At exactly 9:03 AM on a cold November morning…
the internet exploded.
Not metaphorically.
Actually exploded.
Blackwood servers spiked so violently that several engineers inside Blackwood Studios genuinely thought they were under a coordinated cyberattack for nearly four full minutes.
Because after months of secrecy…
The first teaser trailer for Spider-Man had finally dropped.
And at the very end of the trailer, beneath the glowing title card, three words appeared:
THIS DECEMBER
Humanity immediately lost its mind.
---
Donovan was asleep when it happened.
Which, in retrospect, was a tactical error.
Because Chris Evans apparently decided normal human behavior no longer applied today.
The bedroom door slammed open.
"DONOVAN."
Apollo immediately lifted his massive head from the carpet in visible annoyance.
Donovan groaned into his pillow.
"If you're dying, do it quietly."
"THE TRAILER HIT EIGHT MILLION VIEWS IN TEN MINUTES."
That made Donovan slowly open one eye.
"…What?"
Jake Gyllenhaal walked into the room behind Chris carrying a laptop with the exhausted expression of a man witnessing civilization collapse in real time.
"The internet is malfunctioning."
Chris climbed directly onto Donovan's bed like an overexcited Labrador.
"BRO PEOPLE THINK YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO THE SWINGING."
Apollo stood up and immediately left the room.
Even the dog had limits.
Jake turned the laptop toward Donovan.
Entertainment sites.
Forums.
Message boards.
Fan pages.
Everything looked catastrophic.
---
SPIDER-MAN TEASER BREAKS VIEW RECORDS
BLACKWOOD'S PETER PARKER LOOKS INSANE
THE WEB SWINGING LOOKS REAL???
ANAKIN SKYWALKER IS SPIDER-MAN?!
THIS MOVIE LOOKS TEN YEARS AHEAD OF EVERYTHING ELSE
---
Chris pointed aggressively at the screen.
"LOOK AT THIS COMMENT."
Jake started reading dramatically.
> "There is NO WAY CGI can look like this in 2001."
Another.
> "Why does New York feel more alive than actual New York?"
Another.
> "This looks like a movie from the future."
Chris clutched his chest emotionally.
"They love you."
Donovan sat up slowly, rubbing his face.
"They love Spider-Man."
Jake looked at him flatly.
"You ARE Spider-Man."
"That sounds legally concerning."
---
The teaser itself had only been one minute and thirty-six seconds long.
But somehow…
it felt bigger than entire movies.
---
It started quietly.
Rain falling over New York.
Police sirens echoing somewhere in the distance.
A soft piano theme.
Then Peter Parker's voice:
> "Sometimes… no matter how badly you want a normal life…"
Quick flashes.
Queens streets.
School hallways.
A tired Aunt May.
Peter getting shoved into lockers.
The genetically modified spider crawling slowly across Oscorp glass.
Then—
The bite.
The soundtrack distorted instantly.
Fast cuts.
Peter collapsing in the bathroom.
Hands shaking violently.
Bones cracking.
Breathing getting heavier.
Then silence.
One single shot:
Peter Parker standing upside down on the ceiling of his bedroom in complete shock.
Internet forums nearly died from THAT scene alone.
---
Then the music changed.
And the trailer became chaos.
Not generic superhero chaos.
Blackwood chaos.
Fast.
Fluid.
Alive.
Spider-Man sprinting across rooftops with impossible momentum.
A first-person swing through Manhattan that genuinely made people dizzy watching it.
Police helicopters turning between skyscrapers.
Cars flipping.
The Daily Bugle newsroom screaming in panic.
The Green Goblin flying through Times Square throwing burning pumpkin bombs while civilians ran below him.
And unlike most CGI from that era…
everything had weight.
Momentum.
Speed.
The swinging didn't look floaty.
Every turn violently pulled Peter through the air like real physics were trying to kill him.
It felt less like flying…
and more like controlled falling.
People online instantly started comparing it to rollercoasters.
Dreams.
Adrenaline.
Freedom.
---
Then came the shot.
The shot everyone immediately became obsessed with.
Peter Parker standing alone on a rooftop at sunset.
Mask halfway lifted.
Bruised.
Bleeding slightly.
Looking exhausted.
Then Uncle Ben's voice echoed softly:
> "With great power…"
Quick cut.
Peter launching himself off the building.
Music exploding upward.
> "…comes great responsibility."
TITLE CARD.
SPIDER-MAN.
THIS DECEMBER.
---
The teaser ended.
And humanity collectively ascended.
---
By noon, Donovan's phone had become completely unusable.
Calls from:
* reporters,
* actors,
* directors,
* producers,
* journalists,
* executives,
* random celebrities,
* brands,
* toy companies.
One message from Scarlett simply read:
> You somehow made web swinging attractive.
Another from Natalie:
> The internet thinks you can actually crawl walls now.
Chris had emotionally bookmarked one specific forum comment.
> "This movie looks like it came from 2010."
He kept rereading it proudly.
---
Meanwhile, Blackwood Studios looked like NASA during a moon landing.
Employees rushed through hallways carrying paperwork while giant monitors displayed live statistics from around the world.
8 million.
14 million.
21 million.
34 million.
48 million.
Views climbed so quickly it barely looked real anymore.
One anonymous producer reportedly told Variety:
> "If this movie succeeds, every superhero film currently in development becomes obsolete overnight."
Richard Blackwood read that article once.
Then calmly ordered champagne for the entire studio.
---
The teaser itself was everywhere now.
MTV replayed clips constantly between music videos.
Entertainment Tonight had already aired breakdown segments twice.
On internet forums, people were downloading low-quality QuickTime versions of the trailer just to watch specific scenes frame by frame.
Others were sharing compressed copies through Kazaa and LimeWire because the official site kept slowing down from traffic.
One poor fan on a message board wrote:
> "IT TOOK ME 27 MINUTES TO DOWNLOAD THIS TRAILER BUT IT WAS WORTH IT."
Chris nearly cried reading that one.
---
Later that afternoon, Donovan arrived at Blackwood Studios wearing sunglasses and a black hoodie.
Which failed instantly.
Because at this point half of Los Angeles recognized him on sight.
The moment he stepped out of the Skyline near the studio entrance, nearby pedestrians reacted immediately.
One teenager screamed:
"SPIDER-MAN!"
Another yelled:
"DO A FLIP!"
Chris leaned out the passenger window proudly.
"HE ACTUALLY CAN."
Donovan immediately pointed at him.
"You are actively ruining my life."
Jake stepped out laughing.
"Oh it's WAY too late for that."
---
Inside the studio, giant promotional banners already covered the walls.
Massive images of Spider-Man swinging between skyscrapers.
The suit looked radically different from most superhero costumes audiences were used to.
Sharper lenses.
More textured webbing.
A cleaner red-and-blue design inspired directly by the comics while still feeling believable.
And most importantly…
the suit moved naturally.
Because Donovan had personally insisted the design be built around stunt movement first.
Not appearance.
Which accidentally revolutionized superhero costume design entirely.
---
Several employees nearby weren't even pretending to work anymore.
They were openly watching reaction videos instead.
One showed a comic book store crowd screaming during the bridge swing scene.
Another showed teenagers physically standing up and applauding after the teaser ended.
One guy shouted dramatically:
"THAT'S MY SPIDER-MAN."
Chris nearly wiped away tears.
"This is beautiful."
Jake looked toward Donovan.
"You realize people are already emotionally attached to a Peter Parker they've seen for ninety seconds."
Donovan crossed his arms while silently watching the trailer replay on a nearby monitor.
The rooftop scene appeared again.
Bruised Peter.
The leap.
The city skyline.
"…Good," Donovan said quietly.
Jake noticed the tone immediately.
"You really care about this one."
Donovan didn't answer right away.
Because Spider-Man mattered differently.
Star Wars was mythology.
Harry Potter was wonder.
But Spider-Man?
Spider-Man was human.
Lonely.
Overwhelmed.
Trying to help everyone while life kept punching him directly in the face.
That was why Donovan had fought so hard for:
* practical stunts,
* grounded emotional scenes,
* comic accuracy,
* believable New York energy,
* real consequences.
Peter Parker wasn't supposed to feel untouchable.
He was supposed to feel like a teenager carrying an entire city on his shoulders.
And judging from the reactions online…
people already understood that.
---
Then the office doors burst open.
A panicked assistant rushed inside holding a clipboard.
"Mr. Blackwood, we have a problem."
Chris gasped dramatically.
"The Goblin?"
"No," the assistant said breathlessly. "Toy stores."
Everyone blinked.
"…What?"
The assistant swallowed nervously.
"Toys 'R' Us and KB Toys are reporting insane preorder numbers. Some stores already sold out their first Spider-Man shipment reservations."
Silence.
Jake slowly turned toward Donovan.
"…You broke toys."
Chris looked spiritually fulfilled.
"HE'S HIM."
---
By evening, the trailer had crossed sixty million views worldwide.
Entertainment channels replayed it nonstop.
News anchors discussed the CGI like it was alien technology.
Comic fans analyzed every frame individually.
People discovered:
* Oscorp references hidden in reflections,
* Daily Bugle headlines teasing future villains,
* subtle hints toward Oscorp experiments,
* tiny references to Black Cat,
* glimpses of Peter building his own web shooters manually,
* and one frame…
just ONE frame…
of a black symbiote-like silhouette hidden in the background of a lab shot.
That single frame nearly caused riots online.
---
Back at the mansion later that night, Donovan sat in the living room while giant televisions replayed trailer reactions from around the world.
Chris was upside down on the couch for no reason.
Jake kept reading forum comments aloud dramatically.
Scarlett had somehow appeared again despite never announcing herself beforehand.
Natalie sat beside Donovan scrolling through reactions on her own laptop.
Then she suddenly laughed.
"What?"
Natalie turned the screen toward him.
A forum post read:
> "How is Donovan Blackwood somehow the coolest and most pathetic Peter Parker imaginable?"
Scarlett immediately burst out laughing.
"That is EXACTLY Spider-Man."
Chris pointed proudly.
"THEY UNDERSTAND THE VISION."
Jake kept scrolling.
Then paused.
"Oh no."
Everyone looked at him.
Jake read the comment aloud dramatically:
> "This movie looks like Sam Raimi got possessed by a director from 2012."
The room went silent.
Then Donovan laughed hard enough to nearly spill his drink.
And somewhere outside…
across New York…
across Los Angeles…
across London…
giant billboards lit up the night.
A red-and-blue figure swung between skyscrapers above glowing city lights.
The world wasn't ready for Spider-Man.
Not this version.
Not even remotely.