Marvel and Sony‘s iconic Spider-Man: No Way Home saw the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Men alongside Tom Holland. The film fueled a fan campaign calling for Sam Raimi to bring back Maguire as the lead Spider-Man and make Spider-Man 4. Whether or not everyone agrees on the best Spider-Man actor, we all can agree that director Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy kick-started the iconic superhero’s successful foray into live-action, and it deserved to be continued.
The sequel to the original 2002 Spider-Man film, Spider-Man 2 was dubbed the best Spidey movie ever made, and one of the greatest comic book movies of its time. Raimi’s trilogy was slated to have a fourth (and even fifth) film following its commercial success, and Sony heartily supported this at the time. However, the plans for Spider-Man 4 were abruptly canceled when Raimi withdrew from the project.
However, the tune has changed of late in the wake of Raimi handling the multiverse in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with the director expressing interest in going back to his Spidey venture:
“I love Tobey. I love Kirsten Dunst. I think all things are possible. I don’t really have a story or a plan. I don’t know if Marvel would be interested in that right now. I don’t know what their thoughts are about that. I haven’t really pursued that. But it sounds beautiful. Even if it wasn’t a Spider-Man movie, I’d love to work with Tobey again, in a different role.”
Thomas Hayden Church recently teased Raimi’s Spider-Man 4
A year after Raimi’s comments, Marvel actor Thomas Hayden Church, who appeared as Flint Marko in two Spider-Man films, including No Way Home and Spider-Man 3 has again fueled the Spider-Man 4 campaigns. In an interview with ComicBook, Hayden talked about reprising his Flint Marko role and teased rumors about a fourth Spider-Man film:
“There’s always been some kind of…I’ve heard rumors…that Sam Raimi was going to do another [Spider-Man movie] with Tobey [Maguire] and if that happens, I would probably campaign to maybe at least do a cameo.”
While Hayden’s comments have stoked fans about the possibility of Spider-Man 4 happening after 16 years, nothing is official yet. However, Hayden once before also revealed that his time as Marvel’s Sandman may not be done.
In an interview with Pilot Productions published three months ago, Church confirmed that he, director Jon Watts, Sony producer and executive Amy Pascal, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige “all had a lot of conversations,” including talks “about the possibility of Sandman coming back”:
“Conversations have been about the possibility of Sandman coming into a future iteration of it. The conversation has happened about him coming back, and maybe picking up a more fulfilling story with Flint and being not just Sandman, but returning to human form, because there was a story of that.”
What would Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 be about?
Before Spider-Man 4 was canceled, it was in the pre-production and multiple scripts were written for it, including from the Pulitzer-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire in November 2008 and Gary Ross in October 2009. The Spider-Man 3 team also put out multiple ideas about a sequel in various interviews, which can give us an idea about a possible Spider-Man 4 story.
In an interview with iF Magazine back in 2007, Spider-Man 3 producer Grant Curtis revealed that he would be interested in seeing Dr. Curt Connors turn into his villainous alter-ego Lizard and act as the main villain in a sequel:
“I think the Lizard has got a great story of not only personal pain but also emotional pain, and trying to mask both of those, it’s a strong storyline. The Lizard has always been a favorite of mine, even before working on these movies. I’ve always liked Kraven The Hunter, but he’d have to be used selectively. For me though it would have to be the Lizard.”
Well, a Kraven The Hunter movie is already coming out now, but Lizard is yet to be seen up against Spider-Man. In the following years in 2009, John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway entered into negotiations to join Spider-Man 4 as villains Vulture and Black Cat, respectively. Angelina Jolie was also reportedly considered to become Vultress in the film. A Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire opposite Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie? Take my money!
After the sequel was canceled, Spider-Man 4 storyboards by artist, writer, and filmmaker Jeffrey Henderson revealed that both Mysterio and the Vulture were considered for the film. Mysterio’s appearance was planned to be a Bruce Campbell cameo which would’ve been part of a beginning of the film montage featuring, in Henderson’s words:
“a montage of C and D- list villains that we knew would never be used as main antagonists: Mysterio, the Shocker, the Prowler, the old school-onesie-wearing version of the Rhino, maybe even the Stilt-Man, etc.”
He also confirmed that Vulture would’ve appeared as the film’s main villain, since “everyone was going to dismiss the Vulture as just an old guy in a silly green suit,” and the team wanted to “go the opposite way and really make him the most fearsome and formidable adversary that Spider-Man had faced in the series.” Increasing our excitement about Spider-Man 4, Henderson said “It would’ve been one absolutely kick-a** movie”:
“We were working on some crazy- cool stuff, because everyone, from top to bottom, felt that Spidey 3 was a bit of a ‘missed opportunity’, and we all really wanted to help Sam take Spider-Man 4 to another level so he could end the series on a high note.”
So, the potential for Spider-Man 4 is definitely there. With the actors all excited to come back and director Sam Raimi also ready to take matters into his hand again, Marvel might think about putting the film in the works again. However, the only difficult task would be to create a place for the film in the Spider-Man Universe’s timeline, which is now led by Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
If the studio justifies the appearance of Tobey Maguire as the main Spidey with some sort of multiversal twist, they would still need to work a lot more on making the story make sense after the 16-year break. But fingers crossed, we hope Spider-Man 4 is welcomed by the studio soon!
