The Sinister Six Were Axed From Spider-Man 4 in Favor of Dubious Villain, Says Report

Sony has been trying to make the Sinister Six come together on the big screen for quite some time now. First, the group of supervillains was teased in the credit sequence of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Then, it was announced that they would get its own spin-off movie set in Andrew Garfield's Spidey universe, yet those plans were ultimately canceled. Furthermore, two different post-credits scenes hinted that the MCU's Vulture would join another supervillain to assemble a team capable of defeating the wall-crawler. Last, but not least, all three live-action iterations of Peter Parker nearly faced the Sinister Six in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but they were one villain short.

It's a long list of failed attempts, so why not add another one? See, it appears that the upcoming Spider-Man 4 was supposed to include the infamous group of supervillains. However, those plans might have been scrapped to allow the movie to go in a different direction — one that might not please Spidey fans around the world in the slightest.

The Sinister Six were reportedly swapped for Mephisto in Spider-Man 4

According to scooper The Beyond Reporter, The Sinister Six were in early versions of Spider-Man 4's script. However, if we've learned anything over the past few months, is that the movie has been changing quite a lot in pre-production. What was originally supposed to be a street-level story featuring Daredevil and The Kingpin was shaped into a multiversal adventure with Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock. The worst part? It seems we won't get the symbiotic storyline anymore given that the report also claims Mephisto will be the big bad of the film while Ghost Rider will appear as a supporting hero.

Well, talk about red flags. Fans quickly associate Spidey and Mephisto with the disastrous One More Day comic book storyline — a despised chapter in the wall-crawler's history. In it, Peter makes a deal with Marvel's version of the devil, Mephisto, to save the life of Aunt May. The downside? The hero's marriage with Mary Jane would forever be undone. As you'd imagine, separating one of the most iconic couples in the superhero world was met with overwhelmingly negative reactions. Funnily enough, Marvel decided to do it once again in Zeb Wells' The Amazing Spider-Man (2022).

When will they learn?

On the bright side, Peter and M.J. aren't currently a couple in the MCU — let alone be married. However, Aunt May has already passed away on the big screen, and we've recently heard reports that Marisa Tomei will portray her once again in Spider-Man 4. Granted, chances are she'll be back only in flashbacks. But it's also a bit scary how the pieces are in place for one of the most hated Spider-Man storylines to have a live-action adaptation. Surely, Kevin Feige wouldn't allow that to happen, right?

Furthermore, it's been rumored that Marvel wants to capitalize on the success of Deadpool & Wolverine by making Spider-Man 4 a team-up movie. That would explain why Ghost Rider could appear alongside the wall-crawler in a story that also features Mephisto. But let's face it: Spider-Man fans aren't eager to see another multiversal movie, let alone a supernatural one. Even if we'd ideally love to see Peter and Matt Murdock team up to defeat the Kingpin, we'll take a crossover with Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock any day of the week over Ghost Rider. The One More Day adaptation simply doesn't make any sense.

Unfortunately, it's hard to deny that Spider-Man 4 has been facing a lot of script problems. Even when Tom Holland talks about the movie he says the story still "needs work". Besides, a delay is reportedly on the table as Sony and Marvel try to earn a bit more time to iron out all the details. But amidst all the chaos, perhaps there was once the consideration to make Mephisto the big bad of Peter's next adventure. So fingers crossed that was simply a rejected idea rather than the official course of direction for the movie. Otherwise, Spider-Man 4 risks being a critical and commercial failure. And if history has taught us anything, is that those failures tend to be followed with a reboot.

Let's simply not, Marvel and Sony. Please.

Spider-Man 4 will be released on Jul. 24, 2026.