Thoughts on The Amazing Spider-Man Sequel

The Amazing Spider-Man was a good film, even a good superhero film, but to me, not a good ADAPTATION of the character. If the second film wants to impress me more than the first, it's going to need to do a couple things.

1) Gwen Stacy must die. Without assurance that this series will last past a third film, Gwen Stacy needs to die in order to give Peter a long enough time to grieve, and meet Mary Jane and start dating her by the end of the third film. Something else fun to throw in here would be the Black Cat, partly because after 4 Spider-Man movies she's never been in one and she deserves to be, and partly because of the fun to be had with Peter's girlfriend vs. Spider-Man's girlfriend, but as the first film showed that Gwen knows, that can't happen until she dies. Black Cat could be a great way to get him past that relationship, eventually leading to Mary Jane.
2) The Daily Bugle (and J. Jonah Jameson). I'm sure part of the reason this was left out was because nobody wants to recast J. K. Simmons, who was so perfect for that role. But the character needs to be there. If you can't find an actor, just hire Stan Lee.
3) A better villain. And by this I mean a better adaptation of a villain. Lizard was a decent enough villain for TASM, nothing great, but served the purpose of a villain. The problem (for me) is that he was NOTHING like the Lizard from the comics, at all. Spider-Man has great villains in the comics, and those need to be utilized. This brings me back to Black Cat. Besides her potential as a hero, she could have even greater purpose exploring the anti-hero role, and show the tension of Spider-Man teaming up with her when needed, even though he knows he can't really trust her, because she's a villain too. Lots of fun.
4) Figure out what you want to do with Norman Osborn. I think this was the biggest annoyance to me from the first film. Either use the character, or don't, but don't reference him a ridiculous amount if he's not going to be important. It put limitations on the Lizard that didn't need to be there, and wasn't necessary for the story. Go big or go home. I suggest going big, and give us a great goblin.
5) Mary Jane. She doesn't have to be a big deal yet, she just has to exist in the film.
6) Aunt May's failing health. They went a drastically different direction in TASM than in the original trilogy, and I think it worked OK, but Aunt May's health is a part of Spider-Man, simple as that. And that needs to be brought in here, even if just a little, and really be put to the test in part 3, maybe even killing her at the end.
7) Give us the untold story you promised us. You hyped up his parents then told us nothing about them, so TELL US ALREADY. Are you using the original comic story? Making up your own? Is Red Skull involved? Will this in ANY way connect to the MCU/Avengers? You promised us an untold story, and gave us the same story we've seen three times. Dive into that past.