10 Directors Who Should Direct the Spider-man Reboot
"With great power comes great responsibility"
Spider-Man is now joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the spectacular news that Marvel and Sony have come to an agreement for our favorite web-slinger to appear in
Captain America: Civil War. He is also set to appear in another reboot of the franchise, meaning that Marc Webb, despite his appropriate name, is no longer going to helm the franchise. New blood is now needed, so here are ten directors who should be considered to take over the reins of the series and take Spider-Man into a new direction.
Drew Goddard
The Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard has been linked to making Marvel movies for a number of years now; he expressed interesting directing the
Daredevil reboot for Fox before Marvel regained the rights. He was then hired by Marvel to be the showrunner for the upcoming
Daredevil Netflix series before having stand down to develop the
Spider-Man spin-off,
The Sinister Six. Goddard is a man with a long writing history, working on shows like
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Lost and he has worked with Joss Whedon a number of times.
The Cabin in the Woods was praised for its deconstruction of the horror genre and has earned a cult following. He must be high on Marvel and Sony's list.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller
During the height of Sony Hacking Scandal it was revealed that the directing duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller were considered to take over
The Amazing Spider-man series. This was welcomed news at the time because Lord and Miller have become fanboy favorites due to their work on
The Lego Movie and the "Jump Street" movies. The duo have shown themselves to be incredibly intelligent filmmakers, making
The Lego Movie to be a much smarter and better film than it had any right to be and deconstructed both the buddy-comedy and teen comedy genres with
21 Jump Street. They would be very capable with taking Peter Parker back to high school.
Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright has been bitten by Marvel, working for years on
Ant-Man before leaving the project over creative differences, but Sony is set to retain creative control of the
Spider-Man franchise and Wright would be a great fit for the reboot. Wright has shown himself to be a master of action and comedy, excelling at both with
The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy and
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He has taken very American genres and given them a very British twist and transferred that to a North American sensibility for "Scott Pilgrim". He has also worked with cinematography Bill Pope who has worked on
Spider-man 2 and
Spider-man 3; his camera work would be welcomed back.
Gareth Evans
Welshman Gareth Evans made his name as a director in Indonesia, making
The Raid and its
sequel. He has become a favorite of action fans because of
The Raid movies and being the modern poster boy for the martial arts genre.
The Raid had fast flowing action sequences which helped it earn its cult status. The sequel was even bigger, having great fights, shoot-outs, car chases and expanded the story and world of the franchise. Evans has shown what he could do with action genre with relatively low budgets, so imagine what he could do with a blockbuster budget. His fast flowing camera movements would be fantastic for Spider-Man web-slinging and for the action sequences that will result, but he will have to tone down the bloody violence.
Damien Chazelle
Whiplash was one of the most highly praised movies of 2014, earning a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 8.6 rating on IMDB. The writer/director of
Whiplash, Damien Chazelle is considered a hot prospect, getting great performances out of Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons and delivering some incredible music sequences and intense drama. Focusing on a psychologically tormented young man,
Whiplash was excellent dramatic film as Teller and Simmons' characters seek to obtain perfection. As well as the dramatic elements there was an excellent car clash sequence showing what he could do with action. If Marvel and Sony want to hire an indie director Chazelle is a good way to go.
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn has become a director known for adapting comic books, making
Kick-Ass,
X-Men: First Class and
Kingsman: The Secret Service. He has earned a fan following because of his skills for delivering great action sequences, his sense of humor and bright cinematography. His movies have a comic book ascetic and four out of his five movies have focused on young protagonists. He revitalized the
X-Men franchise with his prequel
X-Men: First Class and he satirized the superhero genre with
Kick-Ass, with the main character Dave Lizewski's shared characteristics with Peter Parker, both are nerdy outsiders from ordinary backgrounds who are thrust into superheroics as they narrate their lives.
Joe Carnahan
American writer/director Joe Carnahan has shown himself to be a filmmaker with the ability to vary the type of movies he can make. He made a gritty crime thriller with
Narc, the critically acclaimed drama
The Grey, and the light-hearted blockbuster
The A-Team. He is an accomplished action director, being ultra-violence and gory with his shoot-outs in
Smokin' Aces to offering more ridiculous PG-13 fare i.e. a tank fighting a drone whiles parachuting. He did pitch to Fox his proposal for a reboot for the
Daredevil franchise before the rights reverted back to Marvel: his sizzle reel can be viewed
here. He has also written a screenplay adapting Mark Millar's
Nemesis, so he has plenty of credibility with the comic book community. There is however one big disadvantage, he supports Man United.
Joe Cornish
Joe Cornish made a real splash back in 2011 with his directional debut
Attack the Block, an entertaining horror-comedy set in the less desirable areas of London. Set mostly in a tower block and working with a budget of £8 Million, Cornish showed he was more than capable with special effects sequences and action set-pieces, using the environment of the concrete jungle to its fullest. As well as making
Attack the Block, Cornish has worked on screenplays for
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and
Ant-Man and has been linked to direct
A Good Day to Die Hard and
Star Trek 3.
The Spierig Brothers
Born in Germany and growing up in Australia, directing duo Michael and Peter Spierig have been developing a cult audience due to their sci-fi movies
Daybreakers and
Predestination. Both movies were highly praised and set rich sci-fi worlds. The twins are also skilled visual effects artists, working on the effects for all three of their feature films and have done wonders with relatively low budgets. It is only a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling.
Alfonso Cuarón
It is very much wishful thinking for Mexican genius Alfonso Cuarón to be offered and taking the
Spider-Man gig: but it would be amazing. Cuarón has a great filmography, movies likes
A Little Princess and
Y Tu Mamá También focused on young characters, his entry into the
Harry Potter franchise -
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is often considered the best movie of the series and he has won an Oscar for
Gravity. The sci-fi movie
Children of Men was his magnum opus, a bleak dystopia story with fantastic sequences and great world building throughout. Imagine what Cuarón and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki could do with Spider-Man web-slinging across New York.
The Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard has been linked to making Marvel movies for a number of years now; he expressed interesting directing the Daredevil reboot for Fox before Marvel regained the rights. He was then hired by Marvel to be the showrunner for the upcoming Daredevil Netflix series before having stand down to develop the Spider-Man spin-off, The Sinister Six. Goddard is a man with a long writing history, working on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost and he has worked with Joss Whedon a number of times. The Cabin in the Woods was praised for its deconstruction of the horror genre and has earned a cult following. He must be high on Marvel and Sony's list.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller
During the height of Sony Hacking Scandal it was revealed that the directing duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller were considered to take over The Amazing Spider-man series. This was welcomed news at the time because Lord and Miller have become fanboy favorites due to their work on The Lego Movie and the "Jump Street" movies. The duo have shown themselves to be incredibly intelligent filmmakers, making The Lego Movie to be a much smarter and better film than it had any right to be and deconstructed both the buddy-comedy and teen comedy genres with 21 Jump Street. They would be very capable with taking Peter Parker back to high school.
Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright has been bitten by Marvel, working for years on Ant-Man before leaving the project over creative differences, but Sony is set to retain creative control of the Spider-Man franchise and Wright would be a great fit for the reboot. Wright has shown himself to be a master of action and comedy, excelling at both with The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He has taken very American genres and given them a very British twist and transferred that to a North American sensibility for "Scott Pilgrim". He has also worked with cinematography Bill Pope who has worked on Spider-man 2 and Spider-man 3; his camera work would be welcomed back.
Gareth Evans
Welshman Gareth Evans made his name as a director in Indonesia, making The Raid and its sequel. He has become a favorite of action fans because of The Raid movies and being the modern poster boy for the martial arts genre. The Raid had fast flowing action sequences which helped it earn its cult status. The sequel was even bigger, having great fights, shoot-outs, car chases and expanded the story and world of the franchise. Evans has shown what he could do with action genre with relatively low budgets, so imagine what he could do with a blockbuster budget. His fast flowing camera movements would be fantastic for Spider-Man web-slinging and for the action sequences that will result, but he will have to tone down the bloody violence.
Damien Chazelle
Whiplash was one of the most highly praised movies of 2014, earning a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 8.6 rating on IMDB. The writer/director of Whiplash, Damien Chazelle is considered a hot prospect, getting great performances out of Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons and delivering some incredible music sequences and intense drama. Focusing on a psychologically tormented young man, Whiplash was excellent dramatic film as Teller and Simmons' characters seek to obtain perfection. As well as the dramatic elements there was an excellent car clash sequence showing what he could do with action. If Marvel and Sony want to hire an indie director Chazelle is a good way to go.
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn has become a director known for adapting comic books, making Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class and Kingsman: The Secret Service. He has earned a fan following because of his skills for delivering great action sequences, his sense of humor and bright cinematography. His movies have a comic book ascetic and four out of his five movies have focused on young protagonists. He revitalized the X-Men franchise with his prequel X-Men: First Class and he satirized the superhero genre with Kick-Ass, with the main character Dave Lizewski's shared characteristics with Peter Parker, both are nerdy outsiders from ordinary backgrounds who are thrust into superheroics as they narrate their lives.
Joe Carnahan
American writer/director Joe Carnahan has shown himself to be a filmmaker with the ability to vary the type of movies he can make. He made a gritty crime thriller with Narc, the critically acclaimed drama The Grey, and the light-hearted blockbuster The A-Team. He is an accomplished action director, being ultra-violence and gory with his shoot-outs in Smokin' Aces to offering more ridiculous PG-13 fare i.e. a tank fighting a drone whiles parachuting. He did pitch to Fox his proposal for a reboot for the Daredevil franchise before the rights reverted back to Marvel: his sizzle reel can be viewed here. He has also written a screenplay adapting Mark Millar's Nemesis, so he has plenty of credibility with the comic book community. There is however one big disadvantage, he supports Man United.
Joe Cornish
Joe Cornish made a real splash back in 2011 with his directional debut Attack the Block, an entertaining horror-comedy set in the less desirable areas of London. Set mostly in a tower block and working with a budget of £8 Million, Cornish showed he was more than capable with special effects sequences and action set-pieces, using the environment of the concrete jungle to its fullest. As well as making Attack the Block, Cornish has worked on screenplays for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and Ant-Man and has been linked to direct A Good Day to Die Hard and Star Trek 3.
The Spierig Brothers
Born in Germany and growing up in Australia, directing duo Michael and Peter Spierig have been developing a cult audience due to their sci-fi movies Daybreakers and Predestination. Both movies were highly praised and set rich sci-fi worlds. The twins are also skilled visual effects artists, working on the effects for all three of their feature films and have done wonders with relatively low budgets. It is only a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling.
Alfonso Cuarón
It is very much wishful thinking for Mexican genius Alfonso Cuarón to be offered and taking the Spider-Man gig: but it would be amazing. Cuarón has a great filmography, movies likes A Little Princess and Y Tu Mamá También focused on young characters, his entry into the Harry Potter franchise - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is often considered the best movie of the series and he has won an Oscar for Gravity. The sci-fi movie Children of Men was his magnum opus, a bleak dystopia story with fantastic sequences and great world building throughout. Imagine what Cuarón and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki could do with Spider-Man web-slinging across New York. 
