Anyway, I still think high school can be a ripe scenario for Spider-fun, and if there’s one place where you can find proof, it’s in the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series that came out a few years ago. That was a great show that did a nice job balancing Pete’s high school troubles with his Spider-troubles, and gave him a pretty large supporting cast to work with. Harry, Gwen and Mary Jane got ported into Pete’s high school years fairly seamlessly on that show (although Gwen got a few tweaks). Also, and I’m sure David would be glad to hear this, it was also usually faster-paced than the Ultimate Spider-Man comic!

I just think that high school scenarios just have a lot of natural potential for drama (hormones!) and Spider-Man is, among many other things, kind of a metaphor for puberty anyway (when your body goes through ch-ch-changes!). Besides, if they’re going to stick with the same actor for the next couple of films, they’ll eventually have to jump to college and beyond, anyway. I say let’s give high school Spider-Man a chance. He was so entertaining in the latest Avengers film that I’ve got my hopes up.

The thing you have to keep in mind, too, is that Pete’s high school days– a.k.a. the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko run (although Ditko did work on some of the issues where Peter was in college) remains one of the most acclaimed runs on the character and is homaged and referenced CONSTANTLY. Nearly every major Spider-Man villain debuted during this run: Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, the Green Goblin, the Vulture (who rocks, admit it), the Chameleon, Electro, Kraven the Hunter (who rocks when J.M. DeMatteis writes him), the Lizard, the Scorpion, the Sandman… I could go on. While these villains could be written to appear outside of a high school setting, those two years of Spidey history are just loaded with goodies the movies can borrow from.

Putting Spider-Man back in high school also gives him a TON of stuff he has to deal with. He has to go to school AND take care of Aunt May AND stop supervillains AND get good pictures for the Daily Bugle without taking the pictures himself… and so on. Add the fact that he was frequently at odds with his classmates in the beginning– Pete had overcome a lot of that by the time he entered his college years– and you’ve got a whole ton of on-screen drama potential. It also gives viewers the opportunity to watch Peter’s relationship with his high school peers develop and change, as it did in the comics (particularly with Liz and Flash in the 616).

All of that said… you’ve still got a point. The origin HAS been done a ton and we have seen Pete in high school before. But there are solid reasons for the latter. If Marvel decides to bring Peter back as a teenager in Captain America 3: Civil War, this could actually work rather well, as his youth and inexperience would probably make him even more susceptible to Cap and Iron Man’s urging to join their respective sides. Also, it’d be a way to reintroduce Spider-Man WITHOUT doing his origin again!