Continued after the jump.
Last week I went to see The Amazing Spiderman 2 in theaters (and brushed up on Amazing Spidey 1 beforehand). I must say, while the plot leaves a little want, the movies are quite good. I like how Sony has rebooted their Spiderman franchise to incorporate more of the comic universe plotlines and less non-canon movie-filler silver screen junk. Whether it's the fact that they got the webshooters right, captured the whole Gwen Stacy era, or just a better myriad of villains to delve into from the beginning (and not trying to jam too many into a single film - looking at you Sam Raimi's Spiderman 3...), I just enjoy this reboot better. Don't get me wrong, Raimi's Spiderman 1 & 2 were excellent movies, but 3 was just ruinous (director Sam Raimi admitted it himself).
Anyways, The Amazing Spiderman 1 didn't leave many easter eggs besides the post-credits scene -a shadowy figure talking to Curt Connors (The Lizard) about the truth about Peter Parker's father. Now an interesting thing happens in Amazing Spiderman 2 - the easter egg is revealed as a canon part of the storyline. The shadowy figure from the post-credits scene in 1 turns out to be Gustav Fiers - The Gentleman. He is a manipulator who uses the Sinister Six for his own plans. Besides Harry Osborne (who was cemented in as the Green Goblin) conferring with him from his cell about the Special Projects in Oscorp and wanting to "keep it a small group," we have our first Sinister Six easter egg. Besides the blatant ones following - Oscorp's Special Projects containing the mechanized Rhino suit which Spidey faces to end the second movie, a set of Doc Ock robot tentacles, wings for The Vulture, and possibly what was the Venom Symbiote (Harry's goblin venom, battle suit and glider were also housed down there). So, by the end of the movie, we have at least most of the Sinister 6 originated or hinted at: Harry Osborne's Green Goblin as the leader (although not a traditional member in the comics), Electro (Jamie Foxx's nice blue Ultimate universe portrayal, who may or may not be dead at this point), Rhino, Doc Ock, and The Vulture. That leaves a 6th spot to be filled by one of the many Spidey villains left - The Lizard (although unlikely as he made peace with Peter at the end of the 1st film), Sandman, Chameleon, Hobgoblin, Kraven the Hunter, or Mysterio (which I am personally rooting for).
So other than the blatant easter eggs, we also have the lovely news that Sony named Drew Goddard the director for a Sinister Six standalone movie set in the same Spidey universe, which pulled him off of Marvel Studio's direct-to-Netflix Daredevil series. So there's that. And beyond that nice piece of news, the Venom symbiote easter egg holds importance as Sony has hinted at long-held plans to have a Venom standalone movie or movie series as the anti-hero, pitted against possible foes such as Carnage or Spiderman, or even reluctantly working together with Spidey himself. Who knows, but we have lot's of time before the 2016/2018 Amazing Spiderman 3 & 4 releases.
Last but not least, we have a few more easter eggs from Oscorp. The first is the fact that Norman Osborne STRAIGHT UP DIES onscreen. We're talking about one of the main, central, uber important villains in the Marvel universe. And he died like 15 minutes into Amazing Spidey 2 (granted we knew it was coming as it's a major plot device in Amazing Spidey 1). This means one of two things - the Amazing Spiderman series will be breaking canon from here on out, or we haven't seen the last of Norman Osborn. I'm going with option 2 for two reasons - 1) The original end credits scene was supposed to be Mr. Fiers walking up to Norman Osborn's decapitated head in a jar, saying something along the lines of "Hello my old friend," and 2) if that's not enough for you, remember the laser that was scanning Norman's deceased body when they were breaking down his bed at the mansion? Yeah, even director Marc Webb stated that that laser was significant, but he wasn't sure if it has continuity into the Sinister Six standalone or the rest of the Amazing quadrilogy (is that even a word?) as of now. They have so much that they can do with Norman even after killing him off, such as bringing him back a the Goblin King, the role that he reprises time and time again in the comics after dying off as the Green Goblin, in which he runs NYC's criminal underground, another Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin, the possibilities are endless. So yeah, if Marvel Studios has taught us anything about comic book movies, it's that dead is never really dead (a la Phil Coulson, granted that I thoroughly enjoy the Agents of SHIELD TV series and how they brought him back after Avengers).
Now the last easter egg that's serious is a nice little name drop in Amazing Spiderman 2 - Norman's former and Harry's "current"/former assistant - Felicia. While her last name isn't mentioned on screen, actor Felicity Jones is credited as playing Felicia Hardy - or the Black Cat as she is more well renowned. How this will also play out is yet unknown, although I'm rooting for it to be more cause for a Mysterio villain character.
I'm not gonna go into detail about Gwen's well, you know, partially because I thought that the third installment could be very dark without being Raimi's Spiderman 3 and partially because I think that Emma Stone is the salt of the earth, but they wrote that one out with Peter basically getting over her in the end. So now we get to look forward to an MJ introduction in the next movie, and at least it won't be Kiersten Dunst (whose constant sleepy looking face gives me the creeps).
/rant out
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