Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Spider-Man film? After seeing him play Mr. Freeze in Batman and Robin, many will probably say no thanks. But the possibility is tantalizing especially since James Cameron once expressed that he almost made a disturbing Spider-Man film in the 90s.
Today we know that there are 3 main live-action iterations of Spider-Man- Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland. But if Cameron was allowed to bring his vision to life, we would have seen Leonardo DiCaprio join the ranks of these heroes. Or maybe, the entire trajectory of Marvel would have been changed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Almost Played A Famed Spider-Man Villain
Spider-Man is one of the most beloved comic book heroes. He takes his place beside other iconic heroes like Superman and Batman. Just like those characters, multiple planned Spider-Man films also never got made. One of them was going to be helmed by James Cameron.
During an interview with ScreenCrush to promote his book Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron, the acclaimed director talked about his plans for adapting Spider-Man in 1991. He had pitched a script/ treatment that would have seen our friendly neighborhood Spidey go up against villains like Dr. Octopus, Sandman, and Electro.
Since Cameron had worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Terminator films, so he wanted the actor to play the villainous Dr. Octopus. However, the film never got made because the rights of the character were caught up between several players. But the Avatar director has revealed what kind of film he was planning to make.
James Cameron Revealed What He Was Planning To Do In His Shelved Spider-Man Movie
During the ScreenCrush interview, James Cameron revealed what his Spider-Man film would have been like. He said, “I wanted to make something that had a kind of gritty reality to it. Superheroes in general always came off as kind of fanciful to me, and I wanted to do something that would have been more in the vein of Terminator and Aliens, that you buy into the reality right away.”
The Titanic director further explained that he wanted to ground the titular hero into reality. As per Cameron, “I wanted it to be: It’s New York. It’s now. A guy gets bitten by a spider. He turns into this kid with these powers and he has this fantasy of being Spider-Man, and he makes this suit and it’s terrible, and then he has to improve the suit, and his big problem is the damn suit. Things like that. I wanted to ground it in reality and ground it in universal human experience.”
The True Lies director’s 50-page script of the film has leaked online, and it sees Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider, gaining the ability to shoot webs organically as well as inheriting the predatory bloodthirstiness of spiders. He then romances MJ and the two culminate their relationship in a graphic s*x scene on top of the Brooklyn Bridge.
What’s more, is that the two would have even discussed the mating rituals of spiders as well. As for the villains, Electro and Sandman would have tried to bring Spider-Man into a group of superpowered villains. But eventually, all the villains get defeated by our hero on top of the World Trade Center. Shades of Cameron’s treatment can be seen in Sam Raimi’s adaptation. But if the visionary director had been allowed to make his Spider-Man movie, the trajectory of every Marvel film would probably have changed.
MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy is available on Disney+, while Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s Spider-Man films can be found on Starz.
Source: ScreenCrush and Tech Noir
