Many in Hollywood were surprised last week by Columbia’s decision to scrap Spider-Man 4, along with director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire, in favor a re-boot. But perhaps even more surprising is the choice of a new helmer. Despite (flimsy) rumors that heavy hitters like James Cameron and David Fincher were in contention, it was announced yesterday that the job went to Marc Webb, a former video director whose only prior feature credit is last year’s charming, structurally unique, but ultimately lightweight romance (500) Days of Summer. If you think this means that the new Spidey is going to have softer edges, well, you may be right.

Penned by Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt, the new version will return the series’ focus to Peter Parker’s angst-ridden teen years where the collision of loss, love and super powers make for a very unusual set of growing pains. The primary inspiration will not, as in Raimi’s films, come from the original 60’s comics, but rather from a more recent Marvel series, Ultimate Spider-Man, where big league villains (other than acne) are at a minimum.

Curiously enough, it was a beef over villains that caused the plug to be pulled on Raimi’s next Spidey outing. According to Borys Kit’s Heat Vision blog, the director and studio-heads disagreed over which baddie should be menacing Spider-Man this time out. Vanderbilt and at least three other writers all had a go at the script before the project foundered, and millions in pre-production have apparently gone to waste. Perhaps that’s why the new version is being touted as a “toned down” take on the web-slinger’s saga. It’s budgeted at a “measly” $80 million. No word yet on who will don the famed red suit.