Yeah, Punisher and Hulk have been rebooted like crazy. Well... the Hulk sequel was more of a semi-sequel than a full on reboot. Though, with Ed Norton not in the Avengers movie it'll be yet another Bruce Banner. That'll be three in one decade!
Thing is, with Spider-Man, they really could have made a great fourth film with the old cast. Only reason 3 wasn't so good was due to the studio pushing Raimi to include Venom. If a director has no interest in a character, then don't push them to include one in their film. Sandman, on the other hand, was well done. However he didn't get a lot of screen time. Same goes for Harry Osbourne, he had a great character arc through the three movies and yet didn't get enough screen time to develop in the third film.
Spider-Man 4 with the Lizard and Kraven would have been awesome! Weird transformations, horror and whackos with weapons are right up Raimi's alley. Since 3 did away with Harry, Venom and Sandman, there would be no baggage to hold down the fourth film. It could have been just Spider-Man fighting the Lizard, while at the same time trying to save his mutated professor from Kraven. Toss in J.J.Jameson (who is not in the upcoming movie), stick Mary Jane in the background and you've got yourself a great movie. Or at the very least, something better than 3 and equal with 2.
