Spider-Man 4 is up there with Avengers 5 as Marvel Studios' most highly anticipated MCU movies, and the past few months have seen us wade through a seemingly endless stream of conflicting rumours.
Daniel Richtman is the latest scooper to chime in, claiming the plan is for Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures to announce a director this summer, possibly as early as May. The trades have yet to comment, though he seems confident we'll hear something official soon.
As expected, Justin Lin (F9: The Fast Saga, Star Trek Beyond) and Drew Goddard (Daredevil, The Martian) are no longer in the mix after both recently signing up for other high-profile projects.
The popular scooper also backs up recent claims that Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming, are also in the mix to potentially helm Spider-Man 4.
Their directing credits include Vacation and the well-received Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
In related news, Jeff Sneider has been told by a source to bet against original Spider-Man trilogy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness helmer Sam Raimi taking charge of the movie.
"All I can say is that we have been actively engaging in conversations about what it could potentially look like for a fourth rendition of my character," Tom Holland said last year, breaking his silence on Spider-Man 4 plans. "Whether or not we can find a way to do justice to the character is another thing."
"I feel very protective over Spider-Man. I feel very, very lucky that we were able to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect his legacy," he added. "So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character."
Alongside Holland, Zendaya is expected to reprise her role as MJ. Sydney Sweeny is rumoured to be playing Black Cat, while The Kingpin, Scorpion, and even the Spider-Slayers are all said to have been considered as Spider-Man 4's villains.
The movie doesn't have a release date, though we're expecting it to arrive in theaters next year. Peter Parker is also expected to be a major player in the next Avengers movies, with it previously reported that the wall-crawler is going to be the lead character in Avengers 5.