Spider-Man 4: Anne Hathaway Addresses Those Black Cat Casting Rumors

One of the all-time great superhero movie what ifs (not to be confused with the animated series "What If...?") is Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4." Despite the lukewarm reception to "Spider-Man 3," Sony planned on making another Spidey flick with Raimi. Rumors have surfaced about what plot threads could've been explored, such as establishing Vulture as the villain, reportedly set to be played by John Malkovich. Another intriguing casting addition would've been Anne Hathaway as Black Cat. 

Hathaway spoke about her limited involvement in the Spider-Man universe with Josh Horowitz of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast. She confirmed that she was cast as Black Cat, but it didn't go much further: "I did not get into costume and did not read a script past the audition sides." Of course, the actress has done pretty well for herself since missing out on playing Felicia Hardy, even winning an Oscar for "Les Miserables."

She doesn't sound too bent out of shape with missing out on joining the Spider-Verse, "The Spider-Man universe has gone on to be so enormous and so thrilling. And it's just reinventing itself and all of those things, so I wouldn't want to make more of it than is necessary."

Anne Hathaway doesn't delve too deeply into what fans could've expected from her turn as Black Cat; instead, she says that's a story for the producers of the canceled film to tell. She does think losing out on portraying Black Cat helped her play another comic book character on the big screen — Catwoman in "The Dark Knight Rises." She noted how director Christopher Nolan may have thought she was busy in a different cinematic universe (playing a similar character), so perhaps everything worked out for the best.

While Hathaway is cautious about discussing the superhero flick that never was, various details and rumors have emerged over the years about what "Spider-Man 4" was supposed to look like. Vulture was the main villain, but it was also reportedly set to introduce an original character: the Vulturess. Additionally, according to the book "With Great Power" by Sean O'Connell (via The Direct), the film would've explored Spidey's rogues' gallery in earnest, "We were going to open the movie with this montage of all the villains we knew that Sam would never be able to use in Spider-Man movies ... So we were going to try to do The Shocker, Mysterio, The Stilt Man, and that kind of stuff."

With the Marvel multiverse opening up, who knows if Hathaway could finally suit up as Black Cat at some point?