 Yeah nah, Spider-Man No Way Home was pretty fun, hey. Doctor Strange was an incompetent arse-hat, blaming and refusing to help Peter on an issue that he caused because he didn't give Peter the full rundown of the Forget Me spell. The rules to magic and the multiverse are further butchered with this OP spell from Doctor Strange and the mechanics by which it taps into the multiverse, but the movie was still fun and had a lot of great character moments. We're not going to talk about any of that today though. Oh no. We're here to talk about this guy, who popped up for a minute in the film and whose only major contribution to the story was completely ignored. Do you know? Do I die? Doctor Lizard, the Curtis Connors, is a very polarising figure from a very polarising film series. Mark Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man Trilogy… um… well, maybe one day. And in No Way Home, Connors got the shaft. To be fair, there were four other villains, and the big three, being Electro, Green Goblin, and Doc Ock, got most of the focus. He was there to fill out the roster and give us more of the Rogues Gallery. But Connors Lizard is often dismissed as a bad character and villain. His dastardly plan of turning the world into Lizards becoming somewhat of a meme. Having rewatched The Amazing Spider-Man recently in anticipation for No Way Home, I think there's quite a few merits to this guy that get overlooked. Connors motivations are pretty out there by the end of the film, but this is building on foundational examples of his perspective earlier on that get exacerbated and contorted by the reptile juice. There are definite problems with his character, and I'll be addressing those as well, but for the most part I'm here to offer an olive branch to this scaly twat. I think he's one of the stronger aspects of The Amazing Spider-Man movies, and one of the best villains in the live action Spider-Man franchise. Here's a quick ranking for fun that I'm not going to elaborate on so that you guys can argue in the comments. Just to be clear, this is a defence of his characterisation, I am not supporting his actions. Legally or otherwise. The views and beliefs of the cold-blooded Reese e-fans don't represent that of me. I'm a furry, not a scaly. To get it out of the way now since I don't want it to be the focus of the video, I do like The First Amazing Spider-Man overall, and it was certainly stronger upon a rewatch than what I'd remember. I'd rank it in the top half of live action Spider-Man films. There's still a fair chunk of issues in it, but I might save that for another video down the line. Back to the lizard at hand, we'll be going through the film chronologically to examine every relevant facet to his overall character. Let's have a look at his background. Dr Curtis Connors was the research partner of Dr Richard Parker, Peter Parker's father. The two studied cross-species genetics at the New York Tower of Oz Corp Industries, a scientific research facility founded by Norman Osborne. Connors and Parker's field hasn't offered much in the way of substantial publicised results, and as such they've remained in laboratory limbo. Their work has been dismissed as science fiction by their peers, but they both remain adamant in their goals. Kurt's motivation for researching cross-species genetics is to give and assist to human equality. Parker focused on the enhanced sensibilities of spiders, whereas Connors focused on reptiles, re-growing limbs and converting that into a supplement that can aid the physically disabled. Part of Connors' motivation comes from his own missing appendage, a right arm missing from the elbow to hand, an aspect of himself that he sees as a weakness and deformity. This suggests he may have had the missing arm for a while and that he's been bullied or mistreated by others because of this. A combination of his own self-esteem and the bullying has led him to believe that he is inferior. Besides one example, we don't really get much of that in the film. It doesn't take much to assume the inability to exercise some basic motor functions is frustrating to him and look down on by ableists. Whether that was in school or at work, we can't be too sure. It's also unclear as to how exactly he'd lost the arm, but there is one potential reason I'll get into later. His outlook that has come from missing the arm has made him more sympathetic to others with missing limbs, though Connors doesn't refer to them as weak and deformed. He just acknowledges that they both may feel the same frustrations or feel like outcasts, and he wants to help them all be seen as equal in the eyes of the able-bodied, so to speak. Connors comes back into the story of Tasm 1 years after his lab partner was killed in a mysterious plane crash. Peter Parker comes poking around at Oscorp trying to find out what exactly happened to his parents. This leads him to Dr Connors who is still at Oscorp researching cross-pieces genetics. Connors is now a well-respected established member in the field, at least to some extent. He's had plenty of seemingly positive articles written about him, he's had his work published in book form, and he's able to launch an internship program at Oscorp that proves popular. Our main character, I forget his name, is able to tag along to the program, and this is Connors' first physical appearance in the film. The human approaches the internship group in his lab, who are being guided by his lead intern, protege, and Peter's love interest, Gwen Stacy. Connors makes a light bit of self-deprecation about his arm to brighten the mood and address the elephant in the room. As charming as that joke was, he immediately cuts into their laughter and sternly dismisses the idea of him being a cripple. That could mean he was making this joke out of obligation, or to lull the internship group into his beacons before dropping the real shit. And at one point, Connors doesn't seem to realise that he has told all these freckled face losers that he has broken and in need of fixing. An attitude towards disability that tells you a lot about how he sees himself and fellow amputees, openly admitting he struggled to fix himself to the point of desperation. His desire for results has manifested in admiration for other fields of research showing such promise. We see that when one of the interns brings up stem cell research thinking it was Connors' field of study. I guess he didn't read the application thoroughly. Connors states that his approach is much more radical, and no one in the group besides Peter knows what he's talking about. Does anybody read internship applications? Peter answers cross-species genetics, using the example of zebrafish, regenerating their cells to prevent Parkinson's disease. This makes a student mock the idea of giving a human mad zebrafish skills. Connors hushes the joke and laughter, clearly offended that his research isn't being taken seriously. It's interesting to note that he is comfortable joking about his arm but doesn't take kindly to jokes about the research. Since he's had the arm like this for at least a decade, he's probably gone through all the motions of accepting the situation and dealing with it through humor. But the solutions to fixing the situation are no laughing matter to him. He takes a great interest in Peter and his intuition but has to excuse himself when he receives a call from an unknown person. He leaves the group in the capable hands of Gwen. Before going, he tells them it was nice meeting them all. But he glances specifically at Peter when he says this. As a man desperately chasing leads for the advancement of his work, this promising young man certainly seems to have piqued Connors interest. He'll take anything, even if it's the one kid in an internship group that actually knew what the fuck was going on. It seriously feels like the others were just there for a laugh. That would actually be kind of interesting as a little inference. Like Dr. Connors is bad math throughout the scientific community as a hackwack cripple and students enroll just to see the carnival attraction up close. Not that Connors really seems like a recluse, but there are certain things that he is definitely holding close to his chest. As I was saying, Connors is called a way to speak with Pi about his life. In this scene, we hear from the Oscorp mouthpiece named Ratha that Norman Osborne is on his deathbed. Connors is under pressure to finalize his research and cure the mysterious unnamed illness that plagues Ozzy Oscorp. On top of the desperation to cure an ailment of his own, that is long term and not going anywhere anytime soon, there is a ticking clock to find this cure that threatens Curtis's safety, security and health. Connors has supposedly been under the thumb of Oscorp even prior to Richard Parker's death. This adds a dynamic to the partnership that places Connors as the neurotic downer pushed around by the big ups since that's how he sees it best to survive and continue his research whereas Parker was the neurotic rebel who doesn't want this powerful discovery in the wrong hands. The latest trials for Connors reptile juice are showing more promise but are still running into snafus. C.C. knows that this is to be expected. He's used to the time it takes to make progress on this so he sees the tears in the seam as the thing he has to sew up while he improves the serum. It's a hydrohead but Connors isn't expecting miracles though we have still seen him get emotional and defensive about the process ever so subtly. Curtis mentions the decay rate algorithm as the snafu he keeps running into with the serum. I was able to find some references to the algorithm as an evaluative metric. It observes cell regeneration and degeneration in the application of cross species materials into various organisms. This includes the speed at which it does. From what I was able to find it seems that the team behind the film consulted a physicist to make a Hollywood equation that would be used to justify Connors transformation mentally and physically. In scientific terms the decay rate algorithm is the rate at which things decay. Algorithmically, the serum is decaying aspects of the organism it is being simulated or tested against. The lab rats both virtual and real are dying at varying rates when they are given the formula. This is the reason it can't be given to osman right now. He'll decay rate in the algorithm. The film does a decent job at displaying the decay rates ability to cause physical damage but I wish there was something a bit more explicit about mental degradation. It's certainly something that can be inferred. In fact I think it's only natural. If we had a scene where Connors explained that the decay rate algorithm was also causing aggression and insanity like Norman's lab partner Mendel in Ramey 1. I think this would have been a lot easier for audiences to accept. Of course the test subjects have died at such a rate that recognizing potential psychological symptoms in sanity and the like were either inconclusive or irrelevant. I imagine making sure the subjects don't die would be the first priority. Then they can worry about that whole crazy thing. As it stands I'd say the decay rate algorithm could have used more explaining. Its physical effects are clear but the psychological effects are what needed to be outlined to aid the believability of Connors character change. Anyway the Oscorp goons are putting the lien on Connors to circumvent this D-ray algae. Later Connors is visited by a man named Rodrigo Guavera asking about his papa. Curtis reveals he has no idea as to why Richard and Mary Parker left all the circumstances around their death. So we know Connors wasn't in on it maybe and that Oscorp probably tightened their hold on him as a result. Richard seemingly abandoning well nah he did abandon Connors straight up. This is something we get from the amazing spider man too. Richard could have at least given him a heads up so that he doesn't essentially become Osborn's medicine man. That's if they were in on good terms. So yeah Richard straight up abandoning Connors left him angry and he goes to the rest of the Parker family as a result and for that he apologizes to Peter. Peter shows Connors an equation he worked out that could kick this decay rate algorithm in the crotch. Interestingly he doesn't tell Connors that he has his father's research. Instead he makes it look like he figured it out himself. I imagine Connors would have been pretty pissed to learn that his partner didn't give him his notes and instead left it to his son to hopefully one day figure it out. Connors is blown away and takes Peter in as his new lab partner. Also in this scene Peter catches a coffee mug thanks to his Spidey sense that Connors accidentally knocked over. Pretty innocuous on its own and maybe just there to show how Sigma Peter's new spider gives her but it also continues to show Connors admiration for abilities beyond his own. Maybe I am reading too much into this little interaction. I imagine anyone in this situation would probably see what Peter did and go nice catch but considering what we've gotten on Connors so far I think it's fair to highlight this as an example of one of his core character traits. Now partners Connors highlights to Peter how his main goal in finalizing this serum is to eliminate the decay rate. He still carries that understanding that this endeavor has and may very well continue to be long term. He doesn't wish for people to get hurt with botched reptile gunk. With Peter's equation the simulated trials actually begin producing very solid results. A mutual respect slash quasi-father-son relationship forms with Peter and Connors. In a little montage of their science scene we even get a brief look at Connors' admiration for lizards. After a successful run of the equation Connors brings the news to Ratha. Because at this point Curtis is a precious, naive, tasty Welsh ragamuffin he doesn't clue in to Ratha's plan. Straight to human trials basically the second last step before giving it to Osborn Connors criticizes the recklessness for the sake of one man, Norman Osborn, who wishes to defy his fate. I feel like this seals Connors at this point of the story. He's trying to establish every human as equal as far as physical ability goes and he is the all-powerful Norman Osborn trying to defy death at the risk of hurting others in human trials. Curtis urges Ratha not to do it, questioning who would even want to partake in trials given the serum's nature. Ratha then relieves Curtis of his station and tells him the serum would be given to injured soldiers at the veteran hospital across town under the guise that they are flu shots. Further shocking Dr Connors. Interesting to note and I brought this up earlier as a potential cause of him having lost the arm and that's in the comics Connors lost his arm from his work as a field medic in the army. An artillery blast injured his arm so badly that it had to be amputated. However in the comics the character is also from Florida so we can't use that to confirm that this is how Connors lost his arm in the movies kind of. Still that would add an extra layer to this interaction. On its own the disregard for those underprivileged due to disability still hits home for Connors. On top of all of this Ratha grabs Connors by his stump when he tries to leave and fixes up the cuff around it. Clearly a condescending power move this is the most we get for the whole treatment of Connors as inferior or belittling him based on his disability. Whilst I felt there could have been more to establish Connors bullying I appreciate the subtlety of this particular gesture. I feel like we've seen in a lot of movies where a character who's in a higher position of power to another character in a film fixes up their shirt collar or just making small general adjustments to another's clothing in a very patronizing manner fucking with a personal space to assert power over them. Having Ratha use Connors disability against him gives this a way more dickish twist. Because Ratha is stupid and doesn't have Connors escorted out of the building upon his termination remember what happened with the last employee of yours that felt threatened and distrustful. Connors decides later that day to follow his old lab partner's example and take matters into his own hand. He injects the goo into his veins, has a nap, wakes up with a cocooned new arm. He marvels at the regeneration, elated at all those years of research having finally paid off and because he's got his priorities straight Connors tries to contact Ratha and tell him to turn the fuck around. Unfortunately some bullshit about phone reception gives him a headache. The green juice has taken its hold and pretty soon Dr Curtis Connors will turn into Mark Zuckerberg. Silly his resolve to stop Ratha from testing the juice on unsuspecting veterans is unwavered though he is a little more forceful in achieving his goals. Remember that decay rate algorithm? We don't get a full view of the adverse terminal physical effects just yet but we can see what looks like tension, headache, disorderliness and aggression but yeah he turns into a big fuck off lizard on the bridge. So now's probably a good time to talk about the design. It's a point of criticism for the film that the lizard primarily in the face displays an uncanniness that people find more humorous than intimidating or scary. I think I may have also felt like this at a point in time but I've actually come to really appreciate this design. The thing to remember is that he is turning into a human lizard hybrid crossover thing. He's not literally changing into a lizard like humanoid, a different creature entirely. A humanoid is something that resembles a human in its overall shape but there's still that separation between that and the human which I find counter intuitive to the whole idea of the lizard in this film. There are going to be trace elements of human in there. You can still point to aspects like the body shape standing on two legs, opposable thumbs but that stuff that would still be present in a humanoid. Having the face look like an abominable human reptile sells the idea to me that there is a human trapped in there. Think about the scene where he gets the arm back it's wrapped in a huge reptilian cocoon but still many say that the lizard should have had a snout like he does in the comics to make him more snarling and spindly. Honestly though I think they went with a more human-faced accent Connor's desire to increase his physical ability. Now he looks like a roided out reptile man, a parody of his desires. Considering how his thoughts are contorted and pushed to the extreme by this reptile smoothie I think the design mirroring that works really well. A more snarling gaunt look may have helped the sense of meek creepy crawliness when Connor's returns to human form post serum and pre cure. Further sold by reesey fern's performance but I think we needed that contrast between the good natured man at the beginning and the familiar but imposing terrifying destructive and we can keep the gaunt creepiness to e ferns in his between doses stage. He acts kind of like an addict jonesing for the next hit and we've seen what addiction does to promising strong individuals. In short I think the design aids the parody of human form that he's become due to his juice usage. But I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea and I've seen some really funny comparisons to the goombas in the live action super mario movie. At the end of the day I don't know if there really is a wrong or right to this. I do appreciate that they've kept a relatively human look that looks way more convincing than killer croc in suicide squad. That dude genuinely looks like a scaly. Like if I if I saw this dude at comic con cosplaying as killer croc I'd be like well that's cool really awesome effort dude but in a big budget movie he looks bedazzled. Not that there's anything wrong with being bedazzled it's just that I don't believe that you exist. Your skin looks separate from the thing it's supposed to be covering. Finally enough the CG on lizard looks more convincing than the practical effects for killer croc. Maybe that's another thing to the lizard. The CG gives it more of an opposing field of the human that we saw earlier. Almost too much it's hard to believe that this beautiful blonde bottom is inside that statue of green. The CGI for the lizard is easily the best CG in the film though. Like there's shots of spider-man that feel very low-res next to their backgrounds and untextured. The lighting doesn't always seem to be bouncing off spider-man like it does the rest of the environment as well as there being a distinct lack of shadows. Or at least they didn't feel all that opaque. Because we see Andrew when he's in the practical suit there's a bit more of a quality disparity between the detail in this pretty ballin suit and then a laster boy. This is an issue I feel has persisted throughout the spider-man franchise even since the rainy days up until now so I don't want to seem like I'm just picking on the amazing spider-man here. The overall CG definitely improved in the sequel. As for one it feels like most of the focused in the visual effects department went to Lizzie. It helps that there aren't any practical shots of him so it feels like we're seeing the definitive version. I say we but this could just be me. This section about the design was definitely more of a personal observation and preference thing. If you disagree that's totally fine. You stupid bastard. Back to the action it is clear that on top of the physical transformation of Curtis Connors he's also had his personality twisted by the green stuff. He seems to have no qualms with or even recognition of the death and destruction he's causing. And in fact at this point he's targeting Ratha intently for death. We see later that his personal relationships have been pushed aside and his good intentions for improving the human condition have turned into a psychotic desire to forcefully see the world evolve. He's not hiding his description of the disabled as weak now. In fact it's jumped up. If you're not a muscled scale man if you have to decide between your miserable human shell and the reptilian adonis and you ain't black as we've seen with serums throughout comic book superhero movies especially in the MCU serums bring out certain things in different people. The general consensus is that within you all elements whether it's good or bad will be exaggerated by the serum rather than simply saying serums make you crazy will say that the ultra performance enhancer can be compared to the basic concept of power. The often parroted adage is that power corrupts but I prefer the idea that power reveals. The more of a chance you have to be yourself the more we'll get to see who you truly are. With great responsibility comes great power. We saw Steve Rogers newly found physical prowess matched by his good heart. His optimism and confidence grew with his new captain america form. Captain Rogers killed an action. A lot of other good men are dead. Some of these men need medical attention. I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action. That won't be necessary. You're late. Couldn't call my ride. In Ramie Spider-Man 1 we saw the stubborn chauvinism of Norman Osborne become the psychopathic anarchistic god complex of the Green Goblin. I'm something of a scientist myself. Back to formula. Back to formula. Now of course as far as Connors is concerned this isn't a super serum. Just a cross species antidote for amputees. He had no idea he was going to undergo such changes. Or maybe he had some notion and that's only one of the reasons he was against rushing this. Before Peter and Connors overcame this whole decay rate thing the species was failing to adapt to this crossover episode. Now like Connors and Peter were able to say now to that the potential long-term side effects of what Connors is concerned with. As far as that aspect goes he's like the opposite of John Hammond in Jurassic Park. Remember how neither Hammond nor Dr. Woo were aware of the weird things happening over time with the dinosaurs? Mixing frog DNA with dinosaurs fucked with that whole selective gendering thing at the program. Since certain frogs can change their sex in single sex environments I'm sure that's the kind of freaky shit that Connors would have been keeping an eye out for if Ratha hadn't sped up the process. We've seen subtle hints of Connors I'd say arrogance earlier in the film and the worrisome branding of disabled people. And now that's all been turned up to 11 with the decay rate algorithm. He's lost it, gone crazy, fell off the deep end. Connors is not thinking straight, he is clearly unwell. He's gone from I want to help those who are disadvantaged like me to I want to evolve the human race. And yeah it's silly. Yeah may seem simplistic but only because the serum has destroyed any semblance of nuanced humanity and has elevated the more reactionary aspects of Connors character. Ramey's Norman Osborne was a man who struggled with the emotional distance of his son and the degradation of his company as a result of production issues. Now as the goblin he wants to kill anyone who wronged him and assert his dominance. That's how these serums work. The guarantee to mess with your psyche to some degree for better or worse. Your mental state is tied to your physical state and thanks to the serum your physical state is getting gefuffled. Scientifically speaking. I take a look at amphetamines that can make you more alert, active and can elevate certain senses as well as potentially making you more anxious, paranoid and irritable. The lizard serum has given Connors a broad range of enhanced abilities with some caveats but it's also made him paranoid, aggressive, violent, unreasonable and psychotic. The serum is suppressing the good elements of Connors that he in his unrepentant heart of hearts knows are right. And now those glimmers of frustration, veiled ableism, anger and resentment are being exploited by the serum. Think about everything else that's happened to Connors prior to now. His partner left him nearly a decade ago leaving all that time for resentment and guilt to build up. He's felt like an outcast for all the time he's been in amputee. His research has been laughed off as science fiction and he's got a knife over his head to find a cure for Osborne. All of those emotions about his partner have come rushing back when his son rocks up. And sure there have been glimmers for Connors that the movie will account for later. He has a protege that he has mentored and who very much looks up to him. With Peter he can finally begin confronting and mending the past and the serum is finally seeing some tangible results. But then Ozcork comes back in takes his work and fires him. They're going to rush this and compromise the ability for this serum to truly land on its feet so he may never get that arm. Perhaps no one will and some innocent veterans are about to be worse off for it. All for Norman Osborne. A man with all the power in the world still too weak and colonised to sort himself out. The scales have tipped. There is more negative engagement surrounding his interactions and life right now. Bring that serum in and the scales are going to break. Alright here's my overly simplified smoking gun slash the argument in a nutshell. Think about how predatory and territorial reptiles are. Add that to a serum that's meant to enhance physical capability. Or at least bring up the disadvantage to a level of quote unquote normalcy which only recently successfully adapted to cross species application. Now it's the symptoms of this experimental serum that are unknown. Add that to Connor's cracking psychology. You got a strong foundation for mad scientist reptile man right there. I know that he just wants to turn everyone into Lizards argument has been used to dismiss Connors and the Lizard as inconsistent or ridiculous but that is just not the case. If you find Connors or the Lizards silly or you can't take them seriously that's totally fine I understand. Everyone has their threshold for suspending their disbelief but I'm afraid that's just how you feel. You stupid bastard. Lizard tries to kill Ratha but is stopped by Spider-Man. Lizard is able to flee because Peter has an amazing character moment of focusing on saving people rather than defeating the enemy. Just wanted to give a shout out to this scene it is the best in the film and one of my all-time favorite Spider-Man moments. Fuck the crane scene it's contrived as hell and superfluous to Spider-Man's ability to swing. Connors wakes up in the sewer his arm missing again as the serum wears off revealing that the serum isn't a one and done application. On top of that he is showing signs of degradation spots of lingering scales around his body. He begins conversing with the other Lizards referring to them as beautiful. Then nakedly darts off to go do more Lizard stuff. We'll see later that Connors has returned to Oscorp and continues to develop more serum in a secret underground lair. So yeah two quick things. I'm curious as to how he is still able to work here. I suppose Ratha hasn't been able to recover if he wasn't killed here and properly terminate Connors employment but there's still cameras at Oscorp right? Nobody saw him talking with Ratha before the attack. Saw that Connors was injecting himself. I suppose he's not specifically under investigation from the police or Oscorp so maybe no one would think to look here but I was under the impression Oscorp kept really close tabs on their employees and persons of interest. Especially Richard Parker's old lab partner who was currently being asked to save the life of this company's founder. Ratha didn't tell anyone where he was going, what he was doing at any point. That he was going to the veterans hospital with the serum in our game ever. Soon as Oscorp or the police find that they're tracing it back to Connors. Also how did he get all this stuff down here? Past Oscorp security past transit authority? And how was he powering this? Imagine sending a guy down here to check out the 1000% power surge in this sector and then they fall into the lab and become an electric lizard. Surely someone would have found this by now. Anyway those are the only problems in this film and there's definitely nothing else stupid contrived or stupidly contrived. So Connors has officially relocated to the sewer cooking up the good stuff and recording his crazy rants. That wasn't the point of the first film you walking talking Fedora. Clearly this isn't the same man we saw at Oscorp. He's an inverted shell of his former self. Decade if you will. He continues to inject himself upping the dosage so that it lasts longer. And that is when the new plan develops. It's time for humanity to evolve. Lizardly. Obviously this twisted shell of Curtis Connors is putting together his advanced strength that well exceeds what he initially intended with the great equalizer he's always been trying to develop. Ergo he wants to bring everyone up to his level. Peter then goes to visit Connors at Oscorp where the man has set everyone home as he revels in the solitude this power has given him allowing him to enact his horrifying schemes. I'd be very interested to see what would have happened if Connors was successful. Something tells me that this newfound obsession with being king of his domain would make him very territorial against his fellow lizard brethren. The simple takeaway of King Lizard sending the gizzard wizards home is that he doesn't want to get found out. But you could also get a sense that this is Connors greater good. An extreme rendition of enduring the outcast life to make sure no one is ever an outcast again. He is more of an outcast now than ever and that fuels him to get everyone else the lizard did. At the office Peter starts asking Connors about reptiles trying to find out the lizard's weakness. At this point he doesn't know that he is the lizard. Connors replies that reptiles are at the top of their respective food chains. He has no weaknesses. He's acting very erratic and paranoid barely even looking at Peter until he questions the sudden interest in the cold blooded. Why the sudden interest in the cold blooded? I'm gonna take a moment here to highlight Reese who founds performance. When he questions Peter's questioning he comes across mildly pissed but has a small hint of a smile. The way his bottom lip and chin quiver into the smile really demonstrates a lot of effort from Connors to appear civil and inquisitive rather than impatient. Since Connors at this point really wants to get back to the sewer lab I'd say there's even a tinge of anxiousness that he'll get found out. There's a warm sadness to his eyes that's getting hit with strain and bags under them. The twitchiness feels very natural and well paced. A lot of actors I've seen go overboard with the twitching in that hole. What are you talking about? Everything's fine. But if Farns gives a twinge of pain and fatigue to this suspicious behavior. The duality of man and lizard. For some reason I remember this face staying with me when I first watched the film as a teenager. I pitted this man at the same time that I found him intimidating. Reminding me of Gollum. I'm also in Return of the King how he was fully committing to the plan of sabotage but there was still that twinge of oh no we're gonna get found out. And maybe a fraction of guilt but I think you really need to strain to find that in either characters. However Reese is much prettier than Gollum. Connors keys into Peter's interest in the lizard and stopping it. Even if he doesn't know he's Spider-Man he knows of Peter's good nature and vaguely threatens him to stay out of it. But it can be aggressive. As they part ways Peter notices Freddy the mouse who they'd been testing the serum on earlier in the film very dangerously I might add. And now the mouse has become a lizard mouse. Peter didn't see or hear this thing when he came in. Ozcorp doesn't have contamination detectors in their lab. Like when one of their fortified glass containers is breached. Okay. I also love that this scene cuts before we see the resolve of this meeting between two Titans. No not those two these two. And by the way that was supposed to be the scene where Peter figures out that Connors is the lizard. I mean yeah go figure. Later Peter investigates the sewers and has a fight with the lizard. As he said in their interaction at Ozcorp lizards are aggressive when threatened. Anything that presents itself as a risk to his scaly ethno-state Connors must stop. This is why he confronts Spider-Man now and seeks out Peter later on at the school. His focus is on potential threats to his goals. That's who he targets for violence. Though I'm not trying to say he's not culpable for his reckless abandon of the innocence he nearly killed on the bridge outright throwing this car out of frustration. Funnily enough about threats I just had a thought about how he stopped Ratha from giving the serum to the war veterans. Which on its face seems like a contradiction of the lizard's motivation. Maybe it's just the cognitive dissonance talking but I like to think that at the time he was after Ratha he'd only just transformed into the lizard. Meaning his motivations weren't as warped as they are now. His tactics certainly got aggressive almost immediately after taking the serum but he retained a degree of humanity in wanting to stop Ratha from testing the juice on innocent people. It's only after he wakes back up in his quote unquote weakened human form and he has the chance to admire the beauty of the lizard as his perspectives start to change. Both this little cunt and the green beast he became last night. He becomes convinced others should have it too. Think about how he was admiring his arm, the beauty he observed in the fixing of his prior inadequacy. Now he sees the next ridiculous stage of that and finds even more beauty. There's sort of a confirmation recency bias with his feelings of satisfaction and completeness. Back at the lizard spider fight the man spider is able to get away but the man lizard finds a camera that Peter left behind and has his name on it. Luckily of all the webs that were pulled down when lizard and Peter fell into the water below it didn't take the camera. Boo! I know Peter can be forgetful because he has that hyperactive can't focus on more than one thing going on. He forgot to give somebody a lift because he only just recently became a man spider and found a connection to his missing dad. But seriously you'd think a few months of being that man spider would tell him not to carry incriminating items that can be easily made unincriminating. Just take the label off surely this would have occurred to him. I wish we had something a bit less contrived that revealed Peter to the lizard. Like imagine if they both found out in that scene where they're both at oscorp tower right before lizard mouse. Would have been cool to see Connor's clue in and follow Peter out of paranoia even. Show us Connor's intelligence and obsession with eliminating threats. The lizard then attacks the school giving Peter the diatribe that I mentioned earlier. He no longer sees the negative side of the lizard. What he saw is a potential dangerous side effect when treating the injured veterans. He's felt that dangerous side effect now. He is the decay right out with like a heroin addict. He brushes off the comatose, lack of motor function and inability to think because it feels good and wants to push it onto others. Peter can see Connor's is not thinking straight that this isn't him. Tries to get into see reason but he can't get through to the lizard. There's no rationalising with this thing. It was hard enough when he was coming off the serum. A little thing I noticed in this fight scene is that when Peter sticks upside down onto the roof in the hallway Connor's looks at this as almost a challenge to his enhanced physical ability and so he starts climbing along it as well. Nice to see action scenes and not break character for the sake of a cool scene. Oh hello Falcon and the Winter Soldier, how did you get in here? Maybe because Bucking and Falcon are callous childish fucks that nearly get a fellow soldier killed multiple times just because they don't like him. For reason. Sorry just thought I'd bring up a count for example. However I will say that I am curious about one thing and that is how the lizard just abandons Peter when he has him on the ropes. Discombobulated for quite a while. Maybe he wanted to leave before even more reinforcements came in. The police may be able to overwhelm him but he could just as easily kill Peter right now. Then bugger off. Maybe the serum was wearing off. Like I might not be good faith but the presentation here is really weird especially since Connor's has been double dosing. Surely it shouldn't be wearing off right now and if it really was that is very convenient for Peter. But anyway the lizard's gone back to the sewer and begins the final stage of his plan. Earlier in the film, simpler times as it was where Connor's and Peter were lab partners, Connor's showed Peter this machine called the Ganali, a vaccine bomb essentially. It can release airborne molecules that administer various medical cures to people across widespread areas from a single neighborhood to the whole city. It gives them all the vaccine needs against flu, polio, hepsy, ligma, etc. Despite the potential overreach and ethical questions raised about the device, it is pretty nifty. But I can see why something like this would not be implemented in our modern world. Connor's is going to hijack the device, chuckle it on top of Ozcop tower and put the chemicals in the air that turned the friggin people reptile. Like Hollywood, he became the very thing he swore to destroy, a being without equal. Animal farmship. Lizards over humans, he carried a sense of self-righteousness and elitism that he despised in Ratha and Norman Osborne. Thanks to a man who wanted to prevent his death at the risk of hurting others, it created a man who wanted to forcefully eradicate weakness amongst the populace. A motivation symbol is used to justify their terrible actions. It'll toughen you up. Don't be such a baby. Don't want to get left behind with the other reptiles, do you? It compromised his principles on equality, being more powerful than anyone. And so the lizard tried to compartmentalize it by equalizing everyone else. On the night of the plan, Ozcop tower is evacuated by Gwen, helping Peter create an antidote for the lizardry. This allows Lizzie to roam the building. He comes across his head in turn hiding with the Ganali device in a steel compartment. Interesting to note that he doesn't attack her, despite Gwen defending herself with a blowtorch. Lizzie just takes the material she was defending that he needs for his cityscaping. Actually earlier on, he did recognize Gwen in the fight with Peter at the school after she came to Peter's aid. The lizard briefly focused his attention on her and away from Peter. Judging by the way he said her name, Connors seemed to admire her spirit in a sort of condescending disbelief. He thinks she doesn't pose any threat to him. While Connors does make a grabbing motion toward her in that scene, it seems like he was going for the trophy that she attacked him with, either to use it against Peter or just take it out of Gwen's hands to leave her completely powerless. It doesn't look as though he was specifically aiming to kill her, incapacity. Perhaps physically she may not pose any threat to him, but Connors underestimates Gwen's intellectual prowess and resourcefulness. And so, he lets her go. She may have been a nuisance before, but what more could she do? This is why I believe he wasn't going to hurt Gwen earlier at the school, beyond snatching the trophy from her and maybe knocking her aside. This is someone Connors knows personally, and he has been mentoring for a while. That's definitely something we should have gotten more of in the film, maybe a scene with just the two of them or Peter, Gwen and Connors working on the serum together. Still that relationship is there, and I imagine if Connors had known Peter for as long as he knew Gwen, he would be much more hesitant to take Peter down. There was a tiny bit of that when he briefly tried to reason with Peter at the school, but push came to shove and he's not letting the kid of the partner who abandoned him all those years ago fuck things up for him now. Now the big fight happens. Spider-Man and Gwen's dad, Police Captain George Stacey face off against Lizard on top of Oz Corp. Whilst the captain causes a distraction, Peter ascends to replace the Lizard juice for the Lizard Cloud with Cure Juice for a Cure Cloud. The good guys succeed of course, but not without taking casualties. Stacey is impaled by the Lizard's claws as Peter unleashes the Cloud curing the Lizard and the cops he had gas-bombed earlier. Immediately the anti-serum takes effect. Lizard transforms back into human taking the arm with him as we'll see later. Connors free falls and we don't really see where exactly until the structure starts coming down and Peter begins falling too. Despite Connors waning strength and the fact that Peter just fucking let him fall a few seconds ago, Connors catches him. Even though Peter can stick to walls. Like dude, Connors scream here while pulling him up. Help more like a, what the fuck you can stick to walls, help me out here. Still Connors isn't letting go. The arm is crumbling before him, swap it for the other one. Dr Curtis Connors is back. His first thought is on the safety of an innocent good person rather than the status of his arm. He'll save Peter's life first and worry about the arm in a minute. And the expression we get when Connors does shift his focus back to the arm? An absolute whirlwind of emotion. It's very brief but coupled with the music, despair, guilt, shock, contentedness and acceptance from Connors masterfully portrayed by Mr Ifans. What began as a sacrifice from Connors to prevent the harm of innocent veterans turned into an exploitation of his worst insecurities that caused even more harm. I doubt that anyone would argue it was just as hard for him being the lizard as it was being on the lizard's warpath. Like the captain, Peter, Gwen, the police, the people on the bridge, the students at Midtown Science all suffered more than the lizard. But there's still a deeply tragic element to Connors both getting and losing his powers. He never truly wanted all this lizard domination stuff. That was the scaly meth talking. And what I said about an addict earlier is what we're seeing here with Connors, losing his reptilian advantage. Imagine a hardcore meth user just immediately snaps out of their addiction and they get all of the cold turkey, months of rehabilitation all at once. I think it's pretty admirable that he's at least accepting it. He's sad to see that it was all for nothing. He doesn't even get the arm. But he knows he fucked up and seems ready to take the next step. And that was to save Peter Parker's life. Think about what Uncle Ben said earlier. If you had the moral obligation to do those things that you're responsible for then that's what it's about if you were that able to because your father- Ah fuck it. With great power comes great responsibility. We all know they wanted to say it, but not in those words. There's a twist on that here. Connors doesn't have the great power anymore, but he's had it. He used it. And there's a trade off with that. Something he recognised earlier when Ratha said he wanted to test on the innocent veterans. I won't. We can have the regenerative serum, but we need it to be safe. A moment of desperation led him to terrorising the city for weeks as a Darwinistic rampaging lizard. Or enough you're gonna find the people to volunteer. I might think the veterans' hospital. I won't. Human beings are weak. Why be human at all when we can be so much more a gift to you. All sense of responsibility taken by the decaying, rating, algorithmic of the prototypical serum. Now it's time to make amends. Make peace with who you are, accept the likes, and do what you can with what you have. And this sad resolve is even more brief than the time he had to save Peter. He then gets only a few seconds of overcoming the loss of his arm before he immediately switches his focus. He is concerned for the life of this man that he took just for getting in his way. Something who would have never done as Connors, and with this comment it reveals he was all too aware of what he was doing as the lizard. Truly the real Connors was locked up in there, a mindless observer to the lizard's fuckery. I can't imagine the guilt he must feel for taking the captain's life. All in all, Peter was right. That wasn't Connors at the school and on the bridge. This is Connors. It was all that pesky serum decaying him rating the algorithm. But Connors still admitted that serum, and it brought him great power. Whether or not he realised it at the time, it's not an excuse, and he's smart enough to know that. Connors' ghost prison atones for his sins and of the film, and he lived acceptably ever after. Then enough to credit scene happens. So we see Connors in prison, a sentence I'm sure he feels was just. But he's approached by a man in the shadows, and the man asks if Connors told Peter the truth about his father, and Connors says no. So Connors may actually know what happened to Richard Parker, or at least something about Parker from their time as partners that he doesn't want Peter to know. Personally I much prefer the second possibility. Also that I like the interpretation of Connors being a man kept in the dark on things above his station, and only getting used by Ostcorp when they need him. But based upon how he speaks with the shadowy man, demanding that he leave Peter alone, it suggests that he is a lot more privy to the goings on than what we thought. That means that in these earlier scenes he was being dishonest with Peter, out of concern for Peter's safety or because of his own dubious intentions that evolved into a genuine care. This man in the shadows is Gustav Fiers, aka the Gentleman, a billionaire who orchestrates the formation of the Sinister Six in the comics, which they were setting up with this in Tasm twos after credit scenes. I feel like this kind of messes with the mechanics of this story even further when you think about how Fiers and Ostcorp were obviously keeping tabs on Peter and clearly wanted Richard Parker's research and info. Surely they would have known about his son living with his aunt and uncle, and could have gotten something from their place sometime in the last decade? Ostcorp's power and influence is failed by their unfathomable stupidity, and with this after credit scene they've potentially rubed Connors into this, adding him to the amazing Spider-Man's murkiness. At least he still showed that concern for Peter and wanted no part in whatever sabotage Fiers was planning. That would have been straight up character assassination. Still, I wish I could have ended this recap with him saving Peter and asking if the captain was okay. So I'm gonna take a rapid fire look at the amazing Spider-Man deleted scenes to wash the taste of that after credit scene out of my mouth. I know these weren't in the film so we can't use them for evidence for criticisms, unless we're gonna say that they should have been in the film, but I did happen upon them while researching this video and I thought they'd be fun to look at. Before I do, I will say the best part of these deleted scenes is the green sock puppet on Yfanz's hand. In one of the best deleted scenes that should have been in the movie, Connors gives his condolences to Peter at his place after Uncle Ben's death. This could have done a lot to strengthen their relationship, seeing as there's no acknowledgement of his uncle's death from Connors in the film. The original movie is clearly trying to develop a father-son relationship between Connors and Peter. Connors actually giving a shit about Peter's grievance would have done wonders for his already strong but could have been stronger humanity. In the base film, all we get is Lizard Connors taunting Peter over his dead relatives. Great, this scene would have helped portray Connors as the good man corrupted by the green juice, if you contrast it with the taunting Sam. Instead, the tragedy is damaged by showing only the bitter hurtfulness. This scene would have also helped build on what was established by Ben and Connors earlier. Kurt wasn't there for the Parkers after Richard died, but now he's here for Peter. He won't make the same mistake twice. On top of that, he brings Peter Freddy the Mouse, the one that they were experimenting on earlier to show that it had regrown its missing leg as a way of bolstering Peter's spirits and getting him to come back to work. Or you could read this as impatient seeping through and Connors is trying to manipulate Peter into coming back. Extra modifier? It could be inadvertent manipulation regardless of the intentions. I feel like either reading works and really shows why this should have been in the film. Without it, Peter doesn't go back to Connors at all after Ben's death and there's no acknowledgement between these characters of the other's existence until Connors gets all reptile. Even if the film was just trying to say to us, Peter's getting over Ben and focusing on stuff not thinking about all that serum shit. This scene could still work if it just played off with Connors telling Peter come back to the lab when you're ready. It also would have added to the shock factor of this cute unassuming mouse becoming a terrifying chungus by the end, paralleling Dr. Curtis Connors. We get another scene showing Peter actually tailing Connors to the sewers, justifying why he knew for certain that the lizard was down there. This is better than seeing a couple of convenient lizards on an underground subway entrance and thinking I'll bet the big ones down there. Again, another scene that should have been in the film. Another scene of Ratha, alive and well in El's corp tower. I guess he wasn't supposed to just die or disappear after the bridge scene. He finds the vlog footage of Connors in the sewers. I don't, I'm sure this would have made sense in the film if they had a different progression of events in mind. Definitely makes sense why this scene was cut. Interestingly, there's a scene of Connors post serum talking with his son Billy on his way to school. It gives Connors further motivation for preventing humanity from having outcasts by showing his son maybe one. This also kind of alludes to Connors history of bullying and outcastry, but I wouldn't consider it a substantial development in that matter. More lip service than anything. It's like if all Steve Rogers did in the first Avenger was talk about jumping on grenades for others, talk about getting beaten up, and talk about having no luck with girls. It'd be the same issue. Connors also speaks about his plan in a vague sense too. He tries to explain to his son how he'll be going away, and how he's flipped on the whole passivity in the face of schoolyard bullying. Now he's telling his son to strike hard, strike first, no mercy. There's an element of estrangement here, including some room for speculation as to the relationship of Connors and Billy's mother. Connors has a wedding band on his finger throughout the base film, but without this scene it's up to us to infer it came from a previous marriage. I think if his wife was still somehow in the picture with this tangible son connection, we'd be hearing more from Mrs Connors surely. Oh, uh, wife or ex-wife. You know, as you could say to the police, uh, my son is concerned that Curtis hasn't come home, something like that. Otherwise, in pretty much every regard, I consider this scene to be pretty superfluous. It also messes with the mechanics of the serum since Connors' humanity is heavily suppressed at this point. To a degree where Connors being civil with Peter at Oscorp was laborious for him. I feel like this scene being in the film would have undermined the complete decay of Connors' humanity that only gets restored by the cure. I'm sure that of all people that could appeal to whatever sense of humanity a post serum Dr Connors could have, it would be his son. But I don't think the post serum Connors would bother with this. He's got a civilization to evolve. We saw him send all of his staff home just so he could focus on the serum. That's all he cares about right now. And it's hard not to just read this scene as Billy, I'm going to turn you into a lizard. The views of all that are not reflected in this review. Authorised by an Australian dickhead in Victoria. I genuinely feel that it works better if Connors is a complete outcast with no family, making it easier to commit to the It's Lizard time plan. This also would have been the only bit of family stuff in the movie. Maybe they had more planned or filmed that they didn't release as deleted scenes. But if we were on its own in the film, I imagine it would have been very jarring and raised a lot of questions. Glad this scene was cut, muddies the waters quite a bit. We then get a little scene contrasting the two different outcomes of cross species genetics. Conspicuous as fuck dates on high-rises with Emma Stone as your girlfriend compared to a scaly freak in the sewers waiting for your arm to grow back. It's dumb. Just a very obvious juxtaposition that doesn't tell us anything else we can't infer from the rest of the film. We then get an expansion on that sewer clip. Connors starts gollumming out about Peter being Spider-Man and how to stop him. This is the most vulnerability we see from the lizard in terms of his conviction, which quickly turns into a scene of him realising he has the power to stop him in a Shakespearean scene of self-indulgence. It's fucking cringe and I'm so glad it wasn't in the film. Basically another hand-holding scene where that one line as he wakes in the sewers tells us all we need to know about the views of the lizard. And we already knew he was going to try and stop Peter because of that scene where he tries to stop Peter. But he does tell us how he'll stop him. He has teeth. He can climb. He is beautiful. He has a doctorate. His arms new name is Freddy. Oh what a feeling reptilian. Thank god this scene is nowhere near the final cut. A different version of Connors entering the school and licking students. Just the fact that this scene exists. I don't think I need to explain why it's a good thing that this was cut and how out of character this is for him even as creepy crawler Curtis. We then see an actual conclusion to the school fight scene where Connors has transformed back into a human and begs for Peter's help as the police rocker. Which Peter gives. I guess it's nice that they have something here whereas Connors just ditches because reasons in the actual film. Still this again fucks with the mechanics of the lizard mentality. You have to commit it doesn't really make sense for him to show this vulnerability after taking the serum. Considering how extreme the plan is, a total break from reality and reason makes the most sense. If Connors was tricking Peter here, scratched him with a leftover lizard claw and used that opportunity to escape back down the toilet he entered from then I think it would have been cool to see Connors continue decay of humanity as he has resorted to tricking his son figure so that he can escape justice. But not what we got. And I assume Peter took Connors back down to the sewers after this which I don't believe he would be okay with. At this point after that fight it would be so irresponsible for Peter to lead Connors away from any kind of custody. Whether it's police or mental care he knows how dangerous he is and it's stupid of him to just enable him with such naivety. I guess it's nice to have a conclusion to the fight but it fucks with Peter and Curtis in different ways get it out of here. Finally we get a scene in Connors sewer lab between him and Peter. We see Connors trying to convince Peter to get down with a sickness but Peter is only concerned with making Curtis well again. Curtis goes into the whole power thing that probably does the best job at explaining his post serum motivations. Even though it is a bit exposition heavy it makes sense for Connors to go into this much detail in trying to convince Peter here. It's more Peter I have an issue with in this scene it's cool to see the pair speak so openly about these topics that are forced to be cagey about in scenes prior such as Peter's dad and Connors motivation but it doesn't lock up with the film's progression of events and the Lizards course of action. Beyond intimidation aggressive forceful pleas for understanding and physical confrontation I don't know if Connors or the Lizard would commit to convincing Peter like this. Again maybe it's Lizard playing to its strength since it hasn't had a dose recently but it does feel a bit contrived. You'd have to really rewrite the story to allow this. Oh and then Peter just lets Connors dose up again. Then Ratha comes out of the fucking blue to shoot Connors to date Peter then demand the research. Then the giant green-scaled beast sneaks up to Ratha and eats him. That was... keep this far away from the film. So in spite of a few stupid decisions that Dan post credits scene and the mechanics by which Connors can operate covertly as the Lizard he has the strongest characterisation in this film and gets way too much flak. Unless it's a personal preference thing if you tell me you don't like him because he just doesn't gel with you that's totally chill. I'm just not comfortable with calling him a bad character. There's definitely things to criticise about Connors but I find the conversation to be a bit simplistic. It focuses too hard on the whole turning everyone into Lizards thing. It makes sense as a corruption of his ideas by science fiction mumbo jumbo decay rate organisms and stuff and he is easily the most consistent character in this film. Give it a rewatch and see for yourself. Dr. Curtis is a good well-meaning and intelligent man with the best of intentions that are fucked by green juice. Kind of reminds me of someone else and while he's no green goblin he is definitely something of a scientist himself. Thank you for watching my defense of this scaly boy. I just wanted a chance to present the case for this guy. I enjoyed his characterisation and if I was performed quite a bit I wish they could have developed on him in no way home like they did with Electro. I guess unlike Electro I don't think the Lizard is the need of a bad character redemption. Not that Electro himself is necessarily a bad character just that the mechanics of his character are fundamentally broken and his story relies on major contrivances. He is still much better than the gangrene goblin and the albino rhino gyno. Who knows maybe I'll make a video on Electro one day. Right now though I'm working on a video responding to every frame of pause and the criticisms of Bojack Horseman. You'll see what I have to say in the video when it comes out but just to give you a little tease. I'm just going to be responding to some things I had to say about the show. Some criticisms that I thought were a lot more subjective than they were letting on. Some other criticisms that I found to be pretty substantial. The reasoning might have been a bit weird or they might have exacerbated a few things but there were plenty of things that I you know I'll just wait to the video. I also put out a little poll for the audience about another set of videos I was thinking about making because I watched the Obi-Wan Kenobi television show and I thought it was just some of the worst Star Wars content that I've ever seen put to screen. And I wanted to make a video similar to my you know X failed characters. I guess series I've only got one video. Another one planned out. Last of us two get ready for next year. But I still thought I'd put out that poll because Star Wars fatigue is something that even I feel like when I was watching it I'm just like yeah that's the Star Wars things kill. I want to make videos on things I'm passionate about but also don't want to bombard you guys with videos on done to death topics. So I was thinking instead of doing a whole X failed its characters thing for Obi-Wan Kenobi I had an idea for a couple of smaller videos that I do on each episode and there'd be sort of a piss-take recap of each episode. I think the sort of style of what you get as an intro for the Clone Wars episodes you know Obi-Wan Kenobi is in the far reaches of the utter quadrant um you know I'm not going to do the voice though like that. I had an idea to just yeah go through the episode from A to Z just highlighting everything even the things that I liked there were a couple of them in those hours of TV there were things. So tell me what you think of this the adventures of John Kenobi and his best friend David that be the title of the series six parts for six episodes um around maybe 20 minutes apiece yeah could be fun let me know what you think. Again thank you for watching this video I know it took a while I thought it would be just a quick hey the lizard's not that bad but the more I went into this topic the more I figured I had something to say and I wanted to represent it and as accurately as possible to show that it's like it's not perfect but it's good. I think the next one will be a bit quicker to make based on how I want to approach it so yeah get ready for that expect it sometime in the future but for now I'll leave you with this fact about lizards. Lassatilia can grow to be 50 years old which means race though we've still seen him get emotional about the process ever so slutter slutterly besides one example that Connors tells him reptiles are at the top of their respective food joints. Peter answers cross species genetics using the example of zebrafish regenerating the zoo makes another student mock the idea of giving a human zebrafish skills. Zebrafish? Not that it seems like Connors is necessarily recluse but there are certain things he's holding close to. Since in this scene we hear from this oscorp mouthpiece named Rathar that no later Curtis is visited at home by a nannan that's to bypass I feel like I've seen it in a lot of movies where you have the power power