Comic Strip: Someone Asked Andrew Garfield About the New Spider-Man Reboot

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, Andrew Garfield addresses the spider-elephant in the room, the worst fan theory ever gains internet traction, and new photos from the set of X-Men: Apocalypse are revealed.

Poor Andrew Garfield

Oh, Andrew Garfield. No one blames you for the creative and commercial failure of the Amazing Spider-Man movies. You would’ve made a fine Peter Parker. At times, you even were a fine Peter Parker. But you were saddled with poor screenplays and a director who was at constant war with his studio. You did everything that you possibly could with nothing. We remember your first big Comic-Con apperance. We know you’re a fan of the character. And we’re oh-so-sorry that this happened to you.

And we’re especially sorry that you now have to watch the internet get excited for Tom Holland, who is now playing the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And we’re especially especially sorry that you’re being cornered by Entertainment Tonight and getting asked about it. At least you come off as diplomatic enough:

It feels lovely, especially because Tom Holland is a really, really great actor. He was in this movie The Impossible and he was just this incredibly powerful, sensitive, just wonderful young actor, and [he’s] a dancer, so his body’s the right [form]…I’m just really excited to just be a fan again as opposed to bearing the weight of it.

In all seriousness, Andrew Garfield is going to be fine. He’s making a movie with Martin Scorsese. He’s now free to have a proper career that doesn’t involve him squeezing into red and blue tights. All we can do is leave the poor man alone and focus all of out scrutiny on Holland instead. It is now the internet’s duty to make his life a living hell for a few years while Garfield does whatever the hell he wants.

The Worst Fan Theory Ever Is Gaining Traction

As you know, fan theories suck. And if they suck when they’re about proper, released movies that people have seen and analyzed, then they especially suck when they’re being made based entirely on trailers.

You may have heard this one by now: what if Jared Leto’s new Joker in the DC movie universe isn’t the Joker at all? What if he’s actually Jason Todd, the former Robin, driven insane by an encounter with the real clown prince of crime? This theory exists for one reason and one reason only: a subset of Batman fans are so annoyed at how the new Joker looks that they have bent over backwards to think up reasons to explain why this Joker can’t be the real Joker. He has to be an impostor! In 2015, fans who don’t feel they are being explicitly catered to invent ways to feel better about creative decisions they don’t like.

Anyway, this theory gained more traction over the past week when someone noticed that Leto has scars in his shoulders. Scars that may line up with damage done to the defaced Robin uniform glimpsed in the Batman vs. Superman trailer:

If this ends up being true, we’ll eat our words. We’ll apologize to the fan theory community and admit that they were right an we were wrong and that the evidence is all there and so on. But right now, this may be The Stupidest Fan Theory Of All Time™. Let us only speak of it in mocking tones for the foreseeable future.

A Few Teases From the X-Men: Apocalypse Set

First of all, here’s Olivia Munn, wielding weapons that appear to be made out of plastic and hooked into a harness, training for the role of Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse. Eventually, the blade in her left hand will become a CGI knife composed of psychic energy. Eventually, she’ll have to pull off these moves while wearing a constricting and revealing superhero outfit. We appreciate your sacrifice, Ms. Munn.

Elsewhere, director Bryan Singer continued to do what he does best – reveal vague set photos. The first of them aligns with some previously released concept art depicting a cage housing the mutant Angel (Ben Hardy). As you can see from the screens in the shot, he does not look very happy to be confined ... and he’ll probably channel that unhappiness when he becomes Archangel, one of Apocalypse’s minions, in the film.

As for the second photos ... Uh, we have no idea, either.