James Cameron’s Original Spider-Man Ideas Were a Lot More Sexual Than Sony Planned

Sony’s first live-action Spider-Man movie was initially supposed to be directed by James Cameron instead of Sam Raimi. Raimi ultimately won out on helming the film, and chose Tobey Maguire as the titular hero, but it seems that Cameron had very different plans for his interpretation of the Marvel hero. According to Variety, Cameron’s ideas were a bit more sexual than the studio had planned for, and they even detailed what was supposed to go down. Screenwriter David Koepp revealed just how sexual Cameron’s film was intended to be.

“He pushed the metaphor of adolescent sexual development really far. There’s a great moment where Peter wakes up in bed with web strands all over himself,” Koepp revealed. “It was like, wow, I don’t know if we can do the wet dream thing, but that was pretty funny. Even just the fact that Cameron had taken it seriously was a big deal. It legitimized it in people’s minds — not least of all, probably, Sony.”

Raimi is set to premiere his next film based on a Marvel character with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The film was originally touted as a horror film when it was first announced. Horror director Scott Derrickson was previously set to direct the sequel, but he ultimately left the film due to creative differences with the studio. Marvel Studios would eventually get Evil Dead and Spider-Man director to helm the film and the rest is history. Tickets for the Doctor Strange sequel went on sale recently and the director did an interview with Fandango where he teased the film’s horror elements.

“I think what [Kevin] meant, from my point of view, is that this film has a flavor of horror to it,” Raimi revealed in an interview with the website. “I think when the original director, Scott Derrickson, and Kevin promoted the coming of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, they said that it was going to be the first Marvel superhero film that had an element of horror to it. I hope I’m not misquoting them. But even after Scott left the picture due to creative differences, that was still the mandate — to make the first Marvel film that had an element of horror. So, I kept true to their original statements.”

Marvel Studios describes Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as follows: “To restore a world where everything is changing, Strange seeks help from his ally Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, and the Avengers’ most powerful Scarlet Witch, Wanda. But a terrible threat looms over humanity and the entire universe that no longer can be done by their power alone. Even more surprising, the greatest threat in the universe looks exactly like Doctor Strange.” 

The film is directed by the legendary Sam Rami and will star Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Benedict Wong as Wong, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/ Scarlet Witch, Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to hit theaters on May 5th, 2022!

What do you think of James Cameron’s ideas for Spider-Man? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!