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Happy Anniversary to Spider-Man 4! Oh … Wait …

That hurt to write.

By May 6th, 2021, 2:05 pm

tobeyt maguire as peter parker in spider-man 2.

There is an unspoken curse to Spider-Man movies that we’re trying to break with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Back in 2007, Sam Raimi released his Spider-Man 3, which tackled Venom, and it wasn’t exactly great. It wasn’t horrible; it just wasn’t up to par with the perfection that is Spider-Man 2.

Because of the reception (and a lot of other factors), Raimi’s plans for a Spider-Man 4 would never come to fruition, and we wouldn’t get to see his take on Mysterio. Don’t worry, it eventually ended up fine, but back then, things felt bleak for fans of the web-slinger. But still, the announcement and release date of May 6th, 2011 has stuck with fans throughout the years as we remember what could have been with Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker.

Sure, we went on to have The Amazing Spider-Man series with Andrew Garfield that I love, but it still doesn’t make today any less sad. Those Raimi movies kicked off a love of Spider-Man for so many. And yes, sure, Tobey Maguire isn’t my favorite Peter Parker anymore, but that doesn’t mean that those movies don’t still hold a soft spot in my heart.

They gave us Willem Dafoe as the perfect Norman Osborn. They gave us the perfection of Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius. They’re not the best movies in the world, but they hold up pretty well and they’re still, at the end of the day, a Spider-Man story. And who doesn’t love rewatching anything to do with Peter Parker? (I’m sure there are people out there who do not, but I am not those people and I don’t particularly want to know those people.)

So today, let us all share our collective sadness over what could have been. But let us also look to the future for Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the fact that we did get a Mysterio movie (even if the rumor was that Bruce Campbell was going to play him in Spider-Man 4 and I would have died).

At the end of the day, I’m happy we have whatever Spider-Man movies we have. I love anything to do with the web-slinger, and I love the world that we’re getting with movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Would the world have been a brighter place with Spider-Man 4 in it? Maybe! But at least we have plenty of Spider-Man movies to keep us going now.

(image: Marvel Entertainment)

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Rachel Leishman - Assistant Editor

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. A writer her whole life but professionally starting back in 2016 who loves all things movies, TV, and classic rock. Resident Spider-Man expert, official Leslie Knope, actually Yelena Belova. Wanda Maximoff has never done anything wrong in her life. Star Wars makes her very happy. New York writer with a passion for all things nerdy. Yes, she has a Pedro Pascal podcast. And also a Harrison Ford one.