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Crazy rumor claims ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ almost ruined Marvel’s MCU Phase 4 plans

Published Mar 3rd, 2020 5:00PM EST
MCU Phase 4
Image: Marvel Studios

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We’re two months away from the MCU Phase 4’s arrival. Black Widow will be the first title of the upcoming series of adventures, and Phase 4 will be richer than any of the previous stages thanks to Disney+. Marvel has six movies planned for the 2020-2021 period, and no less than eight distinct TV series that will tie into these films. And after the massive success of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel needs plenty of content to rebuild.

New Avengers have to join the ranks of the current team, a team that’s already deprived of four heroes, including Iron Man and Black Widow, who died, Captain America, who retired, and Thor, who’s off-world with the Guardians. We’re also in dire need of a big villain now that Thanos is dead, as well as a new main storyline. We’ve seen plenty of leaks detailing the plot of several of the upcoming Phase 4 films and TV series, but the next one gives us one of the wildest Marvel rumors ever. If this person has accurate information on hand, then we can conclude Spider-Man: Far From Home almost ruined the entirety of Phase 4.

As I explained before, Far From Home isn’t perfect, especially when it comes to the plot. Yes, it made a lot of money at the box office, but that was in part due to the massive success of Endgame last year. And yes, it was super entertaining to watch, and it delivered a great post-credit scene, possibly one of the best in the entire MCU so far — the world knows who Spider-Man is, for the first time in a Spidey movie, and he’s seen as a villain — but the plot needs some fixing and retconning in the future.

It turns out that Marvel may have had a different plan for Far From Home, according to a Redditor who doesn’t have any sort of history and whose claims can’t be verified, a plan that would have helped it set up the upcoming Phase 4. Before we go forward, I’ll remind you that this is just an unconfirmed rumor, so you should take everything with a grain of salt. That doesn’t make it any less interesting, however.

The leaker claims that he or she knows what Marvel’s plan for Norman Osborn was before and after the biggest setback in Marvel’s MCU history so far. That’s the Disney and Sony fallout, which made the news last summer after Far From Home arrived. For a few months, it looked like Spider-Man wouldn’t return to the MCU. Disney wanted to make money from future Spider-Man films, and Sony wanted to build its own universe of superheroes, based entirely on the Spider-Man characters whose rights it owns.

While the media detailed various aspects of the Disney-Sony relationship before and after the new deal was inked, we have no idea how long the two parties had been in talks before the public got wind of it. The leaker says that Marvel wanted to have Norman Osborn in the post-credits scenes, but that plan fell through in the months leading to the film’s release, and Osborn’s cameo was gone from the script:

So, before Spider-Man: Far From Home released, Marvel had a huge plan for Norman Osborn in the MCU, with him being one of the main antagonists. In fact, in the original script, there was a post-credits scene that featured him. However, in the months leading up to the film’s release, talks between Marvel and Sony turned bitter, and they decided to put their plans for Osborn on the back burner because they could lose his rights at any second. In order to pressure Sony, however, they ended the film with a cliffhanger so, no matter what, Sony would HAVE to keep Spider-Man at least tangentially related to the MCU.

After Disney inked a new deal with Sony, Marvel supposedly developed a new plan for Osborn, who will become a “shadow villain” going forward, like Palpatine or Voldemort:

Now that Marvel and Sony have a new deal, however, Marvel has a new plan for Osborn. The current plan is to make him a “shadow villain” (a la Palpatine or Voldemort) in Spider-Man 3, which will set him up for a bigger role in the MCU. Osborn, like Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson, will also have some appearances in Sony’s Marvel Universe and will be part of the connective glue that unites the two film universes. However, Sony doesn’t have big plans for the character, and he’ll mainly be a part of the mainline MCU. Marvel has plans for the Dark Avengers, but not until at least much later in Phase 5.

Like I said, this rumor is pretty wild, considering that we haven’t heard anything similar before, and the person who leaked it has no proof or track record. However, we do expect Marvel to bring Norman Osborn to the forefront at some point in the coming years, and it may happen sooner rather than later.

Spider-Man 3 is set to premiere on July 16th, 2021. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will also appear in a crossover MCU film, according to reports that followed the new Disney-Sony deal, but it’s unclear what that film will be. Here’s the Redditor’s full post:

Marvel’s current plan for Norman Osborn from MarvelStudiosSpoilers

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.