After putting himself on the map with the Evil Dead franchise, filmmaker Sam Raimi set the bar for superhero storytelling with 2002's Spider-Man.
Spider-Man 2 became an instant classic when it followed two years later, and while Spider-Man 3 wasn't quite as spectacular, fans remain eager to see what the legendary director could do with Tobey Maguire's wall-crawler now. He did have plans for Spider-Man 4 once upon a time, but Sony instead decided to reboot the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man.
That meant we never got to see Raimi's take on characters like The Vulture and Black Cat. However, with Maguire returning as Peter Parker for 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, a reunion for the director and actor remains an exciting possibility.
When Raimi was enlisted for Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he only got to mention Spidey. Still, the sequel was a blast, and added a little bit of horror to the former Sorcerer Supreme's world (even if some of the decisions made with the Scarlet Witch in Michael Wadron's script were questionable).
Rumours continue to swirl that a third Doctor Strange movie is in the works, but Raimi may not be behind the camera for that. According to scooper @MyTimeToShineH, "Sam Raimi had talks with Marvel about doing another project for them, not just Doctor Strange 3."
There were rumours about Raimi being eyed to helm both Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Secret Wars, and it appears Marvel Studios remains eager to work with the director on a future project. With Midnight Sons looming, could we get another comic book horror movie from Raimi?
Blade is a compelling possibility for the Drag Me to Hell helmer, but only time will tell whether this pans out (and whether Marvel Studios' hopes for him could, by some miracle, be Spidey-related).
"I love 90% of the Marvel heroes that I’ve read in the great Stan Lee Marvel Universe comic books," Raimi said of a possible MCU return last year. "I would love to work with Marvel again. They haven’t reasonably asked me to. I hope they had a good experience with me. They haven’t asked me yet. I hope they do."
Asked about possibly helming Spider-Man 4, he added, "Well, I haven’t heard about that yet. I did read that, but I’m not actually working on it yet. I mean, Marvel and Columbia are so successful with current Spider-Man [movies], and the track there, and I don’t know that they’re going to go back to me, and say, 'Well, folks, we can also tell that story!'"
"I’m not sure, but I love all the new Spider-Man movies," Raimi continued. "I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was really, super powerful seeing Tobey [Maguire] again in it."
What are your hopes for the filmmaker in the MCU moving forward?