It’s no secret that there’s been an extensive history of disputes between Sony and Marvel surrounding the MCU’s incredibly popular Spider-Man movies. With that in mind, it’s naturally not surprising to learn of the recent rumors that indicate the upcoming Spider-Man 4 could be suffering something of an identity crisis.

While Marvel Studios wants to give the hero a more grounded, street-level story following the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony is keen to capitalize on all things multiversal – with the studio pushing to once again incorporate Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s respective Spider-Men into the narrative.

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Spider-Man 4 is rumored to have 2 different stories

As is usually the case with these kinds of negotiations, it’s unlikely that either party is going to get exactly what they’re hoping for, so it’s likely that the two opposing studios will have to come to some sort of compromise. This will presumably result in Spider-Man 4 weaving Marvel’s street-level story together with Sony’s requested multiverse elements, as has been suggested by Daniel Richtman.

This has understandably raised a few eyebrows amongst die-hard Spider-Man fans. After all, Sony has infamously received harsh criticism in the past for their interference with the Spider-Man franchise. Both The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 were criticized at the time of their release for trying to do too much and feeling bloated as a result. Much of this was reportedly due to Sony’s meddling, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s attempts to set up the Sinister Six ultimately causing the movie to spin out of control. Similarly, Sam Raimi initially had no interest in using Venom as a villain in Spider-Man 3 until the studio twisted his arm, resulting in the movie having to juggle three villains at once.

With this in mind, the idea of Spider-Man 4 making this same mistake – especially following the huge critical and commercial success of Spider-Man: No Way Home – is concerning. After all, No Way Home left the character of Peter Parker in a perfectly bittersweet place. Although he was ultimately victorious in his attempt to defeat Norman Osborn and fix the multiverse, Peter also lost everything in the process – including his aunt, his girlfriend, his best friend and even his own identity. This ending promised a much more conflicted, grounded, and tragic version of Spider-Man going forward – which feels like a natural step forward for a character now approaching adulthood – while also more closely resembling his comic book counterpart. It seems Peter won't be so quick to reveal his identity going forward, either, stating in No Way Home:

Spider-Man 4 needs to be street-level or multiversal

Rather than attempting to balance a street-level story with a multiversal one, Marvel and Sony need to pick a lane and focus on doing just one of them right. At their cores, the two concepts are somewhat at odds with one another, with one highlighting spectacle and fan service and the other putting a square focus on character and setting. This isn’t to say that a story involving the multiverse can’t do its characters justice and tell a fantastic personal story, as the Spider-Verse movies have done precisely that – but those movies don’t exactly tell a street-level story despite their stakes being deeply personal. Attempting to incorporate these elements into a smaller scale project would risk undermining the entire trajectory of Peter’s arc as a hero, with him now needing to learn to operate as Spider-Man entirely on his own. After all, would it really take three Spider-Men to tackle a street-level threat? If Marvel decided to go in another direction, however, the movie could instead become a parade of pointless cameos that ultimately have no impact on the movie’s plot.

In an ideal world, Spider-Man 4 would place all its chips on a smaller scale story, allowing Peter Parker to truly come into his own as the wallcrawler without the intervention of other Spider-Men or MCU superheroes. Especially given the growing sense of ‘multiverse fatigue’ amongst critics and fans, it would be wise for Marvel to focus on crafting a well-told story rather than selling its soul for the sake of setting up the next big thing. While it’s true that fans responded positively to the re-appearance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it felt right to include those characters in that particular narrative. Not only was their support crucial in helping recalibrate Peter’s moral compass in the wake of Aunt May’s tragic death, but there was also a long-overdue sense of closure to their own individual arcs after their respective stories were cut short. Trying to shoehorn the characters into future movies for the sake of it, however, could cheapen what made their initial appearance so impactful.

If the movie does insist on going the multiverse route, however, Marvel should fully lean into it, significantly upping the ante and exploring the concept of the Spider-Verse much more fully. It’s clear that fans would like to see the alternate universe Spider-Men again in one form or another, but the threat facing Peter would need to be seriously next-level to require the three heroes to come together again. Perhaps it would be a good time for the universe-hopping villain Morlun to make his live-action debut.

Regardless, an attempt to blend the street-level with the multiversal would likely feel awkward and contrived, but it’ll certainly be interesting to see how this conflict plays out – and which of these three directions Marvel Studios decides to go with.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is one of the biggest names in entertainment today. The superhero first appeared in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15 before becoming a leading figure in the Marvel comic-book universe.

Spider-Man has also featured in numerous films and a plethora of video games, most notably Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

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