Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4: Bruce Campbell would have played Mysterio

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is Sam Raimi’s first film in nine years, with him not having directed a movie since Disney’s Oz: The Great and Powerful back in 2013. With this latest MCU epic, Raimi re-emerges in a big way and jumps back into the superhero genre for the first time since Spider-Man 3. While making the press rounds for Doctor Strange, Raimi opened up a bit about his original plan for Spider-Man 4, which Sony cancelled in favor of rebooting the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man (before being rebooted again by the MCU). It turns out that the cancelled Spider-Man 4 would have had a juicy role for longtime Raimi collaborator Bruce Campbell, who would have played the iconic villain Mysterio, who Jake Gyllenhaal played in Spider-Man: Far from Home.

In the Rolling Stone interview (excerpted by THR), Raimi admitted the role would have only been a cameo but laments that it would have been “great.” Had the film gotten made, we might have also gotten the big-screen debut of Kraven the Hunter, with Raimi stating, “we were going to work that character into the next Spider-Man; I always wanted to see Kraven fight Spider-Man on the big screen. I thought that would be really unique. He’s the ultimate hunter, and Spider-Man is like the most agile trickster of the skies.”

Intriguingly, Raimi isn’t closing the door to one day making Spider-Man 4 with his original cast, saying recently, “I’ve come to realize after making Doctor Strange that anything is possible, really anything in the Marvel universe, any team-ups. I love Tobey. I love Kirsten Dunst. I think all things are possible. I don’t really have a story or a plan. I don’t know if Marvel would be interested in that right now. I don’t know what their thoughts are about that. I haven’t really pursued that. But it sounds beautiful. Even if it wasn’t a Spider-Man movie, I’d love to work with Tobey again, in a different role.”

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness screens for critics tonight. Watch for our review tomorrow at 9am ET!