An interesting Marvel crossover could have happened years ago in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine almost had a cameo in it, but they weren’t counting on one detail that ended up being a big obstacle. Spider-Man’s debut on the big screen finally happened in 2002 after spending over a decade in development hell, and thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. Directed by Sam Raimi and with Tobey Maguire as the title character, Spider-Man was very well received by critics and viewers, and is now credited for redefining the modern superhero genre and the summer blockbuster.

Spider-Man also made way for two more films, with the second one now considered one of the best superhero films ever made and the third one being notable for having too many villains and subplots, which made it the weakest of the trilogy. Still, Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy has a special place in the hearts of Spider-Man fans, and it brought to life some of its most iconic enemies, such as the Green Goblin (played by Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), and Eddie Brock/Venom (Topher Grace), though some more successfully than others, of course.

Related: Why Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Movies Changed The Comics' Classic Webshooters

Meanwhile, in another realm of superhero films (Fox, that is), another universe was starting to build: the X-Men series, and had things gone as planned, there could have been a Spider-Man/X-Men crossover back in the early 2000s.

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: Why Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Cameo Didn’t Happen

Wolverine uses his adamantium claws in X-Men

The first X-Men film came out in 2000 and introduced Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, along with many other characters from that side of Marvel’s universe. X-Men was a box office hit and got positive reviews from critics, leading to a series of sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, and giving Jackman’s career a major boost. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that during production of Spider-Man, a Wolverine cameo was planned, which would have been a big opportunity to bring together two popular characters from Marvel Comics on the big screen. Sadly, there was an obstacle in the way that didn’t make the cameo possible: Wolverine’s suit.

In an interview with HuffPost back in 2013, while promoting the film Prisoners, Jackman revealed there were plans for a Wolverine cameo in the first Spider-Man film, which could have been as simple as him casually walking through the shot. Production was taking place in New York, and Jackman was also there, but it didn’t happen because they couldn’t find the suit, with Jackman saying it “was stuck in some thing”. Fans are still waiting for the X-Men to cross paths with the rest of the Marvel heroes that have made it to the big screen, which could finally happen in a not-so-distant future now that Disney has the characters in its power – but it’s fun to imagine what Jackman’s Wolverine cameo in Spider-Man would have been like and the impact it could have had in the superhero genre.

Next: Why Marvel Movies Still Haven't Topped Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2