, the scene cuts before it hits the ground. Also, earlier, a parachute is shown. While it doesn’t appear that Richard has it before the screen cuts, it’s possible that he could have acquired it and somehow gotten out of the plane during its plummet. Regardless of any potential early-scene editing that accompanied the deleted scene, the ending brings closure to what is otherwise closer to an abandoned Marvel plot thread.
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How Richard Being Alive Changes Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home brings three live-action Spider-Men together on-screen, and each one contributes something to the others to help bring closure to the others’ struggles. While Holland’s version of the character was having difficulty in the aftermath of Aunt May’s death, the others offered solace and ensured him that they’d all had to deal with pain and loss because of their heroism. Garfield appeared to sympathize most deeply as he’s largely defined by his failure to save Gwen.
Richard Parker being alive would have significantly changed the dynamic between Spider-Man variants in No Way Home. While the three have all been through relatively similar tragedies, the ASM version having a relationship with his father would create an interesting and unique positive experience for them to share. While Holland, Garfield, and Maguire’s Peter Parker don’t mention their parents much in their films, they would certainly be interested in learning about what at least one version of their father did and what he was like.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 spending as much time as it did on Richard and Mary Parker was slightly confusing in the final cut of the film, but Richard and Peter reuniting would have justified the elongated opening sequence. Furthermore, Richard’s reappearance would have allowed Garfield’s Peter to end The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on a slightly more optimistic note. There’s demand for another Garfield Spider-Man appearance, and if it happens, perhaps his father’s return can still come to fruition.
