Chapter 189

No one knew how long it had been — even the Daily Bugle was calling for Spider-Man's return.

In the darkness, a mysterious figure was assembling the Sinister Six — quick flashes of the Rhino, the Vulture, the Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman, and Doctor Octopus's mechanical arms.

Aunt May couldn't bear to see Peter walking around like a walking corpse, so she handed him a USB drive containing Gwen's graduation speech.

"No matter how deep hope is buried, no matter how lost you feel, you must promise me — never give up hope."

On the TV, Gwen's voice and smile were still there, and Peter flashed back to his past with Gwen.

"Live on with hope. What we've been through makes us stronger."

"This isn't goodbye. We'll carry each other's light into the next stage of life."

"Always remind yourself of the kind of person you want to become."

Though Gwen's speech seemed to be addressed to the whole school, every word felt as if it were meant for Peter.

After going through agonizing pain, he pulled himself back together, took up Gwen's will, and put on the Spider-Man suit.

This was what Gwen had hoped for — and it was his mission too.

Meanwhile, on the streets of New York, the Rhino was wreaking havoc everywhere, when a little boy wearing a Spider-Man mask leapt out and tried to stop him.

Just as everyone cried out in shock, a voice rang out from behind the little boy.

"Hey, Spider-Man."

"I knew you'd come back."

"Brave kid, go find your mom — leave this pile of scrap metal to me."

The Rhino had no sense of fair play and charged forward ahead of schedule.

Spider-Man leapt high into the air — the two were about to collide…

The movie cut to black!

The Spider-Man logo appeared on the screen,

The audience in the theater was still in a state of mental shutdown, unable for a long time to settle down.

【Director: Marc Webb / Xu Can】

【Screenwriter: Xu Can】

【Starring: Xu Can, Emma Stone, James Franco…】

……

Perhaps it was the death of Gwen Shi Daixi that left the entire audience unable to let go — this time, even after the end credits had finished rolling, there wasn't a single sound in the theater.

But no one left either; everyone sat quietly in their seats, staring blankly at the screen.

Until the very end of the film, when the screen went completely dark.

Suddenly, a flash of light seemed to appear in the darkness.

Then that light kept flickering, and the entire IMAX screen seemed to be torn open with a rift!

Just as all the audience was wondering what was going on, a figure actually poked out from inside, as if about to pass through the screen and come straight into the theater!

The audience first stared wide-eyed in confusion, then their pupils violently dilated!

That figure — was actually wearing a white spider-suit, with a hood over its head!

"Holy Shit!!!"

"WTF? Real or fake!"

"Th-this isn't…"

Those who knew nothing about the comics were still baffled, while the comic-savvy audience had already completely lost it!

That look — wasn't it the Spider-Woman from Universe #65?

Spider-Gwen!

Gwen Shi Daixi!

They had originally been sunk in the inability to let go of Gwen's death — but now the audience had completely gone wild.

"What? That's……Weird."

Gwen, standing on a rooftop, looked up — before her was New York's Times Square, and on the giant electronic billboard of a building was the classic image of Spider-Man Peter Parker.

"Interesting — this definitely isn't my New York."

Whoosh—

The screen went dark; the post-credits scene was over.

The theater lights came back on, and only then did the audience realize the movie was completely over — there would be no more footage.

Suppose they were to play Spider-Man 3 right now — probably 100% of the audience would stay, continuing to watch for another 2 hours, 3 hours… however many hours, it didn't matter.

They wished they could keep watching forever.

"Bravo!!! Good!"

Thunderous applause erupted throughout the theater — they had originally been deeply upset by Gwen's death, but in the end it had reignited everyone's passion.

The mood of every audience member was like a roller coaster, up and down.

By the time the Q&A with the main creators came around, the audience could no longer wait to raise their hands and ask questions — the sight of over a thousand people raising their hands at once was quite a spectacle.

"Excuse me, main creative team — is the final post-credits scene Spider-Gwen? Does it mean Spider-Men from different parallel universes are going to take on the Sinister Six?"

Xu Can smiled lightly:

"That's right, she is indeed from another universe. As for what exactly will happen — you're all welcome to come see the final installment of the trilogy when it comes out."

Another audience member couldn't help but ask:

"Why did you write Gwen's death? A happy ending would've been perfectly fine too!"

Some of the audience in the venue nodded repeatedly — they truly couldn't bear to see Gwen die just like that.

But another portion of the audience frowned, feeling that Gwen's death was even more shocking, and that a happy ending would have instead sunk into mediocrity.

As the screenwriter of the trilogy, Xu Can had indeed considered a happy ending.

In his past life, when he watched "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," he felt miserable for a long time, unable even to step into a cinema to watch it a second time.

Many netizens initially gave it low scores, disparaging this sequel.

However, years later, looking back at "The Amazing 2," the reputation seemed to have reversed.

The lingering regret of the Garfield Spider-Man seemed to have become a classic,

to the extent that in the Holland version of "Spider-Man 3: No Way Home," the scene of Garfield saving MJ directly broke the audience's defenses.

"I have enacted the scene of saving you countless times in my mind; this time, I finally won't miss..."

Those who gave "The Amazing 2" bad reviews were mostly due to problems with the film itself,

sluggish dialogue, questionable villain motives, lacking fight scenes, script logic...

The box office failure of "The Amazing 2" had no necessary connection with Gwen's death.

Of course, it was unavoidable for the screenwriter to receive countless letter-knives from movie fans.

So for the new "Spider-Man 2," Xu Can considered countless possible directions.

Ultimately, he chose to respect the classics, referencing Tobey's "Spider-Man 2," placing the main story and the Zhuyaofan Sect on Doctor Octopus.

And he fused the strengths and famous scenes of the two works,

and combined with more advanced technology to comprehensively upgrade the VFX has of the two original movies.

That's right, this "Spider-Man 2" is not only produced by Sony,

Xu Can's "Star River Digital" also participated; originally gathering the top forces from Huaxia and Hollywood,

the VFX has they produced reached a standard almost ten years in the future,

making the status of "Avatar" become somewhat awkward,

losing its leading advantage before even being released.

As for "Gwen's death," Xu Can still intended to preserve this regret.

It wasn't that he pursued any depth; it was just a comprehensive consideration.

A happy ending might win for a moment,

but the aftertaste of Gwen's death could last for over a decade.

Even the reputation of "The Amazing 2" could reverse, let alone Xu Can's "Spider-Man 2" which was like a supreme plus version.

Facing the audience's questions, Xu Can neither explained nor refuted.

"I believe that when you look back at this question, you will have a different feeling."

Yes, time is the best explanation.

Let the bullets fly for a while longer.

Countless audience members eagerly raised their hands to ask questions, while media and film critics were also discussing deeper content with the creative team.