We Could've Gotten Spider-Man with F-Bombs and Sex Scenes If Cameron Had His Way
In one of his books, James Cameron called his failed Spider-Man project "the greatest movie I never made."
Spider-Man is probably the most famous and beloved superhero of all time. His immense popularity started with comic books created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and continues growing thanks to many TV and movie projects.
Nowadays, it is hard to imagine the MCU without Peter Parker. But there was a time when a Spider-Man movie existed only as an idea that was bouncing between different studios and directors.
In the mid-1990s, before Spidey found his way to the big screen, before the MCU franchise, the Marc Webb duology, and even the Sam Raimi trilogy, a Spider-man project landed on James Cameron 's lap and the famed director even created an original scriptment that was never filmed due to legal reasons.
The scriptment is available online and makes quite an interesting read. It is a dark and highly-realistic story similar to the projects that became successful decades after Cameron's scriptment was written. Avatar director once shared with ScreenCrush that he was going for hyper-realism when creating the plot. He wanted the viewers to feel they were in the real world from the very first scene of the movie.
To support this hyper-realistic effect, the director used the spider-bite experience as a metaphor for adolescent sexual development.
In one scene of the scriptment, Peter wakes up to find his bed covered in web strands which is a clear reference to ejaculation. Moreover, the plot includes an S&M sex scene between Peter and Mary Jane Watson based on the mating rituals of various arachnid species.
Add to that two F-bombs, lots of "shits," Kafkaesque transition from a human to a spider, Leonardo DiCaprio playing Peter Parker and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Octopus, and Cameron's R-rated version feels like fun to watch.
Though Cameron's Spider-Man had never been made, some details from his scriptment were kept by David Koepp in his script for 2002's Spider-Man. Famous organic web-shooters, the young age of the title character, and the heartbreaking scene of Uncle Ben's death as a direct result of Peter's actions found their way into the Sam Raimi movie.
Looks like this failed attempt to make a superhero movie will be Cameron's last. The director recently told ComicBook that he had "no interest in directing a comic book film" again.