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When it comes to the most disappointing comic book movies that were planned but never produced, which one tops the list? Is it Tim Burton’s Batman Continues? Guillermo del Toro’s Doctor Strange? Perhaps JJ Abrams’ Superman: Flyby? Nah, there’s only one correct answer: Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4, a movie that continues to breathe potential

flickers of life nearly 15 years after it was declared dead by Sony Pictures. Indeed, with the exciting new announcement that Tobey Maguire’s version of Peter Parker may not be extinct after all, the real question of the day is, Wtf Happened to Sam Raimi’s unmade Spider-Man 4?

It all started in the spring of 2007. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 opened in theaters on May 4, 2007, and obliterated the box office competition, turning an estimated $250 million budget into a massive $894 million worldwide moneymaker. Yet, despite the tepid reception from critics and fans...

(Superhero Bits is a collection of stories, updates, and videos about anything and everything inspired by the comics of Marvel, DC, and more. For comic book movies, TV shows, merchandise, events, and whatever catches our eye, this is the place to find anything that falls through the cracks.)

In this edition of Superhero Bits:

The first "Gotham Knights" Dlc arrives.

James McAvoy on returning as Professor X for "Secret Wars."

Yes, the new DC Universe will include video games.

"The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Awesome Mix" arrives.

All that and more!

DC Universe Infinite Gets Thousands Of New Comics With Ultra

DC Universe Infinite has served as the company's comic book subscription service for some time now. Think of it as like Netflix, but for DC Comics. Well, the company has announced a brand new upgrade to the service titled DC Universe Infinite Ultra. For 99.99 per year (labeled...

One of the most talked-about unmade superhero movies of all time is Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4." Raimi planned to reunite with Tobey Maguire for one last ride to see Peter Parker off in style following the disappointment that was 2007's "Spider-Man 3." Unfortunately, disagreements with Sony ultimately led Raimi to depart the project, paving the way for "The Amazing Spider-Man" reboot starring Andrew Garfield soon after. But what exactly did we miss out on? We have gained a tiny bit of insight into what could have been.

I recently spoke with storyboard artist Jeff Henderson, who worked on "Spider-Man 4" before it was scrapped. During our conversation, he revealed that yes, Vulture would have been part of the film, as has been revealed in the past. But he admits there was never a definitive version of the story, as things were constantly evolving in the development stage. One version,...

There are few unmade movies in history that make us wonder what could have been quite like Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4." The filmmaker had intended to reunite with Tobey Maguire one more time following the disappointment of "Spider-Man 3." In the end, creative differences got in the way and Sony went with a reboot, giving us "The Amazing Spider-Man" with Andrew Garfield in 2012. 

Interestingly though, one of the greatest "Spider-Man" movies ever made actually shares a little bit of DNA with Raimi's unrealized vision. I recently spoke with concept artist Jeff Henderson, who worked on "Spider-Man 4" before it was scrapped. During our conversation, Henderson revealed that there was a scene being cooked up for Raimi's film that actually mirrors a key scene from 2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." 

The scene in question takes place after Peter Parker dies, and we see Mary Jane Watson delivering an emotional speech to New York City,...

When a rock and roll poet is brought back to life by one of his biggest fans, it leads to a trippy adventure in Staci Layne Wilson's The Second Age of Aquarius. With filming slated to begin this November on The Second Age of Aquarius, we're excited to exclusively report the cast for the sci-fi film:

Los Angeles, CA, October 25, 2019 -- Weird Science meets The Odd Couple meets Oliver Stone’s The Doors in “The Second Age of Aquarius.” When Alberta magically brings her favorite departed rock n roll poet back to life, he’s everything she dreamed… at first. Turns out Russell Aquarius thinks he’s having the ultimate bad trip and he wants to bring Alberta along for the magic carpet ride!

“The Second Age of Aquarius” will star Christina Jacqueline Calph (Arthur) as Alberta Stevens, and Michael Ursu (Wildness) as Russell Aquarius. “The Second Age of...

Sam Raimi’s 2002 film “Spider-Man,” starring Tobey Maguire as the web-slinging Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst as love-interest-next-door Mary Jane Watson, is largely credited with kicking off the superhero film behemoth that controls Hollywood today. While one can debate endlessly whether or not that’s a good thing for the film industry, having directed the launching pad tentpole driving box office trends over the last two decades is no small feat. While Raimi’s Spidey films ended in a trilogy, Disney, Marvel Studios and Sony successfully relaunched the character following a 2015 deal to share Spider-Man film rights. With the most recent iteration, “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” scoring big summer numbers, the character clearly is money in the bank.

But what about the man who started it all? Leaked storyboards and rumors of a potential Raimi-led “Spider-Man 4,” once in development at Sony Pictures, recently ignited comic book fans to imagine what...

Richard Jordan May 6, 2019

Jake Gyllenhaal's supervillain (or is he?) is revealed in the new trailer for the Spidey sequel. Here's everything you need to know

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

So, the latest Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer gives us a much closer look at Jake Gyllenhall’s Mysterio. And while he seems to be playing a friend to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker (“He’s like Iron Man and Thor rolled into one!” his classmates enthuse), we’re not quite sold – Mysterio’s comic-book background suggests he’ll wind up being much more of a foe.

Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio, is one of Spider-Man’s oldest and most iconic arch-enemies. He’s a Hollywood stuntman and FX technician who becomes disillusioned with the industry, and so decides to put his skills to good use as a supervillain instead. The latest trailer instead reveals Mysterio as someone from a parallel Earth,...

Jeff Henderson lived up to his promise. Prior to competing in the men's long jump at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the 27-year-old track and field star promised he would win the gold for his mother - who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 10 years ago. With Kark by his side, Henderson visited his parent's Arkansas-home before the Games and told his mother his plan. Bedridden for four years and believed to be in the final stages of the disease by doctors, Debra wasn't able to verbally respond to Henderson. His father, Laverne, remained home to take care of his ailing wife during the Games.

Long before the Amazing Spider-Man series and the Web-Slinger being included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony was still keen on continuing Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie series. Although Spider-Man 3 received mixed reviews, it still earned enough to warrant Spider-Man 4 being put into development. Obviously that release never came to pass, but it remains one of the most popular superhero movie “what-ifs?” to contemplate. Yesterday, we learned how Vulture and Mysterio would have been featured in the movie via artwork, but apparently the movie would have also included three other classic villains early on. In our followup interview with storyboard artist Jeffrey Henderson over his Spider-Man 4 reveals, he explained how the idea for Spider-Man 4’s opening was to show Tobey Maguire's Spidey going up against not only a Bruce Campbell-portrayed Mysterio, but C and D-list villains like Shocker, The Prowler and Rhino. He said: ...

Following the release of that Spider-Man 4 concept art yesterday, io9 reached out to Jeffrey Henderson to get some further intel about what Sam Raimi was planning for his fourth instalment in that trilogy. For starters, he confirmed that Bruce Campbell was indeed going to play Mysterio in a montage sequence which would have featured, "C and D- list villains that we knew would never be used as main antagonists: Mysterio, the Shocker, the Prowler, the old school-onesie-wearing version of the Rhino, maybe even the Stilt Man, etc." That would have been fun to see, but arguably a waste of some great Spider-Man villains who could have actually held their own in a movie given a chance to shine.    As for Vulture, Henderson revealed that he would have been the main villain, and that Raimi had some cool ideas for how he should be portrayed here. "The thing we kept coming back to was that,...

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Before Marvel brokered a deal with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and before Sony delivered two lacklustre The Amazing Spider-Man movies, there was Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Its first two entries are celebrated as some of the finest superhero outings of all time, faithfully recreating the excitement and wonder of the webhead’s comic book adventures. Then came Spider-Man 3. Yeah, remember Tobey Maguire’s emo Peter Parker? Needless to say, Sony opted to not pursue a fourth film from Raimi and co., for fear of another repeat.

That’s not to say it wasn’t in development. Raimi and Maguire were ready to roll for a third sequel and John Malkovich was assigned the fan-favorite baddie role as The Vulture. Details were tentative, but in comparison to its predecessor, Spider-Man 4 looked promising.

While we never got the chance to see the...

A cool collection of concept art from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 has surfaced, and some of it features our friendly neighborhood hero fighting Mysterio and The Vulture. For those of you who don't remember, John Malkovich was being eyed for the role of The Vulture, and Anne Hathaway was set to play The Vulturess, which would have been a strange new version of Felicia Hardy/Black Cat. The movie was about to go into production when Sony Pictures cancelled it and decided to reboot the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man. It would've been cool to see Mysterio make his big screen debut.

The storyboard art you see here was created by artist, writer, and filmmaker Jeffrey Henderson. According to the artist, Raimi wanted to cast Bruce Campbell in the role of Mysterio, which would have been awesome! He also explained to io9, "It would’ve been part of a beginning...

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Sam Raimi's abandoned Spider-Man 4 had more villains planned, as concept art appears online...

A brief recap for those not up to date with the story of Spider-Man movies to date.

After putting together the original trilogy of films starring Tobey Maguire, director Sam Raimi was all set to helm Spider-Man 4. Maguire was back, John Malkovich was being recruited as The Vulture, but eventually Sony – worried by a rising bill, and the less-than-stellar response to Spider-Man 3 – opted for a reboot.

Thus, Raimi was out, Marc Webb was in, Andrew Garfield was cast, and two The Amazing Spider-Man films were made. Which didn’t go down a treat, but have led to the new generation of Spider-Man films, which kick off with Spider-Man: Homecoming and Tom Holland next year.

Phew.

Back to Spider-Man 4, though. We’ve talked before about the film, but some new details as to...

Spider-Man 3 was a crushing disappointment, but Sam Raimi was still going to return to direct a fourth instalment of the franchise. John Malkovich was being eyed for the role of The Vulture, while Anne Hathaway was set to play The Vulturess, a bizarre new take on Felicia Hardy/Black Cat. However, the movie simply didn't end up happening, and we instead got a reboot with The Amazing Spider-Man. Following the appearance of a handful of pieces of concept art from Spider-Man 4 earlier today, award winning illustrator, writer and storyteller Jeffrey Henderson has shared a whole new gallery of pieces on his website, and these give us an even better look at both The Vulture and Mysterio. It looks like the latter would have been treated as a joke rather than an actual supervillain who took on the hero.  However, had Bruce Campbell been put under that dome, it's hard...

Before Sony Pictures decided to reboot its Spider-Man franchise with Andrew Garfield and "The Amazing Spider-Man" films, Sam Raimi did do some preliminary work on a fourth film in the Sam Raimi-directed original series. That project was scrapped, but today - almost a decade on, new details from an artist who worked on the project have emerged.

The artwork comes from Jeffrey Henderson's official website and confirms that both Mysterio and Vulture were going to be the villains. Not only that, the artwork for Mysterio would suggest Raimi regular Bruce Campbell was being sought to play the role. Speaking about his experience, Henderson says:

"It would've been one absolutely kick ass movie. Seriously. We were working on some crazy- cool stuff, because everyone, from top to bottom, felt that Spidey 3 was a bit of a 'missed opportunity', and we all really wanted to help Sam take SM4 to...