Yesterday evening, the news broke that Spider-Man 4 has finally found a director in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton.
It's a decision which has been met with widespread approval from fans, especially after rumoured names like Drew Goddard and Adam Wingard did little to inspire confidence in Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' plans for a movie that may or may not be another Multiversal epic.
However, good news for Spider-Man 4 is bad news for the Shang-Chi sequel.
According to Variety, "Cretton has also been developing a sequel to 'Shang-Chi,' but a source close to the production says that 'Spider-Man 4' is currently the priority for the studio." As a result, that movie has now been put on the back burner and will no longer be released before the next Avengers movies.
This also suggests Marvel Studios won't look for another director to helm Shang-Chi 2 and rush it out without Cretton (who has also developed Disney+'s Wonder Man for them).
Back when the director was attached to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, it looked like he might take charge of Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time (the sequel's rumoured title revealed by copyright listings in 2022) as a direct lead-in to that ensemble project.
That was back when the Ten Rings almost certainly had ties to Kang, and with that villain now sidelined for Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, we'd imagine the Shang-Chi sequel will be redeveloped for the next Saga of MCU storytelling.
Very little has been revealed about Spider-Man 4 and, despite months of rumours ranging from a team-up with Daredevil to Sydney Sweeney playing Black Cat, the trades have had little new intel to share. It does sound like cameras are expected to begin rolling at the start of 2025, though, likely placing Spider-Man 4 in the Multiverse Saga's vacant July 24, 2026 slot.
The movie being released between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars could mean it will indeed reunite Tom Holland's Peter Parker with the Variants played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, but we'll have to wait and see.
"The thing that is very cool is that, when you’re on the inside," Cretton previously said of working with Marvel Studios, "and I hope this doesn’t shatter anybody’s fantasy, but you realize how normal everybody is. It doesn’t feel like you’re with the cool kids. It feels like you’re just with a bunch of nerds like yourself."
"It’s just a bunch of passionate people trying to tell stories and solve problems. It’s very fun, but it doesn’t feel exclusive, on the inside. It just feels creative, like anything else."
Stay tuned for additional updates on Spider-Man 4 (and Shang-Chi 2!) as we have them.