Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 Storyboards Come Alive in Fan-Made Animation

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The cancellation of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 still stings for many fans of the character, and some of them have taken it upon themselves to recreate as much of the film as possible. While Spider-Man 4 never saw the light of day, many storyboards have come out in recent years that paint a picture of what might have been. One fan has now animated one of these storyboards, complete with signature sound effects and music from the Raimi trilogy.

The scene shows Spider-Man battling the Vulture across the New York skyline. Granted, it's a small clip but the sound design is straight out of the Raimi films, and it follows the director's distinct style of direction. As a fan of the Raimi trilogy, this just goes to show the vast amount of potential the canceled film had.

The one major difference between the animated scene and the original animatic is the Vulture's costume. In the original storyboard, by animatic producer David E. Duncan, the Vulture was not going to wear a mask. The fan recreation instead takes inspiration from the Vulture's suit in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Spider-Man 4 would have featured John Malkovich as the Adrian Toomes/Vulture and Anne Hatheway as his daughter, Felica Hardy. Unlike the comic books, Hardy would not be playing Black Cat, instead becoming the Vulturess in the movie. At least that was the plan at one point in the film's development. Concept art and storyboards from the film have since revealed its opening montage where Spider-Man catches many villains from his rogues gallery, including Mysterio, played by Bruce Campbell.

Raimi has since revealed more abandoned plans for the film, including the idea of introducing Kraven the Hunter. While that never came to fruition, Sony did manage to put Kraven into his own solo film, due out this August in theaters.

The closest we've gotten to a Spider-Man 4 was through Tobey Maguire's reprisal of the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third chapter in Tom Holland's MCU-based trilogy. Tobey's Peter reveals that he managed to work things out with Mary Jane in his universe, and maybe that's a happy ending Sam Raimi wouldn't want to tamper with.

Related: Seven Ways Madame Web Connects To Spider-Man

We are still getting a fourth Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland’s iteration in the MCU, while Sony keeps working on a live-action Miles Morales film in the background. Until then, watch Madame Web in theaters, or don't. It's not a great movie, but it does contain a few references to Raimi's trilogy.