The ink may have barely dried on the new deal that saw Spider-Man officially remain part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after much back-and-forth between Marvel Studios and Sony over how to utilize the iconic superhero going forward, but already the third standalone adventure for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has a release date set for 2021.
However, this is the MCU, a franchise that was built on planning their interconnected stories years in advance, so there’s little doubt that Kevin Feige already has ideas on where to take the character after the end of the Spider-Man 3. After all, with both Sony and Marvel Studios set to make a lot of money out of the web-slinger for the forseeable future, Spidey looks set to be a key figure in the comic book series for a long time yet.
Both Homecoming and Far From Home followed Peter in high school, so it stands to reason that future installments will take him to college, and now, sources close to We Got This Covered have tipped us off that the eventual Spider-Man 4 will not only see a college-aged version of the character, but the driving force of the story will be his battles against the Sinister Six.
Our sources – the same ones who also told us Joker was getting a sequel last month, and that the Inhumans were being rebooted, both of which we now know to be true – have also claimed that Harry Osborn is set to play a part in the narrative. At this point, it seems as though the Osborn family have been done to death in previous Spider-Man movies, but there’ve been persistent rumors of patriarch Norman playing a big role in the MCU going forward and so it makes sense that Harry could show up, too.
Of course, Jon Watts’ time at the helm of the franchise has sown several of the seeds for the Sinister Six to appear already, with Michael Keaton’s Vulture still not completely out of the picture, Donald Glover appearing as the Prowler’s alter-ego Aaron Davis, and Bokeem Woodbine and Michael Mando also having small roles as the civilian aliases of Shocker and Scorpion, respectively.
When you also figure in the chatter that Peter’s best friend Ned might end up as Hobgoblin, as well as the constant speculation that Venom could be set to crossover into the MCU following the Sony deal, and Watts’ desire to have Kraven the Hunter appear in a future Spider-Man movie, then that’s a solid base for the Sinister Six already established without having to introduce a ton of new characters.
In any case, the Sinister Six have been a priority for those pulling the strings on the Spider-Man franchise for a while now, so it really seems a matter of if rather than when the team of supervillains will make their big screen debut.
