Director Sam Raimi is addressing recent rumors that he’s coming back to Marvel’s Spider-Man to direct Spider-Man 4, the upcoming Marvel Studios/Sony sequel to Spider-Man: Now Way Home.
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Speaking about the online rumors that he’s doing Spider-Man 4, Raimi said, “Well, I haven’t heard about that yet – I did read that, but I’m not actually working on it yet.”
A lot of fans will see that qualifier, “yet,” and possibly jump to the conclusion that Raimi is mulling the idea over. However, in his longer response, Raimi did question the logic that Marvel and Columbia would come back to him for another go at the Spider-Man movies when they’ve already been so successful doing their own thing with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Trilogy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I haven’t talked to Tobey about it, but maybe Marvel has, or Columbia Pictures. But, I just worked with Marvel on a movie called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, I’m on great terms with them. I’m sure I would hear about it if it was in the works. I think so. I don’t know.”
Spider-Man 3/No Way Home star Thomas Hayden Church got the ball rolling on some of the most recent rumors about Raimi returning for Spider-Man 4, telling us here at ComicBook that he earnestly believes it will happen:
There’s been some rumors that they might ask me to do another Spider-Man, and I’d do it tomorrow,” Church revealed, later adding that “I think Sam is gonna do another Spider-Man with Tobey [Maguire], and that’s the one that … They had an option for me to do Spiderman 4 when there was going to be a Spider-Man 4. They had an option on me to come back. So if it happens, that would be fantastic. I’m getting a little old.”
Sam Raimi was originally supposed to follow Spider-Man 3 (2007) with Spider-Man 4, a film that would’ve featured The Vulture (and John Malkovich playing the winged villain), while bringing back Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. As of now, there are also rumors that former Fast & Furious series director Justin Lin could be circling the next Spider-Man film with Tom Holland. Thanks to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony conceivably has multiple Spider-Men they can build films around.
Raimi directed the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and except for some multiverse madness with stunt cameo casting, the film was largely viewed as being more of a Raimi joint than the typical MCU product. That directorial vision came at the cost of some larger franchise arcs (Wanda/Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange himself) that got lost along the way. The Spider-Man franchise has achieved something of a soft reboot after No Way Home, while Sony’s Spider-Man Universe still needs an actual Spider-Man to show up in it somewhere. Either way: plenty of space for Sam Raimi to play in.
Spider-Man movies are streaming on Disney+.
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Image courtesy of Marvel Studios
