A Spider-Man 4 plot rumor claims the upcoming film might bring back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, but Marvel Studios and Sony reportedly don't see eye to eye on the matter.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man: No Way Home brought the MCU trilogy to a satisfying conclusion with a star-studded multiverse angle that saw the returns of several characters from previous Spider-Man films and ended with Holland's Peter Parker sacrificing his friend’s memories of him to set things right and carry on saving the world in memory of his Aunt May. Audiences loved the film, with Spider-Man: No Way Home grossing nearly $2 billion at the box office and impressing fans with a well-done use of the multiverse concept. Due to this, it was no surprise when Kevin Feige confirmed Spider-Man 4 was in the works in 2021.

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While actual plot details are still sealed despite Feige confirming the Spider-Man 4 story is set, recent reports have given a general overview of the direction the film might be heading, with a broad view to scale down the threats to reflect the sort of stories that the character usually deals with in comic book storylines. As revealed by Daniel Richtman via his exclusive Patreon, while Marvel Studios boss Feige and leading man Holland are insistent on having the fourth film and subsequent trilogy tell a more grounded story, Sony is still insistent on working in both Maguire and Garfield for a multiverse story. These two desires stand opposed to one another, with the plot contrivance needed to bring the two alternate Spider-Men back for more action would undermine the end of the last trilogy and bring in elements that aren’t grounded.

While some fans in the replies were excited by the prospect, many more showed concern about the alleged backstage move. Going by the Spider-Man 4 villain clues possibly revealed by new MCU rumors, A plot involving multiple Spider-Men would be overstuffed and difficult to justify without even more escalation in stakes and threat level. It’s also difficult to imagine where the next two films in the proposed trilogy could go regarding story progression. The clearest motivator for the move on Sony's end would be using fan service to ensure another box office hit on par with the previous trilogy, as interest in the superhero genre has fallen even further since the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, as seen by the long list of failures in 2023 from both Marvel and DC movies.

Regardless of what fans might enjoy seeing, there are quite a few pitfalls to the Spider-Man 4 idea, as the fan-service nature of such cameos was seen by critics as one of the previous film’s few weak points. While Spider-Man: No Way Home made Marvel fatigue look fake when it debuted in 2021, it's worth contemplating whether the franchise could be in that undesirable position if the multiversal antics carry on past the cathartic conclusion to the Home trilogy.

Spider-Man 4 is in development at Marvel Studios.

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 been featured in numerous films and video games, most notably Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

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Source: Daniel Richtman