Sony Pictures has been building a Spider-Man film universe solely through the web-slinger’s iconic villains, but a hypothetical Spider-Man 4 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 would give Sony a true Spider-Man franchise. Spider-Man has had three different film franchises, and all three were featured in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. The long-awaited return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man iterations, unsurprisingly, led to significant fan demand for a fourth Sam Raimi film and third The Amazing Spider-Man installment, which Sony could use to complete their Spider-Verse.

The MCU’s ongoing version of Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, inadvertently unleashes the multiverse in No Way Home, causing villains from the Raimi and Amazing Spider-Man realities to menace his world. The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Maguire) and the Amazing Spider-Man (Garfield) help Holland’s MCU version defeat the villains without killing them, sending all multiverse villains back to their home realities (along with their respective Spider-Man), at the cost of the MCU losing its collective memories of Peter Parker. At the behest of their respective actors, story details following Spider-Man 3 are scarce for Maguire’s iteration, while Garfield’s indicates a dark and tragic turn for his version, following Gwen Stacy’s death in his second outing.

Related: Raimi's Original Spider-Man 4 Plan Can't Work After Homecoming

Since 2018’s Venom, Sony has been making do with a Spider-Man universe of their own, notably without featuring Spider-Man himself. With Maguire and Garfield returning in No Way Home and plans for a new trilogy of Tom Holland-starring MCU Spider-Man films in development, Sony can please legions of Spider-Man fans while adding a vital missing element to their Marvel films by making a Spider-Man 4, Amazing Spider-Man 3, and integrating both into their multiverse. With the star power of two beloved incarnations of Spider-Man and their respective villains, combined with Sony’s villain solo movies, the studio could build a potential rival to the MCU.

Spider-Man Maguire Garfield Holland

Although Sony has released two popular Venom solo movies, they, unfortunately, removed vital elements of the character’s history by eschewing Eddie Brock and the symbiote’s history with Spider-Man. Unsurprisingly, many of Spider-Man’s villains have origins that are intrinsically linked to the web-slinger, and all have fascinating histories with Spider-Man, regardless of his involvement in their origin stories. Making a Spider-Man universe without Spider-Man can only go so far.

Making new films for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of Spider-Man provides Sony with the opportunity to continue both of their stories and include them in crossover films. The MCU has made the multiverse an increasingly prominent element in Phase 4, and Sony appears to be tapping into its potential already, with Michael Keaton’s MCU version of The Vulture appearing in a trailer for Morbius. With Sony’s plans for a Sinister Six villain team-up film, villains from their previous Spider-Man franchises could potentially be part of the titular squad of criminals.

With a Spider-Man 4, Sony could satisfyingly continue the story of Maguire’s Spider-Man, showing him and his version of Mary Jane Watson continuing to make their relationship work. The film could take inspiration from Marvel’s MC2 comics and have them start a family, setting up Mayday Parker as her father’s successor. Garfield’s Spider-Man was still working through his trauma and bitterness following Gwen Stacy’s death in No Way Home, and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 would allow him to gradually move on and return to his less brutal crime-fighting methods. Bringing both versions of Spider-Man into Sony’s shared universe would allow them to battle multiverse villains in exciting new adventures, giving Sony a true Spider-Verse.

Next: Casting Sony's Sinister Six Movie

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