2 reasons why Spider-Man 4 should be a multiversal movie (and 3 it doesn't)

Why it shouldn't: Spider-Man's villains have never been his in the MCU

Let's do a bit of a recap, shall we? During the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming, the main antagonist is Adrian Toomes - a man who holds a grudge against Iron Man and plans to steal Tony Stark's technology until Tom Holland's Spidey gets in the middle. In Spider-Man: Far From Home the main antagonist is Quentin Beck - a man who holds a grudge against Iron Man and plans to steal Tony Stark's technology until Tom Holland's Spidey gets in the middle. Finally during Spider-Man: No Way Home villains from past versions of the wall-crawler travel to the MCU and their presence threatens to break the multiverse as a whole.

We can't forget Tom Holland's Peter also fought Captain America and Thanos. Do you see a pattern here? None of the characters we've mentioned before were related on a personal level to Tom Holland's Peter Parker. Yes, The Vulture was the father of Peter's date, but even then he had more reasons to hate Tony Stark than the wall-crawler himself.

Multiple reports indicate the main antagonist of Spider-Man 4 could be the King in Black himself, Knull. However, he isn't even a Spider-Man villain - he's a Venom villain. So it would be the fourth movie in a row where Tom Holland's Peter has to stop an evil that had nothing to do with him in the first place. Granted, not every single supervillain can have a personal connection to Peter Parker, but we all know Spider-Man stories are better when there are emotional stakes involved. Case in point; the final battle of Marvel's Spider-Man for PS4 isn't heartbreaking because the wall-crawler had to put a stop to a mad scientist. No. It's heartbreaking because Peter Parker had to fight his mentor of years, Otto Octavius.

It's been a while since we've seen a movie follow that same narrative structure. So it's disappointing to think Spider-Man 4 won't be the place either.