Having seen Sam Raimi walk away from his planned fourth installment, allowed The Amazing Spider-Man saga to implode at the second hurdle and then briefly snatched Tom Holland’s Peter Parker away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans are always going to associate Sony’s involvement with Spider-Man as possessing an element of danger.
Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal appear to have a stronger working relationship than ever before, though, so we can guarantee with as close to 100% certainty as possible that the current iteration of the iconic superhero will be sticking around our screens for another trilogy.
However, that didn’t stop writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers from writing a fail safe into their screenplay for No Way Home, after the duo admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that they settled on an ending that would tie up Holland’s tenure in a neat narrative bow if the worst case scenario were to unfold.
“I think it’s a fitting ending if it had to end this way. We never know. “Oh, is Tom doing another one? Will we be a part of it?” At a certain point we just got to keep our eye on the one in front of us. “Is this a satisfying story that doesn’t just feel like we are ending on a cliffhanger that is trying to trick you in to the next one?” I do feel with this ending, Peter makes a sacrifice.
There are all these Marvel movies about him trying to figure out what it is to be a hero, what it is to be Spider-Man, what it is to be Peter Parker, how to balance both, how to have it all. He gets to have it all at the end of the last movie, right before that tag and then it’s all stripped away. “Oh no! What are they going to do next time?” This one feels like it’s more mature because it really is, as Doctor Strange says, “You are trying to have it all. You can’t have it all. You’ve got to make a choice.”
The good news is that a fourth Spider-Man blockbuster with Holland in the lead is already in the early stages of development, with two more to follow if Pascal gets her way, so there’s very little danger of Spidey being rebooted and recast all over again for at least another few years.