“Should we find a way to tell his story and do justice to him, we will do so. But if we can’t find a way to compete with the third one, he’ll swing off into the sunset.”
Spider-Man 4 with Tom Holland back in the spidey-suit is officially in development at Sony and Marvel Studios but the actor has now left fans a little worried after he cast a bit of doubt on whether or not it would actually even happen.
After the bombshell ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans have been dying to find out when Tom’s Peter Parker would pop back up in the MCU. Last year, it was confirmed by Sony’s Amy Pascal and Marvel’s Kevin Feige that a fourth film was in the works – with Tom on board. (In fact, a new Spider-Man trilogy starring Tom was also mentioned.)
Tom has now offered up a few brief updates on the next instalment while promoting his new TV show The Crowded Room, and has hinted that it’s still very much in its early stages.
In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Tom was asked about the future of Spider-Man but ended up pleading the fifth, telling the interviewer that he was “not prepared to start talking about the future of Spider-Man”.
“Should we find a way to tell his story and do justice to [Spider-Man], we will do so,” he said. “But if we can’t find a way to compete with the third one, he’ll swing off into the sunset.”
In another interview with Inverse, Tom explained that while he was “excited” about some of the stuff that’s been spoken about, he still remains unclear on when and if it will happen: “Whether or not it’ll come to fruition, who knows? But right now it’s looking pretty good, and we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Speaking at a press conference in December 2023, Tom shared that he’s been actively engaging in conversations about what it would look like, but doubled down on the notion that he will only return if the team involved can do it justice.
“I want to protect his legacy,” he continued. “So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character.”
If it does happen, fans might not see Spider-Man 4 on the big screen for many years to come anyway.
Back in February, Kevin Feige told Entertainment Weekly that they “have the story” for the next Spider-Man entry: “We have big ideas for that, and our writers are just putting pen to paper now.”
Development was then put on hold when the writers strike began. Tom is also in the midst of a break following his mentally taxing role in The Crowded Room.
Given the huge success of the Spider-Man franchise (including the Spider-Verse films), alongside everyone’s enthusiasm to see more from those beloved characters, it’s likely that Spider-Man 4 will eventually happen. Fingers crossed we get to see Tom back in the suit soon!
