The Lost 'Spider-Man' Teaser That Featured the Twin Towers:
Months before Spider-Man arrived in theaters, one of its most memorable trailers featured the World Trade Center.
By the time Sam Raimi's Spider-Man swung into theaters in May 2002, Tobey Maguire's superhero debut was one of Hollywood's most anticipated movies. But the promotional campaign originally looked very different.
In 2001, Sony released a teaser built around a spectacular idea: A group of bank robbers escaping Manhattan by helicopter suddenly find their getaway blocked by Spider-Man.
The camera pulls back to reveal the helicopter suspended in an enormous web strung between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Then Sept. 11 happened.
Sony quickly recalled the teaser, along with a promotional poster showing the World Trade Center reflected in Spider-Man's mask. A Sony spokesperson confirmed at the time that the helicopter sequence had been created specifically for the promotional trailer and was never part of the movie itself.
The teaser had been designed as a flashy introduction to Spider-Man's New York. Released during the summer of 2001.
After the attacks, however, the image of the Twin Towers became impossible to use as a piece of superhero spectacle.
The finished Spider-Man also changed. Shots of the World Trade Center were removed, while the movie ultimately leaned even more heavily into Peter Parker's connection to New York.
When Spider-Man finally arrived in May 2002, it became a massive hit, earning more than $400 million domestically and helping establish the modern superhero blockbuster.
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