The Lost Opportunity of Spider-Man 4: Anne Hathaway's Revelation and the Future of the Spider-Verse

The Lost Opportunity of Spider-Man 4

Anne Hathaway has opened up about almost playing the Marvel character Black Cat in Spider-Man 4. It appeared that Tobey Maguire was perhaps done as Peter Parker after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 project got canceled, despite the promise both he and other casting choices like Hathaway held for a prospective follow-up film. However, 2021 marked the biggest year in recent history for the web-crawler, as both Andrew Garfield and Maguire joined Tom Holland in the Spider-Man: No Way Home cast, giving the world a live-action Spider-Verse adventure.

Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man in different moments across Sam Raimi's Trilogy

However, this hasn't stopped interest in what Spider-Man 4 could have looked like, which Anne Hathaway loosely addressed when talking about the lost opportunity of playing Black Cat in Raimi's Spider-Man 4. During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Hathaway broke down how far the crew actually got in the production process before Spider-Man 4 was scrapped, sharing the following: “I did not get into costume and did not read a script past the audition sides. I got the part and, yeah, it just… I think that's probably more the producers' story to tell than mine should they ever decided to tell it. The Spider-Man universe has gone on to be so enormous and so thrilling. It's just reinventing itself and all of those things so I wouldn't want to make more of it than is necessary.”

Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man

Is Spider-Man 4 Actually Happening?

There have been rumors that suggests that Holland's Spider-Man 4 movie isn't the only thing being developed over at Sony Pictures. Earlier in 2023, Thomas Haden Church, who played Sandman in Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man: No Way Home, said that he was hearing rumors that they were looking at making Spider-Man 4 with Raimi and Maguire. To this point, Sony Pictures, nor any representatives of Maguire and Raimi have commented on Church's statement. That said, is possible that Sony Pictures is still working out proper deals with Raimi and Maguire, if it turns out the Spider-Man 4 rumor does indeed hold weight.

Dr. Curtis Connors talks to Peter Parker in Spider-Man.

It is worth note that Church's comments came out in the early days of the SAG-AFTRA strike, while also being in the midst of the Writers Guild of America strike, meaning Maguire or any potential writers for Spider-Man 4 likely couldn't come out to clarify anything even if something was in the works. The lack of direct debunking could suggest that perhaps Spider-Man 4 is a bigger possibility than some may think - but inversely, the chances of a follow-up sequel to an over a decade-old movie are inherently low, and the lack of debunking could instead be creatives attempting to avoid revealing anything about the current future landscape of Spider-Man as a franchise.

Bruce Campbell Spider-Man 3

The Future of the Spider-Verse

Tobey Maguire's return as Spider-Man has led to many theories that he will return once more in the multiversal plot of Avengers: Secret Wars. With Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse also featuring Maguire and Garfield's versions of Spider-Man - and with Beyond The Spider-Verse similarly facing rumors regarding them appearing in a more active capacity - there is a chance that Spider-Man 4 could blossom out of the recent decisions to put Tobey Maguire's Marvel hero back in the limelight. If Maguire were to get his Spider-Man 4 film, there would indeed be a lot of interesting avenues to explore given these recent appearances, especially after his adventures in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the large amount of time that has passed since the events of Spider-Man 3. Hopefully, if not sooner, 2024 will answer these Spider-Man 4 rumors once and for all.

Spider-Man 4Vulture Concept Battle Video released by Sam Raimi