The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has been a fan favorite among Marvel superheroes. Over the years, multiple actors have captured the hearts of fans with their charismatic portrayals of the high school student who gets superpowers with a spider bite. Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland are some of the most popular actors to have portrayed the character.
However, the role of the iconic superhero was almost donned by some of the highly acclaimed actors in the industry, including the Academy Award winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Heath Ledger.
Leonardo DiCaprio Was Expected to Star in James Cameron’s Spider-Man
After working with Leonardo DiCaprio on Titanic, James Cameron wanted to make a film following the web-swinging superhero Spider-Man. The movie has since become the greatest movie he ever made. He was thoroughly invested in his project with 90s stars DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cameron has shared that it would have been very different as he wanted to delve into the “gritty reality” with the movie, as per Screen Crush. Talking about playing the Marvel superhero on screen, DiCaprio said in an interview with Empire Magazine (via Dan of Geek) that he doesn’t recall any further discussions about the movie.
“I know he [Cameron] was semi-serious about doing it at some point, but I don’t remember any further talks about it,” he said. Unfortunately, Cameron never got the opportunity as Marvel sold the rights to make a Spider-Man movie. He even tried to get hold of movie rights, but all attempts failed, and it never got off the ground.
Read More: Beware as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Spoilers Surface!
Heath Ledger Could Have Been the Star of Sam Raimi’s Trilogy
After Sam Raimi got hold of the Spider-Man project, he had a long list of potential actors for the role of web-swinging superhero. The Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio was again in the race alongside Heath Ledger.
While Tobey Maguire eventually landed the part and starred in the Spider-Man trilogy, he was not the first actor to be considered for the part. The Brokeback Mountain actor was known for movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and The Patriot at the time.
As per Entertainment Weekly, the CAA agent Steve Alexander revealed that he was offered the lead role in Sam Raimi’s 2002 movie. But he declined the offer, as he was not that much interested in comics. “It would have been stealing someone else’s dream,” the Oscar-winning actor said.
It has also been reported that he wanted to explore more as an actor. He would go on to star as the DC villain Joker, which is still considered to be the best portrayal of the character. Ledger sadly passed away in January 2008. He was honored with a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Dark Knight.
