While Iron Man marked the beginning of cameos in the MCU with Nick Fury’s brief appearance, selling the idea of a shared cinematic universe, this wasn’t the first time Marvel tried to pull off this idea. Kevin Feige’s ambitions of creating a cohesive narrative spanning several films date back to the early 2000s when Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man just was about to take off.
But before Spider-Man took the superhero world by storm, another Marvel property was making it big in the mainstream landscape, and this led Feige to push the idea of crossovers with other superheroes. This resulted in Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine almost making an appearance in the first live-action Spider-Man.
Costume Complications Killed Kevin Feige’s Plans of Bringing Hugh Jackman in Spider-Man
Prior to becoming the president of MCU and gradually building the indomitable franchise, Kevin Feige started out as an assistant to Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Being an avid comic book reader, Feige tried to bring the concept of superhero crossovers from other projects to the big screen like many other comic book titles. This resulted in the studios planning out Hugh Jackman‘s brief cameo as Wolverine from the X-Men movies for the first live-action Spider-Man.
Unfortunately, this grandeur idea of Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios never came to fruition, as apparently the suit for the cameo couldn’t be accessed, as Jackman explained, “it was stored somewhere”.
Sam Raimi Flowered Kevin Feige With Respect
While this minor complication might’ve killed off their plan to bring Jackman on board for a cameo in Spider-Man, this didn’t deteriorate Feige’s ambitions. And following the Marvel president’s adamancy about doing justice to these beloved characters and being honest to fans, Sam Raimi has nothing but respect for Feige, as he flowered Feige with praises during their reunion in Doctor Strange 2.
“So yes, Kevin is brilliant, and I’ve never met anybody who runs a company just ensuring the integrity of the characters as their No. 1 job. It’s incredible.” Raimi said. ” It’s a pleasure to work at that company because of that. He doesn’t really answer to the shareholder; he answers to the fan. And so it makes it a wonderful place to work.”
Also read: Robert Downey Jr Left Kevin Feige Helpless With the Most Genius Way to Battle Hunger on Avengers Set
But after 2-decades, Kevin Feige’s desire to bring Hugh Jackman into the mix is finally coming to fruition, as Jackman is set to reprise his iconic gig in MCU’s upcoming Deadpool 3.
Spider-Man is available to stream on Disney Plus.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
