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Although there are many great unpublished or rejected stories in comic book history, a Marvel artist recently revealed that a version of the original Spider-Verse storyline was proposed years before the film only be scrapped by one of Spider-Man's worst stories. Long-time Marvel and DC writer/artist Phil Jimenez revealed on his Instagram that his original first assignment with Marvel was a massive Spider-Man storyline, "that would have featured just about everyone who had ever been in a Spider-Man comic" but the elaborate and detailed plans were nixed in favor of the controversial Spider-Man: One More Day story.
Phil Jimenez's career began with DC Comics working on Teen Titans-related titles, Wonder Woman, and notably as the main artist in DC's mega-event Infinite Crisis. During this time, he had done work with Marvel on a few issues of the New X-Men series, reuniting with his The Invisibles collaborator Grant Morrison. He signed an exclusive contract with Marvel in 2007, his first story appearing in Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man #1 which served as a prelude to the Brand New Day storyline which continued Spider-Man's life and adventures after the polarizing events of One More Day.
In a post on his Instagram Jimenez detailed how he had been originally hired for a Spider-Man story that was similar to his work on Infinite Crisis. Collaborating with editor Steve Wacker, they came up with a story called "Sinister 666", a planned 12 issue maxi-series "pitting all the Spideys at the time against the Sinister Six, who had taken over NYC with 6 other Sinister Six teams working under them." Jimenez said it was thrown out due to One More Day, specifically the Brand New Day storyline that reset Spidey's timeline.
One More Day was heavily criticized over Peter making a Faustian agreement with Mephisto to sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane Watson in order to save Aunt May's life. The follow-up story, Brand New Day, was successful but still criticized that it could have done without the major retcon to Spider-Man's mythology. Another important detail to point out is that some of the details for the unpublished "Sinister 666" story would separately become Spider-Man stories later on. Kraven would be resurrected during the Grim Hunt, Spider-Man would meet multiple incarnations of himself or other Spider-people from different universes in the Spider-Verse, and recently, Peter was caught between two separate Sinister Sixes in The Sinister War. This ultimately suggests that this proto-Spider-Verse story could have appeared far earlier than its original 2014 publishing date and thus have had a different impact on the famous web-slinger.
Considering the popularity of the Spider-Verse storyline and the 2019 award-winning film inspired by it, one can only imagine what could have happened if Marvel had chosen "Sinister 666" and put One More Day on the backburner. Although the conclusion of Nick Spencer's run in Amazing Spider-Man is rumored to retcon the entire event, it seems ridiculous that years of criticism, fan backlash, and ink spent retconning the contentious event could have been avoided with an early version of one of Spider-Man's most recognized and popular stories.