Unused Spider-Man 4 Concept Art Shows Off Vulture And Mysterio

Unfortunately, the history of the Spider-Man movie franchise will always have an unfortunate footnote attached to it marked Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4. It was to be bigger, bolder and more exhilarating than the unfortunately messy Spider-Man 3, with two iconic (and still unused villains) and a reclamation of creative control by Raimi from the meddlesome studio heads.

Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, the plug was pulled, and Sony went with the reboot option for The Amazing Spider-Man instead. That saw the Vulture and Mysterio both hit the cutting room floor and Tobey Maguire's Spidey flushed down the great Hollywood plug hole.

Still, some records of what we could have got do still exist as work had already started on Spider-Man 4 before it was pulled, and illstrator Jeff Henderson has shared some more new concept art and storyboards from the film on his official site. By the look of it Mysterio was set to be used as comic relief (hence the rumours of casting Bruce Campbell), while Vulture would have been the real villain of the piece.

Henderson has a note about his experience on Spider-Man 4 alongside the concept art saying it's the concept he gets asked about more than any other:

"It wouldve been one absolutely kick ass movie. Seriously. We were working on some crazy- cool stuff, because everyone, from top to bottom, felt that Spidey 3 was a bit of a missed opportunity, and we all really wanted to help Sam take SM4 to another level so he could end the series on a high note."

He also confirms that Sam Raimi is (for some reason) superstitious about releasing storyboards for his films:

"Anyway, Sam is almost superstitious about releasing any storyboards for anything, (go back and look at every The Art Of book for every movie hes ever done you know whats not gonna be there? Anywhere? Thats right: storyboards), I dont really know why- but thats just how he feels about it."

Here's a choice selection of the images (with notes), but make sure you check out the full gallery at Henderson's site for more...

Just imagine John Malkovich wielding those bad boy blades.

Clearly there was intended to be a sequence where Vulture would attack a helicopter in mid-air and throw it into a building. Spectacle was clearly high on the agenda...

There was also set to be a roof top battle between Spidey and Vulture, with Spidey using a stone gargoyle as a weapon...

And a sequence that showed Spider-Man handing Mysterio into the police (much to their considerable amusement and his disdain)...

See what I mean about comic relief?

There's more seriously good concept art on Henderson's site (including looks at other movies like The Dark Knight), so head over there for a full experience, and join me wallowing in a put of despair that this movie was never made.