by Gus Sanchez. @gusdavsanchez.
NEW YORK, NY - Producers behind the controversial 2011 musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark revealed today that the production was, in fact, heavily influenced by a very popular superhero character named “Spider-Man,” not only in name but in likeness, plot, and supporting characters, the team confirmed.
“Our story felt so closely connected to the story of Spider-Man, so it was fitting to allude to that material,” said producer Michael Cohl. “When we first started writing the show, someone suggested looking at this character that also wears a suit, swings around New York, and fights crime. We thought ‘Alright, well, let’s see what kind of imagery we can pull from the story.’ The more we read, the more we understood something was there that we could reference, little by little, throughout our show.”
Bono, the Irish singer-songwriter and philanthropist who worked as a composer for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, debates the idea that their work was at all inspired by the comic book hero.
“Frankly I think it’s a stretch,” noted the U2 frontman. “When I met with the producers, they told me to write songs as if I was a spider that wore a red and blue outfit that fell in love with a girl and was fighting a flying green guy to save New York City. There was no mention of ‘Spider-Man’ in there, just ‘spider.’”
Reeve Carney, known for originating the title role, was excited by the connection.
“I never really saw the resemblance between this Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man,” claimed Carney. “Besides the name and the story and all of the characters, I always thought it was something different. Looking back on it now, it makes perfect sense that our Spider-Man was influenced by that Spider-Man. I think it’s really a loving, subtle nod to that classic comic crusader.”
Producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark firmly believe that if they had been more transparent about the influence in the beginning, audiences would have had a better understanding of the production. They plan to do so with their next musical, Captain America: Fight the Nazis, which is about a super-soldier fighting in World War II who’s said to be at least partially inspired by the superhero "Iron Man."