February is almost over, and Marvel has still yet to officially announce Spider-Man 4. The sequel has to start shooting at some point this year if it’s going to make its rumored late 2026 release date. Sony and Marvel have yet to confirm that launch window, though rumors have said the film won’t hit theaters in July 2026, as initially expected.
Tom Holland and Zenadaya have to shoot both Spider-Man 4 and Christopher Nolan’s ambitious The Odyssey this year. The latter will hit theaters next July, just around the time Spider-Man 4 would have premiered.
Despite these developments, Sony and Marvel aren’t in a hurry to announce the Spider-Man 4 release date, title, or main cast. And while the Spider-Man 4 rumors seem to have died down compared to the final months of 2024, there is an interesting development. Sony and Marvel are looking to make bigger changes to the Spider-Man 4 cast than you might expect.
That’s a great teaser for the Spider-Man 4 plot, but I have to warn you that big spoilers might follow below before I can explain.
Scheduling conflicts aside, there might be a bigger reason why Sony and Marvel have not officially announced Spider-Man 4, despite confirming more than once that the sequel is in the making. Several leaks have said that the two studios have a different vision of what the Spider-Man 4 story should be about.
Spider-Man 4 is supposed to drop between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, as Peter Parker should have a big role in at least one of the two massive MCU crossovers. But Sony reportedly wanted to cash in on Spider-Man 4 as it did with No Way Home several years ago. That means turning the sequel into a massive multiverse crossover film.
Marvel, meanwhile, wanted Spider-Man 4 to be a more grounded story, the soft reboot fans expected after what happened in No Way Home. As a reminder, Peter lost everything in that film. He might have discovered the multiverse and made friends from different realities, but the world has forgotten who he is, including Ned (Jacob Batalon), MJ (Zendaya), and all the Avengers.
Worse, Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is dead, and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) doesn’t remember him either. Then there are the Spider-Man suits made with Stark tech, which are unavailable to the young superhero.
Peter Parker has to deal with all these problems on his own, and that’s a lot to take for essentially a teenager. Sure, Parker is an Avenger who has lived experiences that forced him to grow up faster than other kids. But that also comes with lots of trauma and PTSD.
Despite all that, Peter has chosen to continue to be Spider-Man and help those in need.
I’m not the biggest Spider-Man fan, but that’s a story I’d want to see. I want to see Peter struggle on his own while also having to rejoin the Avengers in time to meet and fight Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). And yes, that moment will be incredible.
There’s no problem with lowering the stakes for Spider-Man 4 rather than forging ahead to make another No Way Home-type movie.
That’s where the fresh Spider-Man 4 cast rumors from Marvel insider Daniel Richtman (via MaxBlizz) come in handy.
Apparently, Spider-Man 4 will have a different supporting cast than we thought. We’ll get a fresh take on the character and a new direction under Destin Daniel Cretton, who is helming the sequel. This suggests that Peter will forge new relationships in his early college years.
Therefore, we might not see Ned and Zendaya in the sequel as much as we thought. I will remind you that older Spider-Man 4 cast leaks also said that Peter will have a new love interest in the sequel rather than just stalking MJ and ensuring she is okay.
Richtman also addresses the mysterious villain of Spider-Man 4. Marvel reportedly made an offer to a big actor for the role. We have no idea who that actor is.
How are these rumors exciting for the Spider-Man 4 plot, you might ask? They suggest that Sony and Marvel might not necessarily go crazy with the story. The film might always get the needed multiverse ties to link it to the Avengers movies, but the multiverse might not necessarily be the main topic.
Previous rumors said that Sony wanted to link Venom 3 to Spider-Man 4. The plan to do it was to have Knull (Andy Serkis), the big villain of the former, become a multiversal threat in Spider-Man 4. Tom Holland would face Knull together with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who would be returning for the sequel. Tom Hardy would also return as Eddie Brock/Venom.
Rumors of a brand new villain suggest that the Knull storyline is no longer in the cards for Spider-Man 4 if it ever was.
Richtman’s new claims are also in line with reports that said the Spider-Man 4 script needed big rewrites.
All of this is speculation in this never-ending Spider-Man 4 rumor season. The good news is that time is ticking here. Sony and Marvel will need to make up their minds regarding the plot and cast and announce Spider-Man 4 soon.
