According to a bevvy of new rumors, Spider-Man 4 will not feature the Peter Parker fans are used to. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (aka Spider-Man 4) will usher in a new era for Marvel's wall-crawler on the big screen, leaving behind the halls of high school and following Tom Holland's Peter as he gets his footing as an anonymous 20-something trying to get by in New York City. This will come with a series of significant changes for Holland's comic book hero, including a new suit, new villains, and many more.
One way Tom Holland's Peter Parker will differ from past iterations of his character in Spider-Man 4 has to do with how dark he will get in his super-powered journey. So far, fans have seen Holland's MCU web-sling as a plucky, glass-half-full teen, but that may not be the case in his 2026 sequel.
According to several rumors about Brand New Day, the upcoming Marvel Studios blockbuster will be the darkest of Holland's Spider-Man tenure. One name that comes to mind in comparison is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which notably featured the death of Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy.
This darkness will reportedly be present in the characters surrounding Spidey as well, with heroes and villains (such as the Punisher, Hulk, and Scorpion) all embracing a more macabre mentality, making this a "much darker movie" than those of the Home trilogy.
This could signal a change to Holland's Spider-Man going forward in the franchise.
The 29-year-old Marvel star teased in a conversation with Complex Pop (via IGN) that Brand New Day "feels like...a rebirth" for the character and "something completely new."
While movies like No Way Home had their dark moments, this "completely new" comment could be interpreted as leaning into a darker tone overall, rather than the super-powered John Hughes-esque teen romp that the last three Spider-Man movies were.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to theaters on July 31, 2026. The new film, starring Tom Holland as the titular wall-crawler, follows Peter Parker as he slinks back behind the guise of anonymity following Doctor Strange's spell that made everyone forget who Spider-Man/Peter Parker was, which closed out Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Holland leads the new Marvel adventure, along with Jon Bernthal, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, Mark Ruffalo, and Sadie Sink. The new film will also be directed by Shang-Chi filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, who is stepping into the Spider-Man franchise for the first time.
How Will Spider-Man 4 Be 'Darker'?
Spider-Man has been no stranger to dark storytelling over the years, but that has yet to be fully realized on screen in the Tom Holland-led era of the franchise. Holland's Spider-Man films have been mostly plucky teen adventures, with a few darker moments here or there.
That could all change with Spider-Man 4, however. Brand New Day finds Peter Parker in an unprecedented place for the MCU. All of his loved ones are gone, his best friends have forgotten him, and he is living a thankless life as New York City's masked hero, barely able to make rent outside of his costume.
So, the table is set for the character going dark if he absolutely has to. One way this could be done is by introducing the Symbiote into the MCU Spider-Man universe.
The Symbiote was teased at the end of No Way Home, with Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock leaving behind a skoosh of the alien goo as he was zapped back to the Sony Spider-Man Universe.
Often in Spider-Man stories, when Peter/Spidey is backed into a corner, looking for a release, that is when the Symbiote comes into play. This could see Holland's wall-crawler play out his own version of the Black Suit Saga (as seen in the comics), where he becomes consumed by the Symbiote, and the euphoric pleasure it seems to bring those who wear it.
While this makes Peter a more capable hero than ever, it also results in the alien substance influencing the character's personality, rendering Peter unrecognizable to those around him.
Peter feeling isolated and giving in to the Symbiote could make for the darkest Spider-Man movie story yet.
