It hasn’t been a great year for Marvel, with new MCU shows and movies proving rather disappointing. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion were especially rough. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki season 2 made up for that somewhat. Then The Marvels came to theaters only to bomb at the box office. While it’s a much better movie than Quantumania, it paid the price of the MCU becoming unexciting as of late.
In between all of that, Marvel had to pause all work on future MCU projects dealing with two big strikes in the industry. The writers went on strike first, then the actors followed. Each action lasted for several months. Aside from work on new attractions, the strikes prevented Marvel from using the stars in The Marvels to promote the movie.
Due to the strikes, Marvel had to delay various movies and TV shows and could not announce new projects. Spider-Man 4 is one of those projects. We still don’t have a release date for the next installment in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man saga, though it’s not only up to Marvel. Sony is actually in charge of this franchise.
Still, we do have some exciting developments from the regular leakers. Apparently, Spider-Man 4 will feature a few exciting cameos, and I’m kind of excited about them. Mind you, spoilers might follow below.
Where’s Spider-Man right now?
As a reminder, No Way Home ended the first Spider-Man trilogy of the MCU, effectively taking everything from Peter Parker. Everyone in this universe forgot who Spidey is, including MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon). Not only that, but Peter’s aunt May (Marisa Tomei) died. And Peter lost access to the high-tech Spider-Man suits that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) developed for him.
This essentially gives Sony and Marvel the opportunity to start fresh with the character and explore Peter’s college years in a post-Endgame reality. It’s not just speculation. Both Sony and Marvel were quick to confirm they’re making Spider-Man 4, and that Tom Holland will be in it.
Fast-forward almost two years, and we don’t have any updates on the Spider-Man 4 release. Worse, Tom Holland isn’t ready to leak any secrets yet.
Before we get to the cameo rumors, I’ll also remind you of a different detail from Sony and Marvel’s deal on Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s character should appear in an MCU crossover after No Way Home. But it’s still unclear where Spidey might show before we move to Spider-Man 4.
Spidey did get a nod in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where we learned the world knows there’s a Spider-Man. They just don’t know who he is.
While we’re looking at a soft reboot for Spider-Man 4, I would expect some MCU cameos for the next sequel. It’s what Sony went after when it brought Spider-Man to the MCU via Captain America: Civil War.
First, we got Iron Man in Homecoming. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) then appeared in Far From Home, even though it was a Skrull impersonator. Finally, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) helped Spider-Man in No Way Home.
The next cameos
I would be incredibly surprised if Sony and Marvel didn’t use other MCU characters in Spider-Man 4. After all, Spider-Man 4 is supposed to deliver an important piece of the overall Multiverse Saga puzzle ahead of Secret Wars. And the Avengers have to recruit Spider-Man again.
Most Spider-Man 4 rumors to date say that Daredevil (Charlie Cox) will appear in the movie. The character will have a bigger role than in No Way Home. To be fair, we never encountered Daredevil in Spider-Man 3. What we got was equally exciting: Cox’s Matt Murdock appeared to help Peter Parker with his legal troubles.
If the rumors are correct, Spider-Man 4 will follow the events in the upcoming Daredevil TV show. Hence the Daredevil cameo.
But fast-forward to mid-December, and Marvel insider Daniel Richtman mentions another cameo on top of Daredevil. Apparently, Daredevil does have a sizeable role in Spider-Man 4, but that’s not the only MCU cameo that Sony and Marvel might be working on.
The current idea is to have Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), aka Ant-Man, show up in Spider-Man 4. It’s still early, and it’s unclear how and why that will happen. But I think it’s an exciting pairing.
I can’t help but remember Bruce Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) amazing surprise to hear the world has both a Spider-Man and an Ant-Man early in Endgame. And since the two characters haven’t really interacted since first meeting in Civil War, it would be exciting to see them have to work together.
Quantumania might not have been a great story, but remember that Scott Lang has already been exposed to the problems of the multiverse. So has Peter in No Way Home.
Separately, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) might be trying to recruit young Avengers into her team. Spider-Man qualifies as a young superhero. As does Lang’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton).
That’s to say, there are reasons to pair these two together in Spider-Man 4. I certainly want to see more of Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man in the MCU, and pairing him with Tom Holland might be amazing.
Still, as with other rumors, nothing is certain. And it might be quite a while until Sony and Marvel announce the Spider-Man 4 release date and cast.
