Sam Raimi's Unmade Spider-Man 4 Could Have Featured The Vulture's Daughter Taking Over The Daily Bugle [Exclusive]
One of the most talked-about unmade superhero movies of all time is Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4." Raimi planned to reunite with Tobey Maguire for one last ride to see Peter Parker off in style following the disappointment that was 2007's "Spider-Man 3." Unfortunately, disagreements with Sony ultimately led Raimi to depart the project, paving the way for "The Amazing Spider-Man" reboot starring Andrew Garfield soon after. But what exactly did we miss out on? We have gained a tiny bit of insight into what could have been.
I recently spoke with storyboard artist Jeff Henderson, who worked on "Spider-Man 4" before it was scrapped. During our conversation, he revealed that yes, Vulture would have been part of the film, as has been revealed in the past. But he admits there was never a definitive version of the story, as things were constantly evolving in the development stage. One version, though, would have seen Vulture's daughter as a "central character" who would have taken over The Daily Bugle, leaving J. Jonah Jameson out in the cold:
"The Daily Bugle was going to get bought out by a huge multinational conglomerate, kind of like a Daily News or a TMZ. They wanted to turn the Daily Bugle into a gossip rag. And for all of JJJ's faults, he was still a newsman. He's still old school like Walter Cronkite, 'News is news, this is bulls***,' that kind of thing. I thought thematically that was a really good way in, because you have that conflict between the modern and social media sensibility about news versus the old school version. So JJJ kind of got cast aside. The reveal was that the female executive who's in charge of the buyout, who's overseeing the company that's taken over The Bugle, ends up being [Vulture's] daughter."
A big reveal, a big vendetta
One interesting thing that was revealed in the book "With Great Power" is that Angelina Jolie was apparently attached to take on the role of Vulture's daughter, who would have been an original character named Vulturess. Whether or not it ultimately could have been Jolie is another great "what if" moment in comic book movie history (Anne Hathaway's name was being bandied about at the time to play Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in the movie, so this could have been another crowded Spidey sequel), but it's clear Sony was aiming high.
Henderson, speaking further, explained how some of the plot beats would have worked out following the takeover of the Bugle:
"So they're covering all this stuff going on with the Vulture and then she comes to believe that Spider-Man killed him. Then she discovers [Vulture's] tech and reconnects. Again, it was a really cool way in and it touched on a lot of really cool thematic stuff going on at the time, which, especially how it's played out since, was a lot more on the nose than I think we knew at the time."
In essence, it seems like Vulture would have been the baddie in the earlier parts of the film, but then he would die. Vulturess would blame Spider-Man for her father's death, leading her to take up the mantle and go after the webslinger. But Raimi's eventual departure meant they would never realize any of this on film. Instead, Garfield's Spidey would fight Lizard and Electro across two movies before Tom Holland's Spider-Man arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first appearing in "Captain America: Civil War."
Eventually, the MCU did get around to Vulture, with Michael Keaton playing the role in "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Keaton did return in "Morbius" as well, but the less said of that, the better, in my humble opinion. And hey, who knows? Following the success of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," Raimi and Maguire could conceivably reunite for another "Spider-Man" movie.