Spider-Man 4 is happening. It was always going to happen. Spider-Man: No Way Home gave fans a touching, bittersweet conclusion to the MCU/Sony trilogy, but the film’s box office success meant that “conclusion” was going to be taken as a suggestion, rather than a rule. There’s nothing a few retcons and rewrites can’t fix, right?
Well, that’s what Reddit user herequeerandgreat posited in a recent post. They mentioned the final scene of No Way Home, where we see that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been wiped from the memories of everyone he loves. He approaches MJ (Zendaya) with plans to (re)introduce himself, but he decides against it and walks away.
Peter and MJ are likely going to reunite in Spider-Man 4, and when they do, MJ is going to be pretty ticked off that Peter walked away. Right before her memory was wiped, MJ made him promise that he would come and find her, so when she finds out that he didn’t, there will definitely be some demands for an excuse. “Needless to say, Peter is going to have to work very hard to regain Mary Jane’s trust,” the user adds.
It’s an excellent point, and one that the writers of Spider-Man 4 are going to have to navigate carefully. The impact of the No Way Home ending came from its ambiguity. The viewer wasn’t told whether Peter removed himself from MJ’s life forever, or if he simply wasn’t ready to introduce himself, and planned to do so at a later date. There was room for interpretation, which is something that’s exceedingly rare in the episodic MCU.
Providing a concrete answer could be risky. It could lessen the emotional impact of No Way Home, which was considered to be one of the best MCU releases in Phase 4, and it would run the risk of being compared to the Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) plot in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3. The Gamora we saw in that film was from a different timeline, and she therefore had no memory of her romance with Star Lord. The characters then bond, and reconnect over the course of their adventure. Sounds similar, right?
While not official, insiders have claimed that Holland, Zendaya, and director Jon Watts will all be returning for Spider-Man 4. Holland talked about the film at the premiere of his miniseries The Crowded Room, and though he was optimistic, he made it clear that things were still being sorted out. He also revealed that talks have been halted due to the ongoing writers strike.
“I can’t talk about that, but I can say that we have been having meetings,” Holland explained. “We’ve put the meetings on pause in solidarity with the writers. There’s been multiple conversations had, but at this point it’s very, very early stages.”
Amy Pascal, who produced the MCU/Sony trilogy, echoed support for the writers strike. She did, however, make it clear that fans would be getting another film regardless of how long it takes to get made. “Are we going to make another movie? Of course we are,” she asserted.