John Malkovich Was Gonna be Vulture in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4

Every so often, a gem of movie information surfaces in an unlikely place. It’s one of those things about why we’re kinda hoping execs at Twitter can collectively pull their heads out of Elon’s ass and save the platform. Sure, sometimes it’s a hellscape, but for the most part, it’s a place to find out things like how John Malkovich almost played The Vulture in Sam Raimi‘s “Spider-Man 4.”

According to a tweet from Ken Penders, Malkovich, who was never officially confirmed to be involved, went so far in the process as to have a complete body mold made for costume purposes. The proof? The prototype wings created for the character based on those molds.

Penders says he visited friends, who were working on the piece.

The comments are kind of a treasure trove themselves, like this response which features video of the wing mechanism, which reportedly sold at auction.

Just a little piece of alternative “What If…?” history, right?

We never got a true 4th Raimi-directed Spider-Man starring Tobey McGuire, but it’s fun to think about what could have been.