Spider-Girl (minimateking30's LEGO MCU2)

The Stunning Spider-Girl is a 2017 fanfilm created by Max Carroll, utilizing the toy brand Minimates. The first entry into the Marvel Minimate Universe 2, the film follows high school sophomore basketball star May “Mayday” Parker as she begins her second year of high school. She begins to develop unusual abilities and powers and eventually learns that her late father, Peter Parker, was once the legendary costumed adventurer/super hero known as Spider-Man, who was killed during his final confrontation with the original Green Goblin. Meanwhile, a serial killer known as Crazy Eight goes on a rampage of destruction and death across New York City. Now, May must suit up as the costumed heroine known as Spider-Girl in order to take down Crazy Eight, all while trying to juggle her personal life and family responsibilities.

Plot
In 1992, Spider-Man is seen battling the original Green Goblin on the Brooklyn Bridge in their final confrontation. Just as the Green Goblin is about to throw a pumpkin bomb, Spider-Man webs his hand to the wall. However, the Goblin claims that the bomb is set to go off in about 15 seconds. Unwilling to let the explosion and collapse of debris kill countless innocents, Spider-Man webs up both himself and the Goblin to the bridge in a gigantic web ball in order to nullify the explosion. The webbed protector then makes a final prayer for his family, and says that he’s sorry, just as the bomb detonates, killing both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin.

13 years later, his daughter, May “Mayday” Parker, is beginning her second year of high school. When she gets out of the car, she waves goodbye to her mother, Mary Jane, and little brother, Benjy. During her first period class, however, May begins to feel nauseous and asks her teacher, Mr. Slattery, if she can go to the bathroom, which he grants permission. Upon arriving, May’s head begins to seemingly tingle. The nausea then goes away and May returns to class. During a basketball game later that day, during P.E., May, a highly skilled player in the sport, manages to dodge all of her opponents using that tingling sensation that she felt earlier. Once she gets close enough to the basket, she then jumps a whopping 13 feet into the air, throwing the ball into the basket while also shattering the glass backboard. May is then sent to the principal’s office, where he grants her a 3 day-suspension. May goes home in sadness and confusion. Upon arriving, May explains what happened, and her mother reluctantly tells her to come up to the attic with her. When they get to the attic, Mary Jane opens up a chest at the far side of the room. May is then taken aback with shock and awe when her mother begins showing her father’s Spider-Man costumes. She then explains how her husband first became Spider-Man, and recites his line and catchphrase about power and responsibility. Mary Jane then tells May that after she was born, she and Peter hoped that the baby wouldn’t gain spider powers. Upon realizing the gift that has been bestowed upon her, May secretly decides to continue her father’s legacy, and thus, begins to design a costume in secrecy.

Meanwhile, in New York City, an elderly couple is walking down the street when they are approached by a shady man. The person then demands the couple to hand over their personal belongings, to which they refuse. The figure then slits the throat of the man with a type of razor, killing him, causing the woman to then scream in terror before the shaded man stabs her in the chest, killing her instantly. The man then says, “It’s all fun ‘n’ games when you play with Crazy Eight” before fading into the shadows behind him, laughing as he does so.

Back in Forest Hills, May finally finishes her costume. Swiping her father’s web-shooters, May goes on patrol all across Harlem, hoping to make a name for herself. When she hears a scream, May investigates, and easily incapacitates the mugger. The woman in distress then thanks her and runs off. May then spends the rest of the night stopping muggers and burglars all over the city. However, when she returns home, Mary Jane, furious about May risking her life, forbids her from ever being a costumed hero ever again. However, May, feeling her sense of responsibility kicking in, secretly disobeys her mother and continues her acts as a costumed vigilante.

Meanwhile, the serial killer continues his reign of crime and terror, leaving a calling card dubbing himself as “Crazy Eight”. The police desperately attempt to arrest Eight, but fail miserably. Eventually, May learns of Eight’s actions and tries to stop him. May eventually finds Eight, and the two fight. However, May is caught off-guard by Eight’s reflexes and agility and is soundly defeated. Feeling distraught, May decides to give up her hero life for failing to stop a madman. However, after seeing a picture of her father fighting Doctor Octopus in battle, May becomes inspired and quickly re-dons her costume, and sets out to stop Crazy Eight by any cost.

Meanwhile, Crazy Eight’s rampage continues, eventually reaching a boiling point when the villain massacres a police station. However, May tracks him to the waterfront and the two have at it. Eventually, May gains the upper hand and, when she views the spirit of her late father, finally defeats Crazy Eight. However, unwilling to let May have the satisfaction of victory, planted bombs in the warehouse beforehand. He then says, “Sayonara, Spider-Girl”, just as the explosives go off. May narrowly escapes and returns home, battered and bruised from the fight, only to find her mother waiting for her once again. However, instead of scolding May for disobeying, Mary Jane instead hugs her with tears and explains that when she saw that her daughter was not in bed when she came to check on her, Mary Jane realized that there was no stopping her from the hero life, and thus, reluctantly accepts May’s decision to become a costumed crime-fighter. After May goes to bed, Mary Jane looks at a picture of her husband, and then a picture of a newspaper picture of his costumed alter-ego on the wall, praying for the future to be kind to her daughter, for whatever comes.

One week later, May, now going by the name of “Spider-Girl” after remembering what Crazy Eight had said to her before, is perched up on a rooftop, watching over New York. May is contemplating whatever her future holds in store just as she hears a call for help. May then swings into action, all while saying to herself, “Who am I? I’m Spider-Girl!”

In a mid-credits scene, it is revealed that Crazy Eight had survived his battle against Spider-Girl, as he is seen walking through a sewer under the city.

In a post-credits scene, at Stark Tower, Tony Stark looks over recent news footage of Spider-Girl’s heroics, and thus, tells his A.I. companion, J.A.R.V.I.S., to activate the “Next Avengers Protocols” just as the screen cuts to black.

Development
Development of the film started as far back as June of 2014 when Max Carroll thought of an idea for a Spider-Girl fan film utilizing stop motion. The film was initially conceived by using LEGOs as the source of filmmaking, but eventually turned to Minimates for the sake of originality.

The original script was initially conceived to have popular MC2 characters Fury the Goblin Queen, Mr. Nobody, and Funny Face be the villains, but it was then decided against due to the fact that 4 origin stories, including Spider-Girl’s, would be simply too much. Afterwards, a new script was created. This one involved Mayday Parker gaining her powers via puberty, and featured Dragon King as the villain. Dragon King’s origin was changed. Instead of him being a lowly janitor enhanced by a mystical amulet, Carlton T. Hackmutter (Dragon King's comic book ailas) was instead a scientist working with the DNA of a recently discovered dragon corpse, and with gamma radiation. The experiment goes wrong and Hackmutter is mutated and distorted into a hideous, gamma irradiated dragon monster that goes on a rampage across New York while trying to find a cure for his condition, eventually coming into conflict with Spider-Girl.

A third script was submitted soon after. This one featured an already established Spider-Girl character and featured the Venom symbiote as it escapes from a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. The creature then bonds with Spider-Girl's close friend, Moose Mansfield, who then discovers Spider-Girl's secret identity, Mayday Parker, and becomes Spider-Venom, in a nod to Spider-Girl #5. However, this script was scrapped when the origin story, then not widely known, was favored instead.

Afterwards, a fourth script was submitted, this time with the origin story, and was very similar to the final product. The only elements that were scrapped were May's feelings for Wes Westin, her boyfriend from the comics who was scrapped from the film, the rest of her friends being in the script, and Crazy Eight having a perverted attraction towards Spider-Girl.

Filming
Once a final script was chosen, the one that would be the final product, the film went into production. Most of it was shot indoors with LEGO modular build sets to give it a realistic feel, along with 4 fully contructed rooms for the Parker household. Filming and editing took about 4 months total, from start to finish.

Costume/outfit designing
The original concept for Spider-Girl's look was inspired by her current look in the Web Warriors comic book series. However, this was deemed inappropriate due to the film being the origin story. Afterwards, the design was changed to a combination of the Spider-Man design for the Marvel Television Programming Block on Disney XD and her original costume, with some elements of the 2002 Spider-Man movie design thrown in. The Minimate took about 2 hours to paint.

Crazy Eight's design was similar, yet different, to the comics. The look was heavily inspired by the look of the Creepypasta character Jeff the Killer and the Heath Ledger Joker from the 2008 film, The Dark Knight. Other than the face, which was a messed up clown face similar to the '08 Joker, the body was near identical to the comics. Due to how simple the design was, the Minimate took about 10 minutes total to paint.

Music
Several music scores were taken as inspiration from different movies and bands. One such song, Hero by Nickelback, which was created to promote the 2002 Spider-Man film, was played in the end credits due to the fact that it was deemed symbolic in the sense of it being one of the titular character's father's iconic themes.