Chalk up another Marvel reboot. In the footsteps of Daredevil and the Fantastic Four, Marvel's golden goose, Spider-Man is going to reboot limbo. Apparent Sam Raimi, director of the first three flicks, was feeling constricted by the 2011 deadline for Spider-Man 4, and decided to step away from the project.

This means new director, new actors, and new storylines. According to Sony's press release,

"Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012."

It sounds like Sony will be taking the approach of adapting Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man series which

places a younger Peter Parker in his Queens high school.

"Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises."

Just a few days ago, RA reporter Winston Whitehurst and I were discussing this very topic. It went something like this.

Winston: They're saying it won't be out summer 2011 as expected. Should they make it, to right what was wronged with Spidey 3, or leave the series as it is? Your $.02…

Justin: Leave it on the cold morgue slab. Put effort into a different franchise. Ya know? I don’t believe 4 will right any wrongs.

Winston: I think it's amazing how support of that series has PLUMMETED since the third one. Spider-Man eclipsed X-Men, and then Spider-Man was eclipsed by Batman. Batman was eclipsed by Iron Man, who was REALLY eclipsed by Batman.

Justin: Yeah, I just think at this juncture, Dark Knight was pretty much as good as comic book movies will get. I think the genre is over. Iron Man 2 should be good, but I think they’ll merge the comic book genre into a general action/adventure genre. DK was probably the beginning of that, since it was more of a crime drama than a comic book flick. Comic movies are going to have to start getting over on their own merit instead of just getting across on the hype of the character.

Winston: Well said. Or typed. If you look at X-Men, if it came out amidst all these movies today, it would be looked upon as "decent". They've come so far since 2000. So now that Singer's taking over X Men: First Class, Ihope they realize people aren't really wowed by the mutant powers anymore. There's got to be a lot more meat to it.

Justin: And not only that, I think these movies have to move past their original comic book counterparts. Iron Man did, it became a sort of industrial espionage type film. Dark Knight was a crime drama. X-Men: First Class better be a high school movie with superpowers. Personally I think that’s what they should have done with Spider-Man. Kind of reboot it, and show things that happened to Peter Parker in high school. If you look at most movies with their failed sequels, they moved away from their original cores. Ghostbusters was a business startup movie for chrissake.

Winston: I think they need to realize what DOES and DOES not have audience appeal. Green Lantern will be big, but I'll bet dollars to donuts Thor will be dogshit. People will tire of X-Men, in fact, does anyone care about an X-Men movie without Wolverine in it? As for Ghostbusters, as much as I think the second one is okay, and I loved it when I was 9, I'm for a third one. They can't go anywhere but up.