Live: 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' panel with Andrew Garfield

Hello and welcome back to Hall H for our final panel of the day, The Amazing Spider-Man 2!

We’re currently in the last throes of the Robocop panel but we should be underway with Spidey in the next ten minutes or so.

The new movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is due for release May 2, 2014 - and a further two sequels have already been confirmed for June 10, 2016 and May 4, 2018 respectively.

Last week it emerged that Spidey’s suit has been ‘upgraded’ for the movie; for instance, it now includes a pouch for his MP3 player. My guess is he has a fair bit of U2 on there. Also revealed last week, a brand new Spider-Man logo:

We don't have any trailers yet for Amazing Spider-Man 2, although you can expect that to change in the next hour. What we do have is a special teaser for Jamie Foxx's baddie Electro, which you can watch below:

Around ten minutes ago, I overheard a security guard saying that there would be a "special entrance" to the panel from the back of Hall H through the loading door bays (right next to me). If Spider-Man shoots his way into the room right past me, I may well faint.

The lights have gone down, the screens have blacked out and there's a sinister noise playing over the speakers.

After a minute, the noise is getting louder and the curtains have pulled back to reveal additional screens extending around the left and right of the room.

A series of webs slide across the screen to reveal the logo for the film.

Out come the first members of the panel: director Marc Webb, execs Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad and Dane DeHaan. But where is Spidey?

A short video is shown of Spidey outside the conference center trying to get in.

The lights dim and Spidey walks out on stage in full costume. It's Andrew Garfield of course but he's assuming the role of Spidey. And he's very out of breath.

The moderator announces that Emma Stone couldn't make it. Spidey: "She's hot."

A video message from Stone apologising for not attending begins to play, but is cut off after a few moments by.... Electro.

He laughs maniacally on-screen before Jamie Foxx emerges onto the stage to huge applause. Spidey: "I loved Django."

Spidey appears to be starstruck by Jamie Foxx.

Spidey: "At the risk of sounding earnest, I have this over-developed sense of responsibility. I have these powers and I feel like I have to do something with them. And I don't like assholes. Can I say the 'a' word?"

Spider-Man is trying to find out who "Andrew" is. After being told it's the name of the actor who plays him in the film, he says: "I thought that was Eduardo Saverin."

Spider-Man says he needs the bathroom and leaves.

Foxx says he enjoyed playing the villain. "He's a 42 year old guy who's been living at home with his mom, an electricity genius. When you see Max, it's actually his birthday and even his mom doesn't remember his birthday. You immediately see that it makes sense he has so much venom and anger. I want him to be a serious individual who wants to burn the city down. And burn Spider-Man with it."

Webb: "The first movie we really wanted to retell that origin story with new nuances, but once we did that we felt liberated. At the beginning of this movie, Spider-Man is having fun being Spider-Man. He's incredibly agile. But of course whenever he gets a little cocky, you get someone like Electro coming around to teach him a lesson or two."

We've just watched an awesome, extended trailer for the new film. Among other things, we see Spidey's first meeting with Max and then later the transformation into Electro.

When the lights come back up, Garfield is sitting on stage apologising for being late.

Garfield on Gwen: "These two feel destined for each other. It's complicated though, as everything in Peter Parker's life is."

DeHaan: "It's amazing, really great. I have a lot of respect for these guys so to be welcomed to this family and bring a modern take on Harry is just amazing."

Audience Q&A time. The first questioner says Peter Parker is a not very attractive guy and says "Tobey Maguire nailed that". Boos from the audience.

"You are mistaken on all counts. Tobey Maguire was a sex machine. He will always be Spider-Man. No matter who fills those shoes, he'll always be Spider-Man so don't you dare. Meet you at the back afterwards I guess."

Garfield's comments on the possibility of Spider-Man getting into a gay interracial relationship. Is it hard for him to declare his stance on that kind of social issue? Garfield: "Thanks for a great question. First and foremost I'm an actor, so here's the thing. Spider-Man stands for everybody black white asian, gay straight, bisexual, transexual. It wouldn't make sense in the third movie if I was suddenly with a black guy. It's not a social issue - to me love between two consenting adults is love and nobody else has a right to judge. To me the idea anyone would batter an eyelid at what I said is interesting. Part of the beauty of Spider-Man is he's covered from head to toe and you can't see any skin colour."

Funnily enough, a black guy wearing a Spider-Man costume is up next. He asks Garfield how he connects with the roles. "Something I discovered in this film is he's become two people. Spider-Man being the older brother, Peter Parker being the younger brother. I can identify with Peter being the younger brother. I'm oversensitive and vulnerable and stupid and a mess. I can also identify with my older brother because he's perfect."

Next up Superman with an obscenely large bulge. He announces that he wants to be an actor but failed chemistry, then asks Garfield for advice on dealing with butterflies. "I have no wisdom. Life is well tough. High school's probably the worst part of it. You'll get through it. And screw chemistry."

DeHaan on the new Harry: "Harry and Peter are childhood friends. Harry gets sent off to boarding school at a young age and cuts off pretty much everything to do with his life pre-boarding school, including the complicated relationship with his father."

Foxx: "When I lick his hand and he fixes my combover (a scene from the trailer we saw - their first meeting) he says to Max that 'you're my partner, my ears and eyes out here' and Max takes that to heart. He really thinks Spider-Man is the most solid person. He falls into this thing of almost worship. He has all these pictures of Spider-Man on his wall at his crib."

"By the way crib is an urban word we use to describe our place of residence."

Did they pull more from 616 or Ultimate? Webb: "We grab from all the different comics. We do try to find precedent for what we do when we make big story choices."

Fan expresses concerns there might be too much in the story and he "doesn't want another Spider-Man 3". Webb: "This is just the right amount of stuff in. The main villain in this movie is Electro. He is an incredibly powerful villain and will sustain the depth and breadth of the film. He is God-like."

When Foxx learned he would be playing Electro, did he worry about being put in the costume? "Here's what you do, you wanna be true to everything but pioneers as well. The way they crafted this, it shows how we crafted Max's transformation to where he is, it's rugged. He's not worried about what he has on, he wants to get to this guy and make him pay."

How much do they factor in the fans' wishes? Arad: "It's the great guessing game. We've been listening to the fans forever. We know it's coming from the right place and we're part of the same community. So we do listen.Loyalty to the character is always loyalty to the fans. Also important is what Stan Lee feels about it and when he loves something, it gives us tremendous confidence. And he listens to you guys as you know well."

What storyline in the comics would Garfield like to see in the movie? "I'd like to see him with The Avengers. Am I not allowed to say that? Wouldn't that be awesome? Just sayin'."

First meeting with Stan Lee? Garfield: "It was like being in a room with mickey mouse. He's so iconic. It's like he doesn't really exist, it's not actually him. It was profound for me. I just turned into a black hole of a person, my tongue went dry and my heart stopped."

That's a wrap on this panel and all from me today, folks. I hope you've enjoyed the blog. Join me tomorrow for Godzilla, The Hunger Games, X-Men, Wolverine and.... MARVEL!