Spider-Man is staying the MCU, with the fourth installment of the Tom Holland-led franchise eying a director familiar to the Marvel fandom.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” director Destin Daniel Cretton will help guide the web slinger through the next part of his MCU hero’s journey following the game-changing events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Cretton had been attached to Avengers: Kang Dynasty until legal trouble surrounding Jonathan Majors delayed and ultimately scuttled production on that film.
Cretton takes over for Jon Watts, who had been at the helm for all three prior Holland-led Spidey MCU movies, concluding with No Way Home in 2021, which grossed nearly $2 billion.
Spoiler alert in case you still haven’t seen it, but the ending of No Way Home reset the entire chess board, with Peter Parker becoming completely unknown to the world after sacrificing his life as he knew it in a spell cast by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to prevent a massive incursion tied to those who knew his identity as Spider-Man. Now, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) have no idea who Peter is and our hero is completely alone following the death of his Aunt May (Marissa Tomei). However, No Way Home ended on a hopeful note with Spider-Man swinging through New York in a new, comic-accurate homemade suit ready to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man without all the Stark tech which had defined his time in the MCU thus far.
Of course, it was possible that would have been the end for Holland as Spidey. The ending of No Way Home theoretically could have served as the coda for his time in the suit, with the audience left with the idea that Spider-Man was still around and we just wouldn’t be seeing more of his adventures. And it’s hard to deny that any Spidey movie is going to have a hard time following the spectacle of seeing Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Holland on screen together as Parker/Spider-Man. Not to mention the thorny character-sharing arrangement between Sony and Marvel that nearly blew up the Holland series following 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. But that’s all moot now as we know Holland’s Spidey Senses will continue to tingle.
Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers will handle script duties, per The Hollywood Reporter, with THR noting that shooting is expected to begin early next year. It should be noted that the trade publication said it is unclear what the story will be.
