Marvel, please don't ruin Spider-Man 4 by including this character

The Spider-Man 4 rumor mill has been in full swing even before the movie's official announcement. Some reports talk about situations that — while exciting — seem extremely unlikely as it's the case of Spider-Gwen making her live-action debut. Others seemingly paint a very accurate picture of the movie's narrative by indicating Peter will bond with the symbiote, Tom Hardy's Venom will be involved, and Knull will potentially be the main antagonist. However, there was one rumor in particular that caught my eye for all the bad reasons.

The day we all dreaded is here: Paul will reportedly make his big-screen debut in the untitled Spider-Man 4. It's claimed Josh O'Connor would be the man in charge of bringing such a role to life... except I followed the rumor to its original source and it turns out that Josh's casting wasn't for Paul but a new version of Peter Parker.

Wait, what?

Well, apparently Tom Holland was kicked out of the role and Sony is looking for a replacement... which, yeah, it doesn't sound right whatsoever. So it's safe to say all of these rumors were simply made up and built on top of each other, meaning there was no validity to Paul being in the movie in the first place. However, it got me thinking: would it really be the worst thing in the world for him to have a role? Well, to answer that, we need to understand a bit of his comic book background.

Why Paul is hated by comic book fans

Spider-Man has been around since 1962, which needless to say has been a long time. Fortunately, he hasn't aged in Earth 616 as if it were real life, or he'd probably be over his crime-fighting career at this point. That being said, he's an adult now, and as such fans have been eager to see him tie the knot and perhaps even be a parent someday. However, his marriage with Mary Jane has been undone twice now, and the most recent occasion was courtesy of Paul — a man who "unwillingly" helped decimate an entire world, killing countless innocents in the process.

So what exactly happened? Well, Mary Jane spent four years with Paul in his alternate reality, assumed Peter wouldn't go back for her, and decided to start a relationship with him instead. People who just wanted to see her live a happy life with Peter were very angry, to put it lightly, and understandably so. This is part of a bigger problem where Marvel as an institution won't let Peter get married just because. That's it. It's something writers and fans simply have to accept for some reason, and that's a horrible call.

Paul is the personification of Marvel's inability to let one of their most beloved characters be happy. He represents the writer's fixation on making him suffer even if it is through bad writing. He's an obstacle, one that isn't even likable. We all root for the wall-crawler, so of course we're all going to naturally hate Paul for how he messed up Peter's life. So what would happen if this modern villain were to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Would audiences respond to him as comic book fans did?

Could Paul work on the big screen?

Peter Parker has never been married on the big screen. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 toyed with that idea, but it never came to be. Besides, Tom's iteration of the character isn't even dating Zendaya's M.J. anymore after his identity was forgotten by the whole world. So what if she were casually to start seeing someone else under the name of Paul? No one would be able to blame him for breaking Peter and M.J. apart, and he wouldn't represent Marvel's love for making the Spider-Man character suffer since he isn't in a relationship right now either way. With that in mind, would Paul be so disliked?

Spider-Man: Far From Home features a sub-plot where Peter "competes" against his classmate, Brad Davis, for M.J.'s heart. Naturally, we were all on Peter's side and as such grew to dislike Brad. So if history were to repeat itself, the outcome would be almost the same, with the exception that we all know who Paul is beforehand which would only make matters worse. Besides, witnessing the same storyline in two different movies doesn't seem like the ideal way to go either.

Tom Holland's Peter Parker is in a tough spot right now, and it's unclear how Marvel and Sony want to continue with his story. However, based on critical reception, it's safe to say Paul isn't the way to go. Besides, it would be extremely unfair for him to be on the big screen before the likes of other beloved Spider-Man characters such as Black Cat or even Miles Morales. Come on Marvel Studios, don't repeat the same mistake as your Comic Book division, and listen to your fans for once. We don't need to see Paul in any more Spider-Man stories, let alone on the big screen. There's no need to make Spider-Man 4 a controversial movie when Paul's character could simply be avoided. And if that could also be the case in comic book pages, we would all greatly appreciate it.