Spider-Man 4 receives an intriguing story update from a producer

The wait for the untitled Spider-Man 4 has been excruciating so far. It took almost three years since the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home for its follow-up to be announced, and recent reports have stated a delay might be on the cards. But the worst part? We know next to nothing about what the movie will be about — at least not from official sources, that is. See, rumors tell us Tom Holland's Peter Parker will team up with Tom Hardy's Venom to fight the King in Black himself: Knull. Besides, reports indicate that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire will return for the wall-crawler's fourth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being said, it's better to take all these plot points with a grain of salt until Marvel or Sony confirm them. So what do we know with absolute certainty?

We've received small teases here and there from Tom Holland, indicating the idea for Spider-Man 4 is crazy and nothing that has ever been done before. Furthermore, Sony Japan teased Venom would be in the movie. So to keep the small streak going, producer Amy Pascal has revealed a bit of what the story will have to offer. It's not a huge reveal, by any means, but it is as intriguing as it gets.

Spidey will give up being Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4

Spider-Man: No Way Home ended on a perfect, yet bittersweet note. The whole world forgot about Peter Parker's identity, and to make matters worse he has no more close family members left after the passing of May. His girlfriend, Michelle Jones, and long-time best friend, Ned Leeds, don't remember who he is. Peter is — by all means — alone, and that will lead him to drop his civilian persona as revealed by producer Amy Pascal in an interview with Deadline:

"Well we have to deal with the fact that he decided he was going to give up being Peter Parker, and he was gonna focus on being Spider-Man because being Peter Parker is too hard. So that's what the movie's about."

On a personal note, I absolutely love this concept. Throughout his time in the MCU, Tom Holland's Spidey has struggled to figure out what kind of superhero he wants to be. Spider-Man: Homecoming was all about him eager to join the big leagues and be an Avenger, only to figure out it's better to be a friendly neighborhood hero. Spider-Man: Far From Home saw him do everything in his power to get a break from the superhero responsibilities and come to terms with his role as Iron Man's successor. Lastly, in No Way Home, we saw Tom's Peter learn from his alternate-universe variants that, as a hero, he has to do the right thing no matter the cost. It has all led to the point where he can finally be a version of Spider-Man who needs no help from anyone else to save the day, and it looks like that will be the case.

Spider-Man 4 could then be loosely inspired by the comic-book storyline Peter Parker No More. In it, Peter lives through a lot of tragedies such as the death of Harry Osborn (who took on the Green Goblin mantle), having relationship problems with M.J., and even taking care of Aunt May after she suffered a stroke. Tired of all the recent events, the wall-crawler creates a web cocoon over his bed that symbolizes the death of Peter Parker. After that, he becomes a more violent version of Spider-Man who stops pulling his punches.

It's easy to see the parallelisms between Peter Parker No More and the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Peter is at a low point in his life, still mourning over the death of someone close to him, and determined to leave his civilian persona behind. Furthermore, it's been rumored the web-slinger will finally get to bond with the symbiote in Spider-Man 4, which could be a perfect movie explanation as to why he becomes more violent. Coupled with the supposed arrival of Knull, it's easy to see why Peter wouldn't have too much of a role in his next stand-alone movie.

We could think of it like Marvel's version of The Batman. A fantastic movie where the superhero handles all the crises of the City on his own without the need for his civilian persona. Believing "regular life" is just an obstacle, the main characters fully dedicate themselves to stopping crimes and saving as many lives as possible since they couldn't save their own. It's a tragic yet compelling arc that could definitely fit the wall-crawler. Now, it's just a matter of executing it correctly and letting Peter have a few victories along the way to make the journey worth it.

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