Sam Raimi, who directed Sony’s Spider-Man series from 2002 to 2007, recently told Screen Rant that the versions of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson played by Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst have “gone somewhere.”
“Stan Lee’s great character – Marvel’s writers in New York were coming up with the story – he created that character, but so many people contributed, so many artists contributed, that for a brief moment, I was handed the torch to carry on 40 years of Spider-Man comics,” Raimi said. “And after my three films were finished, I passed the torch to other people, and I think they have to keep running with the storyline and the audience following the torch bearer.”
The “Evil Dead” director explained that a new generation of superhero fans is “really hooked” on the new “Spider-Man” era, led by Tom Holland. Furthermore, after giving way to another group of filmmakers to intervene, he added, “It would not be appropriate for me to go back in time and try to revive my version of this story.”
Raimi’s first “Spider-Man” debuted in 2002, and two sequels were produced in 2004 and 2007, respectively. In 2012, Marc Webb took over the series with The Amazing Spider-Man, and Andrew Garfield joined the lead role. Web’s sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was released in 2014.
Marvel Studios brought back Spider-Man in 2016 by bringing Tom Holland into the role with the release of Captain America: Civil War. Holland made his first solo film appearance in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, followed by 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The latest Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day, which recently finished production, will be released in theaters on July 31st. Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will direct the film. The supporting cast includes Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink, Mark Ruffalo, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Jacob Batalon.
