Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4—Trash or Trashed?

It’s no surprise that Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is considered by many to be the Godfather trilogy of comic book films. What do I mean by this? Well, the first film was a success, the second film was even better than the first and the final film was something of a dumpster fire. After the fallout of Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi wanted to make a fourth film. He felt that he owed the fans to make up for the mixed reception of the third. And his plans were…ambitious, safe to say.

Despite Spider-Man 3’s reception, it still made $892 million on a budget of $258 million. And where there’s profit, there will always be a sequel. In 2008, Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Rosemary Harris and Dylan Baker were signed onto the project. However, replacing screenwriter David Koepp was James Vanderbilt who would eventually pen the script for 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Raimi wanted to expand on Baker’s character Dr. Curt Connors and his eventual transformation into The Lizard. Meanwhile, Bruce Campbell’s character would be revealed to have been the villain Mysterio, all along.

Now this may seem good and all, until you realize that wasn’t the complete list of villains. We were going to see cameos from C and D-list comic book villains the Rhino, Prowler and Shocker. But that’s not all. John Malkovich was also in talks to play Vulture and Anne Hathaway was slated to be Felicia Hardy. However, unlike in the comics where Hardy becomes Black Cat, Hathaway’s Hardy would become an original villain called the Vulturess. If this doesn’t sound like a full plate, then I don’t know what is. One of the key problems with Spider-Man 3 was that it featured two main villains who we’re supposed to equally care for. But in Spider-Man 4? We get an entire buffet of them!

I’ve seen multiple versions of what would be the film’s plot. Some sources said that Lizard would be the main antagonist, while others said that Malkovich’s Vulture and Hathaway’s Vulturess were the main baddies. So which one was it? Well, since there were four working drafts, I think they were both true. Each draft underwent major revisions by Raimi and several other writers. It’s entirely possible that Raimi originally intended for Lizard to be the villain, but switched it up to have Vulture take his place in another draft. Either way, the film lacked identity. Raimi must’ve felt the same way, as he was dissatisfied with every draft he came up with.

Unsure whether he could meet the studio’s tight deadline, Raimi ultimately conceded and told Sony to go ahead with their reboot they’ve been planning behind him. Sony Co-Chairman at the time Amy Pascal actually applauded Raimi for his honesty and thanked him for not wasting the studio’s money and the two left on good terms. After the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home and the return of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, many fans (myself included) started a campaign for Raimi to make Spider-Man 4. Both Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst expressed interest to return. Even though Raimi stated he had no plans on making it, he was open to the idea if a good story presented itself.

So this brings up the question: was Spider-Man 4 trash? Or was it trashed? Even though I’m a huge fan of the Raimi trilogy (even Spider-Man 3), I really think it was for the best that this particular fourth film never happened. I’m not a big fan of the reboot starring Andrew Garfield, but at least it had a clear and concise story. This cancelled film felt like it was trying too hard to be the perfect Spider-Man movie by shoehorning in way too many villains while lacking a central focus. I’m glad Sam Raimi didn’t try to force his film into fruition, but do I hope we get an epic conclusion to the original Spider-Man movies, however long it may take.