‘This is such a headache’: Marvel Studios risks ruining its next movie destined to cross $1 billion when the perfect title is staring them in the face

What is happening with Spider-Man 4? It’s been almost three years since No Way Home became the highest-grossing Multiverse Saga movie to date (suck it, Deadpool & Wolverine), but we have yet to get an official word on what’s next for Tom Holland’s wallcrawler. That said, rumors are spreading that Marvel and Sony are taking the fourquel in an… unexpected direction.

A sinister swoop of rumors have emerged regarding the film, which is currently undergoing a creative rehaul following Shang-Chi‘s Destin Daniel Cretton coming aboard as director. Word has it that Spidey 4 will go even more cosmic and ambitious than the last one, with Robert Downey Jr., Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire all potentially returning alongside Tom Hardy’s Venom (actually multiple symbiotes) and an outer-space setting.

Unsurprisingly, fans have thoughts. Many feel that this would be 100% the wrong direction to go in after No Way Home so perfectly placed Peter Parker to become the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man of yore next time around. “I really hate that everything Spider-man has to be multiversal or a grand event now,” grumbled one Redditor. “This movie is shaping up to be everything I DIDNT want it to be to a tee,” grouched another, one of several who are taking this alleged news as a personal attack: “This is such a headache. Really hope they don’t go the multiverse/Venom route with this one but they seem to have it out for me personally.”

Given the fan reaction, then, Marvel might want to consider if bigger really is better. What a lot of fans want, it seems, is simply for Spidey to hang (and swing) around New York and keep things grounded (or rooftopped, anyway). The irony is that the studios are thinking way too hard about this, as there’s a perfect title sitting in their laps, and it would deliver everything fans are asking for.

Spider-Man 4‘s ultimate title and team-up is right before our eyes, and Marvel needs to notice before it’s too late

Spider-Man: There’s No Place Like Home? Spider-Man In Space? Even Spider-Man: King in Black, according to another recent rumor? Nah, thanks, we’re good. Honestly, the best title Marvel could christen Spider-Man 4 with is exceedingly obvious. Hear me out: how about they just call it… Spider-Man Four? Or, perhaps more accurately, Spider-Man/Four.

The USP of each of Tom Holland’s first Spidey trilogy was how they teamed him up with other Marvel icons — Iron Man in Homecoming, Nick Fury (kinda) in Far From Home, and Doctor Strange in No Way Home. It just so happens that Spider-Man 4 is coming out right as the Fantastic Four are entering the fray for the first time. So why not have Peter sling on over to the Baxter Building and meet Reed Richards and company?

Spidey has been friends with the foursome ever since the 1960s — he often teams up with good pal Johnny Storm — and he’s essentially the honorary fifth member of the team (alongside She-Hulk). There’s acres of history to mine from there, which makes a Spidey/FF crossover such a perfect direction for his fourth MCU solo outing. Deadpool & Wolverine has proven that slamming two IPs together in a title works wonders, so the heft of both Spider-Man and Fantastic Four as brands would surely push this past the $1 billion mark at the box office as well.

The only hitch is that The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in another universe, as Pascal’s team doesn’t actually hail from the Sacred Timeline. Except maybe that isn’t an issue, as that would hand the film the cosmic/multiversal edge the studios are apparently looking for, given that Peter would need to cross over into another reality in order to meet them. That would also neatly tie into Downey’s Doom, who probably comes from the same world, and Garfield and Maguire could always come with him. Everyone’s a winner! Kevin Feige, I’m begging you, please return my calls.