Courtesy of Chelsea Valentine

Before the moderator for The Amazing Spider-Man panel could even speak, a person dressed in a Spider-Man costume took the microphone used for fans to ask questions and insisted on letting him speak before the panel officially begins. The moderator started to look annoyed until the fan ripped off his mask and revealed himself as Andrew Garfield. Hall H erupted with cheers before quieting down for the future Peter Parker.

Garfield pulled out notes and told everyone in Hall H that there’s a few words he wanted to say before the panel began. Visibly shaking from nervousness, he wanted us to know it was his first time attending Comic-Con, and he wanted to be there as a fan first and as an actor second. Garfield almost looked on the verge of tears as he went into how Spider-Man was always his hero and as a child he would pretend to be Spider-Man while playing around the house. He went on saying with sincerity about how much it means to him to portray Spider-Man while it looked like he was tearing up a little with happiness.

Courtesy of Chelsea Valentine

The panel officially began after Garfield’s heartfelt speech, with director Marc Webb, producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad, and Emma Stone joining Garfield on stage.

One of the first scenes shown to us was of Peter Parker being scolded by Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) at his high school just before Uncle Ben notices Gwen Stacy (Stone) nearby. And like any older family member who loves to embarrass the young ones, Uncle Ben mentioned to Gwen, “Peter has pictures of you on his computer!” and left Peter to awkwardly converse with Gwen.

Peter tried to explain himself and said it was for yearbook and he was just doing touch-ups. Gwen suggestively asked, “Touch-ups?” which made Peter blush and tried to steer the conversation in another direction, asking her on a date. After her yes, they went on their separate ways — with Peter going down the hall suddenly skipping happily.

The scene felt organic and real, and Peter’s awkwardness didn’t feel forced.

The highlight for me was another scene they showed in, where a carjacker broke into a car. Spider-Man is already in the backseat and just sat there as the carjacker tried to start the car. He noticed Spider-Man, fearfully turned towards him and exclaimed, “Are you a cop?” Spider-Man looked around before he pointed at himself and sarcastically answered, “Me? You’re asking the guy in red tights if he’s a cop?”

The scene then cuts to Spider-Man and the carjacker outside, who pulled out a knife. Spider-Man puts his hands up and began slowly going towards the ground, and with sarcasm said, “Is . . . is that a knife? Is that a real knife?” just before he webbed the carjacker against the wall.

A montage was then shown, Spider-Man continuing to web the carjacker over and over; one where he pretends to throw a pitch and webs the guy, and another where he pretends to sneeze and webs the guy yet again. It got a lot of laughs out of the audience.

We got a glimpse of the Lizard as well in one scene, where Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) injects himself with a formula that transforms him into the Lizard and terrorize two girls. His appearance was a little more humanoid rather than with an elongated face, but he’s a hulking monster who looks like a menacing threat.

Overall, the film has me entirely stoked for its release. The director and actors clearly put a lot of heart into the portrayals — and seeing Spider-Man making smartass remarks left and right is exciting. The prior trilogy was sorely missing the sarcastic Spider-Man, but this movie looks to have it in spades.

The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters July 3, 2012.