There have been numerous theories and rumors relating to Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios' fourth solo Spider-Man movie, and speculation really kicked up a few notches when some pretty wild reports about which characters could be involved in the story started doing the rounds a couple of months back.
Now, a new rumor may give us a better idea of what to expect.
According to Daniel Richtman, Spider-Man 4 is basically being developed as "a direct sequel" to Avengers: Doomsday that will bridge the gap between the 2026 film and 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars.
We have heard that Tom Holland's wall-crawler is going to have a major role in Doomsday, so Spider-Man 4 serving as a follow-up (to at least some extent) would make sense.
Though Spidey didn't feature in the recent MCU concept art that found its way online, the images did lead to some intriguing theories relating to the iconic hero's role in all three films mentioned above.
The artwork seemed to confirm that we will indeed be heading to Battleworld, a medieval-like land ruled by Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom and a number of Avengers characters who have no memory of their previous lives. In No Way Home, Doctor Strange cast a spell that erased Peter Parker from the minds of everyone he knew, and some believe this will result in Spider-Man emerging as the only character free of Dooms' control, potentially making him an Anchor Being (the concept introduced in Deadpool and Wolverine) tasked with saving the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Multiverse itself.
Needing help with his mission, Parker could turn to some old friends (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spideys) and assemble a team made up of other Multiverse variants such as Ghost Rider (Nicolas Cage), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), etc.
Again, this is just one theory, but it could go some way towards explaining all of those crazy rumors we've been hearing.
Richtman has also reiterated a previous report about Blade being developed as a "post-Secret Wars" movie.
The MCU Blade reboot was recently removed from Marvel Studios' slate, but it sounds like the movie is still very much alive. The project is reportedly still on track to commence production in the UK at some point later this year.
Last we heard, the latest draft by Eric Pearson - who is the sixth writer to have been assigned to the project after Michael Green, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Beau DeMayo and Nic Pizzolatto - had "finally satisfied everyone involved," although the delay might indicate that they've gone back to the drawing board yet again.
Spider-Man 4 was recently pushed back a week from July 24, 2026 to July 31, 2026.