For the uninitiated: This is a new weekly feature on the blog wherein I, I’m Jeffrey Rex, discuss all things Marvel.

On this, the fourth ‘installment’ of I’m Jeffrey Rex’ Marvelous Monday, I’ve decided to give you the very first ‘What if’-post. The entire setup of a ‘what if’-post is different, for while regular casting-speculation posts might talk about what could happen, the ‘what if’ posts are much more fact based – at least that’s my intention.

The very first ‘What if’-discussion centers around the epilogue of the Sam Raimi-era of Spider-Man. Let’s look at the bare facts here. Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film premiered in 2002, its leads where Tobey Maguire, as the titular hero, James Franco, as Harry Osborn, Kirsten Dunst, as Mary Jane Watson, and Willem Dafoe, as the one-off villain Norman Osborn. Two years later, the beloved sequel premiered – with the same basic cast – and another one-off villain – this time Alfred Molina playing Dr. Otto Octavius. Three years thereafter, the third film in the franchise premiered. The movie wasn’t a success – critics criticized its many subplots, and many villains, who, all, were underdeveloped and underused.

This was to be just a slight bump in the road, Sony clearly wasn’t done with the franchise – and, seemingly, not done with the leads and Raimi. Years went by as Sony and the fans were left wanting more – waiting – waiting – losing patience. There was talk of Vulture or Carnage appearing – but time and time again rumors were shot down. Raimi was unable to find a suitable script for his story, and, eventually, Sony and Raimi went their seperate ways in 2010.

Now we all know that Sony would treat this as yet another bump in the road, march on and make more films – though with new actors. Andrew Garfield was cast as the titular hero in the rebooted franchise, and in 2012 Sony had released their first film in the Marc Webb-era. But what if the disappointing scripts, the departure of Raimi – and bad reviews had scared Sony into selling the film-rights back to Marvel Studios?

Continue reading “Marvelous Monday #4 – What If Spider-Man Had Returned to Marvel in 2010?” →