'Spider-Man' Won't Be An Origin Story

The IMDb page for the Untitled Spider-Man Reboot still only offers a cryptic, "the plot is unknown," but we did get some more clues from the film's writer about what the story won't be about. That's right: the Spider-Man reboot isn't going to be an origin story after all. On their press tour promoting their new movie Vacation, writers John Francis Daley (Sam Weir from Freaks and Geeks!) and Jonathan M. Goldstein confirmed on The Andy Greenwald Podcast that their 2017 version of Spider-Man from Sony (whose script they still have to write) won't be about the hero's beginnings, because that's just old hat: "I think that everybody feels like you know he got bit by a spider and you know Uncle Ben died, and we probably don’t need to revisit that," said Goldstein. And thank goodness! We don't need to see any more Peter Parkers being bit by radioactive spiders. But, if it's not an origin story, what will the Spider-Man reboot be about?

What we know so far: the 2017 Spider-Man stars 19 year old Brit Tom Holland (from Billy Elliot) as Peter Parker, and he's significantly younger than his predecessors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were when they put on the Spidey suit and slung around New York on webs and attitude. We also know that Holland as Spider-Man will make his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, a film that Daley and Goldstein had nothing to do with. I know, it's confusing, so let's walk through the tangled web.

Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man, and the film Daley and Goldstein are writing is his solo, stand-alone, non-origin story. But! The Marvel Cinematic Universe has teamed up with Sony and, to the delight of Spidey fans the world over, is including a cameo from the webslinger in their upcoming Captain America: Civil War. In fact, Daley and Goldstein had a meeting at Marvel over the weekend to take a look at the already-filmed cameo that Holland made in Civil War: "We hear good things. We might even get to look at the Spidey suit, which is exciting," Goldstein told Vulture on Friday. Obviously Holland's interaction and relationships with the rest of the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War are going to influence the Peter that Daley and Goldstein write up.

Plot details are non-existent right now, with Goldstein and Daley quickly quashing that rumored cast list that was floating around the web. But it does seem safe to say that the new Spider-Man reboot will be a lot more heavily character-based, a character study as opposed to an origin story. Talking to ET Online about their approach to writing the new script, Daley and Goldstein said they'd be dealing with Peter Parker trying to balance his great power and great responsibility while also dealing with just being a regular old high school nerd, and they looked to the king of the High School Movie for inspiration: "(It’s a) John Hughes take [with] Peter in high school. I think we’re going to spend a lot more time on them in high school and deal with him being a real kid," Daley said. Hopefully that means the Hughes-influence will also carry over to the soundtrack.

And let's not ignore the obvious: Daley and Goldstein are comedy writers, so we could be seeing our funniest Peter Parker yet. And, if we're lucky, Daley might be giving Spider-Man some Freaks and Geeks flavor, saying on the same Andy Greenwald Podcast:

He has one more secret that he has to sort of keep from the world, one more burden that he’s dealing with above all the other crap that he’s dealing with at school. So it’s gonna be fun, and we can relate to that Peter Parker character — we’re geeky guys that weren’t popular in school ourselves.

Captain America: Civil War premieres in 2016, so we'll be able to sate our Spidey curiosity by seeing Tom Holland as Peter Parker before his solo film debuts in 2017.

Image: Sony; htbthomas/Tumblr