The Spider-Man franchise is thriving under Marvel Studios. The character has starred in three solo films led by Tom Holland, and after nearly five years away from the big screen, he's set to make his triumphant return in 2026 with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The film will have Peter Parker meeting Jon Bernthal Punisher's and Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. Long before the MCU, though, the Wall-Crawler leaped into theatrical fame with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire.
The movie found great success and spawned two sequels—Spider-Man 2 in 2004, and Spider-Man 3 in 2007. With the third installment making over $880 million worldwide unadjusted for inflation, Sony quickly got to work on Spider-Man 4. The film seemed such a sure thing, that it was even given a release date of May 6, 2011 (for historical context, in the same year as Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America: The First Avenger). Yet, it was not fated to reach the big screen. The project was canceled, and the franchise rebooted in 2012 with Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man.
It's said Spider-Man 4 would have pitted Peter Parker against the Vulture—who would have been played by John Malkovich—and the Lizard. The hero would have also met Felicia Hardy, played by Anne Hathaway before her debut as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Some time ago, storyboards drawn by artist David E. Duncan for the film surfaced, which depicted a heart-pounding battle between Spider-Man and the Vulture.
In 2024, YouTube channel YBAM posted a 3D-animated depiction of said art, giving fans an idea of what the scene could have been in motion. Now, that sequence has resurfaced on X, which has shined a light on the canceled movie once again. Check it out:
It's worth noting the Vulture design comes from Spider-Man: Homecoming, and it's not what the villain would have looked like in the film. Among the interesting tidbits that came out about the movie was the fact that it would have featured a montage of Spidey catching different criminals and taking them into custody. The information came from storyboards drawn by artist Jeffrey Henderson. One of them was meant to be Mysterio, potentially played by frequent Sam Raimi collaborator Bruce Campbell, who had a cameo in every single one of the director's Spidey films.
In a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, Raimi was asked what he missed the most about his defunct Spider-Man sequel. The director revealed it was Campbell's cameo: "I miss the really great cameo we had designed for Bruce Campbell." The interviewer then brought up the rumor that the actor would be playing Mysterio. Raimi stated the villain had been one of the roles considered for the actor, and provided more details about the scrapped project, revealing Kraven the Hunter was also supposed to factor into the story:
"That was one of the possibilities. We had other things in mind, too, but that was one of them. And I missed Kraven the Hunter. We were going to work that character into the next Spider-Man; I always wanted to see Kraven fight Spider-Man on the big screen. I thought that would be really unique. He's the ultimate hunter, and Spider-Man is like the most agile trickster of the skies. And I wanted to see Peter continue forward as a human being."
Tobey Maguire made his return as Peter Parker in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home. His comeback sparked hopes that Sony would be open to greenlighting Spider-Man 4. Hope for that grew further in September 2025, when The Batman Part II screenwriter Mattson Tomlin seemed to hint at him attempting to get Spider-Man 4 made. When a fan on X requested him to write the script, he replied with a curious, "Trying!"
Then, when another user asked him to reach out to Sam Raimi to get the project moving, Tomlin once again responded: "Trying!"
Rumors have been running wild about Tobey Maguire's potential involvement in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Nothing has been confirmed, but things point to the possibility of Maguire's stint as the beloved Wall-Crawler still having some mileage left.
Peter Parker will return to the big screen with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, swinging into theaters on July 31, 2026.
What do you think about the animated version of the Spider-Man 4 storyboards? Would you like the movie to materialize in some form?
Below is the original animation video of the Spider-Man 4 storyboards from YouTuber YBAM: