Watch: 'The Amazing Spider-Man' director feels 'great responsibility'

SAN DIEGO -- Appropriately, Marc Webb feels the weight of "great responsibility" taking on the next edition in the "Spider-Man" franchise -- y'know, considering the great power, and all.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" director is aware of what the person of Peter Parker and his super-hero alter-ego means to the comic and movie fans, and it's a beyond any of its cinematic iterations, past (Tobey Maguire) or present (Andrew Garfield).

"This character is such a massive character. He transcends any one person -- me or Andrew or Tobey. It's a scary thing, it's really exhilarating," he told HitFix in an interview at Comic-Con. "Exciting and scary... They're constant companions, aren't they?"

Webb said that they key difference to this new version of the series will be the early history of the character, including the introduction to Spidey's first love Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone).

"She is a very difft character than what we've seen before. I love romance and I find that very interesting to explore cinematically," Webb said.

He also likes the personal development of Parker. "There's kid that's an orphan, goes out looking for his father and ends up finding himself," he explains, iterating how Garfield chose to adapt to his new role, too, as a superhero. "[He] developed a whole body language that he's become obsessed with. He would spend hours developing poses and postures."

Check out what else Webb had to say about expanding the  franchise and what makes "The Amazing Spider-man" film different.

And watch, too, HitFix's interview with Emma Stone about the flick.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" will be out July 3, 2012.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.