Depending on which rumour you choose to believe, Spider-Man: Brand New Day may see the wall-crawler battle Knull or Mephisto. Black Cat could show up, but then again, so might Jackpot or a comic-accurate Mary Jane Watson.
Oh, and then there's Doctor Doom, Scorpion, Shocker, a gender-swapped Chameleon, Mister Negative, and countless other names we've already lost track of.
Overall, it seems like no one knows what we're getting from the movie; some say it'll be a street-level story, others a Multiversal epic, and a few people even claim it's both! It's hardly surprising, then, that many fans are losing patience.
The latest Spider-Man: Brand New Day rumour comes our way from scooper Daniel Richtman. He claims that Marvel Studios is currently casting prisoners for the movie, leading to speculation about what that could mean for the web-slinger when he returns next summer.
While it's hardly a surprise to learn that a superhero movie will feature prisoners, the only time we've visited a prison in the hero's MCU franchise was at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming when Adrian Toomes briefly crossed paths with Mac Gargan.
That certainly lends some weight to theories that Scorpion will return for a fight with Spidey (and that Toomes could factor into this fourth chapter).
In related news, The Cosmic Circus brings word that Zendaya will have only a "minor" role as MJ in Spider-Man: Brand New World. She's busy with heaps of other projects, of course, and there's unlikely to be much room for the character when Peter is now part of a world where no one from his past remembers him.
While many fans are hoping the two young lovebirds will reunite, Spider-Man: Brand New Day also gives Marvel Studios the opportunity for a fresh start and a new supporting cast.
Last December, longtime Spider-Man franchise producer Amy Pascal shared a big update on where things stand with the movie."We're starting shooting the next Spider-Man movie with Destin Daniel Cretton. He's a wonderful director. I love Just Mercy, I love Short Term 12, I love Shang-Chi. I think he did a wonderful job."
When it was put it to her that Spider-Man: Way Home felt like the perfect send-off for the web-slinger, Pascal responded, "Well, we have to deal with the fact that he decided he was going to give up being Peter Parker."
"And he was going to focus on being Spider-Man because being Peter Parker was too hard," the veteran producer teased. "That's what the movie is about."
"I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me," Holland revealed late last year. "Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were like bouncing around the living room."
"Like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect, but there [are] a few things we need to figure out before we can get that really going. But it’s exciting and I’m really, really excited about it," he concluded.
Spider-Man 4 has been officially dated for July 31, 2026, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton helming a script penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.