The Spider-Man Raimi Trilogy is beloved by comic book and movie fans alike for its faithful, colourful adaptation of everything that makes the wallcrawler so special. But it could have been very different, as writer David Koepp reveals he wanted to go in a different direction with a couple of the series’ biggest names.
Speaking to Collider, Koepp – who departed after the first Spider-Man movie – outlined grand plans for James Franco’s Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy, who wasn’t introduced in the franchise until 2007’s Spider-Man 3.
“Basically [my trilogy idea] was the telling of the Gwen Stacey/Harry Osborn story but I spaced everything out differently,” Koepp said, perhaps referring to the comics’ on again/off again love triangle with Harry, Gwen, and Peter Parker – one which involved Gwen being killed by Green Goblin (AKA Harry’s father, Norman Osborn).
That death, much like with the Amazing Spider-Man series, would have landed in the second chapter. Koepp “wanted Gwen to be killed in the middle of the second movie, because that follows sort of the Empire Strikes Back model, and I had different villains I wanted to use. Just a different way to tell that story,” he recalled.
Reading between the lines, Spider-Man 2 could have gone all-in on Green Goblin – with potentially Harry under the mask – instead of Doc Ock. A third Spider-Man instalment may have also dealt with the death of Gwen Stacy, a pivotal moment in the webhead’s crime-fighting career.
Instead, we got Spider-Man 2, one of the best superhero movies ever made, and a fun, if flawed, Spider-Man 3. Maybe one day we’ll get a recreation of one of Spidey’s biggest story arcs but, for now, we’ll have to make do with David Koepp weaving a tale of what could have been.
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