With “Spider-Man: Far From Home” continuing the recent tradition of quality Spidey films, it’s hard to forget that the world’s love affair with Peter Parker on the big screen started way back in 2002 with “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi and his ground-breaking “Spider-Man.” What followed were two sequels and Sony’s quick attempts to reboot the character shortly thereafter. But looking back on it, Raimi has fond memories of the franchise and mourns the loss of what could have been his own “Spider-Man 4.”
Speaking to Yahoo, the director was out promoting the latest film he has produced, the creature horror film “Crawl,” and was asked about his previous ‘Spider-Man’ efforts. And while his idea for “Spider-Man 4” never saw the light of day and was put on the shelf nearly a decade ago, Raimi still can’t shake the thought of what might have happened.
“I think about it all the time,” said Raimi. “It’s hard not to, because each summer another ‘Spider-Man’ film comes out! So when you have an unborn one, you can’t help but think what might have been. But I try to focus on what will be, and not look into the past.”
While production on “Spider-Man 4” never began, there was quite a bit of development for the unproduced film. There is concept art and storyboards floating around, as well as casting rumors that included John Malkovich becoming the Vulture. But after the critical failure of “Spider-Man 3,” Sony wasn’t beholden to Raimi for future films. So, when the director didn’t want to pump out the fourth film fast enough, development was canceled and the studio decided to reboot the character with director Marc Webb and Andrew Garfield.
And of course, we all know how that went. Oof.
Alas, it appears we’ll never see Raimi’s “Spider-Man 4” in any medium, despite fan enthusiasm. Instead, we have a bunch of “What If?” questions. At least Peter Parker is seemingly in good hands now with Marvel Studios.