Spider-Man(2002)

POOPER: (Thanks Silvermarc)
Norman Osborne (Willem Dafoe), the Green Goblin, is mortally wounded by his own device while attempting to double-cross Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), a.k.a Spider-Man. Before dying, Norman asks Spider-Man not to tell his son Harry (James Franco) that he was the Green Goblin. At Norman’s funeral, Harry tells Peter that he vows to avenge his father’s death at the hands of Spider-Man (can you say “sequel-fodder?”)

Long ending:
A high school boy, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), lives with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Uncle Ben (Cliff Robinson). Peter is shy, geeky, and constantly bullied by the cool kids at his school (cameo by Joe Manganiello) and even some adults too. His only friend is the ultra-wealthy student Harry Osborn (James Franco), who is in the same school only due to his getting expelled from elite private schools. Harry and Peter bond in part over their shared attraction to Peter’s neighbor/popular girl Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Their class goes on a field trip to a science lab, where Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider that escaped from its cage. The next morning, Peter awakens to find he has developed super powers – super strength, enhanced agility, the ability to shoot webs out of his wrists, the ability to crawl up walls, and a spider-sense (he essentially is able to sense threats before they manifest). He uses his powers to beat up one of his bullies, and is later chastised by Aunt May and Uncle Ben for doing so.

Meanwhile, Harry’s father Norman Osborn, CEO of defense contractor OsCorp, is trying to win a major military contract. His project is to develop a formula to give soldiers superhuman strength. After a poor presentation, a gleeful general who hates Norman tells him that OsCorp’s failure to have the formula finalized will allow him to give the contract to a rival and drive OsCorp out of business. Desperate to salvage his company, Norman conducts a trial on himself. Although his body is successfully enhanced, it drives Norman insane and he develops a second personality – that of the psychopathic Green Goblin. The Green Goblin steals a military glider and a goblin costume from OsCorp and uses it to kill his competitors and the military general.

As graduation nears, Peter and Mary Jane develop a friendship. With his new powers, Peter decides to enter a wrestling match (cameos by Octavia Spencer, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Bruce Campbell) where he’ll be paid a few hundred dollars if he can last 3 minutes in the ring with a famous wrestler. Uncle Ben drives him to the show and tries to discuss Peter’s recent aggressive behavior and selfish attitude. Ben says that “with great power, comes great responsibility.” But Peter rudely blows off his Uncle. Peter competes in the wrestling show (where he’s given the stage name the “Amazing Spider-Man”) and uses his powers to handily defeat the wrestler. However, the owner refuses to pay Peter based on a technicality. Shortly after the owner denies Peter his cash, a robber steals the money and flees towards the elevator where Peter is standing. Peter refuses to stop the thief and gives a snarky retort to the owner when asked why he didn’t intervene. However, when Peter leaves, he’s horrified to find the thief carjacked and fatally shot Uncle Ben. Now truly understanding his Uncle’s words about power and responsibility, Peter decides to fight crime as Spider-Man.

Post-graduation, Peter is now roommates with Harry (who is dating Mary Jane). The newspaper the Daily Bugle claims that Spider-Man is a menace, and the sensationalism causes newspaper sales to skyrocket (cameo by Lucy Lawless). Daily Bugle owner J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) publicly offers to pay for pictures of Spider-Man. A cash-strapped Peter begins taking pics of himself as Spider-Man and selling them to the Bugle (cameos include Elizabeth Banks, Bill Nunn and Ted Raimi). Peter attends a major parade (cameos by Macy Gray and Stan Lee) to take photos for the Daily Bugle. There, the Green Goblin attacks the OsCorp board (which tried to force Norman to resign from Oscorp). In so doing, the Green Goblin knocks out Harry and causes Mary Jane (who were at the same party as the Board members) to fall over the ledge of a balcony. Peter arrives as Spider-Man to fight off the Goblin and save Mary Jane. This marks the first of a few interactions Spider-Man has with her, with the last one ending with the masked hero and Mary Jane kissing in the rain.

Green Goblin tracks Spider-Man down and says he wants the hero to join forces with him so they can take over the City. At Thanksgiving, the pair fight again after Spider-Man rejects his offer and Spider-Man’s arm is wounded. Later that day, Norman attends a Thanksgiving dinner with Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May at Harry’s apartment. Seeing that Peter has a wound in the same place he injured Spider-Man, Norman deduces that Peter must be the hero. His Goblin persona emerges and he abruptly leaves the dinner, but only after insulting Mary Jane (claiming she’s only after Harry’s money), causing the pair to break up.

Green Goblin decides to terrorize those who are close to Peter. He attacks J. Jonah Jameson and Aunt May, and finally, he kidnaps Mary Jane. The Goblin then grabs a cable car of innocents and takes it to the top of a bridge where he’s holding Mary Jane captive. When Spider-Man arrives, Green Goblin throws Mary Jane and the cable car off the bridge at the same time. Despite immense odds, Spider-Man manages to save both those on the cable car and Mary Jane (in no small part thanks to some brave New Yorkers who distract Green Goblin while Spider-Man saves the day… also demonstrating the Daily Bugle’s take that he’s a menace is not shared by the whole city). An infuriated Green Goblin drags an exhausted Peter to an abandoned warehouse and beats him up. After Goblin threatens to attack his family and friends again, Spider-Man gets a second wind and beats up Green Goblin, knocking off his mask to reveal Norman underneath. Norman’s persona seems to reemerge and he begs Spider-Man for mercy. It’s a ruse however, and the Goblin tries to use a remote to have his glider impale Spider-Man. Alerted by his spider sense, Peter leaps out of the way and Green Goblin is fatally stabbed by his own glider. As he dies, Norman asks Spider-Man not to let Harry know he was the Goblin. Spider-Man takes Norman’s corpse out of the Green Goblin costume and brings it back to Norman’s home. Harry sees Spider-Man standing over Norman’s body and assumes Spider-Man killed his father.

At Norman’s funeral, Harry embraces Peter and says that Peter is now his only family. Simultaneously, Harry vows to get revenge on Spider-Man. After the funeral, Peter goes to visit his Uncle Ben’s grave. There, he is approached by Mary Jane. She confesses that while she was falling from the bridge to her seeming demise, the only person she wished she could see one last time was Peter. Mary Jane then kisses him. Although he briefly reciprocates, Peter soon pushes her away and says they can only be friends (as he fears that involving her in his life will only endanger her again). As Mary Jane tearfully leaves, Peter vows that while the road ahead may be lonely and tough, he will continue to fight as Spider-Man.