With Spider-Man, there has been this tug-of-war in the recent past between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios concerning the rights of the character. The two powerhouse studios have been in the film adaptation of the comic book characters for quite a long time now, with Marvel leading their cinematic universe game.
However, Sony has not been able to hit the ball out of the park since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, which people still admire to this day. 7 years after the trilogy ended with Spider-Man 3, Sony attempted the project again, this time with the incredibly talented Andrew Garfield.
Poor writing, Garfield’s no-show at a Brazil event, and a bleak screenplay made Sony scrap the threequel. That resulted in Sony striking a deal with Marvel to include Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.
Vulture Almost Appeared In Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 4
The representation of the ‘Vulture’ that we got to see in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Homecoming by the talented veteran actor Michael Keaton is brilliant in its own right. But, Sony originally had plans to move forward with Spider-Man 4 and introduce the classic version of the villain that we saw in the initial scenes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Academy Award winner John Malkovich would have given us a really terrifying version of the character in Tobey Maguire’s film. Sam Raimi’s work on horror films like The Grudge and Evil Dead inspired him to showcase a really darker, yet inventive version of the character.
Ken Penders, a comic book writer shared a tweet back in November last year showing the costume for the character. Take a look –
Before Tobey & Sam were bid adieu by Sony, work actually had begun on SPIDER-MAN 4, and I visited friends who were working on the Vulture’s costume intended for actor John Malkovich. Once production shut down, all materials were turned in. I’ve sat on this for almost 15 years. pic.twitter.com/iY3VmzUrHI
— Ken Penders (@KenPenders) November 28, 2022
As we can see, the characteristics of the wing resemble the same spiky and metallic work that we saw in Across the Spider-Verse. We can definitely imagine how fantastic it would have looked.
Are We Still Getting Spider-Man 4?
Spider-Man: No Way Home gave the fans what they had been asking for since time immemorial. Marvel listened and we got to live the dream with Maguire, Garfield, and Holland sharing the screen as the web-slinging spider brothers from different mothers.
Seeing Tobey Maguire in his spider suit brings back so many memories, but the question still remains if we would ever get to see him come back for another round.
The next installment of their animated Spider-Verse film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, along with Madame Web, and Venom 3 all slated for release in 2024.
Source: Collider
