5 Cancelled Superhero Movies That Would Have Made Billions

3. Spider-Man 4

After two rather brilliant Spider-Man movies (the second of which, Spider-Man 2, is arguably the best comic book movie ever made), Sam Raimi set about on the next sequel: Spider-Man 3. With a plot that saw Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker going up against three villains, a weird love triangle, and some downright questionable dance scenes, Spider-Man 3 emerged as something of a critical disappointment. But it made $890 million dollars. Had Spider-Man 4 actually been released when it was originally supposed to, then, there's no doubting that the its box office gross would have been downright huge - and given the gross inherent to Spider-Man 3, a billion dollars doesn't seem like that crazy a predication. Spider-Man 4 was probably always doomed, of course, because Raimi had clashed with Sony Pictures over the plot of Spider-Man 3 and their relationship had been damaged in the process. There was also the matter of the money; mounting costs and a potential payout to Tobey Maguire of close to $20 millionmeant that Spider-Man 4 would have been super expensive to produce (not to mention Kirsten Dunst's mega salary), so the studio considered the notion of a reboot whilst also waiting to see what Raimi could muster up. Against the odds, the director tried to make Spider-Man 4 happen regardless (though Sony outright commissioned a reboot screenplay on the sidelines courtesy of writer James Vanderbilt, just in case). Ultimately, Raimi bailed out when he realised that he couldn't find a way to make it work - as admirable a defeat as you might expect in Hollywood. He told the studio to go ahead with their alternate plan. Thus came the Andrew Garfield reboot.

A few ideas were thrown around with regards to the plot, though - the most notable of had John Malkovich in genuine talks for the role of villain The Vulture (he claims to have signed on for the role before the film just disappeared), whilst Anne Hathaway was near-enough cast as Black Cat (she later played Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises - go figure). Another idea had had Peter Parker facing off against his teacher, Kurt Connors, as "The Lizard," a set-up that was later transferred to the reboot. That movie didn't make a billion dollars, of course, but by then people may have been somewhat disillusioned knowing that the plug had been pulled on the Raimi trilogy without them ever reaching a satisfying conclusion. Had it been made, though, there's no doubt Spidey 4 would have been huge.