CHAPTER 5:
SPIDER-MAN UNTOLD
Whether or not you liked Spider-Man 3, it was still a box office success. Which meant Sony was clearly going to greenlight a fourth film. Sam Raimi was set to return as director and was going to put in... THREE VILLAINS?!?!?!? AGAIN?!?!?!?
But Raimi wasn't the only one who became mad with power, there was also Sony itself. Why? Because not only did they greenlight a fourth film, but they also greenlit Spider-Man FIVE and Spider-Man SIX! Because we have so many other villains to stuff into one movie.
So Raimi was not the only one back. Most of the recurring cast members have returned except for James Franco because...
And you know who else returned... The Stacys! Remember,?The two wasted characters from the last movie who had almost no point to be in a movie that already had 500,000,000,000 characters? No? Well, you're not alone.
The script would be written by James Vandenbilt. However, it was rewritten by David Lindsay-Abaire and Gary Ross. Also, Raimi tried to deny that a fifth and sixth movie. However, James Vandenbilt made a deal with Sony not just to write a fourth film, but also five and six.
So Mr. Raimi...
Okay, so three villains were confirmed. The first villain would be the Lizard. Dylan Baker portrayed Dr. Conners in films 2 & 3. Some say we was wasted, but the character did help Peter with his studies and when he had the symbiote. I think The Lizard would have been a pretty cool villain for a Spider-Man 4, seeing as it would be another struggle Peter would have because he's fighting against his friend and mentor. Classic Spidey.
Speaking of Classic Spidey, another villain was confirmed, this one being the second supervillain Spidey ever faced. This one being The Vulture. The Vulture was supposed to be in the third film, and he would be played by Sir Ben Kinglsey. However, he was cut because there were like 500,000,000,000 characters already. But the question is: Why? Why put Spidey against a villain who we don't know jack about when we already have The Lizard, a villain who's an established character. The answer: Because they got John Malkovich.
But it doesn't end there. So, you know that pointless love triangle from the third film with Peter, MJ, and Gwen. It gets worst. Not only was Gwen returning for this film, but one of Spidey's love interests from the comics, Felicia Hardy (a.k.a. Black Cat), was set to be in this film, and she would have been played by Anne Hathaway. Therefore, making this love triangle a love square.
But it gets worse. Felicia wasn't supposed to be Black Cat. Get this. Felicia Hardy would be Vulture's sidekick, Vultress. Because why not. I'll tell you why not. BECAUSE IT'S STUPID! You have three villains, you may as well try and make them accurate. Plus, when Harry became the Goblin after Norman, it made sense. Not only was Harry the Goblin in the comics, but he had been built up. In 4, not only was there never a Vultress, but why make two of the same villain IN THE SAME MOVIE?!?!?!? Were they gonna work together and be the Bonnie & Clyde of Spidey villains? Acutally, a Bonnie & Clyde-like version of Spider-Man villains sounds kinda cool.
Now, Raimi said the Vultress thing was just a rumour. But remember, Sam Raimi lies.
One (possibly) additional villain would have been added in. See, in the last three films, Bruce Cambell had three awesome and funny cameos. However, Raimi said that Cambell would have had a bigger role in Spidey 4...
Here's my question though. Why not Carnage instead of these other guys. Maybe there would be this cool thing off maybe not ALL of the symbiote got on Eddie and didn't die. So there would be some left and it would go on a psychopath, therefore raising the stakes, and getting more of that Spidey vs. Symbiote-Villain action everyone wanted.
Okay, so I've been harping on Raimi for a bit, but that's a bit unfair. Maybe the reason he kept trying to deny the Vultress and even more sequels was because THEY WERE STUPID IDEAS! Sam Raimi was getting tired of working on this film. He went through three different writers and four script revisions, and hated all of the final results. And can you blame him, a lot of these idead sound horrible. Raimi also said he agreed with fans on Spidey 3 and was under pressure to make the film as good as he could.
I'M SORRY FOR BASHING YOU, MR. RAIMI!
So Raimi was fed up with it all and decided it was time to quit. He claimed that he really wanted to stop after the fourth film and give the franchise the ending it deserved. But after all the scripts, he just couldn't take it anymore. But Sony was all "Oh, yeah? Well, we don't need you! We still got Tobey!" But after another draft for the film was sent in, Tobey quit the franchise too, as this new script featured Peter going back to high school and Maguire already had two kids at the time. So with no director and no Spider-Man, Sony cancelled Spidey 4. However, the Spidey rights were retiring fast and if there was no Spidey film shooting by a certain date, the rights would revert back to Marvel. So Sony asked themselves...
As for the three screenwriters, don't worry about them, they went on to do better things. Gary Ross went on to write and direct the first Hunger Games film. David Linsday-Abaire went on to write the criminally underrated Rise of the Guardians, as well as a different Sam Raimir film, Oz: The Great & Powerful. And James Vanderbilt went on to write... Spider-Man.
TO BE CONTINUED...