Who should lead the next 'Spider-Man'? Begin the debate

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

As Sony begins its search for a new Spider-Man director and star, comic book aficionados are greeting news of the franchise overhaul the way they react to anything a big studio does with a superhero: with anxious skepticism.

Fans were stunned Monday by the news that director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey Maguire were out as the studio decided to target younger viewers by rebooting the comic-book adaptation.

Sony scrapped its plan for a Spider-Man 4 in 2011 and says the new-look webslinger will hit screens in 2012.

That should give diehard fans plenty of time to go nuts.

"I think people were floored by this because reboots usually happen with franchises that are long in the tooth, like Star Trek," says Access Hollywood's Scott Mantz. "But this franchise isn't eight years old. And the last one made a lot of money."

Indeed, while it wasn't a hit with critics, Spider-Man 3 did $891 million worldwide, the highest-grossing installment of the series.

While Sony has been vague in its reasons for the reboot, it appears the franchise is moving toward an even more teen-friendly crime fighter. The studio says it will go forward on a script by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), which will put Peter Parker back in high school.

Observers say that while Maguire's replacement isn't shocking (he turns 35 in June), Raimi's removal was a mystery.

"Even though people weren't crazy for Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi still had a lot of credibility with fans," says Blair Butler of the gaming and tech network G4TV. "You can't say that about a lot of directors."

Some worry that the shift to younger fans "is going to turn Spider-Man into Twilight," says Rob Morley, editor of Comics2Film.com. "Nobody wants to see Taylor Lautner as the next Spider-Man."

So who do they want to see? Observers say the choice of director will be a lot more important than the star, and here are a few that they say are on fans' short list:

•Peter Jackson. After his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson has become Lord of the Nerds. A long shot, as Jackson seems committed to staying in J.R. Tolkien's world.

•James Cameron. He initially wrote a draft of Spider-Man that the studios passed on in the early 1990s. Had his sci-fi opus Avatar flopped, this might not have been far-fetched. Now, though, the director will look to franchise that property.

•Neill Blomkamp. The director of District 9 is already a cult hero among sci-fi geeks and is a Jackson protégé. "He's proven he can handle action and effects laced with deep emotional and thematic elements," Butler says.

•David Fincher. The director of Seven and Zodiac was passed over for Raimi in 2002. "He's a guy fans are wondering, 'What if,' " Worley says.

•Guillermo del Toro. The Pan's Labyrinth filmmaker has as avid a following as Raimi.

Still, even with a proven helmsman, reboots can be tricky. Batman flourished after getting restarted by Christopher Nolan, but attempted reboots of The Hulk and Superman have foundered.

"This is awfully fast for a reboot," Mantz says. "It makes sense, but there are still risks. You risk giving people something they think they've already seen."

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Hmmm...For the director, I would like it to be Guillermo del Toro or James Cameron.  Make it in 3D, Ok?! =)