The cinematic state of Spider-Man was in surprising disarray back in 2019 after the success of Far From Home. At the time, Sony and Marvel had a public split over Disney wanting more box office earnings from the MCU-set movies about the wallcrawler, but that deal eventually sorted itself out and gave us the just-released box office juggernaut that is Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now that this movie has come and gone and another chapter of Peter Parker’s life is about to begin, fans were wary if Spidey would no longer be in the MCU. But Kevin Feige has already nipped that in the bud: yes, Spider-Man 4 is happening, and there won’t be any company politics interfering this time around.
“[Sony producer] Amy Pascal and I, and Disney and Sony are actively beginning to develop where the story goes next,” Feige said in an interview with the New York Times. He feels comfortable saying it now because he doesn’t want fans to have “separation trauma” like they did back in 2019, where they created a hashtag to save Spider-Man. Pascal echoed Feige’s statement, saying that she “loves working with Kevin, We have a great partnership...I hope it lasts forever.” Shortly before No Way Home’s release, Pascal said that Sony and Marvel would collaborate on another trio of films, but for the moment, it’s wishful thinking and the focus right now is only on the immediate follow up to No Way Home.
So far, each of Tom Holland’s movies has been pretty big in terms of scope, with big CG setpieces involving drones and dudes from other universes. When asked about topping Peter Parker’s recent multiversal madness, Pascal pivoted to how that isn’t the best way to think about making these movies. “You can’t think about topping yourself in terms of spectacle,” she warned. “But we do want to always try and top ourselves in terms of quality and emotion.” What’s key to these films, she said, is that they can’t lose sight of Peter being a normal kid thrust into these larger situations that will test his resolve.
Not gonna spoil the movie’s ending here, but No Way Home’s ending does give the next movie (or set of movies) some interesting avenues for the character that weren’t entirely afforded to this Peter when he first showed up in Captain America: Civil War. And it’s a decision that both Feige and Pascal are aware of, with Pascal saying that it “gives us a lot to work with for the next film.” Such a film is a ways off, naturally, and it’s always possible he’ll show up before that. “The when and the where, of course, is the fun part,” Feige teased, “and the part that we don’t talk about.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters now.
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