Each of Tom Holland’s projects as the MCU’s Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, have included an annoying pattern, but Spider-Man 4 can break the streak.
An annoying trend demonstrated by Tom Holland’s previous MCU adventures as Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, can finally be broken in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Spider-Man 4. Holland debuted as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, and went on to star in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and lead his own solo MCU trilogy as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, including Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home. While 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with everyone forgetting Peter Parker, Tom Holland will be returning as the wall-crawler in the MCU’s Spider-Man 4, though he’ll be embarking on a very different adventure.
Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige confirmed Spider-Man 4 was in development back in December 2021. Tom Holland is expected to return as Spider-Man, despite taking a break from acting following the grueling production of Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room. Following Spider-Man: No Way Home, during which Doctor Strange made the world forget Peter Parker, it’s unclear what story Spider-Man 4 will focus on. While there is speculation that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin will be a key antagonist to Peter Parker going forward, Spider-Man 4 could be a much more personal story, helping to break a weird trend from previous Spider-Man projects.
Spider-Man 4 Needs To Avoid Glossing Over Peter’s Most Important MCU Life Events
Previous Spider-Man projects have only scratched the surface of Peter Parker’s personal life. For the most part, Parker’s own reactions to major changes in his life are overshadowed and pushed aside by his dedication to his superhero career, with Parker’s relationships with his villains being explored in much more detail than the man himself. For instance, Spider-Man: Far From Home only briefly dealt with Parker’s grief over losing Tony Stark, before he was distracted by Mysterio, and Parker didn’t have time to process his identity being revealed in No Way Home before a slew of villains turned up on Earth-616.
While this has made for some brilliant moments of action between the MCU’s Spider-Man and his thrilling villains, it would be great to see more of Peter Parker’s emotional state investigated in future MCU projects. Spider-Man 4 can finally accomplish this, not least because Peter Parker is now completely alone and isolated, with nobody – not even his closest friends – remembering who he is. This is fertile ground for an exploration of Parker’s vulnerability, so Spider-Man 4 would perhaps benefit from being a much smaller-scale adventure for the wall-crawler, fitting even introducing him to the MCU’s street-level heroes.
Why Spider-Man’s MCU Story Cuts Work (But Continue A Big Risk)
Indeed, this pattern of investigating Peter Parker’s personal life briefly before a major villain arrives and distracts him has been proven to work time-and-again. Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home have all utilized this technique, but while Tom Holland’s first MCU Spider-Man trilogy perhaps benefited from this, future Spider-Man projects should try something new. Continuing this pattern in Spider-Man 4 and beyond risks sabotaging the impact of Peter Parker’s actual story arc, as it’s possible audiences will stop caring about the man himself, and only want to see the heroic Spider-Man in action.
