Some claim there is Spider-Man box office fatigue—the box office numbers say that's a false claim—but perhaps script changes were made for the worse. Now a script leak seems to confirm that there were many changes from the initial script of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to the final film seen in theaters.
The website BadAssDigest landed a copy of the initial script and listed 10 things that were different. I've taken what I think are six of the biggest changes of those 10 things listed by BadAssDigest and listed them below.
- Mary Jane. As we all know Shailene Woodley was cast as Mary Jane Watson, shot some days and then was cut from the movie. The original script includes all of the MJ scenes, and she's introduced as the Parker's new next door neighbor. Her dad is an abusive drunk and she's a waitress who builds motorcycles in her spare time. She has a Spider-Man tattoo on her wrist, and she's clearly interested in Peter, who is totally hung up on Gwen. At one point Spider-Man confronts MJ's dad, telling him to lay off the girl. At the end of the script Gwen comes to Peter's house before heading to London; he's gone but she meets the new neighbor. They have a friendly exchange and MJ says that she always attracts dickheads and asks Gwen what her advice is to get a guy like Peter. "Date a nerd," Gwen says before heading off to die, basically giving MJ the okay to get with Peter.
- Electro's mom. In the script Max Dillon lives at home with his wheelchair-bound mom, who doesn't think much of him. He has to take care of her, and after he 'dies' in the accident that gives him powers he comes home to find his mom standing up and getting a big payout from Oscorp. He gets angry and begins using his powers, which is what sets off his confrontation with the police in Times Square, not a weird moment where he just starts sucking on electrical wires for no reason.
- J Jonah Jameson. JJJ's in the original script, as is Robbie Robertson. We see Peter, who is a student at Empire State University, bring his first Spider-Man pictures to JJJ, who gives him a tour of the Daily Bugle. JJJ complains that the Internet is killing the newspaper business; later, Spidey and Electro's first fight send them crashing through the Daily Bugle offices and the printing presses.
- Little Spider-Man. One of the best sequences in the movie has Spidey helping a nerdy little kid who is getting picked on by bullies. That kid shows up at the end, in a Spider-Man costume, to confront the rampaging Rhino. That kid isn't in this script! And the Rhino barely is either; he's just a cameo at the end, with no connection to the truck heist at the beginning of the film.
- The death of Gwen Stacy. It plays out mostly the same in the original script... but Gwen, back broken, hangs on to life long enough to demand that Peter never give up. Because this is the same character who promptly broke his promise to Captain Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter quits being Spider-Man in the next scene.
- "With great power..." The finished film has a terrible bit at the end where Peter quits Spider-Man for a bunch of months, and this time passes by in a montage. The same thing happens here! But instead of finding a tape of Gwen's super on-the-nose graduation speech, Peter is approached by... his dad! Yes, Richard Parker shows back up at the end of the script, and he tells Peter he's been watching him for years. He's seen him become Spider-Man and everything. It's Richard who convinces Peter to become Spider-Man again, and in his last scene in the movie he tells Pete "With great power comes great responsibility," FINALLY working the famous phrase into this new series.
Note: The bullet-point content above was is quoted directly from BadAssDigest.com and you can read the other four changes that were made to the script by clicking right here to go there to read them.