How would you have done Spider-Man 4?

[ItchyWebShooter]

Alternative pitch:

Spider-Man 4 would've been a soft reboot, continuing the story from Spider-Man 3 somewhat but also breathing new life into the series. The film would not have featured Tobey, Kirsten, Franco, etc. but would've maintained Simmons and Dylan Baker. Essentially, James Bonding the Spider-Man franchise.

Easy alternatives for Tobey and Kirsten would've been JG and MEW. Tobey was looking too old by SM3 and Kirsten is just awful. Easy.

Start the film out with MJ being away from Peter with Peter being on his own or with his Aunt. I would've looked to him wanting to pursue being a teacher (ala JMS) and being a an assistant for Dr. Connors. Boom, closer connection to Connors, meets his family, and voila -- Lizard is the villain of the film.

I really dig this idea, but for the non-pop-culture-informed (me) who is MEW?

I think that would have been good if they couldn't get Sam Raimi or the original cast back.

I LOVE the idea of keeping JK Simmons or Dylan Baker. I would've also kept the entire Daily Bugle cast as well, and maybe even try to get Bruce Campbell to return.

Campbell would be perfect to make the reboot in-joke. Sort of like Rhodey in IM2. I could see him as Mysterio, being trussed up, his fishbowl broken, and as Spidey makes a quip he says something like: "You're just not the same person anymore" or something like that lol.

Truthfully,I would've had Peter and MJ take a break for a while. They still love each other,but after what happened in the last film I think they both have a lot of soul searching to do. Enter Black cat. She would come in tempt Peter/Spidey. For a bit he would have fun chasing her and the same for her. Her and Spidey would have that sexual chemistry(like in the comic),but she is a villain after all. And Peter knows he can't be with her. And let's say MJ actually met someone else,but she's taking it slow. But by the end of the film both Peter and MJ realize they only love each other,and they get back together...with Peter proposing marriage.
Aunt May would die.
And the main villain would have to be the Lizard. Dr. Connors would have his family here and Spidey would have to save him from himself,and help him return to his loved ones. I really wouldn't like to see the Lizard talk. I'd like him as just this vicious creature.
Oh,and I like everyone's suggestion the Bruce Campbell return as Mysterio,only as a beginning fight to start the movie.

Idk if I'd have Aunt May die, these films were pretty heavy on death as is--maybe write her out by having her move to Florida or something, but I'd have her go. That way she could come back or do phone call for cameos or whatever.

I like the idea of Pete & MJ splitting up, the ending of 3 was ambiguous enough that this is totally plausible. The only thing is I would keep MJ around but have a couple films where she and Pete aren't together. (That said, the idea of a Black Cat arc is great. At the end, I'd have Peter turn back to MJ but she's already with someone).

It would read a lot like the DeFalco-era MJ. She and Peter were really good friends, but not romantic--at least not for awhile.

We could then have some real Betty/Pete and/or Gwen/Pete romance. They could even flirt with having a Peter/Felicia relationship after 4 where they kept each other in the dark about their secret identities until later.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

who is MEW?

Googled it; found her; I need to watch Scott Pilgrim. Never seen anything with her lol.

 

[PeterBenParker]

I really dig this idea

Campbell would be perfect to make the reboot in-joke. Sort of like Rhodey in IM2. I could see him as Mysterio, being trussed up, his fishbowl broken, and as Spidey makes a quip he says something like: "You're just not the same person anymore" or something like that lol.

I could see that.

Idk if I'd have Aunt May die, these films were pretty heavy on death as is--maybe write her out by having her move to Florida or something, but I'd have her go. That way she could come back or do phone call for cameos or whatever.

Yeah, Aunt May dying would've been a bit much. I at least would've loved to have seen an adaptation of sorts with this:

Spoiler

That moment made me cry.

I like the idea of Pete & MJ splitting up, the ending of 3 was ambiguous enough that this is totally plausible. The only thing is I would keep MJ around but have a couple films where she and Pete aren't together. (That said, the idea of a Black Cat arc is great. At the end, I'd have Peter turn back to MJ but she's already with someone).

It would read a lot like the DeFalco-era MJ. She and Peter were really good friends, but not romantic--at least not for awhile.

Yeah. In my head (regarding the pitch), I would've had her leave New York for a bit to get away from it all while Peter is on his own for the most part. He'd still have the Bugle and May, but you'd be able to tell there's a void to him and that of course is missing Mary Jane. As a way of distracting himself, besides being Spider-Man, he'd take himself up on Dr. Connor's offer to be his assistant and thus help with his various lectures, etc. instead of sitting in 'em. It'd also be a nice branch for him to meet his family and get to know the person behind the teacher.

I really dig this idea, but for the non-pop-culture-informed (me) who is MEW?

Googled it; found her; I need to watch Scott Pilgrim. Never seen anything with her lol.

She's a great actress and has been fan cast for MJ over the years with good reason. She'd basically bring the Mary Jane to life, essentially.

I also recommend checking out Sky High and 10 Cloverfield Lane with her.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

I could see that.

Cheesy, sure, but I like the thought.

Yeah, Aunt May dying would've been a bit much. I at least would've loved to have seen an adaptation of sorts with this:

Spoiler

That moment made me cry.

One of my top 5 or 10 Spider-Man moments IMO, so agreed there. I think Rosemary Harris could have done this wonderfully.

Yeah. In my head (regarding the pitch), I would've had her leave New York for a bit to get away from it all while Peter is on his own for the most part. He'd still have the Bugle and May, but you'd be able to tell there's a void to him and that of course is missing Mary Jane. As a way of distracting himself, besides being Spider-Man, he'd take himself up on Dr. Connor's offer to be his assistant and thus help with his various lectures, etc. instead of sitting in 'em. It'd also be a nice branch for him to meet his family and get to know the person behind the teacher.

Ooh, I like it. Feels almost like a marriage between DeFalco-era MJ and the way Peter and MJ read when broken up during JMS's tenure. That has potential.

She's a great actress and has been fan cast for MJ over the years with good reason. She'd basically bring the Mary Jane to life, essentially.

I also recommend checking out Sky High and 10 Cloverfield Lane with her.

Huh, I saw Sky High a zillion years ago and I have really been wanting to see 10 Cloverfield Lane for awhile...life just too busy man. Haha I haven't even seen freaking Doctor Strange yet!

 

[PeterBenParker]

Cheesy, sure, but I like the thought.

As do I. A little self aware moment too that audiences could've/would've enjoyed.

One of my top 5 or 10 Spider-Man moments IMO, so agreed there. I think Rosemary Harris could have done this wonderfully.

Agreed.

Ooh, I like it. Feels almost like a marriage between DeFalco-era MJ and the way Peter and MJ read when broken up during JMS's tenure. That has potential.

Huh, I saw Sky High a zillion years ago and I have really been wanting to see 10 Cloverfield Lane for awhile...life just too busy man. Haha I haven't even seen freaking Doctor Strange yet!

I haven't either. Life's a real female dog sometimes.

 

[ehh]

I just wish they would give us a continuation of the Raimi-Verse in one form or another. Whether it be a graphic novel, a book, or animated DTV film. A very loose "sequel" to Spider-Man 3.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

I haven't either. Life's a real female dog sometimes.

Creative lol.

I just wish they would give us a continuation of the Raimi-Verse in one form or another. Whether it be a graphic novel, a book, or animated DTV film. A very loose "sequel" to Spider-Man 3.

I'd love a one-shot comic to tie up the threads, but I don't think we'll ever see it...and even though I'm in this forum discussing how much I'd have loved more, I did think the end of Spider-Man 3 gave us some decent closure.

 

[ehh]

Spider-Man 3 had some decent closure, but there's still so much more. Peter and MJ, Peter and Aunt May, and Dylan Baker's Lizard. At this point we will never see any sort of follow-up outside of our imaginations and some leaked concept art and script summaries for Spider-Man 4.

 

[PeterBenParker]

I just wish they would give us a continuation of the Raimi-Verse in one form or another. Whether it be a graphic novel, a book, or animated DTV film. A very loose "sequel" to Spider-Man 3.

That's what I want too.

 

[Irving Forbush]

I'd have it be at least five years after SM3, Peter is working as a college professor and is married to MJ. Though Peter doesn't work at the Bugle anymore, I'd still find a way to keep J. Jonah Jameson involved. I think a good angle for the film would be to ask the question, is Peter seriously going to do this with the rest of his life? As in, be Spider-Man? Now that he's married and has a real professional job, it's the time to decide whether or not he's going to fully dedicate his life to fighting crime, or live a good, regular life. Of course his responsibilities to his job and MJ (who's hinted throughout the film to possibly be pregnant) keep him anchored to the regular life, but the one tempting him to abandon normality is Black Cat, serving a similar role to what she would have in Spidey 2. Black Cat is a cat burglar he encounters regularly throughout the film. She doesn't exactly require much backstory, she's just really good at stealing things. Black Cat tries to convince Spider-Man to use his powers to the live the life he wants, telling him his obedience to these demanding responsibilities are holding him from reaching his true potential. I'd say a good villain to reflect Peter's conflict in the film would be The Lizard. Curt Connors has grown estranged from his family since losing his arm, and has dedicated his life to growing it back, and once he does (using lizard DNA), things go normally at first, but as we see Peter balancing all the elements of his life as per usual while occasionally chasing down Black Cat, we also see Curt's slow transformation into the Lizard. A good idea would be to have Curt develop these pills that hold back the mutations that he has to take frequently, and soon his life once again becomes consumed by his research, trying to find a way to hold off the mutations for good instead of relying on this medicine of his. Inevitably, Curt isn't able to create more antidote pills as fast as he's needing to take them, and the Lizard takes over, going on a rampage. Since Peter will also be teaching at ESU, the two will be co-workers, and we'll get to see more of their relationship building up to the Lizard, who I'd have emerge at the halfway point in the movie. I wouldn't really have the Lizard talk, I'd just have him more as a monstrous beast, and give him a much more comic accurate design than the ugly Amazing Spider-Man version. Providing an intellectual challenge to Spider-Man as well, Peter will need to develop a permanent antidote to Curt's mutation, and in the last fight, Spider-Man will need Black Cat's help to hold off the Lizard as he prepares his antidote to change Curt Connors back to normal once and for all. I think a way to set up more sequels from this point would be to show Curt Connors experimenting on his sample of the symbiote (given to him in Spider-Man 3) at the beginning of the film, and then seeing it craw away from his lab in the aftermath of the fight, hinting at Carnage for later down the line.

Of course Dylan Baker would be playing Curt Connors, and I guess Anne Hathaway would play Black Cat, who gets away in the end of the movie and will probably come back to help him in the sequels. Maybe she gets her own redemption arc over movies 4 through 6.

(Also, forgot to add this in 'til now, at the end of the movie MJ is revealed to be pregnant, so that sets up a lot of potential stories for the next few films)

 

[GwensNeckBrace]

I would've loved to see Sam's take on Kraven and Kraven's last hunt.

 

[Big Al]

I would've loved to see Sam's take on Kraven and Kraven's last hunt.

I agree, I can only imagine how haunting it would have been.

 

[Spider-man95]

That's what I want too.

Yeah me too. An animated film would be incredible, especially since you could get Toby (hopefully) to voice Peter.

But man that sounds like a pipe dream...

I'd take a comic, heck I'd take anything. I want some closure.

 

[I'm Venom]

I would've kept Venom alive and continued that story in Part IV. Brock (played by Jensen Ackles) would be locked in the same cell as Cletus Kasady (played by Cillian Murphy), they have some banter as Brock threatens to beat him up while we see Kasady laughing like a maniac. The symbiote eventually finds Brock and helps him escape, leaving behind a piece of itself which enters Kasady's bloodstream via wound received during Venom's escape. Kasady later escapes too, slaughtering a bunch of guards in the process and writing CARNAGE in blood on the wall. After fighting Carnage and realizing he isn't a match for him on his own, Spidey tracks down Venom and tries to convince him to help him put a stop to Carnage, and they reluctantly team up.

 

[ehh]

I would have resolved some of the plots from the previous films. Peter would confess that he is Spider-Man to Aunt May (and she would reveal that she suspected it for a long time, or that she already knew).

Peter and MJ would finally get married. We would get introduced to Curt Connors' family and he would turn into the Lizard, with Kraven the Hunter being the second villain. Peter struggles to stop Kraven from killing Lizard while trying to find a cure and turn him back to normal.

 

[Herofan]

I love Mysterio and think he could have been well-adapted into the next villain and plot, turn the city against Spider-Man and/or make Spider-Man paranoid and distrustful in various ways. Kraven could also be interesting and in some ways climactic but harder to find the right story and tone.

An issue is the films gave a little too much focus to just Mary Jane and Harry but a fourth film could have still expanded the Daily Bugle characters and maybe also brought back Flash.

 

[Ken-Kaniff]

Here's how I would have done Spider-Man 4, to keep it simple:

- The Vulture is the main villain;
- introduce The Black Cat, who ends up as Spider-Man's partner.

(Spider-Man 3 only with Harry & Sandman; NO black suit, NO Gwen, none of the Uncle Ben Killer twist, none of the drama BS between Peter & MJ).

 

[Spider-Fan]

I would have given Raimi creative control to finish his story the way he intended.

 

[Zantera]

If we could rewrite history I think they should have saved Venom for SM4. You could still have the symbiote in SM3 but rather than Venom showing up at the end to fight Peter for 20 minutes, you could end SM3 with Eddie getting the symbiote but leaving it as a cliffhanger for SM4.

Ultimately with what we got in SM3 I would have been happy with one of the "classic" villains in SM4. Mysterio would have been neat, Vulture could have been the main bad guy. I don't really think we needed more love interests, I just wanted to see Peter and MJ together. Like why even throw Black Cat into the mix? (Gwen Stacy in SM3 felt unnecessary too)

 

[DGMC]

• I'd keep Raimi's general plan of Vulture (played by John Malkovich) being the main villain; I'd also keep the rumored opening montage of Spider-Man capturing some B/C-list villains like Mysterio, Rhino, Shocker and Stilt-Man but still feels empty despite being on top of his game and NYC being 100% behind him, now with a beard and somewhat obsessed with being Spider-Man since his personal life is lacking; With SM3 being set in 2005, I would do a time jump to 2012, the real-time year the film is released, to really push the theme of time/mortality being an obstacle for every main character
  
  
• Felicia Hardy would be in the film but as herself and not Black Cat, meaning she is purely a civilian and potential love interest for Peter; I would be push the movie back from it's initial 2011 release date to 2012 to finally get the script right so I'd recast the role with Jena Malone so Anne Hathaway still plays Catwoman in TDKR
  
  
• Like any other tragic Raimi villain, Adrian Toomes is doing the wrong things for (in his mind) the right reasons; He is a career criminal that sees himself as an underdog hero thanks in part to The Daily Bugle's demonization of Spider-Man over the years; With his fellow Sinister Six members (4 of whom have been arrested and the fifth having disappeared) out of the picture, Toomes blames Spider-Man for the never ending battle with and escalation in crime before figuring out the man behind the mask; Obsessed with the hero who is hunting him, Toomes goes through Spidey's history and realizes all of the villains from previous films had a personal tie to Peter, who is known as Spidey's favorite photographer
  
  
• With Oscorp having shut down between films due to Harry's disorganization and company bankruptcy, Toomes and his crew have recycled old tech to build their suits; Going on a solo crime spree, Vulture uses past villain deaths (Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Venom and Harry) against Spider-Man for the psychological advantage
  
  
• Reaping the financial benefits, Toomes' good times come to a screeching halt when he runs into Felicia, the daughter of his deceased partner in crime, and learns she is taking care of Aunt May, who has cancer, to make ends meet while staying on the straight and narrow; This recreates the tense Thanksgiving dinner scene from SM1 where Toomes (masquerading as Felicia's father) gets under Peter's skin with thinly veiled references to all the foes Spider-Man has witnessed die, trying to paint him as a murderer and discredit his hero status to the rest of the table
  
  
• Felicia, on her own path to redemption after spending her youth as a drug addict with a mysterious criminal past, sees Peter as the truly good man Toomes pretends to be; Peter and MJ have gone their separate ways since 3 as she left to chase a career in film and to get away from the traumatic experiences in NYC but they still keep in contact; There are hints of romance between Peter and Felicia but both are afraid to act on it for their own reasons
  
  
• Seeing this, Vulture uses Felicia, who feels she owes Toomes for being a father figure to her, to further distract Spider-Man from stopping his crime spree; Still loving MJ, Peter respectfully turns down Felicia's advances and gets her to admit she was working with Toomes as the final member of The Sinister Six: Black Cat; In the end, Spider-Man defeats Vulture on top of the Chrysler Building and does not kill him despite Toomes' goading, instead sending him to the Ravencroft Institute, where the other S6 members are
  
  
• When Peter goes to retrieve all the money and valuables Vulture has stolen, he finds them gone and a note from Felicia, who has left town but used the things to build a better life for herself, showing her admiration for Peter's pure goodness; Toomes encounters Sandman at Ravencroft and unsuccessfully attempts to persuade him to join them in breaking out as the new S6; At peace with atoning for his sins after turning himself in following SM3, Sandman tells his fellow supervillains the story of his run-in with Spidey before encouraging them to share theirs
  
  
• Peter is notified by May's new caretaker that she is in hospice, so he goes to the hospital to be with her as she peacefully passes away in her sleep after telling Pete she knew he was Spider-Man all along; This causes him to goes back into a similar hollow (almost masochistic) tunnel vision he had at the beginning of the film; However, he is met at the funeral by a newly blonde MJ, who returned to NYC to support him and give their relationship another shot after realizing Hollywood had changed her; We then finally get the wedding scene to close out the film with The Daily Bugle crew and the Ditkoviches attending
  
  
• Throughout the movie, we'll see Dr. Connors working on something in the lab; With Peter quitting his job at The Bugle (despite some comical JJJ attempts to make him stay) to be his lab assistant, Connors ignores his advice to not spend too much time experimenting on ways to regrow his arm; The very last image we see of SM4 is a giant lizard outside the chapel before the screen goes black, setting up a fifth and final movie