New Spider-Man 4 rumor is honestly kind of yikes

There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. With the Multiverse Saga creating limitless possibilities and Marvel Studios shifting its focus to more successful properties, it's all a bit up in the air for the MCU right now. But one thing that is certain is that Tom Holland will return as Spider-Man.

Spidey's trilogy was easily one of the most successful chapters of the MCU, which makes it understandsable that Marvel and Sony want to collaborate on another trilogy. It's going to happen at some point, and the stories will likely be more adult than the previous three films.

Those films introduced quite a lot of iconic Spider-Man villains, so there is a lot of speculation (and excitement) as to who the new trio of films could bring in. One recent report, however, has fans raising their eyebrows.

New Spider-Man trilogy could bring in copycat villains

A number of weeks ago, a new rumor began to do the rounds suggesting that Spider-Man could encounter alternate versions of villains he already battled such as Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Those are villains he fought in Spider-Man: No Way Home, with actors Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina reprising their roles from Sam Raimi's unrelated Spider-Man trilogy, so what would be the point of him crossing paths with new versions of those characters when he already battled the definitive, iconic versions of them?

According to Marvel scooper AlexFromCC (via a Q&A published on The Cosmic Circus), Peter Parker could end up encountering some copycat versions of his former villains. The insider wanted to clarify what he meant after his last scoop received quite the response, explaining that the whole world watched the final battle in Spider-Man: No Way Home and that "it may or may not have inspired a couple of people in the MCU".

Fans instantly raised their eyebrows about this and it's hard to blame them because honestly it would be a bit of a strange approach. What would be the point of going to the well again, only to bring in lesser-known versions of popular characters? It's particularly head-scratching when there are so many other great Spider-Man villains that could serve as antagonists instead.

If this rumor turns out to be true, it wouldn't be the first time that a superhero project has told this story. The third season of The CW's Batwoman saw a number of weapons from Batman's rogues gallery of villains end up loose in Gotham City, creating a whole second-generation of Batman villains, including new Mad Hatters, Killer Crocs, and even Poison Ivys. That show handled the storyline incredibly well, but it was TV series that benefitted from the villain-of-the-week format and the Arrowverse programming wasn't allowed to use certain Bat-Family characters, so Batwoman made the most of that.

This isn't the same situation, so a number of copycat Green Goblins and Doc Ocks roaming the streets wouldn't exactly make for compelling villains when the original versions of those characters are far more interesting. It could work if they weren't primary villains in the franchise and simply a task for Spidey to overcome (a bit like the copycat Batmen in The Dark Knight). The other way it could work, however, would be much more exciting.

If Spider-Man 4 or any of its sequels does opt for the copycat approach, one major way that it could be successful would be if somebody had been inspired by the Green Goblin and ultimately became the Hobgoblin as a result. This would work as a way of introducing the highly-underrated Spider-Man villain, who has yet to make his live-action debut, while also serving the storyline of the previous trilogy well. It would birth something new from the the Homecoming trilogy's legacy without straying too far into the realm of illogical. It would also just be incredibly nice to see the Hobgoblin in an MCU movie.

Time will tell if the Spider-Man 4 villain rumor turns out to be true, but it is rather understandable that fans are struggling with the idea of a new trilogy attempting to recreate the success of its predecessor without the right ingredients. We have faith that Marvel and Sony will figure it out and feature the right villains in these movies but we'd be lying if we said the notion of copycat villains wasn't a little eyebrow-raising.

Fingers crossed they come up with an exciting way of bringing Spidey's villains - whoever they may be - to life.