This is how Spiderman 3 should’ve ended

Spiderman 3 is a perfect example of a movie whose story was messed up due to studio interference. In my opinion, this film should’ve ended differently.

Spiderman 3 is not a bad movie, but it’s not necessarily good. A good movie is hidden somewhere; its quality is much lower than the first two films. Spiderman 2, on the other hand, is one of the greatest superhero sequels ever made. What a great movie.

But before I share with you how I think the movie should’ve ended. Allow me to share with you what I feel went wrong first.

What went wrong?

Gwen Stacy

I think the character Gwen Stacy was utterly unnecessary in this movie. Her character did not have a big enough part to warrant being named after Gwen. Any random girl could’ve been the one Peter brought into the club to make Mary Jane jealous—such a throwaway character and not worthy of Gwen Stacy’s legacy.

If the Amazing Spiderman film reboot series that came after these films did something right, it was by doing Gwen justice with a fully fleshed-out character.

Venom

At the studio’s request, partly due to the popularity of Venom and his alter ego, Eddie Brock was forcibly introduced in this movie. The character’s arc and his hatred for Peter Parker felt rushed.

I enjoyed Topher Grace’s portrayal of Eddie Brock. His twisted turn as Venom, on the other hand, well…I understood its purpose in needing to be menacing and somewhat demented. But it didn’t seem right; for a second, I felt that they confused him with Carnage, an insane character.

If they needed a symbiote character, they could’ve used any one of the lesser spawns or created an original more secondary character. They did it for the official Venom movie years later. This decision didn’t work; it seemed rushed and poorly conceived.

New Goblin

Throughout the original Spiderman trilogy, Harry Osborn’s character went through many phases, slowly yet effectively turning him from a cool guy and friend to Peter into a remorseful, lousy dude.

Harry Osborn’s character arc in this movie, though, should’ve been reworked, and while it was heroic, it was too much to have him killed in this movie, at least in my opinion. Let alone he died similarly to that of his father, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, in the first Spiderman film. In case you missed it, they both died being impaled by a glider. Even though he redeemed himself by the end of the film, having Harry die in this film just made the ending sad and not as emotionally striking as it could’ve been.

Perhaps that is what the producers wanted, which, in this case, kudos. But by letting Harry live, the potential for other storylines may exist. Potentially even a spin-off film (not that it would’ve happened).

How Spiderman 3 should’ve ended

For this, we will start at the scene in which Peter accidentally hits Mary Jane, thus realizing that it was the Symbiote’s doing. This all occurred shortly after the scene where Peter dances with “insert female of choice- not named Gwen Stacy.”

After this scene, the movie has Peter take the symbiotic organism(suit) off of him at the bell t, only for Eddie Brockrock to get it.

This particular scene wouldn’t have happened in my take, not at this point. I would start changing things from this part.

Instead of pity and realization that the suit was causing this behavior, Peter felt disgusted and angry at himself, so he went to a side alley to swing away. Only to be seen by Eddie Brock, who was in the neighborhood taking pictures. Eddie knows his secret identity now.

Peter keeps the suit instead of tossing it.

Harry comes back from his comma. He learns the truth about his father from the butler who witnessed Spiderman returning Osborn’s body to his bed at the first film’s end. Harry reaches out to Mary Jane and apologizes. She hesitates at first but accepts his apology. But it was all a ploy to get to Peter. Harry reaches out to Marko (The Sandman) and convinces him to help him kill Spiderman.

Peter, still upset, is at an apartment staircase contemplating his next move and, in the process, hears on the radio news that there is a creature made out of sand carrying a woman on his back at a building construction site. Realizing that it’s Mary Jane and still in his black suit, Spiderman goes to save her. In a manner that challenges the negative suit to have a positive effect, per the typical Peter Parker thought process, he always tries to redeem people.

Meanwhile, Eddie Brock, following Spiderman, catches wind of this and realizes this is the perfect opportunity to expose Peter as Spiderman.

A different final battle

Upon arrival, Spiderman sees MJ tied up to a post with Sandman standing underneath her while the Goblin glides around the construction site. During the mandatory flight scene with Sandman and the New Goblin, Symbiote Spiderman takes the upper hand after Harry throws a pumpkin bomb at him, only to miss and hit Sandman instead. Who immediately blew into pieces. The bomb’s explosion loosens the post to which MJ is tied, allowing her to free herself.

Still in a rage, Symbiote Spiderman takes the upper hand and physically starts beating Harry down to the point where he’s about to kill him. But before the final blow, MJ steps in between the two and begs Peter to snap out of it. After a second, he realizes the suit is taking over again. Peter stops and wills his good nature back in control.

This leads to a small yet powerful speech in which Peter and Harry recognize their wrongs and reconcile. Harry then musters the energy to get on the glider, but not before saying goodbye.

Sandman returns, and the scene plays out just like in the movie, where Peter forgave him. Afterward, Peter brings MJ down to the street and swings away.

The suit technically would’ve been the real villain in this movie

Realizing that the true villain is the suit, once and for, Peter decides he needs to get rid of it. Meanwhile, Eddie is secretly taking pictures of all of this.

He swings away as the cops take MJ and end up at the famous bell tower scene. After a fight, Peter rips off the Symbiote from his body, not realizing that Eddie Brock has also followed him there.

At that point, the symbiotic would take over Eddie’s body, and as he turns, he jumps at the movie screen. Fade to black

and the words “to be continued” show up on the screen.

Coming soon Spiderman 4(or not)

Spiderman 4 would’ve been all about Venom instead, and by doing so, it would’ve given him his proper movie—a tremendously missed opportunity to fully develop and flesh out these two characters’ relationship.

While my opinion doesn’t make this movie the definitive way to improve on it, it at least gives you an alternate hypothetical conclusion. In my opinion, for anyone who asks me, that’s how Spiderman 3 should’ve ended. If you have any thoughts or an alternate take on the ending, please share them below.

For more media posts, click here.