After years of being the works (and being subjected to a fair share of rumors), Sony’s Spider-Man 4 seems to finally be getting off the ground. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton was brought on board the project earlier this fall, with franchise star Tom Holland most recently stating that he is excited by the current possibilities of the project.
“It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job,” Holland shared of the script for Spider-Man 4 earlier this month. “I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me. Zendaya and I sat down, read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room.”
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Of course, there are still plenty of unanswered questions surrounding Spider-Man 4, including who Peter might go toe-to-toe with in the actual conflict of the film. So, who could possibly be the main villain — or even just a side antagonist — of Spider-Man 4? Here are our biggest theories.
Scorpion
By this point, Holland’s movies as Spider-Man have spanned close to a decade — but they have left a fair share of unanswered questions in their wake. In and amongst them is the fate of Mac Gargan / Scorpion (Michael Mando), the criminal whose fate as a full-blown supervillain with a lizard-like suit of armor was teased in the post-credits scene of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
All these years later, we are not any closer to seeing Scorpion’s story continued, or Mando even reprising his role. That, coupled with the fact that general audiences are largely unfamiliar with Scorpion in a live-action context, could make him an easy and satisfying candidate to fight in Spider-Man 4 — at very least, to wrap things up.
Black Cat
Another character woefully unexplored in Spider-Man’s live-action (outside of a plain-clothes appearance from Felicity Jones in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Felicia Hardy / Black Cat has already become a bonafide fan favorite. An expert thief with a unique romantic infatuation with Peter and Spider-Man, Felicia has evolved into being a hero, antihero, and straightforward villain — but either way, audiences love her.
If Spider-Man 4 wants to explore Peter’s evolution both inside and outside of the costume, all while complicating his tragic romance with MJ, including Black Cat might be the perfect way to do it.
Silver Sable
Whether as a standalone hero, the leader of the ragtag group the Wild Pack, or even as a love interest of other Marvel characters, Silvija Sablinova / Silver Sable also has her own storied history and passionate following. A bounty hunter armed with an arsenal of skills and a traumatic past with her Nazi-hunting father, Sable can be introduced as an ally of Holland’s Peter Parker or some sort of government adversary, not unlike her recent portrayal in the Spider-Man video game franchise.
If the now-defunct Silver and Black crossover movie between her and Felicia can’t become a reality, we at least need to see Silver Sable in live-action in some capacity — and Spider-Man 4 could be an unexpected outlet for that.
Mister Negative
The Spider-Man video games have also helped bring another character to the forefront of fans’ minds — Martin Lei / Mister Negative. A gangster-turned-philanthropist with ties to things throughout New York City (including the F.E.A.S.T. Project where Peter’s Aunt May volunteers in the comics), Martin was secretly experimented on by the crime boss Silvermane. This led to him having control of the Darkforce and Lightforce dimensions under an alter ego, as well as the ability to transform his appearance into an inverted negative.
Mister Negative’s visual design is undeniably stunning, and his appearances in the games proved how it could be realized beyond a static image. His distinct and tragic gimmick and his street-level connections could make him a powerful villain for Peter to fight, both as himself and as Spider-Man.
Kingpin
Of course, any conversation about street-level villains for Spider-Man to fight is not complete without Wilson Fisk / Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). While usually associated with his rivalry with Daredevil, Kingpin has been at the center of some memorable Spider-Man stories in the comics, and there has been an eagerness to see the two cross over for as long as D’Onofrio has been playing the character.
Based on prevailing rumors, it will remain to be seen if the street-level culmination of Kingpin’s rise to power in New York will actually happen in Spider-Man 4 — but it certainly would be cool if it did. It would allow for Peter’s second chapter to have some decidedly grounded roots, and bring the two beloved actors into the same frame.
Venom
That being said, there have also been the theories that Spider-Man 4 might ultimately take a more multiversal angle, especially if it is sandwiched between Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. If that is the case, and depending on how the events of the new Venom: The Last Dance movie shake out, it could be fun to see Holland’s Spider-Man finally fully cross over with Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom.
Some convoluted post-credits scenes aside, Hardy’s fan-favorite portrayal of Venom has yet to properly bump elbows with the larger Spider-Verse. Not only would that give fans a modern-day cinematic version of the iconic rivalry from the comics, but it would certainly create an interesting rapport given the personalities of both characters.
Knull
Going even bigger, The Last Dance is confirmed to include Knull, the primordial King in Black who rules over the symbiotes across the universe. Those involved with the film have said that Knull’s story might not be limited to a single project, which has naturally led to speculation about his involvement in Spider-Man 4.
While that conflict would run the risk of potentially being repetitive of what fans just saw in The Last Dance, it would give Holland’s Peter a massive conflict to go up against.
Doctor Doom
And finally, depending on how Spider-Man 4 fits into the puzzle of Doomsday and Secret Wars — could we just see Robert Downey Jr.’s Victor Von Doom / Doctor Doom appear? It would be an unexpected conflict for Peter, doubly so given his past rapport with Downey’s now-deceased Tony Stark / Iron Man.
Spider-Man is, coincidentally, getting a new costume from Doctor Doom in a forthcoming Marvel comic, but we’ll have to see if that translates into anything on the big screen.