The Spider-Man 4 rumors are picking up steam again, with a recent development suggesting Sony and Marvel might soon announce the sequel’s release date. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi, will supposedly pick up the baton for Spider-Man 4 from Jon Watts, who helmed the previous three movies.
If the search for a director is over, we could soon learn when the film will hit cinemas. Rumors already say Spider-Man 4 will premiere between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, implying it might be a multiverse movie. After all, the Avengers movies should conclude the Multiverse Saga with a big multiverse battle.
Nobody would blame you if you thought Spider-Man 4 would feature multiverse elements after what happened in No Way Home. And nobody would blame Sony for possibly wanting to repeat the success of the previous movie by employing similar tricks. But I’m happy to hear an insider’s take on the Spider-Man 4 plot, as this person claims the film will not be a multiverse adventure.
Some spoilers about Spider-Man 4 and the MCU might follow below.
I explained time and again why repeating the No Way Home trick so soon in a Spider-Man movie for the MCU isn’t a good idea. We can’t really have Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield pop up again to help Tom Holland’s Spidey without ruining the magic of this team of Spider-Men. Marvel will surely want to give us this reunion in Secret Wars, where Sony’s two Spider-Man variants can interact with other Avengers.
Previous rumors said that Sony wanted Spider-Man 4 to be as big as No Way Home, including the multiversal cameo aspect. Having Maguire and Garfield in No Way Home did wonders for the film’s bottom line. Spider-Man 3 made nearly $2 billion at the box office, something unheard of for a Spider-Man movie. But Sony should definitely not let greed get in the way of telling a great Spider-Man 4 story.
Other rumors said that Spider-Man 4 will tell a simpler story, with the action focusing on more down-to-earth events. Specifically, Spider-Man will partner with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) as the two fight Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), the film’s big villain. Spider-Man 4 would follow the events in the Daredevil TV show, where Kingpin becomes mayor of New York.
But you don’t need plot leaks to realize how amazing Spider-Man 4 could be. Peter lost everything in No Way Home but didn’t give up on being the friendly neighborhood’s Spider-Man. His friend and girlfriend can’t recognize him, he lost the only family he ever had, and there’s no Tony Stark tech to help him. I want to see how Peter deals with all that. There’s no need for the multiverse to play a big role in Spider-Man 4.
An insider who goes by the name CanWeGetSomeToast on X said the sequel would not be a multiverse movie. Peter should be around 19 or 20, as the movie will explore the early years of college.
That implies that Spider-Man 4 can pick up soon after No Way Home ends. That’s as early as late 2024 in the MCU. But it could be closer to the present-day MCU (sometime in 2026). It all depends on the connections to Daredevil.
As for the multiverse aspect of Spider-Man 4, there is a way to do it without ruining the movie. You could have Maguire and/or Garfield cameos in the credits scenes, teasing the future events in Secret Wars. Unsurprisingly, Andrew Garfield is already denying a Spider-Man 4 role, and we’ll probably get more of those in the coming years. It’ll be interesting to see whether it’s still all a lie or if he’s telling the truth now.
Spider-Man 4 will not be a multiverse adventure, and that’s the only plot spoiler I need to hope we’ll get a great sequel.
