When the history of superhero movies is written, Marc Webb’s two Amazing Spider-Man movies will likely be an awkward footnote. They left Andrew Garfield “heartbroken,” and franchise hopes were ultimately squandered when Marvel Studios decided to step in and take over, rebooting Spidey once again. But, when asked about how he feels about his time with the web slinger in an interview with Collider, Webb very diplomatically explained, “it’s hard for me to think about it, in terms of regrets.” He went on:
There are so many things that I’m proud of. There was an ambition with the second movie, in particular. The idea that it’s a superhero that can’t save everybody is something that I’m really proud of. I’m really proud of the ambition of that because it’s an important message, and I believe in that. I believe in what we were after. They’re really, really difficult movies to make. They’re complex in ways that people don’t fully understand. They weren’t disasters.
For what it’s worth, an abundance of ambition might have been what felled The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Back in 2014, The A.V. Club wrote it “hasn’t the time for its surfeit of plot, nor for the sprawling ensemble of supporting characters caught in the sticky web Webb weaves.” The director tells Collider how “fortunate” he was to be involved in the truncated franchise before teasing “a whole other long, in-depth conversation” he’d like to have—preferably out of the public’s eye and ear—to hash out the scope of his feelings.