There is always a busy future ahead for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and plenty of exciting projects in the works, but easily one of the most anticipated films currently in development is Spider-Man 4. The three solo Spidey movies starring Tom Holland are among the best blockbusters that have come out of the MCU, and as a result, fans are immensely hungry for the next chapter.
So when is Spider-Man 4 going to be released? Who will be directing it? And, will Tom Holland be back? We’ve built this guide to address all of those questions and more, and will continue to add more to it as the project takes more and more steps towards production.
Spider-Man 4 Does Not Currently Have A Release Date
While Spider-Man 4 is very much in development, Sony Pictures has not announced precisely when the film will hit theaters. It presumably won’t be too long until the title is put on the calendar, but we may not actually see the movie for a couple of years.
We certainly won’t see Spider-Man 4 come out in 2024, which is already a year with four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies set to come out: Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts, Blade and Deadpool 3. Depending on how things develop in the coming months, however, it’s not impossible that we could see the Tom Holland film as part of the MCU’s plans for 2025 (at present, the only two movies on the calendar for that year are Fantastic Four in February and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in May). The only franchise title presently scheduled for 2026 is Avengers: Secret Wars. Our Upcoming Marvel movies and Upcoming Marvel TV shows guides have details about all of the projects.
Jon Watts Has Not Yet Been Confirmed To Direct Spider-Man 4
The majority of Jon Watts’ work as a director to date has been contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He made his first two features – the horror movie Clown and the thriller Cop Car – in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but the MCU Spider-Man trilogy has been his focus since then. He was going to take a break from the wall-crawler by directing Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie, but he amicably left that project in April 2022. At that time, it was said that Sony was still planning to have Jon Watts direct Spider-Man 4, but he wanted to take a break from the world of superhero blockbusters, issuing a statement saying (via Deadline):
Making three Spider-Man films was an incredible and life-changing experience for me. I’m eternally grateful to have been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for seven years. I’m hopeful we’ll work together again and I can’t wait to see the amazing vision for Fantastic Four brought to life.
Since the release of No Way Home in 2021, Jon Watts has directed two episodes of the FX series The Old Man, developed the Disney+ Star Wars show Skeleton Crew, and has been working on his thriller feature, Wolfs, starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Amy Ryan.
It’s Unclear If Tom Holland Is Contracted To Return As The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man
Both before and after the incredibly successful release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it wasn’t made totally clear where things stood with Tom Holland’s future as Spider-Man. The actor spoke about post-Marvel contract career plans in February 2021, and he made it clear a year later that nothing was set in stone. After that, there were reports in July 2022 that Holland had not yet made a new deal.
In February 2023, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was specifically asked by Entertainment Weekly about “Tom Holland’s Peter Parker” and when we would see the character again, and while he confirmed that there is material in the works, he didn’t speak of the actor’s contract status. Said the filmmaker/executive,
All I will say is that we have the story. We have big ideas for that, and our writers are just putting pen to paper now.
Holland’s contract will continue to be something for fans to keep an eye on as Spider-Man 4 moves through development.
Development Of Spider-Man 4 Has Been Delayed By The WGA Strike
Contract negotiation with Holland isn’t the only notable sticking point in the development of Spider-Man 4, as the project is also being impacted by the 2023 WGA writers strike. In a June 2023 interview, the actor confirmed that he has had meetings about the next Marvel Cinematic Universe Spidey film, but he said that conversations have been suspended:
I can’t talk about that, but I can say that we have been having meetings. We’ve put the meetings on pause in solidarity with the writers. There’s been multiple conversations had, but at this point it’s very, very early stages.
Spider-Man 4 isn’t the only MCU-related blockbuster to be impacted by the WGA strike. While it was announced in early May that Deadpool 3 is filming while screenwriters are picketing, plans for shooting Thunderbolts have been suspended.
Based on where things stand, it seems that we won’t learn much more about the development of Spider-Man 4 until the end of the strike.
How You Can Watch The Previous MCU Spider-Man Movies
Clearly things are very much up in the air where Spider-Man 4 starring Tom Holland is concerned, but the good news is that rewatching the previous appearances of the wall-crawler in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can temporarily satiate your appetite. And, because we live in the digital age, finding and watching those movies is very easy… though you can’t currently find all of the films in one place.
Thanks to a deal that was struck in April 2023, those who wish to watch Holland in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame need only to sign up for a Disney+ subscription. Membership to that site, however, does not get you access to either Spider-Man: Far From Home or Spider-Man: No Way Home. In order to watch those two blockbusters, you’ll simply need a Starz subscription.
We will continue to update this feature with the latest official news about Spider-Man 4, so stay tuned. Check out the Marvel Movies in order to discover where the previous Tom Holland Spider-Man films fit on the MCU timeline, and our Marvel movies ranked feature to see how they stack up compared to Marvel’s other great blockbusters.
