From the low-budget horror flick to the genre-defining blockbuster film to the most influential superhero flicks of all time, Sam Raimi’s film career is the stuff of Hollywood lore. From trekking deep into the woods with long-time collaborator Bruce Campbell to film the horror classic Evil Dead to revolutionizing the superhero genre with the Spider-Man Trilogy, Raimi’s impact on the film industry is undeniable. However, one area of the superhero genre that Raimi has yet to delve into is the world of DC Comics.
As he touts his latest survival horror thriller, Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, Raimi has been candid about his long-standing interest in the characters in the DC Universe and what it would take for him to officially be a part of it. The door remains open for Raimi, but only in one way.
While open to DC, Sam Raimi firmly shut down Spider-Man 4
“I love Batman. I tried to make a Batman film. I couldn’t get the rights. I love The Shadow. I also couldn’t get the rights to that one. But, um, Superman’s always been one of my favorites. Yeah, there’s a tremendous amount of DC characters that I love, and it would just take the writers to come up with an original story based on their character, that’s true to the character and part of their real universe, not something that disappoints the fans, but something that’s based on the fans love of the character and brings out the best moment of those characters and their proper conflicts, or the right challenges for the right hero. If it was a story that had a real journey for that particular individual. Then I’d love to make the movie.”
When it comes to Raimi’s decision to collaborate with DC Comics, it is all about the story for him. In fact, when speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Raimi explained to them that it was only if they could come to him with a story that was original but still stayed true to character that he was interested. In other words, if a story really gets him and challenges him as a character, then he’d “love to make the movie.”
Meanwhile, Raimi also gave his definitive assessment of another longtime fan demand—Spider-Man 4 with Tobey Maguire. While it has been years since both have returned for Marvel projects—Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness for Raimi and Spider-Man: No Way Home for Maguire—one thing is for sure: his run with that particular Spider-Man is over.
Raimi explained that even though he still has love for the character and the studio, “Stan Lee’s great character—that a bullpen of writers in New York at Marvel had come up with stories for—he created the character, but so many people contributed, so many artists, that for a brief time, I was handed the torch to carry on after 40 years of Spider-Man comics.” In an interview, Raimi said, “And then after my three movies, I handed the torch off to someone else. And I think they’ve got to keep running with the storyline and the audience that is now following the torchbearer.” He also added the fact that “Peter Parker and MJ have gone elsewhere. It wouldn’t be right for me to go back and try and resurrect my version of this story.”
Although there is renewed interest in a new Spider-Man movie due to Maguire’s return in No Way Home, the words of Raimi himself point toward a very clear fact: he is in no mood to return and direct a new Spider-Man movie, let alone a new Spider-Man movie that is a sequel to the original trilogy featuring Maguire as the Spider-Man character. If Maguire does return as the character, he is most likely to return in the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars, but Raimi is certainly not done with the genre, provided he is allowed a degree of choice in the subject. Although a movie directed by Raimi in the genre of a DC movie is a very real possibility, it seems to have been firmly placed in the past, insofar as a fourth movie is concerned.
