- 24/06/2025
The stars could literally be aligning for a dream Marvel project.
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00:00It's strange to think that, in one form or another, Marvel fans have been discussing
00:04Spider-Man 4 since 2007. There's not just the cancelled follow up to the much maligned third
00:11entry in Sam Raimi's trilogy, which for the record is not as bad as has been made, but also
00:16the upcoming confirmed sequel to 2021's Spider- No Way Home. Rumours regarding the latter have
00:23expectedly picked up over the last few months, with speculation pointing towards a 2025 release,
00:29but so too, strangely, have discussions surrounding the former.
00:33Hello everyone, what is up, it is me Ewan for WhatCulture, and I want to talk to you today
00:37about a little old movie called Spider-Man 4, and why, in my opinion, it feels closer than ever to
00:44maybe potentially happening. Maybe. Raimi's fourth Spider-Man film, a project that was abandoned some
00:5014 years ago, is still garnering attention today, with both the director and Mary Jane Watson actress
00:56Kirsten Dunst, respectively being questioned on the prospects of it somehow happening over the
01:01last couple of months. The responses from each party were both honest, and for those Raimi fans
01:07still hopeful of a belated for Spider-Man film, potentially even a bit encouraging. Speaking to
01:13CBR, Raimi said that while he isn't involved in any current discussions regarding Spider-Man 4,
01:18he is aware of the rumours and that he would be the first to know if such a project was put in motion.
01:24It is also worth noting that Raimi had previously stated in a 2022 interview with Carbuck,
01:28that quote, all things are possible, and how he'd love to work with Toad McGuire again.
01:34Dunst was equally candid when quizzed on the matter by IndieWire, saying of a potential Spider-Man 4,
01:40quote, I don't think we need that. Which, you know, totally fair.
01:44At the same time though, the Civil War star did say that she would have accepted a role in No Way Home
01:49had it been offered, and just the other month admitted in an interview with Marie Claire that
01:54she'd happily do another superhero movie, quote, because you get paid a lot of money,
01:59and I have two children, and I support my mother. And honestly, that's the most hell yeah inducing
02:05response of the bunch. While it's easy to chalk up chatter of Raimi somehow reviving his lost Spider-Man
02:11movie as pie in the sky fanboy musings, even with Raimi and Dunst leaving the door slightly ajar for such a
02:17thing to happen, it may not be as ludicrous a sounding prospect as it would have seemed a few
02:23years ago. Maguire's return was a key draw behind Spider-Man No Way Home, as were fellow returning
02:29castmates Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe as Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin respectively.
02:34Factor in a willingness from competitor DC to have multiple incarnations of Batman on the big screen at
02:40once, as well as Sony's enthusiasm to milk the Spider-Man license for all it's worth with tawdry
02:46adaptations like Morbius and Madame Web, plus overall nostalgic trends in recent releases,
02:52and suddenly the idea of Spider-Man 4 getting made doesn't seem all that silly after all. This will
02:58either inspire eye rolls or fist pumps depending on your mileage of superhero glut, and to confess,
03:05I'm not even sure how I feel about the prospect of it happening either. What I do know is that I love
03:10that incarnation of the character, as well as Raimi's films more generally, and with the right concept
03:15in mind, it could be a killer. Should it happen? Well, maybe not, but in the event its prospects are
03:22genuine, then there's every chance that Spider-Man 4 could be worthwhile, adventurous, and better than
03:28some of the nostalgic trends that have resulted in films like No Way Home and The Flash. One of the big
03:34reasons why Spider-Man 4 is still capturing attention is that, at one point, it seemed
03:39like an inevitability. Despite garnering less critical praise than the preceding two efforts,
03:44Spider-Man 3 was still a huge box office success, ending its theatrical run as the highest grossing
03:50entry of Raimi's trilogy. Plans for a sequel were quickly publicized, with Sony marking in a May 2011
03:57premiere, and Raimi, Maguire, and Dunst all confirming their involvement. John Malkovich was eyed for the part of
04:03the Vulture, in this interpretation a ruthless military contractor, and Anne Hathaway for Felicia
04:08Hardy, aka Black Cat. Maybe the best part of it all though was that Bruce Campbell was also set to
04:14benefit from a slightly larger role as Quentin Beck, better known by his villainous moniker of Mysterio.
04:21But, as we all know, Spider-Man 4 was shelved three years after its announcement due to a mixture of
04:27contributing factors. Raimi himself was reportedly displeased with Spider-Man 3, and also struggled with
04:33a script for the Vulture-focused follower. With Sony adamant that a 2011 release date had to be
04:38met, and pre-production stalling, Raimi excised himself from the project completely, with the
04:44studio then announcing that the franchise would be rebooted. Yay! The Amazing Spider-Man, starring
04:50Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, was released in 2012, a year later than the do or die 2011 deadline
04:57Sony had placed on Raimi, with Spider-Man 4 then well and truly buried under a big ol' pile of
05:03Sandman sand. Not that the sequel's cancellation stopped conversations surrounding it though.
05:09The fact that The Amazing Spider-Man released in such close proximity to the Raimi films provoked a
05:15sense of confusion. Spider-Man 3 was only 5 years old when the Garfield-Emma Stone-led reboot premiered,
05:21and it also retrod familiar ground as an origin story. What was the point of doing away with the
05:27Raimi interpretation if the results were so familiar, and were still, so sourceless?
05:33This sentiment has been exacerbated in retrospect by the fact that the Garfield incarnation received
05:39only two dedicated outings of middling quality, sandwiched between Raimi's peerless originals
05:45and a juggernaut franchise in the MCU. There will be those out there who feel that the Mark Webb films are
05:50valid and worth celebrating, evidently so given their representation in No Way Home, but they'll
05:56always be the movies that came in place of Spider-Man 4, a sequel to a beloved and popular incarnation of
06:03the character. Regardless of how that film would have turned out in its original concept, in a straight
06:09shootout between The Amazing Spider-Man and another wall crawler film from Raimi, we have ourselves a
06:15perfect nuclear bomb versus coughing baby scenario. There's just no way that The Amazing Spider-Man
06:22could ever compete. And not to provoke the ire at the comments section too prematurely,
06:27the same could arguably be said of the John Watts film starring Tom Holland, which failed to compete
06:32with Raimi's incarnation on both a technical and thematic level by sidestepping Peter Parker's
06:38working class origins and spotlighting digital sludge. Heck, No Way Home itself was a huge phenomenon
06:45precisely because it hinged on characters and motifs from Raimi's trilogy. My point here is that,
06:50despite that interpretation coming to a close in 2007, its shadow has loomed large over Spider-Man
06:56specifically and comic book cinema more generally ever since. But regardless of the prospects of Spider-Man
07:034 One Day Happening or why we're still here talking about it, I honestly believe there is more creative
07:09impetus for it to happen than there is for another outing from Holland, or a franchise reboot, or
07:14obviously another weird Sony spinoff. Unless it's one about Big Wheel. You gotta love Big Wheel.
07:20By far one of the most frustrating aspects of mainstream comic book Spider-Man coming up to about
07:2620 to 30 years now is that the character has stagnated. If you read Spider-Man from his debut in
07:32amazing fantasy under Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, all the way through to the clone saga shenanigans of
07:37the 1990s, then you've got to spend time with a version of Peter Parker who aged and progressed.
07:43Pete left high school, married Mary Jane, and witnessed the deaths of both his first love and his closest
07:49friend. Hell, even Sandman got to embark on an arc of his own, evolving from a supervillain to an
07:55anti-hero, and then even an Avenger. Sandman is secretly the coolest Spider-Man character, just
08:01saying. It's hard to believe now, but when Norman Osborn died in the concluding chapter of the night
08:06when Stacy died in 1973, he stayed that way for 20 years. This was retconned during the infamous clone
08:15saga, which we can probably blame for all the woes that have afflicted Peter Parker in the decades since.
08:21Norman's resurrection exemplified what was to follow, as Marvel grew anxious that an older and married
08:27Peter Parker wasn't relatable to its young, predominantly male readership base. So he was
08:33temporarily retired, with clone Ben Reilly stepping in as a youthful bachelor. Pete would return, but
08:40this incarnation of the character was essentially doomed, as anxieties regarding his relatability persisted
08:46into the 2000s, and culminated in explosive fashion with the storylines One More Day and Brand New Day,
08:53which, hoo boy, are both very stinky. For those somehow blessed enough to have not read these
09:00comics, here's a brief explainer. These editorially enforced storylines had Peter wipe his marriage with
09:06Mary Jane from existence to save the life of an elderly Aunt May in a bargain with Mephisto, and they remain
09:13the most consequential and controversial comics of Marvel's modern era. For the most part, since One
09:18More Day released, Peter has been stuck in the same familiar space, as a young adult juggling the same
09:25old responsibilities. It's bland, it's safe, and it's meant to be both of those things. If Marvel can keep
09:31Peter Parker in his most recognizable guise, then that should, in theory, please everyone. Only,
09:37we know that isn't the case. Look at the most successful Spider-Man stories of the last decade,
09:42and you'll see they all have the same thing in common. Spotlight versions of the character who
09:47age and progress through time. This was the case with Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, Insomniac's
09:52PlayStation games, and more recently, the rebooted Ultimate Spider-Man comics from writer Jonathan Hickman
09:59and artist Marco Cecchetto. Interpretations of real consequence, they have the freedom to take the
10:04character of Peter Parker and make him actually grow up. Hickman and Cecchetto's Ultimate Spider-Man
10:10comics are especially pertinent to the discussion of a future Raimi movie, because they spotlight the
10:16character in a similar age and context to what would feasibly be the case with a sequel. Peter here
10:22is a husband to MJ and has two young children. The difference this time is that he's only just
10:27started his career as Spider-Man in his late 30s, which brings with it new and unique challenges.
10:32Now obviously this isn't a 1 to 1 fit for a potential Raimi sequel, but it does reiterate
10:38the appeal of seeing an older Spider-Man navigating different responsibilities. We caught glimpses of
10:43that with Maguire's return in No Way Home, but under Raimi's direction, it's a sort of premise that
10:48could really flourish on the big screen. The last big thing I want to caveat with all this discussion
10:54is that I think that the overall bent towards nostalgia we've seen in movies over the last 5-10 years
11:00is really boring. I'm on the record as a No Way Home hater and abducting Michael Keaton's Batman for
11:06The Flash was borderline criminal. I'd much rather see something new and original than to dip back
11:11into the well of an IP that has gone way past the point of saturation. However, legacy sequels can and
11:18indeed have yielded tremendous results in the past, with Ryan Coogler's Creed the standout example. Even if the
11:24impulses that lead to nostalgic filmmaking are largely cynical, with the right people involved, valid and
11:31affecting cinema can still be created. This is essentially my way of saying that, even if it was
11:36made for the wrong reasons, a legacy Spider-Man sequel headed up by Raimi that picked up with Peter
11:41and MJ as middle aged adults could be worthwhile. More recent Spidey stories have shown a willingness and
11:47enthusiasm from creators and audiences to engage with aged incarnations of the character, and while Raimi was
11:53smothered by the machinery of the MCU with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Badness, all the
11:58flourishes that were there tell us that he can still create compelling comic book cinema that is
12:03also uniquely him. It's why we fell in love with those movies to begin with. Now, to me, that is way more
12:10worthwhile than another MCU film, or even the vast majority of announced comic book movies on the
12:15way for that matter. Conceptually, it may seem trite, but there is more that Raimi could accomplish with
12:20this interpretation of the character than any of the other live action Spider-Mans we've gotten
12:25within the last decade have actually managed to do. Does Spider-Man 4 need to happen? No,
12:30absolutely not. Kirsten Dunst is more than right on that front. Raimi's films are 20 years old and have
12:36left an indelible imprint on the character and genre, but if it were to come together somehow, and the odds
12:43are better than they once were, then it could be so much more than just another nostalgic legacy sequel.
12:49But I want to know your thoughts on Spider-Man 4 in the comments below. Do you think it could
12:54actually happen? And better yet, would you even want it? Once you've done that, if you could
12:58thwip on over to the like button and subscribe, that would be properly lovely. Otherwise, thank you
13:04all for watching, and I'll hopefully thwip you next time. Bye!
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