Marvel Studios certainly blew the door off of San Diego Comic-Con, with announcements about more than a dozen movies and TV shows coming in Phases 4, 5, and 6 of the MCU. However, one highly-anticipated new outing that flew completely under the radar was Spider-Man 4, which will take Tom Holland's Peter Parker in a completely new direction.
Following Spider-Man: No Way Home, the entire world has no memory of Peter Parker's existence thanks to the spell cast by Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange. While this still allows Peter to continue being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man that's protected New York all throughout his high school days, he'll be more alone than ever with no family, friends, or even other Avengers to support him.
As Spider-Man 4 prepares to bring Peter Parker back into the fray in a new role down the road, the big question remains - what exactly is in store for the character's future? Well, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently answered that question ahead of the MCU's Phase 4 coming to an end.
Kevin Feige on Spider-Man's MCU Future
On the back of "The Amazing Spider-Man issue 900," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke with editor Nick Lowe about Spider-Man as a character.
When asked about his favorite Peter Parker job, Feige mentioned the idea of him being a teacher or a scientist, since that was who he was "if he hadn’t become Spider-Man:"
"Teacher and scientist are the ones that always stick with me because if he hadn’t become Spider-Man, that’s who he was anyway. That’s always the duality of Spidey. Between doing what he is now able to do with these powers but also trying to live the life he would have had anyway. Or attempting to."
Feige also tackled an interesting topic, answering which past era he would love to see a Spider-Man movie made in. He teased the idea of a Buster Keaton-made silent Spidey film while also noting 1934's The Thin Man by William Powell as another great influence:
"Buster Keaton’s hard to beat in any capacity. He’s a little older than Peter, even when making his earliest movies. I’ve recently become obsessed with William Powell from The Thin Man. He’s also a little bit older in those films than Peter, but I’d like to have seen him swinging around."
Where Will Spider-Man 4 Take Peter Parker?
Throughout his time in the comics and past Spider-Man movies, Peter Parker has always been seen as both an intellectual and a man of science, two of Kevin Feige's favorite qualities from the web-slinger. Spider-Man: No Way Home even saw all three live-action Spideys explore their scientist roots, and Feige sees a clear path to teaching due to how smart and giving the young hero has always been.
Kevin Feige has managed to adapt several of his favorite moments and aspects of the character in the MCU, including the now-iconic "Come on, Spider-Man" scene of Peter lifting the fallen debris in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Aunt May learning the wallcrawler's secret identity at the end of Spidey's first solo film, and the webhead finally getting his web wings in the MCU.
As Feige is partial to Peter being a teacher or scientist and Spidey is no longer a student, could this be a subtle hint at where the head of Marvel Studios wants to take Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4?
With Spider-Man 4 taking away Peter's old life, the plot may give him an opportunity to explore some of those aspects of his life that he lost out on by trying to protect his friends and family in his superhero outings. The duality will be even tougher to manage now that he doesn't have anybody to lean on, but it will make for an interesting story and a unique way to bring the hero back into the fold for another solo adventure.
Spider-Man 4 is currently in the early stages of development under Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.
