It's hard to imagine, but there used to be a time when making a superhero movie was seen as a big gamble. Yes, we had Tim Burton's "Batman" and Richard Donner's "Superman," but after Joel Schumacher's Batman films became a laughing stock, the genre looked like it was dead in the water.

Enter: Sam Raimi. The horror director had already made a name for himself as the gonzo auteur behind the "Evil Dead" films , with a penchant for launching the camera through the air at incredible speeds while jumping between humor and horror like an Olympic athlete. So when Sony Pictures brought him on board to bring Spider-Man to the silver screen for the very first time, no one was certain it was going to work.

Among those who were skeptical was Stan Lee, the man whose name is synonymous with Marvel c

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