August 25, 2014 by Paul Curtin
The use of stingers in superhero films has become expected by fans of Marvel. So in 2012, Sony and director Marc Webb decided to add in their own extra scene during the credits of The Amazing Spider-Man. This scene managed to create a ton of buzz as expected and had everyone who saw it talking and trying to find out more… and then both Sony and Webb went silent… letting the hype die down and most to forget about the scene.
For those unaware (spoilers), 2012’s Spider-Man reboot ended with an imprisoned Curt Conners being visited by a mysterious man. This man was introduced as lightning struck in the background, but remained in the shadows. Those behind-the-scenes refused to reveal his identity, but hinted that it was somebody who was employed by Norman Osborn. While at first it seemed like a great idea to tease fans, as time went on, it began to to appear as if Sony might not have a solid plan for their superhero’s story.
With the recent release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Blu-ray comes bonus features that now shed more light on this mystery. In the special features commentary, Marc Webb has confirmed the identities of the characters seen at the end of both of his recent Spider-Man movies.
Many had believed that Norman Osborn’s cryogenically frozen head was going to be the extra scene shown after the credits of TASM2, but for whatever reason it didn’t make the cut and a trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past was shown instead as part of an agreement between Sony and Fox. The trailer during the credits upset most people as they felt it added nothing and was a wasted opportunity to help grow the universe as Marvel has been doing so well over the years.
Webb talks about the frozen head in the bonus features of TASM2 and explains that it was done “so we can bring him back for the sequel” but doesn’t go into details as to why it wasn’t actually used in the final cut. So maybe we’ll see Osborn show up eventually as his frozen head does seem to be intended to be used at some point.
The director also goes on to talk further about the man seen in shadows at the end of TASM, explaining that he was originally conceived as Electro. With Electro already being used in the sequel as the main villain, the Man in the Shadows has now been reworked to be The Gentleman, a wealthy benefactor who brings together the Sinister Six.
The credits of TASM2 had their own hidden character reveals with the hardware and symbols of the Sinister Six being teased for an upcoming film. There was a lot of speculation over whether the mask shown was that of Mysterio or Chameleon, and Webb has now cleared that up as well by explaining that it is in fact Mysterio’s mask. However, Webb clarified that just because all of the Sinister Six characters were represented in the credits, they’re not exactly sure if all those people are going to be in the Sinister Six, or even in the next movie.
