The SPIDER-MAN franchise is one of the most renowned in all of the comic book movie landscape, remaining a mostly lucrative property going all the way back to Sam Raimi’s first film in 2002. The first three movies remain some of the biggest of all comic movies, and in an interview with Variety star Kirsten Dunst says she still wishes they could’ve kept the series swinging.
While talking about her new movie THE BEGUILED starring her, Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, Dunst recalled being raring and ready for a fourth outing as Mary Jane Watson, before harsh critical reception of SPIDER-MAN 3 led the studio to reboot the series instead:
I wanted to be in that movie so badly. I loved it, and I wish we could have made a fourth.
The series was retooled to be more grounded, with Andrew Garfield donning the suit and Emma Stone playing another love interest, Gwen Stacy. That run only lasted two films, and now Sony and Marvel are partnering up for a new iteration of the character that was first unveiled in CIVIL WAR last year with Tom Holland in the tights. But none of that corporate, mumbo-jumbo shuffling matters to Dunst, because she hasn’t even seen any but hers:
I don’t care. Everyone likes our SPIDER-MAN. C’mon, am I right or what? Listen, I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones.
Though the third film left a sour note on the tongue for the series, the movie made $890 million at the global box office, and stands as the highest-grossing Spidey film ever. The reboots never made as much as the original three, so in a way Dunst is indeed right. I do prefer the Raimi versions to the Marc Webb reboot films, and like Dunst I think a fourth film would've been great, and the series could’ve recovered from the third outing. Then again, that Venom was sooooooo bad.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING arrives July 7 with Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Zendaya and more.