"Amazing Spider-Man" end credits spoilers ahead.
Shortly after the credits begin during "The Amazing Spider-Man," the audience is treated to an additional scene between the now-incarcerated Dr. Curt Connors (a.k.a. The Lizard) and ... well, somebody else. Is it Norman Osborn, who gets mentioned many times during the course of "The Amazing Spider-Man," and -- as fans of the comic (and prior movies) know -- will one day become The Green Goblin? (Matt Patches of Hollywood.com writes a great breakdown of this scene.)
I asked director Marc Webb directly about Osborn and this scene and -- surprise -- he wants to keep you guessing. But he does explain why that's the case -- and the answer has to do with both "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars."
There's a teaser after the credits begin.
Yeah.
Is that Norman Osborn?
It's intentionally mysterious. And I invite speculation.
You weren't afraid to namedrop Osborn's name throughout the film.
Well, Norman Osborn, if you think about the universe of Spider-Man, he plays a huge role. And I like this idea that Oscorp is this Tower of Babel. And every crazy thing in this universe somehow relates to Oscorp. That was part of the foundation and one of our early discussions about the film -- with [screenwriter] James Vanderbilt in particular. You know, we wanted to fill out the world. Like, J.R.R. Tolkien talks about when he was writing "Lord of the Rings," he talks about "distant mountains." There's this idea that you tease a little bit of this information over here. People would write, "I want to hear about the story that happened over in these distant mountains." Well, if I told you about that, I would have to present more distant mountains there. There's this idea in the first "Star Wars" when they talk about the Clone Wars. Then you're like, "What the hell are the Clone Wars?"
Then we found out and not everyone was happy.
Well, yeah. But I wanted to create a world that referred to things from the comics that you felt like there was something more detailed. That there were more things to uncover.
Mike Ryan is senior entertainment writer for The Huffington Post. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.
