The official Sony Twitter account has responded to the online campaign calling for Spider-Man 4 starring Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi. Raimi's acclaimed superhero trilogy introduced Maguire as the web-slinging high-schooler Peter Parker, who struggles to adapt to his newfound powers while also desperately trying to win the heart of his crush, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Across the three films, Maguire's Spider-Man fought a range of villains, from the depraved Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) in Spider-Man and the ingenious Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) in Spider-Man 2, to the trio of Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), the New Goblin (James Franco) and Venom (Topher Grace) in Spider-Man 3. But despite the success and popularity of Raimi's trilogy, plans for the fourth installment were canceled after the director felt he would be unable to meet Sony's set release date of May 6, 2011, leading instead to the rebooted The Amazing Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield.

Maguire's brief return to the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home has led to a resurgence of interest in his original films and prompted an online campaign to get Sony to finally make Spider-Man 4 with Maguire and Raimi. Raimi's own thoughts on doing Spider-Man 4 have helped generate further excitement for the proposed sequel, but as ever it is only up to Sony as to whether it will actually get green-lit. As a result, a slew of hashtags on Twitter such as #SpiderMan4 and #MakeSpiderMan4 have begun circulating widely in the hope that the production company will notice the ardent enthusiasm for the fourth outing of Maguire's superhero.

Related: Sony Owes It To Sam Raimi To Make Spider-Man 4

Now, Sony has at last responded to the Spider-Man 4 campaign, although perhaps not quite in the way fans may have hoped. Replying to a report on Raimi's thoughts about returning to the sequel, Sony's official Twitter account jokes, "well this has been fun for our mentions today. friendly reminder, we're just the social team!" Check out Sony's full reply below:

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This isn't the first time the company's social media page has playfully responded to rampant calls for a rebooted Spider-Man sequel. Last month, Sony responded to The Amazing Spider-Man 3's fan campaign to see Garfield appear in another solo film for his Peter Parker as well. Then as now, Sony had to remind fans that the Twitter account is run solely by the social media team, who have no say in what gets made or not. However, their statement that "this has been fun for our mentions today" proves that the hashtags have clearly been achieving the levels of attention that fans were hoping for given that it has now reached Sony's official account. The fact that the company specifically responds to a report on what Raimi thinks about it shows that the director's views have clearly exacerbated the demand for Spider-Man 4, with Sony presumably getting tagged in countless tweets calling for it.

Although this response will undoubtedly disappoint many who are desperate for another Maguire Spider-Man movie, there is still reason for fans to be hopeful. The unparalleled success of No Way Home has proven that fifteen years on, there is still very much a market for Maguire's Spider-Man, something which will not have gone unnoticed by Sony. And with Raimi joining the MCU as the director for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as well as the cut Raimi Spider-Man reference in Morbius, the prospect of Spider-Man 4 getting produced appears to be growing ever-more possible.

More: Marvel's 33 Cancelled Movies (& Why They Didn't Happen)

Source: Sony