This week, the world lost a creative genius with the passing of Stan Lee. Lee had a hand in creating so many amazing superheroes for Marvel, with many of their stories becoming highly profitable feature films. Someone who knew Lee well was director Sam Raimi, who broughtSpider-Manto the big screen in 2002. Remembering the late comic book legend, Raimi recently spoke about his relationship with Lee, revealing the two had also worked together a decade prior toSpider-Manon another potential film. In 1991, Raimi and Lee collaborated on some treatments for aThormovie, pitching the idea to Fox.
“After I didDarkman,Stan Leecalled me and was like, ‘Hey, kid, I liked your movie.’ He took me out to lunch and said we should work together. I said I’d like to make a movie about Thor. We worked together writing treatments and took it to Fox and pitched it. And they said, ‘Absolutely no. Comic books don’t make good movies.'”
Of course, just a handful of years later, Fox would have a change of heart about pursuing superhero films as they embarked on theX-Menfranchise as well as movies likeDaredevilandElektra. Raimi was hired to helm a high-budget feature film version ofSpider-Manat Sony, and the rest, as they say, is history. The film would produce two sequels, andSam Raimihad been developing a fourth entry before negotiations with Sony fell apart. Still, Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogy remains an important part of the webslinger’s history, keeping Spidey in theaters for years to come. After two new films starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, Tom Holland took over the role in last year’sSpider-Man: Homecoming. The titular superhero will be back in theaters this year as well, with the animated filmSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Versehitting theaters next month.
Thor would get his chance to shine in theaters as well, eventually. In 2011, Chris Hemsworth took on the starring role inThor, a feature film about the Marvel superhero directed by Kenneth Branagh. Like similar Marvel movies, the film was highly profitable. Hemsworth would reprise the role in multiple sequels, as well as each of theAvengersmovies. After appearing in this year’sInfinity War, Hemsworth will be playing Thor once again in next year’s solo sequel about theAsgardian superhero. Fox might not have seen the potential inThor, but Paramount certainly did.
Raimi also revealed how Marvel head Avi Arad had instructed him to write in a cameo for Stan Lee inSpider-Man. Citing how Lee “can’t act,” Raimi initially refused, but Arad insisted. For Raimi, it sounded absurd at the time, as he couldn’t have predicted howStan Lee’s cameoswould become a staple for Marvel movies. Raimi was told how it was done forX-Men, so it needed to happen inSpider-Manas well. Ultimately, Raimi acquiesced, but although he was skeptical at first, he was very happy with how the scene turned out. “Now it’s one of my favorite parts in the movie,” Raimi says about the cameo.
Sam Raimi’sThorsounds interesting, but if he can only have one superhero franchise,Spider-Manwas a good choice. The Tobey Maguire films set the stage for the ongoing success Spidey is enjoying to this very day. Certainly, Raimi can be proud of his involvement in that, even if he didn’t get to make theThormovie that he wanted. This information comes to us fromThe Hollywood Reporter.
