No Spider-Man 4, Raimi and Toby gone for good.

Meh.

It's funny how this news is "rocking" the entertainment industry and the geek realm of the internet this week.

C'mon. Spider-Man 1 and 2 were great but this same crew made the third outting for the web-slinger so god-awful and unwatchable it's like they purposfully hatched a scorched earth plan with the franchise while making it.

Toby clearly wanted to wear the mask less and less as each film passed by and the character of Mary Jane had been ruined on screen for eternity when Kristen Dunst sang in #3.

The other problem both the film and nerd worlds needs to face is how difficult casting has become for any comic film post Dark Knight. Heath Ledger had raised the bar so high after his spellbinding protrayal of the Joker that any actor that gives you anything less can only be perceived as phoning in old school, '60s TV Batman camp. Go back and watch Topher Grace portray Venom now.

Speaking of the villains, the word was that Raimi was steadfast in his demand that the main baddie in Spidey 4 would be the Vulture. The fucking old, decrepid Vulture when he had a universe of bad guys and gals to choose from. While Hasbro toys has to be pissed that this now ruins thier finacial plans for 2011 with this setback, they have to at least be relieved they don't have to figure out how to sell multiple versions of one of Spidey's lamest enemies to 8 year olds.

For the money at stake Sony made the right call. They were going to have to pony up way too much to the original cast and crew for number four when the odds were that at best, it couldn't possibly live up to at least the first two films or worse, be as bad or even more of a train wreck than the third film. They may as well start over with a younger, cheaper and hungier cast and director.

Be seeing you guys! We'll always remember how you raised the bar for Super-Hero films early on. But like most Hollywood marriages...it was great in the begining but ended poorly. Time to chase younger tail.