Fans of films that might-have-been, but never-will-be, are likely aware of David Fincher‘s history with Spider-Man. (And if you read Superhero Bits Monday, you already know about this update. We’ve simply decided to highlight in detail.)

In 1999, Fincher was on a short list to possibly make the film that ended up being Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (you can read about that here). A decade later he was once again on Sony’s wishlist before Marc Webb appropriately took the job to direct 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. In both cases, Fincher simply couldn’t connect with the material. We now have a pretty good idea why.

The meticulous director of Fight Club, The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, opening Tuesday, wanted to pack all of Spider-Man’s origin into an operatic music video that would have served as the opening credits before delving into a totally different story. Read his exact quote and more after the jump.

The below quote comes from io9:

My impression what Spider-Man could be is very different from what Sam [Raimi] did or what Sam wanted to do. I think the reason he directed that movie was because he wanted to do the Marvel comic superhero. I was never interested in the genesis story. I couldn’t get past a guy getting bit by a red and blue spider. It was just a problem… It was not something that I felt I could do straight-faced. I wanted to start with Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin, and I wanted to kill Gwen Stacy. The title sequence of the movie that I was going to do was going to be a ten minute — basically a music video, an opera, which was going to be the one shot that took you through the entire Peter Parker [backstory]. Bit by a radioactive spider, the death of Uncle Ben, the loss of Mary Jane, and [then the movie] was going to begin with Peter meeting Gwen Stacy. It was a very different thing, it wasn’t the teenager story. It was much more of the guy who’s settled into being a freak.

This confirms a rumor from way back that Fincher wanted to kill a female character, in this case Mary Jane.

What I find interesting about this isn’t that Fincher had a unique take, couldn’t get past the other-worldliness of Spider-Man or wanted to streamline the origin. That all makes sense in a David Fincher sort of way. What’s interesting is that his vision, in some way, actually came to life on Broadway. Right now, every single night, Spider-Man’s origin IS an operatic music video in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

Though it’ll never happen, would Fincher’s version of Spider-Man have been as successful as Raimi’s?

Additional sources: Deadline