Sam Raimi Puts Final Nail in ’Spider-Man 4’s Coffin

2 weeks ago 20

Tobey Maguire with his Spider-Man mask off looking at his hands in Spider-Man 2

Published Jan 26, 2026, 6:40 PM EST

Britta DeVore is a Senior Author for Collider who has been known to dabble with Reality News as well.

Have you seen stories about 'Chucky,' 'Scream,' 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'The Boys,' 'Vanderpump Rules,' or any of 'The Real Housewives' franchises? That's probably a Britta DeVore-curated piece of art, and it sounds like you have great taste.

When she isn't sitting behind her laptop bringing readers her hot takes on upcoming projects or keeping the dream alive in the Senior News team, Britta can usually be found outside hiking or inside behind her drum set. She currently plays in two bands, Kid Midnight and Watergate, both based in Brooklyn. An obsessive traveler, Britta loves long road trips to the South West and has a soft spot in her heart for canyons, rivers, and forests.

She also has a tiny cat named Athena that she loves more than anything else in the world and is always happy for new brewery recs.

24 years ago, Sam Raimi redefined what a superhero movie could be with the release of his cinematic masterpiece, Spider-Man. The brave and bold adaptation saw Tobey Maguire don the hero’s iconic suit and take to the streets of New York City to fight those who would do its citizens harm. Over three films, Raimi kept audiences entertained, raked in impressive box office numbers, and perfectly built on the big-screen lore that would help the MCU as we know it get a solid foundation. Just a few years ago, the beloved filmmaker returned to the comic book universe as the helmer behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, on which he left his massively creative and, at times, dark stamp. With the return of Maguire in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans have been pushing for the leading man and director to reteam for a fourth installment, but, according to Raimi, this is just one dream that isn’t going to come true.

In a recent interview with ScreenRant, while promoting his upcoming movie, Send Help, Raimi shot down the hopes of Spider-Man fans everywhere when he said it wouldn’t “be right for me to go back and try and resurrect my version of this story,” all while praising what Holland, Jon Watts, and Destin Daniel Cretton have brought to the table. In reference to the former, the Evil Dead helmer said he was thrilled to see the franchise “following a new artist” and that he — alongside millions of fans — has been “really into his story.” Revealing that he was “honored to have” brought the character to cinemas around the globe in the past, Raimi said he “had to pass the torch happily,” before adding:

“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. 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.”

Spider-Man Will Soon Swing Back Into Theaters

In just six months, a new Spider-Man movie will officially crawl into cinemas with the arrival of Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s been a long wait to see what has gone down for our beloved web-slinger following the exciting yet heartbreaking events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but the countdown is officially on. With one of Marvel’s most underrated movies under his belt already, the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer was a no-brainer choice to pick up the torch previously carried by Watts, who directed the original Holland-led trilogy.

The first movie in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy is now streaming on Hulu.