In September 2005, I wrote a Op / Ed piece on /Film in response to the reports that Spider-Man 3 would have three villains. I was very worried at the time about the movie based on what I had heard. As it turns out, much of what I worried about came true. Obviously at nearly $150 million in one weekend, the producers shouldn’t be worried about how the movie is doing at the Box Office. But it has gotten a lot of poor reviews, and it seems like most fans are at least somewhat disappointed in how it turned out. I was disappointed, but not surprised. Read on to see what I had to say in my original article from September 2005:

As a lifelong fan of Spider-Man (I’ve been reading the comics since I was about 5), and as a big fan of Sam Raimi’s two films, I must say that I was a little disappointed in the news about the number and identity of the super villains for Spider-Man 3. I was originally going to just post a comment to the story but realized that I have quite a bit to say about it, so I decided to write my own article.

First of all, three villains is too many. I think it’s hard enough to do a good super hero film with two villains. Batman Returns was one of the few that worked well with both The Penguin and Cat Woman. But, the subsequent films of the series (before Batman Begins) were terrible, partly because of the use of too many villains. I remember hearing rumors when Spider-Man 2 was in the works that in addition to Alfred Molina playing Dr. Octopus, Spider Man would also have to face The Lizard. I was worried about that because Dr. Octopus is such a great villain with a long history in the comics that I felt that a second bad guy would take away from him. I felt at the time that teaming The Lizard up with one of Spidey’s lesser enemies (possibly The Scorpion) in a later film would be better. So, I think two villains can work, but I am very worried about three.

Now, to the specific villains. It was clear by the end of the second film that James Franco’s Harry Osborne would be turning into the new Green Goblin. Thomas Haden Church is set to play Sandman, one of the most boring Spidey villains of all time. Sure, the special effects could be cool as Sandman changes his body into sand as he fights Spider Man, but the appeal of so many of the comic book arch enemies is their personalities, and unfortunately, Sandman is not one of the interesting ones. I would much rather see Church playing a character like Mysterio, The Scorpion, or even Venom. Speaking of Venom, I’m partially excited to see him in the movie, but apprehensive as well. In the comics, the story line leading up to the spawning of Venom is great but takes a long time to develop. It’s going to be very hard to introduce the alien costume (which should first belong to Peter Parker), have Peter get rid of it, and have it end up on Eddie Brock, while at the same time developing the fact that Brock is Peter’s rival at the Daily Bugle and that he hates Spider Man as well. That’s a lot for one movie without two other villains. It could work if the creation of Venom is just the subplot in the background of Spider Man fighting the Green Goblin. In other words, I hope that they are just setting up Venom to be the main villain in the fourth movie. There really shouldn’t be any fights between Spider Man and Venom yet. Also, Sandman should just be a minor part of the movie, perhaps the bad guy whom Spider Man has to deal with early on while Harry is transforming into the Green Goblin. If Sandman is only in the first third of the film, and the Green Goblin is the main focus while the birth of Venom is in the background while saving his fights with Spidey for the next film, then it could work. But, that is a lot of ‘ifs’. I wish they would keep it to two villains, and pick a more interesting one than Sandman (has Raimi heard of Kraven the Hunter?). And, what about The Lizard? His character (Dr. Connors) was introduced in Spider-Man 2 (and was even mentioned in the first movie). Perhaps they’re saving him for #4. I guess the point is that there are several great Spider Man villains to chose from and I think the producers of the series need to be more careful in the selection process.

So that is what I said over a year and a half ago. And I was right. Most people agree that there were too many villains and too many plot lines. The Green Goblin was the focal point, but I was right on about Sandman. He was created with great special effects, but was not an interesting villain. The whole alien costume story line was way too rushed as I feared it would be. And there was too much Venom. SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read on if you haven’t seen the film. If Venom was really destroyed as it appeared, then it is a very disappointing use of one of the greatest Spider-Man villains of all time. Yes, Dr. Connors has part of the alien and Carnage is the most likely villain for the next film, but will Venom be in it as well? And will he have to team up with Spider-Man to defeat Carnage like in the comics? Or will that be too similar to the end of this movie? I guess there are just a lot of questions left to answer.