The success of Spider-Man: No Way Home has Spider-Man fans in a frenzy. Speculation has run rampant about what could potentially be next for the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Many Spider-Man fans are eager to see if the older incarnation of the wall-crawler could appear again any time in the near future.
Many fans took to Reddit to suggest what villains they would like to see should Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire was to return to make a sequel to Spider-Man 3. Plans were in place at one time and ever since then, fans have been curious what that film could have looked like.
Adrian Tombs/The Vulture
Reddit user SuperMecha20 posted a poll on the site with a few villains that he personally felt could be good for a potential fourth Spider-Man film directed by Sam Raimi. The Vulture was the winner with the pole. While the Vulture was used in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it seems like fans still want to see Tobey Maguire go up against the winged foe.
The user included a fan cast in the poll of John Malkovich, no doubt because he was a popular fan cast at the time. When word of Spider-Man 4 was spreading, it was talked about that Vulture would be a villain in the follow-up to Spider-Man 3, and he would be portrayed as an older man, much like his early comic book counterpart. Reddit user saint-bread in the comments even mentioned "the Vulture fight scene looks pretty cool in the storyboards"
Kraven The Hunter
Kraven came in second in SuperMecha20's Reddit poll. With 806 votes, the hunter seems like a popular choice to go up against Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. Kraven has been talked about a lot over at Sony Pictures. A feature-length film starring Aaron Taylor Johnson is currently in development and he was one of the cameos at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
A few Reddit users have thrown out some fan casting for Kraven, including MiggityMoggie who suggested Casper Crump who played Vandal Savage in the Arrowverse. Fans have been longing for an adaptation of Kraven's Last Hunt for many years and seeing the Sam Raimi touch applied to the story is exciting to people. As FutureVenomZone stated, there have been rumors that "Mr. Ditkovich was meant to be a retired Kraven"
Curt Conners/The Lizard
Dylan Baker was cast in Spider-Man 2 as Dr. Curt Conners, one of Peter's professors and it looked like the films would eventually turn him into his evil alter ego, The Lizard. While the franchise didn't continue long enough to do it, SuperMecha20 suggests he's still a popular choice for a future villain.
Even though the character would be used in The Amazing Spider-Man as the main villain, many users have commented on how Dylan Baker was robbed of the chance of portraying the iconic villain. Reddit user saint-bread even commented that "the Lizard can be so seamlessly integrated into the story" since he's already developed the history with Tobey's Peter Parker. Having to take down Conners could be one of the worst things to happen to Tobey's Peter Parker.
Mac Gargan/Scorpion
While not the most popular option on the poll, SuperMecha20's Reddit poll suggests there's interest in seeing a Sam Raimi take on The Scorpion. In the comic Mac Gargan was turned into the Scorpion by J. Jonah Jameson to try and find out how Peter took pictures of Spider-Man. The character has appeared in some of the video games, including the latest one, and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Sorry-Dot4841 says he'd "love to see Scorpion for once in a movie", forgetting about his role in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse no doubt. Since J. Jonah Jameson isn't a bad person in the Sam Raimi films, it's unlikely this original comic book origin would be used for the villain, but Sam Raimi is no stranger to finding new interpretations for his villains, just look at Sandman compared to his comic counterpart.
Hobgoblin
Coming in last in SuperMecha20 poll is the Hobgoblin. In the comics, the Hobgoblin has been many different people over the years, but most iconically Ned Leeds. The Hobgoblin came about in the comics because the Spider-Man writers at the time didn't want to bring Norman Osborne back from the dead, so they created a new Goblin persona for the wall-crawler to fight.
For years, many have thought that Harry Osborne was Hobgoblin in Spider-Man 3, but he's officially credited as New Goblin. Since the perfectly cast Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborne is still dead in the Sam Raimi universe, depending on what the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home could mean, there is room for another Goblin to fight Spider-Man. But since Harry is also dead, there may not be a reason for it.
Felicia Hardy/Black Cat
Felicia Hardy is more commonly known to Spider-Man fans as the Black Cat. A Cat burglar who has a thing for Spider-Man. She's been an antagonist towards Spider-Man in the past but it's safe to say their relationship is complicated. Even though she was already introduced in a sense in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, saint-bread commented that he would like to see her show up in a potential fourth film.
In a separate comment, saint-bread pointed out that early drafts of the Spider-Man 4 script had her as The Vultures daughter somehow. Even though in the comics, she had no relation to the character, Sam Raimi must have been thinking about a way to organically include her. Black Cat could introduce some interesting personal problems for Peter, much in the same way that Gwen did in Spider-Man 3.
Wilson Fisk/Kingpin
Thanks to the Daredevil Netflix series, Kingpin is often considered a Daredevil villain. Like most New York crime bosses, Kingpin has come into conflict with Spider-Man from time to time. Phantom_Jedi seems interested in seeing a version of Kingpin go up against Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man.
The Reddit user even goes so far to suggest that he "could’ve been an interesting Raimi villain". Kingpin is normally a more grounded street-level villain, while the other Raimi villains were more fantastical, so it's interesting to think what kind of role the Kingpin could play. Since there were a few scenes of Maguire's Spider-Man stopping crime, perhaps one of them could have landed him in Kingpin's crosshairs.
Shocker
Reddit user ShadowCross32 just suggested Shocker in a comment. Shocker is a character most commonly named Herman Schultz. His abilities come from a pair of gauntlets that let him shoot concussive blasts at his enemies. Most notably, he was adopted in the MCU in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Since ShadowCross32, didn't give much detail on what they would like to see from the villain in a potential fourth Raimi Spider-Man film, it's unclear what the character could do in the film. The Shocker is one of the more level-headed villains in Spider-Man's rogues and often realizes when something is out of his league, so perhaps he could be an introductory villain to the theoretical film.
Rhino
"I always wanted Rhino in the Raimi movies" ejfaded claims in the comments on Reddit. Rhino was recently seen in the skies during the climactic scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home but he was also portrayed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 by Paul Giamatti.
Raimi's take on the character might prove to be more faithful than the rhino mech that Giamatti wore in the final Marc Webb Spider-Man film. Generally, Rhino is a man who's trapped inside a rhino suit that gives him increased strength. Tobey's Spider-Man never had to fight someone like Rhino and could prove a unique challenge for him.
Quentin Beck/Mysterio
Mysterio finally made it to the big screen in Spider-Man: Far From Home which reimagined him as a disgruntled Stark employee who wanted to be the next "Iron Man". TheDoctorSpyderPant wants to see the character go up against Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man now.
Admittedly, the Reddit user wants it to be in a fifth Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, but that's far less likely to happen than a fourth one. There were storyboards released a number of years ago that saw the fourth Spider-Man movie open with Spider-Man apprehending Mysterio, which seemed to confirm that Bruce Campbell had been playing the same character in all three of his Spider-Man appearances.