12 Biggest Missed Opportunities In Comic Book Movie History

8. Sam Raimi's Venom

Comic book movie history is littered with disappointments. It is arguable that there isn€™t a single cycle which doesn€™t rollercoaster from incredible highs to deeply flawed misfires. Even the awe-inspiring inter-connected MCU is not without its failings (Iron Man 3 you know who you are) but what has surely come to be considered one of the most uneven trilogies is Sam Raimi€™s Spider-Man series. Spider-man 2 is rightly acclaimed as one of the most accomplished and satisfying examples of superhero cinema. How Raimi went from this near perfect film to a film that gives Batman and Robin a run for its money in the abortive stakes, is the result of a Mexican stand-off between Sony and Raimi over fan favourite Spidey villain Venom. If only one of the duelling parties had shot, instead of lowering their guns, there might have been a positive resolution to the Raimi-verse, but instead we ended up with a compromised situation where Raimi shoe-horned in Venom, a character he had no affinity for, into an already overcrowded villainous landscape. In this instance it is easy to side with the suits, Venom is a great character, visually exciting and a suitable foil for Spidey, if only Raimi could have been convinced of this eschewing the need to include Sandman and reduced Harry€™s role, we may have seen the character receive the treatment demanded as a solo villain, and therefore Spidey 3 would have been a much more satisfying and uncluttered experience.