Fans were insanely excited earlier this week when rumors and speculation abound that Marvel Comics was set to release a comic book adaptation of Sam Raimi’s unproduced “Spider-Man 4” film. However, that was quickly debunked the next day, when the ‘4’ tweet was replaced with a ‘3’ signaling that the image was the beginning of a countdown and less of a clue. And now that the countdown is over, we know what the actual story is and it involves a filmmaker. Just not the director everyone was hoping for.
Today, Marvel Comics announced that JJ Abrams and his son Henry Abrams (who would win a JJ Abrams lookalike contest any day of the week) are going to write a new “Spider-Man” limited series. No, there’s no mention of “Spider-Man 4” or Sam Raimi. And surely, fans will be excited by this news, but the impact is lessened by the thought of what could have been.
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Look, I’m sure a dual-Abrams-penned “Spider-Man” comic book is going to be great (curious how they’re going to draw lens flare, amirite?) but sometimes fan speculation can raise expectations so high that no matter the real truth, you’re a bit let down. Hopefully, with Marvel seeing the excitement that came from the idea of a comic adaptation of an unused pitch for “Spider-Man 4” is enough to get them on the phone with Sony and Sam Raimi ASAP.
That being said, no word on what is going to be included in this Abrams story. In a new video teasing the project, they mention that the art will be handled by Sara Pichelli, who is probably not known to many film fans but is in fact half of the creative team that helped create Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man from ‘Into the Spider-Verse.’ They also say that they’ll introduce a new villain named Cadaverous, so that’s something.
Your eyes are glazing over, aren’t they?
Long story short, no Sam Raimi “Spider-Man 4.” Instead, we get JJ Abrams’ take on the character. So…uh, that’s cool, right?