James Cameron Almost Made 'Spider-Man' Film in Early '90s

By Hannah Wigandt | Feb 27 2019

Spider-Man first hit theaters in 2002 and pioneered the superhero movie genre. It was a clear success and fans knew that we would be seeing more of the superhero in the future. But what most fans don't know is that Spider-Man could have hit theaters way earlier than 2002, as directed by James Cameron.

A movie about the webbed teenager could have come as early as 1991 after Carolco, known for financing Terminator 2: Judgement Day, got the rights and slotted Cameron as writer, producer and director.

What Cameron came up with was a more mature version of Peter Parker and his origin story, detailed by Fandom. The movie would start with Spider-Man hanging from the World Trade Center, and go into a voiceover of him telling the audience that he was bit by a radioactive spider.

Peter then would start to develop his powers and do stunts for money until his Uncle Ben is murdered, making him want to use his powers to stop crime.

Then Peter would meet the villain, a business tycoon named Carlton Strand, who tries to convince Spider-Man to work for him. He's really the character Electro and his sidekick, Boyd, is Sandman.

Strand would frame Peter, and the town starts to believe Spider-Man is a villain. Like the 2002 version, Peter would fall in love with Mary Jane Watson, who instead falls in love with Spider-Man.

Predictably, Strand would kidnap Mary Jane, and then Electro and Spider Man have a showdown which results in the villain's downfall, Spider-Man clearing his name, and getting the girl in the end.

Cameron's version definitely would have been R-rated considering his version being a little darker than we are used to, with f-bombs, sex scenes, and really graphic, bloody fight scenes. And the person he wanted to play the famous superhero? Leonardo DiCaprio. Not surprising.

In the end though, legal battles canned the film and when they were resolved Cameron had moved onto bigger and better things. It would have been an interesting movie for sure.

Now we have a new reboot of the beloved character, however, and fans love Tom Holland as Peter Parker.