Webb, Garfield prep 'operatic' Spider-Man sequel

Brian Truitt | USA TODAY

Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, and Marc Webb feels he's been bitten by Peter Parker.

Two movies in, Marvel Comics' resident web-shooting superhero has crawled into the filmmaking DNA of Webb, the director of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, due May 2. However, he's also testing Spidey's mettle more than ever on the big screen.

Parker (Andrew Garfield) continues to learn the ins and outs of being a New York City do-gooder and runs into a major foe in blue-skinned baddie Electro (Jamie Foxx), a nerdy loner at Oscorp Industries. Electro was once a Spider-fan named Max Dillon who turns villainous after an experiment involving electric eels goes haywire.

"I wanted to create something operatic, something huge. And if anything, this film is about the greatest battle Spider-Man's ever had to face," Webb says. "You'll understand and feel the intensity and the overwhelming nature of the obstacles in Spider-Man's path."

A preview of the first Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer airs Thursday on ABC's Good Morning America (7 a.m. ET/PT) before it premieres online soon afterward.

In the sequel to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, Parker will face emotional and physical struggles, in addition to dealing with his parents' mysterious past, Webb says. And while Parker promised to keep Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) out of his masked lifestyle, he's also "madly, crazily in love with her," says the director. "She plays a crucial, terrifyingly pivotal role in the film."

Parker is in a place where he's really trying to stretch what Spider-Man can do and enjoying his amazing abilities, Garfield says. He'll need some new moves when taking on Electro, who is almost a god in terms of the power he wields.

"Our story deals a lot in choice," Garfield says. "The power that you attain as a human being, it is your choice about what to do with it. And what's great about Spider-Man is he went from having no power, and the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely, that is an incredibly rich idea to explore."

Parker and Dillon both come from similar backgrounds as scientifically gifted outsiders from the rest of the world, and their reactions to that aspersion defines them, Webb says. "Spider-Man has a level of empathy that allows him to see through Electro in a way that other characters don't."

Foxx brings pathos and gravitas to Electro, Webb says, but also a goofiness to the pre-villainous Max. The actor was outfitted with prosthetics, with Webb's crew adding "about 50 layers of special effects to enhance the visual component of Electro — his ability to float and inhabit electrical currency."

Electro will force Spidey to approach situations differently, "and that may reveal different sides of his physical prowess," Webb teases. But he's not the only adversary.

While Electro is the central antagonist of the sequel, Paul Giamatti stars as The Rhino, another version of a long-standing Spider-Man villain, and there are two characters closely tied to the Green Goblin of classic comic-book lore: Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), head of Oscorp Industries, and his son, Harry (Dane DeHaan), Peter's best friend.

But, Webb says, "there's really one evil nemesis for Spider-Man that transcends Electro and the Lizard and the Goblin and Rhino: Oscorp is the evil empire and will always be a major player in these films."