Spider-Man 4 as a Direct Setup to Avengers 5 & 6

Written By Jack Lawrenson-Leroux · February 19, 2024

Back to Multiverse in Spider-Man 4

Since the fan phenomenon of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, fans have been wondering where the next trilogy of Spider-Man movies will take us and whether there will be a trilogy at all. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4 is something fans are really excited about but most want one thing from the next movie, a street level movie. We have seen Tom Holland’s Spider-Man take on a variety of villains with the Vulture and Mysterio, however these villains were not street level villains according to many fans.

The battle with Vulture could be seen as a more street level fight, however Avenger and alien technology was a key factor in this conflict. In the battle with Mysterio, the fight felt like a huge CGI spectacle and did not feel “street level” to fans.  Then ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home‘ released and this included a Multiverse plot, bringing together past villains from both Andrew Garfield’s and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man movies, including the two Spider-Men themselves. Although this was a momentous occasion for die hard Spider-Man fans, there was a tease of something different for the direction of Spider-Man 4.

Within No Way Home we saw the return of Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, returning from his role in the ‘Daredevil’ Netflix show. This showed fans a possible future team up between Spider-Man and Daredevil, possibly as part of the plot for Spider-Man 4. Since then we have witnessed Daredevil show up in numerous projects within the MCU along with Wilson Fisk, also returning from the Netflix show. After No Way Home, fans hoped that Spider-Man 4 would be a more grounded story with Spider-Man fighting classic crime alongside Daredevil as they build to a face-off with the Kingpin of Crime himself.

However, now this may not be the case. Recent rumours from @DanielRPK on Twitter/X have stated that while Tom Holland and Kevin Feige want Spider-Man 4 in the MCU to be grounded and have Spider-Man join Daredevil in his fight against Mayor Fisk, however Sony want to recreate the magic of No Way Home by bringing back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in a Multiverse story.

Sony’s Possible Plan

After the release of Madame Web, many fans have lost faith in Sony’s Spider-Man universe and whatever Sony is planning. But what are they planning? Well with No Way Home causing characters like Vulture to shift from the MCU to the Sony Universe, it could be said that Sony are attempting to create a Sinister Six line-up and eventually bring back their own Spider-Man to face that very team of villains. This could be shown as earlier drafts of the Madame Web script included Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, then Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, to no Spider-Man at all.

There were rumours that after the events of ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ we could see the Sony Universe merge with the MCU, carrying some characters such as Morbius and Venom over, while keeping the overall story of the MCU fairly intact in a soft reboot. Whatever Sony is planning, it is clear that it includes the Multiverse and they are utilising the stories of Avengers 5 & 6 as well as the animated Spider-Verse movies to slowly move into their envisioned cinematic universe.

Unfortunately, this may be the wrong choice for the studio as many fans would prefer to have a more grounded story for Tom Holland’s iteration of Spider-Man. Rumours have also been circulating that Sony are pushing to have Spider-Man 4 release before the next Avengers movie meaning that production may be rushed. The result of Madam Web should be the wake up call that Sony needs to have a more co-operative partnership with Marvel in terms of the story for Spider-Man 4 rather than pushing for a replica of No Way Home which will be unlikely to carry the magic of the nostalgia for a second time.

Back to Basics

The end of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ left Peter in a unique position, he is alone. Alone but still a hero. The world has forgotten who he has so he ended up in a similar position to where we see Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man in the Raimi Trilogy. Peter has created a new suit, with a design similar to that of Garfield’s and Maguire’s Spider-Man suits but in Holland’s style, and is now back to being Spider-Man, helping the little guy like he had sought out to do. No Way Home also set up the symbiote in the MCU to which many fans suspected that Peter may pick up on the way to ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’.

In the MCU we are now seeing the Netflix heroes slowly make a return and Wilson Fisk has now been set up to be the Mayor of New York at the end of the ‘Echo‘ series. This would give Marvel the perfect opportunity to avoid the Multiverse plot for Spider-Man 4 and instead lean into a fight against Wilson Fisk. There have also been rumours that the villain for Spider-Man 4 could be a villain that has not yet been adapted into live action.

It could be said that there is now a conflict between Sony and Marvel in terms of where the plot of Spider-Man 4 needs to go with Holland, Feige and fans wanting the more grounded plot with villains like Kraven, Kingpin or Scorpion being pitted against Spider-Man whilst Sony wants a whole movie with the three Spider-Men facing a villain together again.

In my personal opinion, I would say the ground level story is the best direction. It would be best to have Holland and Daredevil team up against Kingpin and maybe a second villain like Scorpion or Tombstone. Peter could win the fight against the secondary villain and Fisk could be setup for an even bigger showdown in a future MCU project. The end credit scene could then lead directly into Avengers 5 with the Tobey and Andrew’s Spider-Men reappearing or even the Venom symbiote in the MCU latching onto Peter.

For me, it would be best to have this as the plot, have an end credit scene with Peter joining the Avengers for Kang Dynasty and later leading the fight in Secret Wars where he would get the symbiote. This would easily move well into Spider-Man 5 where Peter could face Venom or maybe even Kraven.

Wherever the plot of Spider-Man 4 leads us, fans should remain hopeful that Marvel Studios will hopefully sway Sony’s choice and we will get a street level Spider-Man movie after all of these years with only a minor set up for Avengers 5 and the finale of the Multiverse Saga. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will likely play a key role in the fight against Kang, but let’s just hope this does not impact his solo project.