Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man hit UK cinemas 20 years ago today (feel old yet?), and while a couple of scenes didn't age quite so well, the film is not overshadowed by these moments.
The same might not have been said about James Cameron’s iteration of the movie had it ever gone ahead.
You see, back in the 90s the director who brought us such cinematic greats as The Terminator and Avatar decided he wanted to get a webslinger flick off the ground.
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But when revisiting his script, it’s probably a good thing it never got the greenlight - most notably due to a disturbing scene in which Spider-Man and Mary Jane have sex on top of the Brooklyn Bridge after he ties her down in his web.
And that’s not even the half of it - a creepy monologue sees the Marvel mainstay attempt to seduce Jane by describing the mating ritual of actual spiders.
Here’s how the script goes - brace yourselves…
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“Spider-Man: Courtship among the spiders is highly ritualised. It varies from species to species. The male spider may circle the female, or wave his front legs... to signal that he is not prey. The female usually signals her willingness by an uncharacteristic passivity.
“MJ takes a deep breath. Her lip trembles. Her knees are weak. Her eyes, though, are steady, gazing at the silhouette before her. She doesn't move or speak. He moves closer.
“Spider-Man: In certain crab spiders, such as Xysticus, the male will attach strands of silk to the female... tying her limbs…
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“Spider-Man moves his hand gracefully across her, and she sees the sheerest silk webbing glinting in the moonlight. First one wrist. Then the other. Hypnotic movement in the moonlight. Her arms are bound to the wall. Her breathing gets more rapid.
“Spider-Man: Since the female can break free at any time, the bonds have only symbolic significance.
“Mary Jane: The male must be very bold... to take such liberties with the predatory female.
“Spider-Man: Yes. He is very bold. But he must also trust her… Close your eyes.”
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Oh, and it doesn’t end there - the directions go on to say: “He removes his mask and kisses her. Their mouths very slowly and very sensuously devour each other.
“Peter and MJ are locked together. He is mesmerising, gentle, powerful. He pushes up her skirt. They make love, high above the world.”
Erm, since when did Spider-Man go all 50 Shades on us?
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The smutty scene is made even stranger by the fact that at this point MJ doesn’t even know Spider-Man is Peter Parker.
In fact, she’s only met the superhero once before when he saved her from a gang and now he’s taking her off to a bridge for kinky spider sex.
Contrary to what some Spidey fans might have to say about this today, the director stands by his concept.
In his recently published book Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron, he described it as 'the greatest movie I never made'.
Speaking Screen Crush when his book dropped, the filmmaker said: "I wanted to make something that had a kind of gritty reality to it," adding that he planned on getting Leonardo DiCaprio to play Parker.
Cameron continued: "I tried to get Fox to buy it, but apparently the rights were a little bit clouded and Sony had some very questionable attachment to the rights and Fox wouldn't go to bat for it."
All that being said, the loss just motivated him to work on his own projects including Titanic and Avatar.
In short, it was a win-win - Cameron made some blockbuster hits and we weren’t subjected to the sex scene that could very easily have ruined our childhoods.
Topics: Spider-Man, Marvel, TV and Film
Daisy Phillipson