It’s hard to overstatejust how big a dealSam Raimi’s 2002 comic book adaptationSpider-Manwas. The film was coming on the heels of the success of 2000’sX-Men(which put a serious spin on the superhero genre) and perhaps buoyed by that film’s achievement,Spider-Manlit up like a rocket when it hit theaters on August 25, 2025. The movie was famously the first ever to score over $100 million on its opening weekend, taking in a total of $114.8 million in its first few days of release. This was unheard of, and that record stood a full four years until the firstPirates of the Caribbeansequel surpassed it—but make no mistake,Spider-Manbroke the $100 million ceiling and set into motion full-blown superhero fever at every studio.
That included Sony Pictures, which tapped Raimi to return and directSpider-Man 2to critical raves and $783 million worldwide, which was then followed up by the Raimi-helmedSpider-Man 3, which grossed a franchise-high $890.8 million worldwide but suffered a poor reception from critics and fans. The wheels were in motion for Raimi to return for a creatively invigoratedSpider-Man 4, and he’d gotten pretty far along in the development process, but Sony suddenly scrapped the film and fast-tracked a brand new reboot,The Amazing Spider-Man.
So what happened toSpider-Man 4? Why did Sony trash the project at the last minute? What did Raimi have planned for his fourth superhero film? The sequel is one of Hollywood’s more fascinating “what ifs” in that itwouldhave kept the same creative team intact despite the previous film being something of a stinker, and by all accounts Raimi seemed intent on righting the ship. So let’s dig in.
To understand what happened toSpider-Man 4we must first go back to the development and production ofSpider-Man 3. One of the biggest criticisms lodged at the sequel is that it’s overstuffed with too many villains. There are some other character issues here and there, but the movie really falls apart when Venom enters the fray. There’s a good reason for this: Sam Raimi never wanted Venom in the movie.
Indeed, whileSpider-ManandSpider-Man 2brought to life the villains Green Goblin and Doc Ock, respectively, Raimi had his sights set on Sandman as the primary villain ofSpider-Man 3while also bringing backJames Franco’s Harry Osborne to wrap up his character’s storyline. However, producerAvi Aradreportedly convinced Raimi to also include Venom, a character the fans loved but Raimi didn’t—the filmmaker said he couldn’t get over Venom’s lack of humanity. Indeed, while Raimi played nice and tried to execute the character as best he could,he said this in 2015 about the film:
“It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, so that couldn’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it. I think [raising the stakes after Spider-Man 2] was the thinking going into it, and I think that’s what doomed us. I should’ve just stuck with the characters and the relationships and progressed them to the next step and not tried to top the bar.”
So whileSpider-Man 3was a commercial success, critics and fans were not so high on the sequel. Thus, in developingSpider-Man 4, Raimi wanted to set things straight again. He began work withZodiacscreenwriterJames Vanderbiltin 2008 afterSpider-ManscribeDavid Koepppassed, andDavid Lindsay-AbaireandGary Rossdid further script revisions. The entire core cast was set to return, but this time around Raimi was intent on finally bringing to the screen aSpider-Manvillain close to his heart: Vulture.
Indeed, Raimi considered Vulture forSpider-Man 3withBen Kingsleyin the role, but ultimately cut the character. This time, though, he wasn’t going to be talked into using a character he didn’t like, and he had none other thanJohn Malkovichset to play the antagonist. As the script developed, Raimi also threw Felicia Hardy into the mix withAnne Hathawayin the role, though instead of becoming Black Cat the character would become the villain Vulturess in the film.
But as work continued onSpider-Man 4, Raimi couldn’t quite get the script right. He was continually unhappy with the story, and Sony wanted to bring the Lizard into the fold, finally capitalizing onDylan Baker’s role from the first three movies. Raimi was admittedly exhausted—this was still only a year or so afterSpider-Man 3came out, and the filmmaker hadn’t made a non-Spider-Manmovie since 2000’sThe Gift. And thus, he and Sony decided to part ways, with the filmmakerdescribing the split thusly:
“It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn’t get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy withSpider-Man 3, and I wanted to makeSpider-Man 4to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn’t get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, ‘I don’t want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn’t make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you’ve been planning anyway.’ And [Sony co-chairman]Amy Pascalsaid, ‘Thank you. Thank you for not wasting the studio’s money, and I appreciate your candor.’ So we left on the best of terms, both of us trying to do the best thing for fans, the good name of Spider-Man, and Sony Studios.”
The curious thing about all of this, though, is that Sony seemed to be planning to cancelSpider-Man 4for quite some time. Mere hours afterit was announced thatSpider-Man 4was scrappedand the 2011 release date was kaput, Sony revealed that James Vanderbilt—who penned the initial draft ofSpider-Man 4—had already written a rebootcalledThe Amazing Spider-Manand the film was coming out in 2012.
This was likely a move to ease shareholders’ concerns that Sony was out of theSpider-Manbusiness, and the studiohadto keep makingSpider-Manmovies or the rights to the character would revert back to Marvel Studios (which was forging its own path by solo-producing a film calledIron Manat the time), but still, it signals the studio saw the writing on the wall and/or didn’t have its full heart in trying to make Raimi’sSpider-Man 4actually work.
Whatever the case, we’ll never know ifSpider-Man 4would have been a creative bounce-back for the series or further proof that Raimi should probably move on. It’s somewhat telling that his next film was the gleefully horrifyingDrag Me to Hell, which absolutely exuded creative freedom.
Ultimately Sony didn’t find what they were looking for withThe Amazing Spider-Man. That first reboot was fine and grossed $757 million worldwide, but the sequel fared a bit worse financially ($708 million) and suffered from tepid reviews. The studio moved to itssecondreboot withSpider-Man: Homecoming, which was a smashing success and led toSpider-Man: Far from Homeand now an additional sequel.
Regardless, the impact that Raimi had on not only the Spider-Man character but also the superhero genre as a whole is undeniable. And whileSpider-Man 4may not have come together, it’s interesting to think about what would have happened if the film had been made. If the filmwasa hit andwascreatively and financially lucrative, how would that have shaped the superhero genre going forward, especially with Marvel Studios emerging? Would the current Sony/Marvel Studios deal even happen? Would Raimi have eventually rebooted his own franchise and passed the baton to a new Spider-Man like Miles Morales? Again, we’ll never know, but at least we can now take heart in knowing we’re about to seewhat Rami can do withDoctor Strange.
