Entertainment

"The Amazing Spider-Man" dropped in on hundreds of fans Monday.

Sony Pictures teased the latest incarnation of the web-slinging superhero, which doesn't arrive in U.S. theaters until July 3, at preview events held Monday at movie theaters in 13 cities spanning the globe, including Mexico City, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Moscow, with the cast and filmmakers appearing in Los Angeles, New York, Rio de Janeiro and London.

The event began with the debut of the 3-D full-length "Amazing Spider-Man" trailer, which will hit theaters this weekend and debut online Wednesday. The trailer featured footage of Andrew Garfield as a charmingly awkward Peter Parker being bullied at school, testing out his new web-slinging gadgets and battling the villainous Lizard high above New York.

"I think there are a lot of things from the Spider-Man canon that haven't yet been explored cinematically," said director Marc Webb in Los Angeles. "This movie really starts off with Peter Parker and his parents, which is something we've never really seen before, and I think that was something we were all really interested in exploring as filmmakers."

Garfield, who appeared in New York, said Spider-Man is more than just a character. He's a symbol that was once portrayed by Tobey Maguire and now by himself, and he hoped the next person to play the crime-fighting superhero would be a "half-Hispanic, half African-American actor," referencing the latest incarnation of the character in the comic books.

Emma Stone, who plays love interest Gwen Stacey, told fans in Rio de Janeiro that Stacey and Mary Jane Watson, Parker's girlfriend portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in the previous films, are "polar opposites," while Rhys Ifans said in London that his character, Dr. Curt Connors, who becomes the Lizard, has "a very complex and emotional" link to Parker.

After the cast addressed fans, Webb unveiled extended 2-D footage from the film peppered with music from the Rolling Stones and Coldplay. The scenes included Parker asking Stacey out on a date, Spider-Man humorously blasting a car thief with webs and the one-armed Dr. Connors telling Parker that "your father and I were going to change the lives of millions."

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Online:

http://www.theamazingspiderman.com/

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AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang/