Sam Raimi’sSpider-Man 4would have forced Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man to keep breaking his golden rule thanks to a cruelMarvelvillain. Only the MCU’s Spider-Man will reach his fourth solo installment withSony and Marvel Studios' upcomingSpider-Man 4. Plans forThe Amazing Spider-Man 3and4were canceled afterThe Amazing Spider-Man 2’s box office disappointment, as were Sony’s plans for theirSinister Sixspinoff. Just a few years before, Sam Raimi’sSpider-Man 4was delayed indefinitely, until Raimi and Sony decided not to move forward with the project.
According to various sources throughout the years,Sam Raimi’sSpider-Man 4went through various drafts before its cancelation. Some drafts had Dylan Baker’s Curt Connors transform into the Lizard, and others introduced John Malkovich’s Adrian Toomes a.k.a. Vulture. Some versions ofSpider-Man 4also featured Anne Hathaway’s Black Cat and others Angelina Jolie’s Vulturess. In the end, theSpider-Manmovie franchise was rebooted twice, and Vulture made his first film appearance inSpider-Man: Homecoming, played by Michael Keaton.
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 Was Set To Kill Off The Vulture
John Malkovich’s Vulture Could Have Died A Brutal Death
A storyboard forSpider-Man4’s final battle reveals that Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker would have had a brutal battle with John Malkovich’s Vulture atop a skyscraper.Vulture would have beaten Spider-Man to a pulp, but Spider-Man would have stabbed Vulture with a blade from one of the villain’s own wings, causing him to fall. The storyboard doesn’t exactly confirm whether Vulture died afterward, but it suggests he would have been badly wounded.
Sam Raimi’sSpider-Man 4never reached a final draft, meaning that the final cut of the movie could have looked drastically different.
Some details suggest thatSpider-Man 4’s Vulture would have been a particularly ruthless version of the villain. Scrapped plans forSpider-Man 4describe John Malkovich’s Vulture as a criminal who got his nickname because he left"nothing but bones"everywhere he went. Hence,Spider-Man 4’s fight scenes could have been even more violent than Spider-Man’s final battle with Green Goblin inSpider-Man, with Doctor Octopus inSpider-Man 2, and the scrappedSpider-Man 3final battle where Venom spit out Eddie Brock’s skeleton before dying.
The Vulture’s Death Would Have Fit Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Villain Rule
All The Main Villains In Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Movies Die By Their Own Hands
Spider-Man 4’s Vulture could have died after Spider-Man stabbed with his own wing, adding him to the list ofSpider-Manvillains who died due to their own actions. Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin stabbed himself with his own glider at the end ofSpider-Man, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus drowned himself while deactivating his fusion reactor inSpider-Man 2, and Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock jumped into an exploding pumpkin bomb while trying to save the Venom symbiote inSpider-Man 3. James Franco’s Harry Osborn died similarly to his dad when Venom stabbed him with his own glider inSpider-Man 3’s final battle.
Why Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 Never Happened
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 was already in development when it was canceled. However, Tobey Maguire’s return was unlikely to happen from the start.
The only antagonist in Sam Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogy not to die by their own hand is Thomas Hayden-Church’s Sandman, who apologized for his participation in Uncle Ben’s murder and flew away at the end ofSpider-Man 3. Sandman was cured, and both Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus were saved from their death inSpider-Man: No Way Home’s ending, although it wasn’t made explicitly clear whether these variants are the exact same as the ones featured in Sam Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogy or if they are slightly different variations of the same characters.
How Spider-Man 4’s Vulture Would Have Differed From Michael Keaton’s MCU Villain
Sam Raimi And The MCU’s Vultures Are Very Different From Each Other
Michael Keaton’s Vulture created his helmet and wings from the scraps he stole from the Avengers' battlegrounds. Vulture also hoards a large variety of weapons and tools, some of which he sends to the Tinkerer for repurposing. While Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes is ruthless, he isn’t nearly as violent as the version of the villain teased bySpider-Man 4’s scrapped plans. Instead,the MCU’s take on Vulture is based on the character’s scavenger nature, which makes him a villain more akin to the Collector and Thanos rather than Green Goblin or Mysterio.
Sam Raimi’s 1 Spider-Man 4 Requirement Perfectly Sets Up Peter Parker’s Most Controversial Story
Sam Raimi’s comments on Spider-Man 4 point in the direction of an infamous comic book storyline that already influenced the MCU’s Peter Parker.
Vulture’s description inSpider-Man 4’s canceled plans makes him seem like one of the deadliest Marvel movie villains ever. Leaving"nothing but bones"after killing his victims puts John Malkovich’s Vulture on the level of antagonists as cruel asJessica Jones' Kilgrave, who mind-controls his victims into doing horrific things; orGuardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3’s High Evolutionary, who experiments on animals. Both the MCU’s Vulture andSpider-Man 4’s Vulture adapt comic-accurate aspects of the same character, and both fit their respective movie franchises. However, only one of them pushes the boundaries in their battle against Spider-Man.
