Before Marvel struck a deal with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and before they brought us two lacklustre Amazing Spider-Man films, there was Sam Raimi’s trilogy.
The first two outings were some of the finest superhero movies of all time, faithfully recreating the excitement and wonder of the hero’s adventures on the page. And then we got Spider-Man 3. Yeah, remember Tobey Maguire’s emo Peter Parker? Needless to say, Sony chose not to produce a fourth film from Raimi and co. as they were afraid of another repeat and we instead got the aforementioned Amazing Spider-Man series.
Still, Spider-Man 4 made it pretty far into development. Raimi and Maguire were all ready to go and John Malkovich was set to play the fan-favorite villain the Vulture. Details weren’t plentiful, but in comparison to its predecessor, the project looked pretty promising. And while we never got the chance to see the finished product, it’s looking like we might finally get a glimpse at what could’ve been.
Taking to Twitter earlier today, Marvel Comics released an intriguing new teaser. Seen in the gallery down below, it’s a photo of the number 4 made out of web. It’s unclear what exactly it’s hinting at, but it’s certainly got the internet all excited.
One major theory is that this is teasing some kind of Spider-Man and Fantastic Four team-up, given that Spidey’s long been an ally of the team. And while that’s certainly possible, another, more exciting theory has emerged as well. And that’s that Marvel is going to bring us Raimi’s vision for Spider-Man 4 in comic book form.
Adding more fuel to that is a second tweet from Marvel Comics editor-in-chief CB Cebulski, who wrote: “No one is going to see this one coming…” In other words, whatever this tease is for, it’s going to be something unexpected, and a revival of Spider-Man 4 – even in comic book form – would certainly be just that.
In any case, something big is coming for Spider-Man fans and as soon as we know what it is, we’ll be sure to let you know.
