Last week, a rumor from The Cosmic Circus suggested that Peter Parker will ultimately come up against two of his most iconic villains in the new Spider-Man trilogy that's said to be in the works from Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, and we may now know how these characters will make their return.
Just in case this is accurate, here's your spoiler warning.
It's said that the plan is to have Spidey encounter the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus again in the new movies, but that doesn't mean it'll be Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius! The site is now hinting that two other characters will assume these villainous mantles.
"I know many people are curious as to how exactly they will do Doc Ock and Green Goblin again when the time comes. I’d just like to let everyone know, the whole world was watching the final fight during No Way Home. And it may or may not have inspired a couple of people in the MCU."
Honestly, as great as Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina were in these roles, it makes a lot more sense to cast new actors as Gobbie and Doc Ock at this stage. How fans will feel about seeing characters other than Osborn and Octavius take up the mantles is another story - although there's nothing to say that these individuals couldn't be Variants!
Alex Perez also shared some more tidbits about Spider-Man 4.
An official announcement is expected this year (no surprise there), and he doesn't think the movie will include Multiversal elements - aside from the symbiote. Perez doesn't believe Black Cat will appear, but may show up in later films, and notes that the events of Daredevil: Born Again (Kingpin's anti-street vigilante crusade, presumably) will "heavily" impact the Webhead.
Finally, he reiterates previous reports that the studios want to introduce villains that haven't featured in the movies before, but says Parker's past will prove to be his biggest obstacle.
Rumors aside, we still know very little about how Spider-Man 4 is shaping up. Sony's Tom Rothman and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige are believed to have had some disagreements when it comes to the overall plot, with the latter hoping to scale the Multiverse elements back for a smaller story. Rothman, meanwhile, is said to want to capitalize on No Way Home's success by bringing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back as their respective takes on Peter Parker.
Holland will, of course, return as the MCU's Spidey alongside Zendaya as MJ, but the actor is believed to be "growing wary" of playing the iconic hero, so this could be his final solo outing as the wall-crawler - though he will almost certainly play a part in one of both of the upcoming Avengers films.
"We have the best in the business working toward whatever the story might be," Holland said in a recent interview. "But until we’ve cracked it, we have a legacy to protect," Holland explained. "The third movie was so special in so many ways that we need to make sure we do the right thing."
No Way Home scribes Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are writing the script.