“Certain people at the studio had problems with certain parts of [the movie],” he went on, “and ultimately the studio is the final say in those movies, because they’re the tentpoles, so you have to answer to those people.” What was cut out? Garfield didn’t go into detail, but did say, “I got to work in deep scenes that you don’t usually see in comic book movies, and I got to explore this orphan boy — a lot of which was taken out, and which we’d explored more.”

The actor did say that he is proud of “a lot” of the movie and is trying to come to terms with the criticism it received. “What’s underneath the complaint, and how can we learn from that?” he asked. “We have to ask ourselves, 'What do we believe to be true?' Is it that this is the fifth Spider-Man movie in however many years, and there’s a bit of fatigue? Is it that there was too much in there? Is it that it didn’t link? If it linked seamlessly, would that be too much? Were there tonal issues? What is it?”

Whether or not there's time for such contemplation is uncertain. Work is already underway on no less than three Amazing Spider-Man spinoff projects (Venom, Sinister Six and an untitled movie centering around a female lead), with a "brain trust" of filmmakers including Drew Goddard, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach taking control of the larger franchise.

Meanwhile, somewhere out there, someone is now imagining an Amazing Spider-Man 2 director's cut that is just awesome. For the rest of us, there’s always the possibility that ASM3, due for release in 2018, will be better.

Sept. 10, 8:26 p.m. Updated to clarify who is shepherding the larger Spider-Man franchise.