> Spider-Man was a planned, but ultimately failed film was to be directed by James Cameron in the mid 1990's. Several plot element from Cameron's scriptment were kept by David Koepp in his script for the 2002 film Spider-Man.
> The "scriptment" told the Spider-Man origin, but used variations on the comic book characters Electro and Sandman as villains. This "Electro" was a megalomaniacal parody of corrupt capitalists. Instead of Flint Marko's character, Cameron’s "Sandman" is mutated by an accident involving Philadelphia Experiment-style bilocation and atom-mixing, in lieu of getting caught in a nuclear blast on a beach. The story climaxes with a battle atop the World Trade Center and had Peter Parker revealing his identity to Mary Jane Watson.
> In addition, the treatment was also heavy on profanity, and had Spider-Man and Mary Jane having sex on the Brooklyn Bridge.
> Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Lance Henricksen as Carlton Strand/Electro, Michael Biehn as Boyd/Sandman, Arnold Schwarzenneger as Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus, Robyn Lively as Mary Jane Watson, Maggie Smith as Aunt May, and R. Lee Emery as J. Jonah Jameson.
Levi Cruz
We will never see Biehn, Henriksen and fucking Schwarzenegger as Spidey villains in a James Cameron Spider-Man movie.
Ryan White
It's not true, bro.
Cameron never made it to the casting phase aside from mentioned he would've liked having Dicaprio as Spider-Man.
One of the producers did suggest Schwarzenegger as Doc Ock but the character wasn't even in Cameron's script.
Andrew Rodriguez
>R. Lee Ermey as J. Jonah Jameson Shit I never knew I wanted this even though JK Simmons is perfection incarnate.
Logan Morgan
>R. Lee Emery as J. Jonah Jameson.
Holy fuck
Noah Adams
It's false.
Jacob Clark
>Lance Henricksen as Carlton Strand/Electro, Michael Biehn as Boyd/Sandma
Why the fuck did execs in the 80s/90s think completely changing comic characters was a good idea?
Jordan Sanders
Darn.
Caleb Morales
DiCaprio would have been terrible.
Adrian Jenkins
Nobody cared about comics then.
Dylan Morris
Maybe these actors were being considered? Most, if not all, of them would have signed on for another Cameron flick in a heartbeat anyway.
Henry Fisher
> Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Lance Henricksen as Carlton Strand/Electro, Michael Biehn as Boyd/Sandman, Arnold Schwarzenneger as Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus, Robyn Lively as Mary Jane Watson, Maggie Smith as Aunt May, and R. Lee Emery as J. Jonah Jameson.
Pretty good Cast
David Howard
They weren't. The movie simply didn't get that far before being swept away in a shitstorm of lawsuits.
Jack Hall
How much more do you know about it?
Leo Sanders
A bit.
Cannon Pictures had the rights in the 1980's, with a Doc Ock script. The company went bankrupt and the movie was cancelled, but one of the producers, Menahem Golan, held the rights under a new production company called 21st Century Productions and kept trying to make it happen. He sold the home distribution rights to Sony to keep the project afloat and then made a deal with Carolco Pictures in the early 1990's to produce the movie and Cameron was brought, being the big guy at Carolco after Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
Golan wanted Cameron to use the old script with Arnold as Doc Ock, but Cameron preferred to write his own script with Sandman and Electro. After he turned in a preliminary scriptment, Carolco drafted a contract for him to write and direct the movie.
That was the catch: Carolco just reused Cameron's old T2 contract, which gave him full creative control over who gets credited in the movie. He denied Golan a story credit and Golan then sued Carolco, who counter-sued. Then Carolco also sued Sony for the home distribution rights and Sony counter-sued them both. Fox came in out of nowhere and sued everyone because they were holding up Cameron, who had a movie in the pipeline with them. And thus died the project, buried under a rubble of litigation that stretch from 1996 to 1999.
Cooper Morgan
A lot more, I was going to direct it.
Caleb Flores
Cameron, you hack! I wanted you to direct Alita. And Robert Rodriguez of all people? Why make it at all?
Isaiah Nelson
>Bad guy is a greedy capitalist Hm, checks out. Definitely a Cameron film.
Aiden Reed
> Even the most powerful directors are powerless before the studio systems and pursuit of money. And I guess Sony came out on top of this mess
Chase Cook
The more I hear of stuff like this, and look at all the other capeshit released, the more I feel so lucky to live in the timeline where Raimi got to make his movies. How lucky are we that the first 2 spidey movies got made the way they did? How many versions of a Spider-Man film could've turned out to be complete horeshit, or just mediocre? How much would it have changed, both in what capeshit grew into, and what we might expect from it? Thanks, Raimi.
Evan Cox
The full plot.
>Peter Parker is an introverted teenager who lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May in New York City, and is partnered with his popular classmate and longtime crush, Mary-Jane Watson, for a Biology assignment. Shortly afterwards, he attends a seminar at Empire State University, where is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like abilities.
>Due to his newfound confidence, Peter befriends Mary-Jane, infuriating her abusive boyfriend Nathan "Flash" McCreery. Peter ambushes Flash after Flash slaps Mary-Jane and assaults him. Peter then uses his powers to become a street performer and attracts the attention of a scout, who books him a series of gigs in late night talk shows. Peter crafts a costume and adopts the identity of "Spider-Man". Fearful that the population might reject him should they learn he is a mutant, Peter builds webshooters and lies that his organic webbing is an artificial creation of his own design.
>Spider-Man's growing popularity attracts the attention of wealthy businessman Carlton Strand. Once a petty thief in New Mexico, Strand was struck by lightning while evading the police through an experimental generator, that afforded him electromagnetic powers, which he used to manipulate the stock market, building a telecommunications empire. Strand believes himself and others like him to be the next step of evolution and the rightful rulers of the world, and seeks to recruit Spider-Man to his side.
>Spider-Man is approached by Strand's mistress, Cordelia, leading to a brief altercation with Strand's enforcer, Boyd, an ex-soldier whose DNA was spliced with sand particles during a failed bilocation experiment.
Robert Evans
>Peter's manager refuses to pay Peter his dues, and Peter retaliates by standing aside when the manager is robbed by a man with a cobra tattoo on his arm shortly afterwards. Outside, Peter finds out Uncle Ben has been shot dead by a carjacker, and chases the man to an abandoned factory, where he learns it is the same criminal he let escape. Peter surrenders him to the authorities, but they attempt to arrest him as well, and he's branded a criminal after being forced to fight them off in order to escape.
>Peter attends a meeting with Strand, who offers Peter unlimited wealth and power in exchange for his allegiance. Peter refuses upon learning of Strand's supremacist views, and escapes after a brief confrontation with Strand and Boyd. Strand then bribes network television director J. Jonah Jameson to run a smear campaign against Spider-Man and has him framed for a series of crimes to force Peter into joining him. Peter decides to honor Uncle Ben's teachings that "with great power comes great responsability" and becomes a vigilante, earning the public's admiration despite police prosecution. Aunt May faces financial difficulties in the wake of Uncle Ben's death, leading Peter to doubt his decisions. He ends up rescuing Mary-Jane from a group of hoodlums, after which she develops a crush on him and defends him on television.
>Spider-Man visits Mary-Jane one day and takes her atop the Brooklyn Bridge, where they have sex. Strand finds out about them and kidnaps Mary-Jane, framing Spider-Man for it. Spider-Man goes to Strand's penthouse to rescue her, only to find Cordelia dead, a crime for which he is also framed, and a message to meet Strand atop the World Trade Center. He is then ambushed by the police, but manages to evade them.
Nathan Roberts
>Arriving at the Twin Towers, Spider-Man confronts Strand and Boyd, who are holding Mary-Jane hostage. Strand exposes Peter's true nature to Mary-Jane, who appears shocked. He once again attempts to bring Peter to his side, offering him $100 million, but Peter refuses. Infuriated, Strand tortures Mary-Jane while Boyd overpowers Spider-Man, but Peter manages to escape and rescue her before confronting Strand and Boyd.
>Spider-Man fights Strand and Boyd across the Twin Towers, and manages to place Boyd in the path of one of Strand's lightning bolts, turning him into glass. Strand summons a massive lightning strike, but Peter manages to evade the destruction and tackle Strand out of the roof. As they both fall, Spider-Man grabs ahold of a nearby girder, while Strand falls to his death. Spider-Man then reunites with Mary-Jane, who professes her love for him, and showers Strand's $100 million onto the population below.
>In the aftermath, Peter and Mary-Jane get an A on their Biology assignment, and Peter confides his secret identity to her. They develop a relationship, and Mary-Jane is eventually accepted into a prestigious medicine school, while Peter pursues a career in science while continuing his crimefighting activities as Spider-Man.
