Though “The Amazing Spider-Man” reboot never effectively transcended the argument for its existence in the first place, a more-than-respectable box-office haul of $700 million worldwide has still kept the Andrew Garfield vehicle on track for a sequel. However, audiences that did show up received a deviation in source material for Peter Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacy, though actress Emma Stone recently revealed her thoughts on her comic counterpart's fate in the sequel.
When the name Gwen Stacy is brought up to fans of the “Spider-Man” comic, talk almost immediately turns to the character's shocking death at the hands of the web-slinger himself, no less. Speaking to Cameron Crowe for Interview magazine, Stone echoed that focus, and applied to her character's fate for the sequels. “Essentially the argument is that Spider-Man kills her by accident,” Stone said, “So the person she loves is the person who kills her, which is the most horrifying thing. Apparently people unsubscribed to the comic book when that happened because they were just so flipped-out over it. But, of course, I want to stay true to that.”
The question of Gwen Stacy's death was similarly raised in Sam Raimi's “Spider-Man 3,” where Bryce Dallas Howard played the character, but also like the newest iteration the accident never followed through. And while Stone's complete insistence on staying true to the source material is endearing, it will remain up to director Marc Webb (or whoever steps in for him) and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to decide whether to stay true to the comics, or continue on with the “unexplored story” hinted at in the first film's promotional material.
Regardless of where the series goes next, a certainty remains the charming presence of Emma Stone in at least the next installment, and as the best moments in the first film revolved around her and Andrew Garfield's dynamic, there remains the potential for heartbreak when “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” opens on May 2, 2014. [Interview]