Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse borrowed a line of dialogue straight from Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man. Blade and X-Men are often credited with reviving the comic book movie genre, which was waning badly in the late 1990s, but it was the monster success of 2002’s Spider-Man that cemented the genre’s status. Raimi’s film was a loving, heartfelt ode to the character, in addition to featuring a great cast and fun action scenes.
Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is often considered a highpoint of the genre, but sadly Spider-Man 3 proved to be a disappointing end to his trilogy. Raimi himself later admitted the movie just didn’t work, which was down to a combination of issues, like the studio forcing him to use Venom as a villain against his judgement. While the director developed Spider-Man 4, which would have featured John Malkovich as The Vulture and Anne Hathaway as Black Cat, he later withdrew over unhappiness with the script.
Raimi’s Spider-Man films are still considered an important milestone and were a big influence on subsequent comic book movies. Now Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse screenwriter Phil Lord has confirmed on Twitter the movie lifted the “With great power…” dialogue by Cliff Robertson’s Uncle Ben straight from Raimi’s movie. The line can be heard in the movie’s opening sequence.
Robertson’s performance - and especially his delivery of that famous dialogue - is considered a defining portrayal of Uncle Ben, so it’s nice to see Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse paid tribute to the late actor. Some fans were disappointed Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker didn’t appear in the new animated adventure, but while the possibility was discussed during development, Into The Spider-Verse’s three directors decided it would be too confusing for audiences. The role of an older Peter Parker was taken by Jake Johnson instead.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse has proved to be a critical and commercial success, so perhaps Maguire’s Peter Parker could appear in a future sequel. Spider-Man wasn’t Raimi’s first brush with a superhero project, and he recently revealed he and Stan Lee worked together on treatments for a Thor movie back in 1991. No studios were interested in the project, however, and the two men were flatly told comic books adaptations don’t make for good movies.
Raimi also confessed in a recent interview he didn’t want Lee to cameo in the original Spider-Man because he felt he couldn’t act. Raimi eventually conceded, and now Lee’s cameo is one of his favorite moments in the film. Lee also made a fun cameo in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which co-director Rodney Rothman revealed was originally a little more cynical, but was changed to the more heart-warming version seen in the final cut.
More: 2018’s Superhero Movies Ranked Worst To Best
Source: Phil Lord
