Sam Raimi explains Spider-Man 3's infamous dance scene: "We wanted it to be fun"

Sam Raimi has addressed that infamous dance scene in Spider-Man 3.

In the movie, Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker becomes corrupted by the influence of the black Venom suit – and to show his new bad boy persona, he… dances in the street?

"Well, we meant it to be funny, actually," Raimi told Fandom. "It was Peter Parker's version – this lame kid – of what it must be like to be his evil self. But he's so whipped. He's so out of it that that's his take on it. And that didn't go over well with the audience. But that's what we were trying to do. So I'm not surprised that people… I'm glad people find it funny! We wanted it to be fun."

The scene has taken on a life of its own since Spider-Man 3 released – but, though Maguire appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, the movie didn't re-create the moment.

Raimi most recently helmed another Marvel movie – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, who traverses the multiverse with Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez. Benedict Wong returns as Wong, while Elizabeth Olsen reprises her Wanda Maximoff role for the first time since WandaVision.

"It was probably like two hours and 40 minutes, and it slowly came down, even though we did the reshoots," the director said recently of the runtime. "We took out material even though the reshoots went in. So, it slowly got down to about two hours and five minutes is the total."

Doctor Strange 2 is in cinemas now. For much more on the movie, check out our explainers on:

•  Doctor Strange 2 ending explained
• Doctor Strange 2 post-credits scenes explained
• The Illuminati in Doctor Strange 2, listed and explained
• Our guide to Marvel Phase 4
• The rumored Doctor Strange cameos that never came true
• All the Doctor Strange 2 Easter eggs listed
• Where does Doctor Strange 2 fit on the Marvel timeline?
• Our full WandaVision recap
• When is Doctor Strange 2 on Disney Plus?