It's the Venom of Love that sting the worst...

Friends who know me probably guessed that one of my most awaited movie of the year was Spiderman 3. X-Men may deserved the credit of jumpstarting the recent flood of big budget adaption of comic book superheroes but it was Spiderman that was the most successful in this franchise. Duncan already secured tickets to the early screening of Spiderman 3 in Cineleisure Damansara on May 1, at 2 pm. To those who don't have a ticket... nyeh nyeh.

The marketing has been brilliant. The fans already know there will be a new Goblin. The studio revealed that the new villain for part 3 would be Sandman. We fans go WTF... we want Venom. What we didn't know is Venom IS in it. It was just never revealed until the first teaser was released and all the fans around the world started jumping with excitement.

Confession. Truth is... I am not too optimistic about part 3. Why? Hmm, must be an overexposure of their promotion. Too much of a good thing is not always ermm... a good thing. Beside, although my jaw dropped to the ground at earlier Spiderman 3 poster, I am getting bored with each new variation. Red and blue Spidey in new poses with a relection of the same Spidey in black. How much more repetitive can you can? Can we see a bit of the new Goblin or Sandman please... even though it is Venom we are waiting for?

In fact, there was a rumour when part 2 was screened that Harry Osborn will be Venom in part 3. Personally, I thought that would be an interesting twist to the original story. After all the only important criteria as the host for the alien symbiote is that the person hated Spiderman. Very very much. So far, we saw the gooey black costume, nice effect by the way and a glimpse of Venom. Unlike the comic version, this Venom is not brawnier than Spiderman. In fact, I would say it look more like a black Carnage and I thought I saw in the trailer, Venom shooting out black web. Which indicated that he is not capable of generating his own webbing but utilise the symbiote's shape shifting ability to replicate web. Kinda like how Carnage uses that property to create sharp tentacle as weapons.

There is other apparent difference that was revealed in the trailer. For one, Gwen Stacy will be in part 3. This difference, the presense of Gwen as MJ's love rival however, we fans don't quite find agreeable. In the book, Gwen was Peter's first love, not MJ Watson. And it was also she whom Green Goblin thrown off the bridge. Except in the book Spiderman failed to save her. Yes, in one of the most memorable story in Spidey's mythology, the first love of Peter Parker died because even though he managed to snatched her with his web before she hits the ocean, the force of the fall broke her back, killing her. That was about the only time the law of physic was not broken in a superhero story.

I understand the need for this though. At the core, what Spiderman really is is a soapy sappy love story. The superpower, the costume, the action- they are merely gimmick. Admit it or not, Sam Raimi got us, or at least me, all emotional over every victory and defeat of young Peter Parker. We rooted for Peter to find the courage to confess his love to MJ and we were moved speechless when he decided to remain "friend only" with her due to the tragedy that befell Harry Osborn in part 1. We cheer him on when he attempted to win back the then engaged MJ in part 2 and gritted in frustration when Peter blew his chances. When they finally got together in the end of that episode, we grinned like silly when MJ told Peter to "Go get 'em, Tiger" (a line from the comic).

So what will we be left with if after every battle, Spiderman gets to return to the loving embrace of the love of his live? Just another action movie. Heck, even in the newspaper comicstrip, their relationship is anything but smooth sailing. Therefore, we need something to rock their relationship and there is nothing like the presense of a sexy blonde to do just that. I believe they will have a rosy ending still after this episode and though Sam has not confirm it yet, trust me that if there will be a part 4, something else will be threathening their relationship. Maybe Logan will visit Manhattan and MJ finds him absolutely irresistable.

So if there is any guy out there who think it is not macho to watch romance, don't let anyone know you are watching Spiderman because screw Titanic, Spiderman IS the greatest love story of all time.