Synopsis:

After discovering a mysterious briefcase left by his father, adolescent Peter Parker embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about his parents' disappearance, further complicating his life as he deals with newfound superpowers, his first love and, most importantly, growing up. "The Birth of a Hero: A Spider-Man Story" is a retelling of the most infamous chapter in the web-slinger's cinematic history that aims to remove most of the superheroics in order to create a more emotionally grounded narrative about Peter Parker finding his place in the world.

Intentions:

I've always thought the first Amazing Spider-Man film is one of the most unique cape flicks out there. A huge chunk of the film isn't focused on your typical superhero things, but on a grounded story about Peter dealing with the trauma of his parents leaving him and I've always found this compelling. So, in order to make it even more grounded and unorthodox, my original idea was for this to be a "No Lizard" edition, removing the supervillain angle entirely. However, I quickly realized there is no way I could cut Lizard from the bridge scene, which is Peter's big cathartic moment. That inconvenience lead to the idea being reworked into what it is today.

Change List:

General changes: - The entire film has been regraded to remove the gray mask and make it more visually similar to its successor and some of the early trailers - Scenes have been reordered and intercut in order to draw clearer parallels between the protagonist (Peter) and the antagonist (Connors) - The third act has been majorly restructured - no “turning the whole city into giant lizards” subplot, a much more emotionally grounded conclusion has been created - Added parts of the Roosevelt subplot from Amazing 2 in order to enhance the story (and in particular the ending) - All licensed songs have been replaced with 2000s alt.-rock (primarily pop punk) bops because I think the style suits this version of Peter Full Cut List: - Added FE disclaimer and logo - Replaced Marvel logo with the MCU Phase 2 version - Added a custom title card - Used Amazing 2’s version of Richard telling Peter to “be good” before leaving and the following shot of Peter staring into his reflection; retained Amazing 1’s “Dad?” - Rescored Peter at school with “The Calling - Unstoppable”; slightly trimmed the scene to match the new music - Cut a quick flashback when Peter is shuffling through the briefcase - Painstakingly edited the Oscorp internship add so that it just says “Internship Enrollment” (credit goes to lantern51 for inspiring this change) - Cut Peter talking to the Oscorp desk lady, now he just grabs his badge and goes in - Obviously cut Rodrigo being ridiculously dragged away by security - Cut any mentions of Peter stealing the badge during his talk with Gwen - Rescored Peter’s chaotic morning after he gets bitten with “MCR – I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” (it’s corny, I know, but it works so well) - Added Peter building the wall of clues from Amazing 2 after he visits Connors; rescored the scene with “There For Tomorrow - Pages”; added the photoshoot flashback (again from Amazing 2) to the ending of the scene, replacing “Do I have to lose you too?”; slightly trimmed it to remove any references to Roosevelt, the calculator and Gwen - Rescored the skateboarding montage with “Finger Eleven – One Thing” - Cut Connors showing Peter around Oscorp and dumping exposition on the Ganali device - Moved Ratha firing Connors to after Peter storms out; used a nighttime exterior shot of Oscorp tower from Amazing 2 to make the transition smoother; slightly trimmed the end of the scene to remove a continuity error with future changes - Used the alternate version of Ben’s death; rescored Peter sitting on the streetlamp before Ben gets shot with “Yellowcard – Empty Apartment” (it sounds like he’s listening to it through headphones); rebuilt foley for that same moment - Added “Connors’ Condolences” deleted scene - Intercut Peter deciding to go hunt Ben’s killer with Connors’ mirror hand moment and him injecting himself with the serum (“We must be greater than what we suffer.”, yet neither of them follows that advice); added a sunset shot of Oscorp tower at the beginning (taken from later in the film) to help everything flow better - Cut the quick flash of the star tattoo when Peter is holding the thug over the ledge - Intercut Peter falling into the boxing ring with Connors waking up in the sewers; added a quick flash of the Lizard (and his scream) to the latter (taken from scenes later in the film) - Rescored the “Becoming Spider-Man” montage with “Hoobastank – Crawling in the Dark”; cut Peter testing his web shooters in broad daylight (“Kinda defeats the purpose of the whole anonymous superhero thing.”); some additional trims here and there; restored the full first-person p.o.v shot; cut the ending where Spidey stands on a rooftop, the ending of the f.-p. shot now transitions to… - May telling Peter the truth about his parents from Amazing 2 (rescored with Amazing 1 and Netflix Daredevil score); cut mentions of Norman Osborn and Peter being in college - Added a nighttime NY shot for a better transition between the last scene and the car thief scene - Cut Peter and May’s argument after the car thief scene, instead, a new scene has been created using shots from earlier in the film, in which Peter quietly walks in, tucks May in and cries; this fades to another new scene, in which Peter visits Ben’s grave (used footage from Amazing 2 and Raimi 2, rebuilt foley); after this added Peter destroying the wall of clues, intercut it with flashbacks to the opening and cut the calculator and Roosevelt; all of this is set to “Simple Plan - Perfect” - Added “Going Away” deleted scene (my idea here is that Richard leaving Peter is paralleled with Connors leaving his son); reframed a couple of shots to hide Connors’ green screen hand - Scored Peter walking down the school hallway before Gwen bumps into him with “3doorsdown – Let Me Go” - Stitched up all bits of Connors documenting all the changes he’s going through from when Spider-Man goes into the sewers to find him as one continuous scene and added it after Gwen asks Peter over; rescored for better flow - Obviously cut Connors waking up with his new hand and catching a cab to chase Ratha - Cut the shot of the ripped in half taxi at the start of the bridge scene for continuity reasons - Created a new scene, in which the police arrest Connors (used shots from the original climax of the film and the “Help Me” deleted scene); rebuilt foley - The rest of the film has been entirely reworked so that it’s less bombastic and a more emotionally grounded ending is created; the scenes proceed as follows: 1) Exterior shot of Midtown High (taken from the school fight; rebuilt foley) 2) Peter and Gwen on the football court talking about his powers; recut the dialogue to match the new continuity; cut Peter bending the goal post; rescored with Insomniac Spider-Man score 3) The mid-credits scene; cut the Gentleman entirely, now it’s just Connors alone in his cell 4) The famous “Peter Meets his Dad” deleted scene from Amazing 2; added a “Two Weeks Later” title card at the start; recut dialogue to remove mentions of Gwen’s death; rescored the second half with Netflix Daredevil score; added a neat new twist at the end 5) Peter listens to Ben’s voice message; the final shot of the film is now Peter looking at the Spidey graffiti; rescored with “Incubus – Drive” (that also carries into the main on-ends) - Rearranged the main on-ends and rescored the rest of the credits

Other Sources:

Video: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) - Deleted Scenes The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) - Teaser Trailer & Official Trailer The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) - 2017 Blu-ray Release The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) - Deleted Scenes - 2014 & 2017 Blu-ray Releases Spider-Man 2 (2004) Music: The Calling - Unstoppable My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise) There For Tomorrow - Pages (album version, acoustic version & custom instrumental version*) Finger Eleven - One Thing Yellowcard - Empty Apartment (acoustic version) Hoobastank - Crawling in the Dark (album version & custom instrumental version*) Trailer Music - The Amazing Spider-Man (Brand X Music & Atomic Mix Lab) Checking Mail - John Paesano (from Marvel's Daredevil: Season 3) Simple Plan - Perfect (acoustic version) 3doorsdown - Let Me Go Responsibility - John Paesano (from Marvel's Spider-Man) Still Stapled Together - John Paesano (from Marvel's Daredevil: Season 3) Incubus - Drive (orchestral studio version) Yellowcard - Life of a Salesman New Found Glory - Sonny Various tracks from the film's complete recording sessions *All custom instrumentals taken from @RandomMusicRedux on YT SFX: Various sound effects from zapsplat.com and Epidemic Sound Ultimate Spider-Man SFX Pack by TrollDan22 / The Blast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwXkkA3Zy4Q

Special Thanks:

JasonFlippy lantern51