Marvel Studios and Sony’s Spider-Man 4 shouldn’t get too caught up in the trappings of the Multiverse Saga.
The Spider-Man 4 rumor mill is swirling. According to gossip and speculation, the fourth MCU solo film to feature the web-head reportedly resembles either a cosmically-scaled Venom follow-up or a more grounded adventure on the streets of NYC. But which path should the sequel follow?
Spider-Man Should Avoid The Multiverse and Let Spider-Man 4 Be Grounded
According to various insiders and scoopers on the internet, Spider-Man 4’s story is a tug-of-war between Marvel Studios, which will produce the movie, and Sony Pictures, which holds the film rights for the character and approves the plot.
Tom Holland's fourth Spider-Man outing is still without an officially announced title, but that hasn’t stopped fans from endlessly pondering what it will be. Whether one puts any stock in what online film scoopers say, it is often difficult to avoid reading the supposed juicy details.
Case in point, DanielRPK (via SmallScreenCo on X) reported that malevolent cosmic entity Knull, who was pulling the strings behind much of Venom: The Last Dance’s plot, will somehow travel to the MCU and serve as Spider-Man 4’s main villain. Moreover, DanielRPK also claimed that the subtitle for Spidey 4 will be "King in Black."
This goes a long way to say that some believe Peter Parker’s next solo adventure will not take place on the streets and skyscrapers of New York City. Introducing an interstellar, Multiversal story in a Spider-Man movie is likely something that large swaths of the MCU’s audience would deem unsatisfactory.
After all, the consensus surrounding Marvel Studios’ much-discussed Multiverse Saga is that the franchise has made some major stumbles in this era. Many MCU devotees want to see this slate of projects wrapped up quickly.
Marvel and Sony potentially returning to the Multiverse for a second time with the solo Spider-Man movies (after 2021’s Multiverse-heavy Spider-Man: No Way Home) seems unneeded storywise and unwise given the current stink surrounding recent Multiverse outings.
A far more favorable route for Spider-Man 4 would be a grounded, street-level story where Peter is free to team up with Matt Murdock aka Daredevil (Charlie Cox). Perhaps Marvel could even craft a battle with Spider-Man and Ol’ Hornhead against Vincent D'Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk.
Fans have wanted to see a live-action collaboration between Parker and Murdock for years, especially since Cox turned in a cameo as the character in No Way Home.
Additional Spidey 4 scuttlebutt surfaced from The Hot Mic podcast host Jeff Sneider. The podcaster (Via SuperheroHype) shared alleged details that Charlie Cox will return as Daredevil in the movie and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher as well. But it’s important to note that official sources have not confirmed this.
Spider-Man 4 Can Still Go Cosmic
There is still room for Symbiote elements in the MCU’s fourth outing for Peter.
In No Way Home’s mid-credits scene, Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock left a glob of Venom’s body in a bar in New Mexico. That particular piece of goo will likely try to seek out a new host. This is not to mention that Venom now knows about Spider-Man, too.
It might be that Spider-Man’s next movie will see him don the infamous black Symbiote suit that brings out his darker, more aggressive tendencies. And what better superhero to teach Peter how to deal with his anger than Daredevil?
Jeff Sneider also said that Mephisto, not Knull, will be Spider-Man 4’s big bad. However, considering the lack of goodwill toward the Venom franchise (and the Sony Marvel-verse in general), Mephisto would probably be the more popular choice.
Nonetheless, a press release from Sony Japan outright hinted at a crossover between Tom Holland’s Wall-Crawler and Tom Hardy’s Lethal Protector. Undoubtedly, many groaned at such a tease, but time will tell if it holds.
The response to the Multiverse Saga has been tepid in many cases. The studio seems likely to course-correct and ground the MCU.
This would pave the way for Spider-Man to truly stick to acting as a friendly neighborhood hero in his next cinematic excursion (after Peter’s appearance in Avengers: Doomsday).
Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man 4 is without an official release date, but rumors point to 2026.
