Because it has been a while since we have received any news regarding Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4, fans with idle hands are looking for reasons to worry. Some days, we speculate on who the director of the fourth Spider-Man movie might be, after Kevin Feige exclusively confirmed to CinemaBlend that Jon Watts would not be returning. Some days, we wonder if Zendaya is an immediate return, potentially negating Peter’s sacrifice at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. And today, Spidey fans find themselves in a panic because they’ve heard that MCU Spider-Man films can’t use any villains that have been introduced in standalone Sony movies.
Kraven has Rhino, Calypso, and Chameleon. Whenever Sony uses a villain, they block Marvel Studios from using them, which means there aren't many left for MCU Spider-Man to face off against.August 14, 2024
For starters, I don’t think that’s accurate, in that there’s a contractual block that prevents a Sony villain from being used in a Spider-Man movie. But I’ll admit that the terms of the unprecedented agreement between Marvel and Sony regarding the sharing of Spider-Man are fluid, at best. There has been sharing of characters over the years. But mostly, it’s Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Spidey adjacent characters – like Michael Keaton’s Vulture, for example – crossing from the MCU into the Sony-verse.
It’s probably true that, as part of their ongoing negotiations, Sony asks Marvel not to build stories around Venom (Tom Hardy) or Kraven the Hunter (Aaron Taylor Johnson) so that they don’t compete with movies that Sony plans to release. But I don’t think they are blocked from ever appearing in the MCU. If Feige had a lights out idea for Spider-Man 4 that involved The Rhino, for example, I’m sure that Sony and Marvel would figure out some terms that allowed the villain to show up, courtesy of some multiversal magic that means he’d neither be Paul Giamatti nor this CGI thing we saw in the Kraven trailer.
Even if they were, however, why are Spider-Man fans panicking? If you have picked up a Spider-Man comic at any point in your lives, you know that there are 1,000 Spidey villains who haven’t yet shown up in a Sony-backed Spider-Man movie that would be able to carry Tom Holland’s hero through two decades of storytelling. Here are five that instantly jump to mind that could create 20 years of Spider-Man filmmaking in the MCU.
The Scorpion
This one already is teed up for future Spider-Man movies, as Mac Gargan (Michael Mando) was introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and was jailed with The Vulture at the end of that film. Gargan eventually goes on to become The Scorpion when J. Jonah Jameson hires him to kill Spider-Man. Only, Gargan goes mad because his physical connections to the Scorpion suit become permanent. Given the fact that the MCU Spider-Man movies have re-introduced Jameson (again played by JK Simmons), having him hire Scorpion to take out the wallcrawler is a natural plot of a streamlined Spider-Man 4.
The Kingpin of Crime
This one, to me, seems like the most natural selection of a massive adversary for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man – and he could easily pull in numerous other characters who are part of the Kingpin of Crime’s syndicate. At the conclusion of the limited series Echo, available with a Disney+ subscription, the writers teased the opening salvo of a popular comics storyline titled Mayor Kingpin, and that should involve Daredevil (Charlie Cox), the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and could even expand to bring in lower-tier villains like The Rose, Wilson Fisk’s son Richard.
The Black Cat
Spider-Man routinely has girl problems that make his life as Peter Parker complicated. We’ve already met an M.J. in the MCU (played by Zendaya). We don’t yet have an MCU Gwen Stacy. But if Marvel Studios wanted to give Spider-Man a love interest, then they can go the route of Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat. She’s a traditional jewel thief with a murderous past. Think Marvel’s answer to DC’s Catwoman. But there have been efforts to make a Black Cat and Silver Sable movie for years. Maybe elements of those screenplays can be worked into a story for Spider-Man 4?
Hammerhead
Taking things back to the street-level approach of an MCU Spider-Man movie, Marvel could easily call the next trilogy Gang Wars, and come up with an overarching plot that involves numerous criminal organizations battling for supremacy in New York City. So far in the MCU, Peter (Tom Holland) has been to Europe, outer space, and the mirror dimension. He needs a good, old-fashioned series of New York stories, so bringing on the gangster Hammerhead – whose head essentially is an anvil he uses as a battering ram – would be an exciting choice. Pit Hammerhead against a rival like Tombstone, drop Spider-Man in the middle, and watch the fireworks.
Hobgoblin
I hope they don’t go this way. But from the moment that Jacob Batalon was introduced as Peter’s best friend, Ned, fans jumped to the conclusion that he’d eventually graduated to becoming The Hobgoblin… even though it doesn’t make a lot of sense in the narrative that’s been formed in the MCU to date. However, I do think it’s important for Spider-Man to have a Goblin as an adversary. Norman Osborn appears to be off the table, given the presence of Willem Dafoe in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But Hobgoblin could be factored in somehow, if the MCU wanted to build toward his reveal and involvement.
So, even if Sony “blocks” Marvel from using villains who have been introduced in their Spider-Man movies, there’s a wealth of Spidey villains from the comics still on the table (and this is merely scratching the surface). We’ll continue to track the progress of all the upcoming Spider-Man movies and TV shows in development.
