#ReleaseTheRaimiCut & #ReleaseTheWebbCut

Hi guys. So, I don't know if you noticed by I've been supporting a lot of fan movements. So much so that I've dedicated an entire post based on movements that could really use some love. Two of those were about the Raimi cut and the Webb cut. 

Not one, but two director cuts of famous Spider-Man movies that I've always wanted to talk about but never could really find the time to. But thankfully with Spider-Man: No Way Home coming out soon I've got just the perfect moment. So what are these cuts? Why should we care? Why should they be released? And what can we do? Well sit back and let me explain.

Part One - Who are Sam Raimi & Marc Webb?

Sam Raimi (left) and Marc Webb (right)

Before I tell you about the movies and their director's cuts, it's important to give a brief summary of said directors. Let's start off with Sam Raimi.

Sam Raimi is an American filmmaker who started his film career back in 1977, directing and writing (along side Scott Spiegel) the murder mystery flick It's Murder!. Which by the way he made that film while he was still college. He would gain a lot more attention in 1981, with his supernatural horror flick The Evil Dead. The success of that movie would later allow him to direct and write two more sequels, those being Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.

But even then he didn't get anywhere near Spider-Man. He would go on to direct others movies such as Darkman, The Quick and the Dead, A Simple Plan, and The Gift. It wasn't until January of 2000 that it was announced that he would direct 2002's Spider-Man.

He would later direct the sequels those simply being called Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. However, after Spider-Man 3 he wouldn't be directing another comic book movie. Instead he give us the movies of Drag Me to Hell and Oz the Great and Powerful. It was only on Feb 5, 2020 that it was reported that he was in negotiations to direct the sequel to 2016's Doctor Strange. Weeks later he would accept the job of directing and at the time writing this, the film (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) is expected to be released on May 6, 2022.

Marc Webb is also an American filmmaker and is also a music video director. He started his career back in 1997, when he directed the music video for the band Blues Traveler and their song "Canadian Rose". He would later direct other music videos for bands such as 3 Doors Down, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Puddle of Mud, Maroon 5, Disturbed, and many others.

He didn't get his start in film until 2009 when the film 500 Days of Summer was released. It wasn't until Jan of 2010, that it was announced that he would be directing the 2012 film titled The Amazing Spider-Man, which served as a reboot to the Spider-Man film series, and a film that even he admitted was more Ultimate Spider-Man and less Steve Ditko.

Because of the success of The Amazing Spider-Man, this allowed him to come back to direct the sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. But that film didn't do too well. It wasn't all bad for Marc though, he would later direct 2017's Gifted and The Only Living Boy in New York. And at the time of writing, he's currently working on a live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and a while back he signed a deal with ABC Studios.

Part Two - Some Things That Were Cut

Now I'm not gonna go into full detail about every little thing that was cut. What I am going to do is tell you about some of the scenes, that I think mattered the most. Then afterwards I'll explain why this scenes truly matter.

Spider-Man 3

Let's start off with some of the scenes that were cut from Spider-Man 3.

One scene that was cut was when Flint (Sandman) visited a doctor by the name of Phil Wallace. He told Flint that he would need more money to cure Penny (Flint's daughter). Which would've lead to him stealing it, and then that would've led us to the subway fight.

We would have also gotten a lot more stuff with Harry. One of those being him hallucinating about his father Norman. During which the ghost of Norman would've been saying to Harry, "Why haven't you killed Peter Parker?" and "He took me away from you."

There was also an alternate scene with Venom (Eddie Brock) asking Sandman for help. No information from what I could see was given of why this was cut.

Image from @WilliamD1123

Speaking of Eddie Brock/Venom, there would've been a scene where he would've gone to Gwen for some solace. However, Gwen doesn't want him in her life and tells him to leave.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

One of the biggest changes to the movie was the Harry Osborn/Green Goblin. During his transformation, his teeth were suppose to grown then shattered and we would've seen his nails grow longer.

Another thing about Goblin was he going to be way more violent than in the theatrical cut. After his transformation he going to kill Menken and then proceed to destroy the entire Oscorp building, and only spare one life, that life being Felicia (yes, that Felicia, the one that becomes Black Cat).

Then we have this scene. Basically after Gwen's death, Goblin would've laughed at Spider-Man, Spidey would've snapped, and nearly beat Harry to death. All of the scenes I mentioned were cut, because Sony wanted to keep Amazing Spider-Man 2 at a PG-13 level.

Part Three - Why These Scenes Matter

These scenes matter not only because it's the director's true vision, but they would've provided the films more substance. Our villains in both Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 are clearly far more developed than they are in the theatrical cut. I know that Spider-Man 3 would've gotten a far batter critical response had those scenes with Venom and Sandman been intact. I don't know if the same could've been said about Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Amazing Spider-Man films do indeed have fans (me included), it's just for some reason that I just can't figure out people act like both the first and second movie are the worst things that could've happened to the Spider-Man franchise (because apparently storylines like the 90's Clone Saga, Sins Past, One More Day, and anything Dan Slott ever wrote never happened). However, maybe if those scenes were in Amazing Spider-Man 2 maybe the reviews wouldn't have been so harsh.

Part Four - The Rallying Cries

Artwork belongs to the artists, not me.

Now everyone and their grandma knows that when #ReleaseTheSnyderCut became a big thing (and would later be successful) this lead to a lot of other fans using similar hashtags.

Those are hashtags are of course #ReleaseTheRaimiCut and #ReleaseTheWebbCut. The reason why I brought this up is because it's quite shocking. I figured that since with Tom Holland's verison of Spider-Man swinging around in the MCU, nobody would really want to see anything with Maguire or Garfield ever again.

But it's clear that despite that, fans want to see more of these characters. And it's not just for director cuts either. In the wake of the #ReleaseTheRaimiCut and #ReleaseTheWebbCut, I've also saw tweets that are essentially spin-offs such as #WeWantSpiderMan4, #RestoreTheRaimiVerse, and #RestoreTheWebbVerse.

Part Five - What I Hope Will Happen

I think it probably goes without say but, I truly do hope the fans get what they want. Sony, Marvel, or whoever really should just let this happen. I mean if we can have multiple Batmen at the same time whether it's a solo movie (Robert Pattinson in The Batman) or appearing in someone else's film (Ben Affleck & Michael Keaton appearing in The Flash), then why can't we have multiple Spider-Men?

Of course, this also depends on if even the actors, actress, writers, and directors even want to do this as well. If this ever does happen and everyone I mentioned before is on board including making more movies, then I will be very happy.

But for now, only time will tell us what happens next.

So that's all for me. Come back on Saturday, Dec 18th for review of the much anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and remember, #ReleaseTheRaimiCut and #ReleaseTheWebbCut.