With Spider-Man: Brand New Day coming out on July 31st, we’re getting a fourth Tom Holland (and Zendaya) Spider-Man movie, and cool. I’m looking forward to it. However, do you know what gets me down? The fact that we never got that fourth Tobey Maguire Spider-Man flick.
Because, honestly, a fourth Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie has always been a dream of mine. Yes, I do love how Raimi came back to Marvel and brought his horror sensibilities to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but his Spider-Man movies (most notably Spider-Man 2) were the first time that I really thought Hollywood nailed comic book flicks.
So, even though I’m cool with a fourth Tom Holland Spidey movie, here’s why I still wish we got that fourth Tobey Maguire Spider-Man film.
I Liked Spider-Man 3, But It Was Kind Of A Mess
A lot of people really love Tom Holland’s third Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, and I’m one of them. I especially loved seeing my favorite cinematic Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, return, as well as Tobey Maguire. However, one might argue that No Way Home was a bit overstuffed, and really shouldn’t have been a multiverse movie at all. Because in a lot of ways, there was a bit too much going on in that film.
Well, speaking of “too much going on,” I think the king of that is 2007’s Spider-Man 3, which had so many subplots going on that it really did feel like being trapped in a web. We had Peter and MJ’s relationship falling apart. We had a new villain in Sandman. We had Topher Grace being Peter’s rival, Eddie Brock, who eventually became Venom. We had Bryce Dallas Howard as Peter’s new love interest, Gwen Stacy. We had James Franco becoming the New Goblin. I mean, it was all just TOO FREAKING MUCH!
And, honestly, it wasn’t a great film to end the trilogy on. Because, yeah, while I love a great trilogy just as much as the next person, I genuinely feel like a middling third movie can taint the other two films. For example, take The Dark Knight Rises. I know some people love that movie, but besides it being one of the weaker Christopher Nolan movies (if you ask me), I also just think it brings down the other two movies, which were both bangers. And I think the same goes for Spider-Man 3, which I don’t even hate.
Because that’s the thing. I DON’T detest Spider-Man 3 as so many people do. However, it’s such a mess that I think it brings down the other two films when viewed as a whole. So, I think a fourth movie could have fixed that problem, especially given what the fourth movie might have been…
What We Know About What Spider-Man 4 Could Have Been Sounds Pretty Cool
Am I the only one who wanted a fourth Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie? No, of course not, as there are plenty of fans who want this as well. That said, do I want a NEW version of Spider-Man 4? No, not really. Because this article isn’t about the future, or about getting Raimi back in the saddle to direct another Spider-Man movie. No. This is more of a “what-if” scenario, as in, What-if we got that fourth Spider-Man movie back in 2011? How cool would that have been?
Well, according to ScreenRant, the fourth, cancelled Spider-Man movie might have featured John Malkovich as Vulture (We’d later see Michael Keaton fill that role in Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Black Cat might have also been in the film, possibly played by Anne Hathaway, who would later go on to play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, so apparently, she was always destined to be a cat person. Cooler still though, was that Bruce Campbell might have been in the movie as Mysterio (Who Jake Gyllenhaal would later play in Spider-Man: Far From Home).
There is also speculation that Dr. Curt Connors, who was played by Dylan Baker in Maguire’s Spider-Man films, might have actually finally transformed into The Lizard. And, do you know what this sounds like to me? It sounds like the beginning of the Sinister Six! Now, I know The Sinister Six was supposed to get their own movie in The Amazing Spider-Man universe, but that was ultimately scrapped, which I’m not particularly mad at since I genuinely detest The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (I’ll actually get to those movies in a second).
A movie with then-unseen characters like Vulture, The Lizard, and Mysterio vs. a seasoned Spider-Man? How could you NOT have wanted to see that?
I Kind Of Like The Amazing Spider-Man Films, But I Also Kind Of Wish They Never Existed
As I said earlier, Andrew Garfield is my favorite Spider-Man, but I’m sorry, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 are quite possibly the worst Spider-Man flicks ever made. I mean, the first one wasn’t terrible. In fact, I actually kind of dig it. But that second TASM is arguably the worst in the entire franchise (though some may say Spider-Man 3 edges that out).
That’s another reason why I wish a fourth Tobey Maguire movie got released. It would have meant that we likely never would have gotten a reboot of the franchise, and thus, no TASM movies at all. Would this be a bad thing? Well, in a sense, yes, since it means that we never would have gotten my favorite Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Andrew Garfield. However, it also means that we never would have gotten THAT version of The Lizard, or THAT version of Electro.
It also means that we wouldn’t have gotten Gwen Stacy’s death mishandled so poorly. It also means that we wouldn’t have gotten Spider-Man: No Way Home, as there wouldn’t have been multiversal Spider-Men to pull from, which is probably just best saved for the Miles Morales Spider-Man movies anyway.
Honestly, in a lot of ways, it’s actually kind of hard to imagine the ripple effect that a fourth Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie might have had if it had ever been made. For example, would we still be getting Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies to this very day? It makes one wonder…
I Love Tom Holland, But Similar To Hugh Jackman Being The Only Wolverine, I Wish Maguire Was The Only Spider-Man
…and it leads me to this conclusion: If we had gotten that fourth Spider-Man movie, then Tobey Maguire might still be the only actor to have played the webhead in the live-action films. You might think this is absurd, since the powers that be would definitely want a younger Peter Parker eventually, but just look at Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. There has only been one live-action version of the character (Let’s ignore Deadpool & Wolverine’s variants for a moment), and that would be cool if there was only one live-action Spider-Man, too.
Because while I do like Tom Holland in the role, I’d much prefer it if we only had one live-action Spider-Man, similar to Wolverine. I love how Maguire is an older Spider-Man, since that’s my favorite version of the character, and I think his getting older could be a good plot point, rather than him repeatedly being brought back to high school age.
Aside from everything I’ve already mentioned, I think this is the biggest reason why I wish there had been a fourth (successful!) Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire, and it’s because I’d love to only see him underneath the mask. But alas, we’ll never know.
What do you think, though? Do you wish there was only ONE live-action Spider-Man actor, and a fourth movie with him in it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
