Reacting to HISHE's Take on How Spider-Man 2 Should Have Ended, We Realized Just How Emo Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker Really Was

We sat down to react to How It Should Have Ended's parody cut of Spider-Man 2, the Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire version, and honestly it had been so long since either of us watched the original movie that half the jokes landed as reminders rather than callbacks.

This one matters for fans right now because Doc Ock is on his way back into the Spider-Man universe, and going through this parody made us want to revisit the Raimi trilogy before that happens.

We Completely Forgot Peter Parker's Dorky Walk Scene Existed

The HISHE bit that freeze frames on Peter doing an awkward strut outside Mary Jane's window caught us off guard. We straight up did not remember that moment being in the film at all, which says something about how many small odd beats are packed into Spider-Man 2.

We Talked About How Different the Era Felt Watching the First Film Back

Going back and rewatching some of the first Spider-Man, it definitely felt like a different era of filmmaking. As we put it, that was the beginning of the blow up of comic book movies, and it felt like the industry was still inventing how they wanted to tell these stories, whereas now the pace of superhero movies has been figured out.

Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker Struck Us as the Most Emotional Version of the Character

Watching the parody's rapid fire cuts of Peter's angst, we agreed he did not strike us as this whiny in the actual movie, but the HISHE edit makes it obvious. "He's definitely the most emotional Spider-Man we have," we said, adding "emo Spider-Man for sure," and comparing his vibe to growing up on Dashboard Confessional and screamo, calling it the peak of Hot Topic era filmmaking that reflected the mood of the moment when the movie came out.

The Train Fight Logic Bothered Us Once We Pieced It Together

Piecing the train sequence together from context in the parody, Doc Ock and Peter were fighting, the train's brakes failed, and Peter had to stop it using his webs. We found it strange that after that fight Doc Ock just walks away instead of taking advantage of Peter being weak and distracted, and we also questioned why the butler never stepped in to stop the ongoing chaos.

We Still Find the Ending With Doc Ock's Sunlight Machine Confusing

We admitted remembering Spider-Man 3 better than Spider-Man 2, partly because of how absurd that sequel was, but the ending of Spider-Man 2 with Doc Ock walking his fusion reaction into the river always struck us as odd. "It was always strange to me, I'm like okay how does this not just eat the planet," we said, questioning why the reaction is suddenly containable at the end when it could not be contained earlier in the film.

We're Glad Doc Ock Is Coming Back and Ready to Rewatch the Trilogy

Wrapping up, we said we're glad Doc Ock is returning, calling it a good reason to go back and rewatch these films, and predicted there will be a lot of easter eggs worth catching from the earlier Spider-Man movies, making it worth revisiting the whole series.

Did the train fight and Doc Ock's ending ever bother you the way it bothered us, or does it hold up better on a rewatch?