Superhero Movie Versions You Never Saw: Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Superhero Movie Versions You Never Saw: Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

By Chuck Brutz

As you may remember from our last installment, we discussed a Batman film that never got off the ground, or perhaps you didn’t if you’re reading THIS article first, which could be, but what the hey…This is America, and if you want read part two of a two-part article first, that’s your God given right. HEY! LOOK AT THAT BEAR ON ROLLER SKATES!

In Part Two, we shall discuss “Spiderman”. So far, we’ve had the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire “Spiderman” Trilogy, as well as the Mark Webb/Andrew Garfield reboot (Where the best thing about that was Emma Stone’s portrayal of Gwen Stacey), and now Tom Holland’s Spiderman in “Spiderman: Homecoming”. (Interesting side note, in the last article, we briefly discussed the Michael Keaton “Batman” film, and in “Spiderman: Homecoming” Keaton played the movie’s villain, The Vulture…coincidence… or is it?)

James Cameron Spiderman Film that was never made:

James Cameron. You may know him for making such hit films as “The Terminator”, “True Lies”, “Titanic” and “Avatar”. But what you may not know is that in the 1990’s, he came very close to making the first big screen version of “Spiderman”. So let’s untangle more of this web, shall we? (Pun definitely intended).

If this version had been made, there would have more naughty words (Aka Profanity) then the films we’ve since scene, and even some kinky stuff like a sex scene with Spiderman and Mary Jane in a Spiderman spun web on the Brooklyn bridge.

Another scene had Spiderman even using his spider wall crawling powers as a peeping tom to spy on Mary Jane through her bed room window as she changed clothes. Who would’ve played this more R-Rated Spiderman? Reportedly Cameron’s top pick was Leonardo DiCaprio (Who also almost played Robin in 1995’s “Batman Forever”)

The villains were to include Electro, Sandman, and Dr. Octopus. For Dock Ock, Cameron’s choice was Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the pre 9/11 era, the film’s climactic battle was to take place on top of The World Trade Center.

Spiderman 4:

Sam Raimi had a huge success with two “Spiderman” movies, but his third movie wasn’t as successful, as it tried to jam too many villains and plotlines into one movie. While fans and critics loved “Spiderman” and “Spiderman 2”, neither much cared for “Spiderman 3”.

However, there was a planned “Spiderman 4” movie to be directed by Raimi and once again star Tobey Maguire. Reportedly scheduled for a 2010 release date, it was to feature John Malkovich as The Vulture (Who was originally to appear along with Sandman in “Spiderman 3”, but was dropped when Marvel insisted Raimi use the character of Venom, a character Raimi didn’t like, instead).

Also Anne Hathaway was supposed to play Felicia Hardy/The Black Cat. But the plug was pulled, and it was decided to reboot the “Spiderman” movie franchise, which eventually led to 2012 film starring Andrew Garfield, and Directed by Mark Webb. A sequel followed in 2014, with other sequels featuring Garfield as Spiderman planned, but yet again the franchise was rebooted, but instead of doing the origin story, as James Cameron’s version would’ve, and Sam Raimi and Mark Webb’s versions also did, this time Spiderman was brought back to the movies in a different way.

This time, Spiderman aka Peter Parker (Tom Holland) was recruited by Iron Man, aka Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), in the 2016 third Captain America film “Civil War”, then getting his own spinoff film in summer 2017, “Spiderman: Homecoming”.

Wow, what a tangled web of Spiderman movie history (Once again, pun definitely intended).

Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway got to play another feline part (Man those bad puns just keep on coming, don’t they) as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises”.