Before Sony Pictures decided to reboot the web-spinner's franchise with 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, the plan was to release Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 in 2011. John Malkovich was set to play The Vulture, while Anne Hathaway had been tapped to take on the role of Felicia Hardy.
For a variety of reasons, the movie didn't happen, though director Sam Raimi is believed to have lost interest in the franchise after a troubled Spider-Man 3 production that saw Avi Arad shoehorn in Venom. In interviews, he's also appeared unsure of this fourth chapter's story. We'll never know if we missed out on a blockbuster as amazing as Raimi's first two instalments, but writer James Vanderbilt recently told Screen Rant how far along Spider-Man 4 was before the plug was pulled.
"Yeah so, Spider-Man 4, we had a full script sort of ready to go, and, as is sort of the case when you're a working feature writer, they brought in some other great writers to punch it up. They changed some things, and I think about a year later, they got to a point where - and I don't know why - but they got to a point where they decided that wasn't the road they were going to go down."
During his conversation with the site, Vanderbilt - who penned The Amazing Spider-Man - shared his thoughts on [SPOILER WARNING] Andrew Garfield's return in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
"So weirdly, I'd written Spider-Man for Tobey and for Andrew [Garfield], and I love what Tom [Holland] has done with it and what they've done within the MCU. So it was just so fun to see that. I always said the best thing we ever did was cast Andrew because I just think he's such a phenomenal actor, and so to see him getting the love right now and the accolades is just really special."
Garfield is receiving a lot of love for his return as Peter Parker, with fans loudly campaigning on social media for Sony to #MakeTASM3. It seems unlikely Spider-Man 4 or The Amazing Spider-Man 3 will ever actually happen, but there's a chance we'll see more of Garfield and Tobey Maguire.
Click HERE to read what we know about Sony's original Spider-Man 4 plans.