‘Yes, Avengers level threat’: ‘Spider-Man 4’ title is rumored to have leaked, and I am somehow both excited and a little nauseous

The Marvel fandom is essentially doing its best J. Jonah Jameson impression every day at this point, slamming their fists on the desk, chomping down on their cigars, and yelling “I WANT SPIDER-MAN!” It’s coming up on three full years since Spider-Man: No Way Home arguably took the crown as the greatest film to come out of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, and we’ve still yet to receive word that Spider-Man 4 is officially happening.

Once you staple all the dubious rumors, half-truths, and hearsay together, though, it seems like Marvel and Sony are close to getting somewhere with it. Shang-Chi‘s Destin Daniel Cretton is stepping in to direct, which is highly encouraging, and the fact that Homecoming trilogy writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are back to provide the script suggests it will retain the winning formula of what’s come before. Where things could really change, though, is with its title.

Spider-Man 4 gets a rumored title, and it teases Venom hasn’t had his last dance, after all

Please, nobody invest your life savings in betting that this is what it will be called, but one intriguing rumor going around claims that Spider-Man 4‘s title will be a big surprise that hints at a crossover with a certain dysfunctional symbiote from the Sony universe. The scuttlebutt (via X user Cryptic HD Quality) goes that the fourquel will be called Spider-Man: King In Black.

For those unaware of the significance, King in Black is a major Marvel Comics event that introduced Knull, the god of the symbiotes who is already set to be the shadowy villain of Venom: The Last Dance. Going by the trailers, Knull will be more of a mysterious presence in the trilogy-closer, which could theoretically leave the door open for him to have a major direct and prominent role in Spider-Man 4. The promise of this title is that Tom Holland and Tom Hardy will finally get to team up to take on Knull together.

Given that this is what Spidey lovers have been waiting for since Venom came out in 2018, naturally some are ready to bow down before this king of titles.

Some are just glad the studios are letting their obsession with Home titles go at last.

Here’s the thing, though. In the comics, it takes Venom, Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the X-Men to defeat Knull. So this potential Spidey 4 could feature lots of juicy cameos.

On the other hand, maybe that’s the whole problem with this possible storyline in a nutshell. Others are criticizing that adapting King in Black in a Spidey movie makes no sense, as it wouldn’t be focused enough on Peter Parker’s character and mythos.

Do we really need to try and outdo No Way Home? Can’t we just have a more street-level Spidey 4 where, say, the wallcrawler teams up with Daredevil to fight Kingpin?

Again, as even the original source of this intel warns that it should be taken with “a grain of salt,” this is not something we should invest too much into. Hypothetically speaking, then, would this be a good direction for Spider-Man 4? Eh. Marvel and Sony’s pathetic previous attempt to cross Venom into the Sacred Timeline — spanning two post-credits scenes and that’s it — was a total bust, so that doesn’t instill much confidence in a full team-up. Maybe if Venom 3, releasing Oct. 25, breaks the box office this option might seem more appealing, but for now King in Black doesn’t sound like a home run.