FILM · 2012 · USA
The Amazing Spider-Man
- Directed by
- Marc Webb
- Runtime
- 136 min
- Studio
- Marvel Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Columbia Pictures
73 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
A teenage Peter Parker grapples with both high school and amazing super-human crises as his alter-ego Spider-Man.
73 Interesting Facts About The Amazing Spider-Man
Interesting Facts (41)
- #001
During breaks in filming, Andrew Garfield travelled around New York playing basketball with children while wearing the Spider-Man suit.
- #002
In this film Spider-Man uses artificial devices to shoot his webs, inspired by the original comics in which he had similar devices (though he would later gain a superhuman ability to shoot webs). Marc Webb explained that the web-shooters were a creative decision meant to showcase Peter's intelligence: "We wanted to emphasize that these are things Peter Parker made, and that he is special even if he feels like an outsider."
- #003
Michael Papajohn, who briefly appears in the bridge scene as the driver of Irrfan Khan's character, is the same actor who played the car thief who (apparently) killed Uncle Ben in the original Spider-Man (2002).
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
Denis Leary was very impressed by Andrew Garfield. He especially felt Garfield's real tears fall on him during his character's death scene.
- #005
While shooting the normally silent scene in which Peter goes into the room where the spiders are gathered for web collection, Andrew Garfield asked for "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) to be played.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012): Peter Parker / Spider-manImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #006
Before filming, Rhys Ifans researched his role by meeting several people with real disabilities (missing limbs). He also spent a month performing his daily activities using only his left hand, including tying his tie. The script had a small scene in which Connors ties his tie, but it was not filmed because it took too long.
- #007
Sally Field hated the finished film and stated that the only thing she enjoyed about it was working with Andrew Garfield.
- #008
After Denis Leary was cast, his Spider-Man fan friend Jeff Garlin said, "I knew you would get the part." Leary replied, "Why? Because I'm such a great actor?" Garlin then said, "no, because you look just like Captain Stacy."
- #009
Contains a major spoiler — show
In this film Captain George Stacy strongly opposes Spider-Man's activities (though he eventually admits he was wrong), and Gwen Stacy is both aware of and supportive of Peter Parker's role as Spider-Man. This is a complete contrast to the mainstream comics, in which George Stacy is a strong supporter of Spider-Man and admits on his deathbed that he knew Peter's identity, while Gwen Stacy blames Spider-Man for her father's death and Peter therefore never tells her about his identity. In the "Ultimate Spider-Man" reboot, Gwen eventually learns and accepts Peter's secret identity.
- #010
Contains a major spoiler — show
It is the first live-action Spider-Man film in which the main villain ends the film in prison rather than dead or on the run.
- #011
When Andrew Garfield was first cast, he said: "I've been waiting for this phone call for 24 years… For someone to call me up and say, 'Hey, we want you to pretend to be the character that you've always wanted to be your whole life, and we're going to do it with great cameras and great effects and you're going to feel like you're swinging through New York City. Do you want to do it?' 'Let me check with my seven-year-old self and see what he thinks!' Like every young kid who feels stronger on the inside than he looks on the outside, like every scrawny kid who wants his muscles to match his sense of injustice, God, these are absolutely the stuff that dreams are made of. I've been preparing for this since I was four years old and went trick-or-treating in my first Spider-Man costume."
- #012
(Around 28 minutes) When Peter searches his father Richard Parker's name online, one of the options offered is "richard parker life of pi", because the same name is also given to a character in a novel that was adapted as the film Life of Pi (2012) at roughly the same time as this film. Irrfan Khan appears in both films and speaks the name Richard Parker in both.
- #013
Contains a major spoiler — show
(Around 1 hour 25 minutes) The Daily Bugle newspaper office (and all its related characters) does not appear in this film, a first for the Spider-Man feature film series. However, the paper's front page carries a photograph offering a reward to anyone who proves the Lizard's existence after his attack on the bridge. The Daily Bugle logo can also be seen in the lower corner of a news program featuring the Lizard later in the film.
- #014
Contains a major spoiler — show
The man interrogating Dr. Connors in the mid-credits scene was revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to be Gustav Fiers, also known as The Gentleman.
- #015
The film borrows several story elements heavily from the first seven issues of the Ultimate Spider-Man series. A few examples are that Spider-Man's mutation is tied to OsCorp, as in the comics, and that Spider-Man fights the villain at his school after the villain discovers his secret identity.
- #016
At one point in the film, Peter wears a "Ramones" T-shirt. The Ramones recorded a notable cover of The Theme From Spider-Man (1967).
- #017
This is the first "Spider-Man" film that does not feature Spider-Man's longtime love Mary Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst in Sam Raimi's three films). Instead, Peter Parker's original girlfriend Gwen Stacy appears (she had been played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3 (2007)).
- #018
Emma Stone was initially considered for 21 Jump Street (2012), but she dropped out of it instead to work on this film. Her role went to Brie Larson.
- #019
The film was originally meant to have two more villains alongside the Lizard: Proto-Goblin and Big Wheel (both old comic book villains). However, both were cut from the story (Big Wheel was only an idea before being cut), because the film would have been too long, with too much origin and too many fight scenes. (Also, these series had a large number of similar "Goblin" characters.) Irrfan Khan plays Dr. Rajit Ratha, the character who would have become Proto-Goblin.
- #020
Denis Leary's role as Captain Stacy in the film is based on the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comic book version, in which Captain Stacy is portrayed as a younger character, compared with the mainstream Spider-Man comics and the much older character in Spider-Man 3 (2007) (played by James Cromwell).
- #021
For many years the film was criticized for being too "gritty" and "dark", in the same vein as Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Andrew Garfield argued: "We weren't bold, we were grounded. If we try to do Batman, we'll fail. The new Batman is a thing unto itself, and besides, in terms of style, Spider-Man doesn't resemble that character at all. Spider-Man is witty, Spider-Man is a kid, Spider-Man wants to have fun, he's a teenager and he needs to experience his first love and stir things up."
- #022
Andrew Garfield mentioned during his 2012 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003)" that his costume was uncomfortable. "It's made of something that's designed to make you irritated," he said. "I don't know what the exact name is, but that's the description on the [label]."
- #023
In a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, Sally Field (Aunt May) was asked whether she liked the film, and she answered: "Not especially. It's not my kind of movie. But my friend Laura Ziskin was the producer, and we knew it would be her last film, and she was my first producing partner, and she was a spectacular human." Field and Ziskin had previously worked together on Murphy's Romance (1985), and Ziskin died of breast cancer one month after production on this film was completed. When Stern asked Field how much effort she put into preparing for the role of Aunt May, she said: "Not much at all… It's really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it, and you work as hard as you can, but you can't put ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag."
- #024
When Andrew Garfield was unavailable to do ADR work, Scott Menville was brought in to provide the voice for Spider-Man's groans and moans.
- #025
Spider-Man 2 (2004) was originally titled "The Amazing Spider-Man."
- #026
The corridor fight was not done entirely with CGI; it blended practical stunt movement with CGI.
- #027
According to director Marc Webb, during the sewer attack Spider-Man was supposed to fight back and had a one-liner written for him saying to the Lizard, "You know, you kind of look like Goomba," but it was cut for various reasons.
- #028
The close-up in which the Lizard's claws pierce and reach through Spider-Man's chest was called by Marc Webb his "Saving Private Ryan" moment, referring to how the knife coming toward the soldier's chest in Saving Private Ryan (1998) helped create an intense moment.
- #029
Andrew Garfield was paid $500,000, one-eighth of the $4 million Tobey Maguire earned for Spider-Man (2002).
- #030
In 2025, Emma Stone reflected on this film: "I really loved making Spider-Man. I loved everyone I worked with. I met Andrew there (she and Andrew Garfield were together for four years after working on the film). I met Sally Field, and [director] Marc Webb was wonderful. It was a really special period in my life. The recurring theme is less the film itself than the people I remember for a long time, and so I just have… the fondest memories. The experience." However, she found the press tours exhausting: "I really don't know how people do it. I remember being in maybe nine countries in two weeks, and you're working in a state of jet lag you've never known before; I felt really psychotic the whole time."
- #031
Costume designer Kym Barrett built the Spider-Man costume over Andrew Garfield's physique to create an "aerodynamic, kind of sport-like Spider-Man."
- #032
The first words spoken in the film are young Peter Parker counting down while playing hide-and-seek: "Four… three… two… one!" This seems to wink at the audience that the film, the fourth SPIDER-MAN film in a decade, is taking them back to the beginning of Spider-Man's story.
- #033
Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen's son, was linked to rumors that he would play Spider-Man in a proposed film project in the 1990s.
- #034
There is a poster for Rear Window (1954) in Peter's room. Like the protagonist of that film, Peter follows people and even photographs them.
- #035
It is Martin Sheen's second comic book film after Spawn (1997).
- #036
It is James Horner's second comic book film after The Rocketeer (1991).
- #037
The following characters appeared in the film and were adapted from the comics: * Peter Benjamin Parker/Spider-Man, referred to on screen as Peter Parker or Spider-Man. He first appeared in the comic book story "Spider-Man!" From Amazing Fantasy #15 (June 1962), written by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Steve Ditko. * Gwendolyne Maxine "Gwen" Stacy, referred to on screen as Gwen Stacy. She first appeared in the comic book story "If This Be My Destiny…!" From The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965), by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. * Dr. Curtis "Curt" Connors/The Lizard, referred to on screen as Curt Connors. He first appeared in the comic book story "Face-to-Face with the Lizard!" From The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963), written by Stan Lee and writer/artist Steve Ditko. * NYPD Captain George Stacy, referred to on screen as George Stacy or Captain Stacy. He first appeared in the comic book story "Disaster!" From The Amazing Spider-Man #56 (January 1968), written by Stan Lee and artists John Romita Sr. and Don Heck. * Peter's Uncle Benjamin Franklin "Ben" Parker, referred to on screen as Uncle Ben or Ben Parker. He first appeared in the comic book story "Spider-Man!" From Amazing Fantasy #15 (June 1962), written by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Steve Ditko. * Peter's Aunt Maybelle "May" Parker, referred to on screen as Aunt May or May Parker. She first appeared in the comic book story "Spider-Man!" From Amazing Fantasy #15 (June 1962), written by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Steve Ditko. * Richard Parker first appeared in a flashback in the comic book story "Peter Parker's Parents!" From The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5, by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Larry Lieber. * Mary Parker first appeared in a flashback in the comic book story "Peter Parker's Parents!" From The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5, by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Larry Lieber. * Eugene "Flash" Thompson, referred to on screen as Flash Thompson. He first appeared in the comic book story "Spider-Man!" From Amazing Fantasy #15 (June 1962), written by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Steve Ditko. * Helen Stacy, George Stacy's wife and Gwen Stacy's mother. She first appeared in the comic book story "Proto-Goblin" in Spider-Man #-1 (July 1997), written by writer Howard Mackie and artist Dan Fraga. * The Car Thief who killed Uncle Ben (referred to in the comics as the Burglar), who first appeared in the comic book story "Spider-Man!" From Amazing Fantasy #15 (June 1962), written by editor/writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Steve Ditko. All other characters not listed were created solely for the film. The list above includes only the creators of each character's first appearance. As with all comic book characters, Spider-Man and his supporting cast have been reinvented many times, with different contributions from different writers. These include different iterations in different settings that add different concepts to the characters' overall mythology.
- #038
It is the first Spider-Man film not released in the same year as a Harry Potter film. Spider-Man (2002) came out the same year as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) the same year as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007) the same year as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
- #039
Marvel published a tie-in comic written by Tom Cohen and drawn by Neil Edwards. It was followed in 2014 by a direct adaptation of the film written by Cohen and drawn by Wellinton Alves.
- #040
Gwen Stacy's (Emma Stone) apartment number is 2016, the same year Tom Holland's Spider-Man replaced Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016).
- #041
Two actors who had previously worked with Andrew Garfield — Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network (2010) and Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) — were later set to reunite in Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014), with Eisenberg playing Blu and Foxx playing Nico.
Production Story (15)
- #042
Andrew Garfield traveled around New York during breaks playing basketball with children in his Spider-Man suit.
- #043
In this film, Spider-Man uses artificial devices to shoot his webs, inspired by the original comics in which he had similar devices (though he would later gain a superhuman ability to shoot webs). Marc Webb explained that the web-shooting was a creative decision to showcase Peter's intelligence: "We wanted to emphasize that these are things Peter Parker does and that he is special even if he feels like an outsider."
- #044
Michael Papajohn, who briefly appears in the bridge scene as the driver of Irrfan Khan's character, is the same actor who played the car thief who (was thought to have) killed Uncle Ben in the original Spider-Man (2002).
- #045
While filming the normally silent scene in which Peter goes into the room with the spiders to collect webs, Andrew Garfield asked for "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) to be played.
- #046
Instead of making extensive use of CGI animation, it was a creative decision by the producers to have most of the stunts performed practically on platforms by the actors/stunt performers. Marc Webb explained that they wanted to make the film more physical and therefore more realistic. During filming in New York, the crew built a rig hundreds of feet long on Riverside Drive in Harlem, and Andy Armstrong built a car rig with a series of cables to assist the VFX, which required an incredibly rich amount of acrobatics.
- #047
Before filming, Rhys Ifans researched his role by meeting several real disabled people (those missing limbs). He also spent a month performing his daily activities using only his left hand, including tying a tie. There was a small section in the script where Connors ties a tie, but it was not filmed because it took too long.
- #048
This is the first film in which Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) transforms into the Lizard. Although Curt Connors appeared in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), played by Dylan Baker, the character never became the Lizard despite some strong hints, and was prepared to become the Lizard in some script drafts that never got the green light. (This was later reconciled as learned about doppelgängers in the multiverse in the Doctor Strange multiverse craze; Tobey Maguire's stern Connors is different from Andrew Garfield's, just as Peter's father's past is not expressed in Tobey Maguire's version because that version never worked at Oscorp and never secretly developed the decay rate algorithm.)
- #049
Emma Stone normally wears her hair red, but appears with her natural blonde color as Gwen Stacy. Bryce Dallas Howard, the lead actress of The Help (2011) who played the same role in Spider-Man 3 (2007), is a natural redhead who had to dye her hair blonde. Alternatively, the typically blonde Kirsten Dunst appeared as the redheaded Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).
- #050
Because Marc Webb wanted to make the film's world more realistic, he knew fans would be upset if the Lizard lost his snout, but he felt that if the Lizard could speak with intellectual ability and communication skill, it would make sense for him to be able to speak biologically and to debate whether this was a snout, that he then could not have any expression or form any sentence, and that it was important that you would not see Rhys Ifans's performance. It would make the audience sympathize.
- #051
(At about 1 hour 35 minutes) One of the books knocked off the shelf during the library fight is Left Behind: The Eighth Chapter: The Mark: The Beast Rules the World, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins; it is a story about the Antichrist trying to remake the world in his own image, similar to the Lizard's plan.
- #052
Costume designer Kym Barrett built the Spider-Man suit over Andrew Garfield's physique to create an "aerodynamic, kind of sport-like Spider-Man."
- #053
There is a poster for Rear Window (1954) in Peter's room. Just like the protagonist of that film, Peter follows people and even photographs them.
- #054
There was almost a scene in which Peter Parker finds Uncle Ben's killer and punches the man repeatedly, but the scene was cancelled by Ilram Choi on the grounds that it was too brutal.
- #055
Cruzado de la Noche is the mask he looked at while designing his own mask. In English, this translates as "Night Crusader."
- #056
"Peter Parker" and "Curt Connors" were two of the many alliterative names Stan Lee devised for his characters. Lee admitted that doing so helped him remember the names.
Behind the Scenes (3)
- #057
Rather than relying extensively on CGI animation, having most of the stunts performed practically on rigs by the actors/stunt performers was a creative decision by the filmmakers. Marc Webb explained that they wanted to make the film more physical and therefore more realistic. During shooting in New York, the crew built a rig hundreds of metres long on Riverside Drive in Harlem, and Andy Armstrong built a car rig with a series of cables to assist the VFX with acrobatics of incredible complexity.
- #058
During filming, the arm Rhys Ifans wore so that his right arm could be removed in post-production was nicknamed "Kermit" by the crew because it was the same green color as Kermit the Frog of the Muppets comedy troupe. The arm can be seen in deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes features.
- #059
It was the first film to use RED's Epic series digital cameras. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) was originally going to be the first feature film to use this feature, but a delay at the start of that production gave this film the distinction instead. However, when filming began in December 2010, the camera model was still in the prototype stage, so an engineer from RED had to be on hand throughout the shoot for emergency technical help and support.
Characters & Cast (9)
- #060
Originally conceived as "Spider-Man 4", a direct continuation of the original film trilogy, the project had actually entered pre-production before Sony Pictures chose to make this film as a reboot. Sony re-signed director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst (each reportedly paid 30 million dollars) to a three-film deal with the aim of starting a new trilogy in the series. Scripts were commissioned from writers James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, David Koepp and Gary Ross, each earning 1 million dollars or more for their services. The story was to introduce the Vulture as a new villain: Raimi first approached Ben Kingsley for the role before choosing John Malkovich. Malkovich had actually been planned to play Norman Osborn in the original film series but had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts. Alongside the Vulture, the film was to introduce the villain Felicia Hardy, a character to be played by Anne Hathaway. In the first story Hardy was to be her comic-book alter ego Black Cat, but when the script was later rewritten Hardy was recreated as an original character named Vulturess (after leaving, Hathaway would take on a similar role in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)). Raimi also expressed interest in bringing back Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Connors, who would transform into the villain The Lizard, but Executive Producer Avi Arad vetoed the idea. With development costs rising at a rate exceeding 100 million dollars, and with Raimi unhappy with the repeated versions of the script and tension growing between Raimi, Maguire and the studio, Sony chose (in January 2010) to cancel the film and reboot the series instead. Raimi said this was for the best, noting that he had been unhappy with Spider-Man 3 (2007) because of studio interference and that he "hated" the story concocted for the proposed fourth film.
- #061
Ben Parker's line "With great power comes great responsibility", prominent in Sam Raimi's films, is never spoken even once in this film. Ben's voicemail message refers to it but never quotes it directly. This is actually more consistent with Amazing Fantasy #15, the story's first telling, where it was only a text box reading "With great power, there must also come great responsibility." Later retellings of the story, through flashbacks and reboots, gave the world the more famous line.
- #062
Irrfan Khan said he was not initially interested in the project, but his sons were excited about it and insisted he take the role.
- #063
A photograph of actor/comedian Donald Glover can be seen in Peter's bedroom. In 2010, when the film was first announced and the first casting for the role of Spider-Man was underway, Glover used Twitter to mount a joking campaign for an audition. Donald Glover is also part of the cast of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
- #064
Contains a major spoiler — show
This is the first film in which Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) transforms into the Lizard. Although Curt Connors appeared in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), played by Dylan Baker, the character never became the Lizard despite some strong hints, and was prepared to become the Lizard in some script drafts that never got the green light. (This was later reconciled by the Doctor Strange multiverse craze, as learned about multiversal doppelgängers; Tobey Maguire's stern Connors is different from Andrew Garfield's, just as Peter's father's past is not expressed in Tobey Maguire's version, because that version never worked at Oscorp and never secretly developed the decay rate algorithm.)
- #065
John Slattery, Sam Elliott and R. Lee Ermey were said to be in line for the role of J. Jonah Jameson. However, this character, a legendary part of the Spider-Man mythos, does not appear in this film. Ermey had been James Cameron's choice to play Jameson in the canceled Spider-Man film of the early 1990s.
- #066
Joe Jonas revealed that he auditioned for Spider-Man and lost the role to Andrew Garfield, saying: "In that moment you either crash and burn or you're defeated. But you realize this person is amazing. I remember years ago I was up for Spider-Man and I was so, so excited and the year before Andrew Garfield got it. Obviously, he was the right one. But I remember at the time it was a big thing, going back for callbacks and the director was a music video director, so I was like, 'I have an in here.' But you know what? I love the process of auditioning and putting yourself out there and proving yourself."
- #067
Andrew Garfield was already 26 years old when he auditioned for Spider-Man and was therefore uncomfortable playing a high schooler. He recalled some useful advice his acting coach Greta Seacat gave him: "You have to act like you're making a short film with all your high school friends for this screen test. That got me to fucking open the channel. Be free. It doesn't matter. Act like it doesn't matter at all. You're a kid again. You're emotionally available, you're not tight, and you're trying to do everything right."
- #068
Julianne Nicholson had taken on the role of Peter's mother before being replaced by Embeth Davidtz.
Easter Eggs & References (2)
- #069
This retelling includes several comic book elements that were missing from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. For example, Peter Parker uses his web-shooters and quips against his opponents far more than in the previous films.
- #070
(At about the 28th minute) Peter sitting on the roof of his porch examining his father's notes was a nod to his spider sense; spiders tend to prefer heights.
Deeper Meaning (3)
- #071
According to costume designer Kym Barrett, the Spider-Man costume was specifically designed to resemble an acrobat's outfit: "We wanted a design that would make the body longer and more agile, that of an incredibly nimble person; the legs of the spider symbol on the chest were used to emphasize this."
- #072
Marc Webb describes the film's theme as follows: "The missing piece inside all of us: Peter has no parents and he fills that void with Spider-Man. Curt isn't as strong as Spider-Man on the inside, but he wants to take his arm back and fill that void, and he actually turns into a great bully."
- #073
All four Spider-Man films were shot on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood. Ironically, parts of that backlot, the symbol of the series itself, burned down on June 1, 2008, meaning the first three used the old backlot while this reboot used the new one.
Related pages
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — The Amazing Spider-Man comes up in the facts on that page
- Spider-Man — The Amazing Spider-Man comes up in the facts on that page
- The Help — The Amazing Spider-Man comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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