From IMDB Trivia page -
Sam Raimi was originally going to direct "Spider-Man 4", with cast members Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), Rosemary Harris (May Parker), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), Bill Nunn (Joe "Robbie" Robertson), Bryce Dallas Howard (Gwen Stacy), James Cromwell (Captain George Stacy), and Dylan Baker (Dr. Curt Connors) all signed on to reprise their roles. Tobey Maguire would've received the most money out of the returning cast members, making $50 million to do not only a fourth "Spider-Man", but also a fifth. However, when Raimi and Sony had creative problems with how they wanted the story to be told, Raimi quit the project and Maguire left with him. Shortly after, Sony announced that the next "Spider-Man" movie would be a reboot for the franchise.
Before this was confirmed as a reboot of the "Spider-Man" franchise, Sam Raimi was going to direct a fourth installment to his "Spider-Man" movies. John Malkovich was hired to portray the new main villain Adrian Toomes/the Vulture, while Anne Hathaway was reportedly hired to be Felicia Hardy. It was reported that Felicia Hardy would have deviated from her comic counterpart, as she would have been the Vulture's daughter and she would become the Vulturess rather than the Black Cat. However, Raimi had problems with the script, which is rumored to have included Peter and Mary Jane married and welcoming a baby girl, Spider-Man intentionally murdering the Vulture in the final battle, and the final minutes had Peter throwing his Spider-Man identity in the garbage that would lead into the events of the planned fifth film where Peter again dons the Spider-Man identity. Although Raimi hired Alvin Sargent to re-write the script, he still didn't like the story that was planned and he decided not to make "Spider-Man 4".
Before this Spider-Man film was made, Sam Raimi was going to direct "Spider-Man 4". Raimi originally wanted to include only one villain, and he wanted Dylan Baker to reprise his role as Dr. Curt Connors so that he could finally become the main villain, the Lizard. Baker was going to return for "Spider-Man 4", but Raimi apparently was told by Sony not to include the Lizard as the villain because the studio thought it would have been better to have a human villain with a visible face, like Doctor Octopus in "Spider-Man 2". With those orders, Raimi decided to have the Vulture as the main villain and he cast John Malkovich in the part. He also wanted Anne Hathaway to be his daughter, the Vulturess, as a rumored love interest/enemy for Spider-Man. Reports say that Sony did not want the Vulture as the main villain, because they felt it wasn't a challenging or popular enough villain for Spider-Man to fight with and the studio thought they'd have too many unsold Vulture toys on shelves when the film was released. Creative disagreements with the script and the choice of villain(s) ultimately led Sam Raimi to leave the project. Ironically, on-line rumors indicate that the next main villain for the "Spider-Man" reboot might be the Lizard.
