Marvel fans' hopes for Spider-Man 4 have just gone up in flames

Ever since Spider-Man: No Way Home completely turned the Marvel Cinematic Universe on its head, fans have been clamoring for more Spider-Man. It's understandable, because not only did the movie remind us of how much potential Tom Holland's webslinger has, it showcased that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are still, well, amazing in the role, too.

With the Multiverse Saga exploring alternate realities and the inevitable return of the MCU's wall-crawler, fans have been hoping that Maguire and Garfield's iterations of the character will have their stories wrapped up in the future, too. Hopes have been high that one day we will get Spider-Man 4 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 to conclude those respective stories. The former has always seemed more likely, with rumors aplenty over the past year, many of which suggested that it might happen one day. However, as reported by The Direct, it might not be as likely as fans thought.

Sam Raimi actually isn't working on Spider-Man 4 (yet)

While rumors and reports have suggested that Sam Raimi will be working with Marvel Studios to produce a fourth Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire, the director himself revealed that those conversations have not been had, at least as of yet. Speaking to Comic Book Resources at WonderCon 2024, he confirmed that he "hasn't heard about that" and that he's "not actually working on it yet".

As for whether it could happen, Raimi is hopeful but also acknowledges that Marvel and Sony have achieved such levels of success with the MCU version of Spider-Man, so he "doesn't know" if they would decide to go back and tell a previous Spider-Man's story. He commented:

"Well, I haven't heard about that yet. I did read that, but I'm not actually working on it yet. I mean, Marvel and Columbia [are] so successful with their current Spider-Man and the track there. And I don't know that they're going to go back to me and say, 'Wait folks, we could also tell that story.' I'm not sure, but I love all the new Spider-Man movies. I loved 'Spider-Man: No Way Home.' [It] was really super powerful and great seeing Tobey [Maguire] again in it."

While this isn't an outright no from Raimi, it does disprove some of the theories that Marvel was committing to the project. While the notion of standalone movies designed to conclude the arcs of Maguire and Garfield's respective Peter Parkers sound amazing, having three cinematic Spider-Man universes running at the same time runs the risk of confusing mainstream audiences who don't keep up with the comics or the rumors. And with Marvel attempting to rebuild a portion of its audience after a number of underperformances at the box office, now might not be the best time to bring out three unrelated Spider-Man movies (as successful as they would all likely be).

Raimi, of course, directed the original Spider-Man trilogy, which starred Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and his amazing webslinging alter ego. The first two films were incredibly well-received, with the second even being considered one of the greatest sequels of all time. The third was a bit of a misstep for the franchise, but it was successful enough to warrant a fourth, which was greenlit but never came to fruition (as Sony moved on to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise). Naturally, Maguire's return in the MCU's Spider-Man: No Way Home had fans calling for one more solo movie to complete his story.

Something else that makes Spider-Man 4 quite possible is Raimi's good relationship with Marvel Studios. Though he didn't join Maguire on the previous Spider-Man movie, he did direct the subsequent MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 isn't completely out of the question, it's just not on the table right now.

But if you're hoping for a fourth adventure for any Spider-Man, the other Spider-Man 4 - the one led by Tom Holland - is still in development, with rumors suggesting that it will begin production in the fall of this year. That will no doubt be an exciting time for fans of the character, as the previous film left Peter's story in an unexpected place, so it will be interesting to see how he turns it around. Perhaps another visit from Maguire and Garfield's Spider-Men could do the trick? We'll have to wait and see.