Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Deleted & Lost Scenes, Explained

2022-05-21 22:42:08 By : Mr. zhang kevin

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was a massive success, but a number of scenes remain on the cutting room floor, even nearly 20 years later.

Twenty years have passed since the premiere of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, the first feature film adaptation of Marvel's iconic superhero. This would be the initial release in what's now known by fans as the Raimi Trilogy, a reference to the director's two follow-ups, 2004's Spider-Man 2 and 2007's Spider-Man 3. And while some fans are still angered by the internal conflicts that prevented Raimi from making a fourth Spider-Man film, others have devoted their energies to cataloging all of the lost moments from the trilogy.

Some of these previously "lost" scenes have made their debut in rereleases of two of the original films, 2007's Spider-Man 2.1 and 2017's Spider-Man 3: The Editor's Cut. The Spider-Man 2.1 DVD features eight minutes of never-before-seen footage, including an extended conversation between Harry Osborn and Peter Parker at Peter's birthday party, a lengthier fight sequence between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, a longer elevator scene with comedian Hal Sparks, and most famously, J. Jonah Jameson donning the Spider-Man costume and imitating the wallcrawler on his office desk.

Related: Sam Raimi’s Green Goblin Is Stronger Than the MCU’s Captain America

While Spider-Man 2 was a commercial and critical hit, 2007's Spider-Man 3 received harsher reviews, with critics knocking its uneven tone and questionable decision to feature three supervillains as antagonists for the hero. Images of the greasy-haired "emo Peter Parker" became an early social media memes over the years and did little to help the film's reputation. Spider-Man 3: The Editor's Cut was released to commemorate the film's tenth anniversary and, some speculate, to address some complaints lobbed at the movie since its release. While The Editor's Cut does feature three new scenes and one extended sequence, it also deletes moments from the original film, causing the runtime to clock in at two minutes shorter than Spider-Man 3.

The releases of Spider-Man 2.1 and Spider-Man 3: The Editor's Cut gave fans some access to the lost Raimi moments, but more remain. And the original film in the trilogy has yet to receive a similar rerelease. Over the years, some information has been collected about what remains on the cutting room floor.

Related: Why Sam Raimi Refuses to Direct an MCU Spider-Man Movie

The earliest lost Spider-Man moment occurred before the film's official release. Most of the movie's filming occurred in 2001, months before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, that destroyed New York's World Trade Center. Following the attacks, some sequences were re-filmed, and background images of the World Trade Center were digitally erased from the final cut. In the new footage, American flags populated the background, reflecting a surge in patriotism following the attacks.

A trickier issue for the production was its original teaser trailer, which featured a group of bank robbers escaping in a helicopter that's soon caught in what appears to be a net…before the camera pulls back to reveal a massive spider's web spun between the World Trade Center towers. The trailer was pulled immediately after the attacks, in addition to a movie poster that had the pre-9/11 New York skyline reflected in Spider-Man's eyes. The teaser trailer and snippets of many lost scenes have been archived by the YouTube channel KillerPunkSuperMario.

Other lost moments from early trailers and HBO "making of" specials include a brief shot of Peter using mechanical web-shooters. This is surprising, given that Raimi's choice to give Spider-Man organic webbing was controversial amongst fans. Another fast clip shows Peter in his official Spider-Man costume, and not the wrestling outfit, chasing down Uncle Ben's killer. It's possible this was created solely for the trailer, to give audiences another glimpse at the official spider-suit.

Related: Doctor Strange 2 Director Sam Raimi Defends Spider-Man 3's 'Bully Maguire'

Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee makes an early cameo appearance in the 2002 film, rescuing a small girl during Spider-Man's first battle with the Green Goblin. An alternate scene has surfaced, revealing a different cameo was filmed, portraying Stan as a street vendor hawking some sunglasses Peter Parker's way. There are stories of Stan Lee filming various cameos in the Marvel films that have never been released, such as him casually tossing away Thor's hammer during an alternate take for his cameo in 2011's Thor.

The DVD release of Spider-Man includes a commentary track from producer Laura Ziskin and Kirsten Dunst, who portrayed Peter's love interest and next-door-neighbor Mary Jane. Ziskin and Dunst discuss one deleted scene that has Peter staring through his window at MJ alone in her bedroom, dancing in her underwear. Given that her character is a high school student and the implications of Peter Parker acting like a peeping Tom, the scene has understandably never surfaced.

Perhaps the most surprising lost Spider-Man moment is an appearance by Eddie Brock, famously the secret identity of Spider-Man's arch-nemesis Venom. Brock appeared in at least one scene, portrayed by actor R.C. Everbeck, who'd previously had small roles in Sneakers and Pretty Woman (also produced by Ziskin.) Everbeck was in his early 30s when filming the part, indicating the producers hadn't yet decided to play Brock as a dark-mirror contemporary of Peter, as seen in the eventual Spider-Man 3.

Related: Why Spider-Man: Far From Home Was a Cathartic Experience for Jake Gyllenhaal

While Spider-Man 2.1 seems to cover most of the film's scrapped scenes, one deleted moment made a surprise appearance during a re-airing of the film on the cable channel FX. Eagle-eyed fans spotted a scene that has Peter returning to his apartment, chaining up his moped to a lamppost, and then entering the front door.

This sequence never appeared in either release of the film, and to this day remains unique to the FX airings of the movie. How such a random, pedestrian scene ended up in this cut of the film remains unknown. (And it's unlikely Sony is going to release the Spider-Man 2: Peter Chains Up His Moped cut anytime soon.) The existence of this scene has led fans to wonder what else remains lost from Spider-Man 2, in spite of its extended cut.

Related: The Musical Identity of Spider-Man’s Films, From the Raimi Trilogy to the MCU

The Raimi film featuring the true mother lode of deleted content remains Spider-Man 3. Already the longest film in the trilogy and the most expensive film in history at the time of its release, Spider-Man 3 was a victim of competing visions between Raimi, the producers, and the studio. The result is a considerable amount of scenes that were greatly shortened or cut entirely.

Early trailers for the movie show clips of a fight scene between Peter and Harry that's absent in the theatrical cut, as is a snippet of dialogue from MJ that has her reflecting on the nature of forgiveness. An early trailer also has what appears to be an epic "final swing" shot for Spider-Man that's absent from the movie. An alternate opening to the film has a boy imitating Spider-Man on a rope in Central Park, and far more scenes were shot at the Spider-Man appreciation ceremony than were used.

Actor Adrian Lester was intended to have a larger role as Dr. Wallace, a molecular biologist working on a cure for Sandman's daughter Penny. Additional scenes make it clear that Sandman's committing robberies to pay for her treatment. Later, Dr. Wallace explains Penny's medical condition can't be cured, which inspires Sandman's actions to join Venom in the final scene. The Editor's Cut has Sandman keeping an eye on Penny and her mother at the park, disguised as a sandcastle, in a moment that takes place before this sequence, but the full context remains lost.

Topher Grace's performance as Venom appears to have suffered the most due to the film's edits. Even when promoting the film, Grace was lamenting that so many of his scenes had been cut. At the movie's Tokyo premiere in 2007, Grace told Access Hollywood of his desire to see an extended cut one day: "You know what? Spider-Man 3.5, or however they release it. You know, with the extra scenes."

Related:Marvel Boss Confirms Loki Caused Spider-Man and Doctor Strange's Multiversal Mishaps

Venom's original demise in the movie's construction site finale remains unreleased, following negative test audience responses. The initial death scene has Eddie Brock entirely consumed by the alien symbiote, left behind as nothing more than a skeleton (with reportedly a "venomized" skull). When the symbiote then tries to merge again with Spider-Man, the hero creates a sonic attack by yanking down a pile of steel rods that blast away the symbiote. The movie's novelization from Peter David does actually include this ending, indicating this was a last-minute rewrite. Some test footage of this original "skeletal" ending has also surfaced over the years.

It's become known that Raimi intended Ben Kingsley to play Adrian Toomes, the classic Spider-Man villain known as the Vulture, in Spider-Man 4. (The studio's resistance is one reason why Raimi left the franchise.) Until recently, however, most weren't aware that Toomes was set to appear as early as the third film. In 2018, Sandman actor Thomas Haden Church revealed during an interview with JoBlow that Adrian Toomes was written as his accomplice in an earlier draft of Spider-Man 3, with Kingsley in talks for the role. Nothing with Kingsley was filmed, so this isn't technically "lost," but it's remarkable to discover the various evolutions of this movie even over a decade after its release.

Gene Kendall taught himself how to program a VCR at the age of five, determined to never miss an episode of G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero. He’s been writing about reputable and disreputable pop culture for over ten years at Not Blog X and CBR. Burning Chair Publishing released his snarky paranormal novel Love is Dead(ly) in 2020. His new novel Blind Cerulean is an homage to 1980s urban action films and available for Amazon pre-order today. He eagerly awaits all praise, criticisms and "um, actually" comments over at twitter.com/NBX_Tweets.