What I hate is that, if SONY hadn't ballbusted Sam Raimi out of what he wanted, SPIDER-MAN 3 could have been a proper ending to that Raimi-led trilogy.......and possibly new life to the subsequent sequels.
If only.......
A bit out of the loop on this one. What did Rami want to do?
Raimi had a more conclusive finale.
Put it another way.....
*Like the finale of James Dale Robinson's STARMAN, the hero of his city has finally been fully embraced by its citizens, when a critical point comes along where the hero has to make a choice.
*Originally, before the script had to be altered to what we saw in SPIDER-MAN 3 with that "limited voice-range nonsense", the idea was that Mary Jane had gotten serious offers from Hollywood....which meant she would have to move to Los Angeles to further pursue her career.
*Of course unsurprisingly, Peter Parker is against moving. He says that he has a city to protect, with citizens that depend on him. After the 1st act with the Spider-Man parade, that massive fandom, and Parker getting a key to the city, Mary Jane asks: "Pete, who needs Spider-Man more? New York, or you?"
*The drama of that relationship would be that she will move, and Peter obviously conflicted in what to do.
MEANWHILE
*The idea of Sandman is that initially, he is set to be another super-baddie for Spidey to tackle like Doc Ock or Green Goblin....except when he robs the armor bank van, he dumps some of the cash to the people. He then beats the hell out of the local mobsters and head criminals of the city. On one hand, he is stealing cash, and yet on the other hand.....he commits heroic actions.
*This would set up for when Spidey, with Venom-infected, would fight Sandman in the subway, on one hand he's out on a vigilante drive to get revenge for Uncle Ben, but on the other, is this underlying emotion being manipulated by Venom for its own purposes:
Jealousy.
Further entrenched in the darkness of Venom, he believes that Sandman is trying to ruin Peter's hard-earned respect from the city, out for some ultimate villain scheme. Thus Peter (thinks) he kills Sandman.
*Except, in retrieving Sandman's mysterious locket, and investigating it afterwards, Parker found out about Sandman trying to get cash to save his kid, robbing the same bank that had drawn an early foreclosure on his parents' home, and basically, since Sandman now has his incredible powers, he is finally freed to take down the "truely evil people" of the city, such people that the Sandman had to work jobs for...but not anymore.
Now the Sandman is in position to do something about them.
*Peter realizes that life isn't black and white, for in some ways, especially with the one tragic mistake that haunts the Sandman, that they both are very much the same.
Beforehand, with Venom, Parker had a very simple outlook, pushed to its extreme, that he is "good," and that he must do whatever it takes to defeat his enemies (Sandman/Harry Osbourne) once and for all. Its when Peter's realization of Sandman comes through, that Peter is finally free of Venom.
*During all of this, Aunt May dies, and as Peter/MJ drift apart, Gwen Stacey becomes this sort of possible love-interest for Peter, if he decides to stay in New York.
*Thus, give more credence to Eddie Brock's utter-hatred of Peter/Spider-Man: He cost Eddie his job, his reputation, his girl, and worse, Spider-Man is still "the hero."
*With the finale, Venom-Brock had an alliance with Sandman, since Sandman really thought (rightly) that Spider-Man was out to murder him. But once Venom-Brock starts attacking and trying to kill people to his own hatred-crusade against Parker (and thus, at least planned, to be similar to Parker's own view/actions as Venom)....
...the Sandman turns on Venom, and with Harry and Spider-Man on the scene, it becomes a 3-on-1 fight against Venom.
*If Raimi had decided to keep Harry being killed, it would be that Harry sacrifices himself and destroys Venom with the last of the Goblin Pumpkin bombs. Then again, Raimi was tempted to let Harry live, exorcised of his father's ghost (with the hint that he and Stacey could become a couple).
*Ultimately, Peter Parker would finally grow up as a man and quit acting his juvenile/immature-self that he's had since the first film. He realized that as much as the city depended on him, Parker has redeemed himself for Uncle Ben's death, and he doesn't need to be the city's "savior," for someone else needs it more to exorcise his own demons......in a symbolic scene, he tells this new guardian that if Parker is to forgive him, he must earn it by preventing pain and suffering from occuring to other people in the city.
*It would end with Peter reconciling with MJ and they do move to LA, while THE SANDMAN becomes the new protector and guardian of New York. (If Harry had lived, he would join alongside him.)
*A hint for Spider-Man to return is that while Parker has let someone else take his job for saving New York, that doesn't mean Parker is quitting the heroes game.....
Anyway, that was the most important extent of Raimi's original plans before SONY basically ballbusted him up good.
Hunt. Hunt.
