Spider-Man 4: What Really Happened?

5. Injecting Spider-Man With A Lethal Dose Of Venom...

Venom marvel
Marvel Comics

Spider-Man 4's troubles would actually start with the previous movie Spider-Man 3, when the inclusion of a popular villain caused a big disagreement between Raimi and the studio... the inclusion of Venom.

Originally, he wasn't even meant to appear in the film. Raimi (along with his brother, Ivan) had conceived a story for Spider-Man 3 they were happy with, one that revolved around Peter, Mary-Jane, and Harry Osborn, with the Sandman and The Vulture teaming up as his two enemies this time around (in 2007 EW reported that Ben Kingsley was considered for the latter role).

Here's an early storyboard from the film's pre-production, which would have seen Vulture helping aid The Sandman's prison break in the first act;

Vulture concept art
Sony

It was only when Sony producer Avi Arad began pushing for Venom's inclusion, a character who had exploded into pop culture lore in the 90s and early 2000s through frequent comics storylines, the animated TV show and as antagonists to several video games - that Raimi felt choked into submission, and despite his interests in the Spider-Man character only being the classic creations Stan Lee and Steve Ditko conceived, the director complied and Venom was thrust in.

Vulture's role in Spider-Man 3 would be sacrificed to accommodate Venom. Not only that but Arad wanted another love interest for Peter Parker and the inclusion of Gwen Stacy was hastily added to the Spider-Man film universe for the first time, as portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard...

Gwen Stacy Bryce Dallas Howard Spider-Man 3
Sony Pictures

Ultimately, this concoction of different ideals and agendas would be the biggest reason for why Spider-Man 3 didn't work as well as the first two. This was a movie born out of two competing films. On the one hand, you had the story that Sam Raimi was interested in telling which can be seen in all the Sandman moments (arguably the parts of the movie that work the best) and the one Sony wanted to be told involving Venom and Gwen Stacy's arcs (which clearly didn't work so well).

Another victim in all this was the tragic arc of Harry Osborn following into the Green Goblin footsteps of his father, his subplot getting stuck in the middle of these two warring factions and itself being a major let down after his villainous turn had been well built up over two prior movies.

Harry Osborn Spider-Man 3
Sony

Besides the blatant story and pacing issues that stemmed from this inclusion of too many villains, Raimi's heart just clearly wasn't 100-percent in it, a dejection from the material that clearly translated directly to the screen.

"I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters", he told Nerdist (via Collider).

Venom Movie
Sony Pictures

Of course, despite all this, the movie as we've said made Sony a ton of money and even though it cleary exists as the weakest of the trilogy, with a 63% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating and a B+ CinemaScore, fans were still invested and willing to forgive Spider-Man 3 for its indiscretions.

They weren't ready to give up on this saga yet...

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Contributor

WhoCulture Channel Manager/Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture. Can confirm that bow ties are cool.