Sam Raimi Talks His 1991 ‘Thor’ Pitch & Why He Thought Adding A Stan Lee Cameo To ‘Spider-Man’ Was “Absurd”

Many people credit 2008’s “Iron Man” with today’s modern superhero movie renaissance, as it’s the film that launched the biggest franchise in history, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the film that is probably the one that truly launched the era of superhero films that we’re enjoying (or not enjoying) today is Sam Rami’s “Spider-Man,” way back in 2002. However, according to the director, if he had his way, his first Marvel film would have come a decade sooner and featured a totally different character.

In a new piece written for THR, Raimi discusses his relationship with the recently passed writer and editor Stan Lee. And one of his stories involving Lee is a lunch that the two shared where Raimi pitched the Marvel legend on an idea he had for the superhero, Thor.

READ MORE: Stan Lee Reportedly Won’t Have A Cameo In Upcoming ‘X-Men’ Film ‘Dark Phoenix’

He explains:

“After I did ‘Darkman,’ Stan Lee called me and was like, ‘Hey, kid, I liked your movie. He took me out to lunch and said we should work together. I said I’d like to make a movie about Thor. We worked together writing treatments and took it to Fox and pitched it. And they said, ‘Absolutely no. Comic books don’t make good movies.’ This was in 1991.”

Imagining the butterfly effect of what would have happened if Fox approved his pitch and “Thor” was made in 1991, during the era of the forgotten “Fantastic Four” film and the awful “Captain America” movies, is enough to give you a headache. Without a doubt, “Spider-Man” would have never happened, and thus, we probably wouldn’t have the Marvel Studios we have today.

Raimi also talked about how he was originally opposed to having the now-famous “Stan Lee cameo” in his first “Spider-Man” film.

Raimi said:

“I got the job for ‘Spider-Man’ in 1999. And [Marvel head] Avi Arad said, ‘I want you to put Stan in the movie.’ And I was like, ‘No. I know Stan, and he can’t act.’ And Avi was, ‘I want him in the movie. We did it for X-Men, we’re doing it here.’ Now imagine you’re a minor director in England doing ‘Macbeth’ and you’re told, ‘Put the writer in the play.’ It sounds absurd. ‘Fine, you want Shakespeare in the play, I’ll put Shakespeare in the play.’ Now it’s one of my favorite parts in the movie.”

READ MORE: Stan Lee Reportedly Filmed ‘Avengers 4′ Cameo Already & Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige Reacts To The Sad News

For once, we can thank Avi Arad for a great decision (as he’s not known for having many great ideas today), putting a Stan Lee cameo in the “Spider-Man” film, which of course led to every Marvel film adopting the same tradition.

Raimi would, of course, go on to direct two sequels to “Spider-Man” — one exceeding the original (“Spider-Man 2”), while the other fell way, way short (“Spider-Man 3”).

For a peek at what early-’90s superhero films looked like, here are some trailers for what Marvel was producing back then: