While fans were mixed on Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, even decades later, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 rank among the greatest comic book movies ever made. The threequel was also a box office hit, so the filmmaker's return for Spider-Man 4 made sense on multiple levels.
The movie had been scheduled for a 2011 release, but was ultimately scrapped in preference for The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. Few details have been shared about Spider-Man 4 over the years, though we know the plan was for Spidey to battle The Vulture and Black Cat.
While Spider-Man 3 appeared to be the end for Tobey Maguire's time as the web-slinger, the actor returned to his most iconic role in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home. Since then, fans have been vocal about wanting to see both Spider-Man 4 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 become a reality.
There's really no reason for Sony Pictures not to make those movies, even with Tom Holland still serving as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man. Still, four years later, neither movie looks overly likely.
The Batman and The Batman 2 writer Mattson Tomlin has previously expressed an interest in writing Spider-Man 4 for Raimi. Taking to social media earlier this year, he wrote, "Honestly, right now, my main interest in this respect would be to write a Spider-Man 4 where Tobey’s Spider-Man is juggling being a husband and a father. Spider-Man as a father is where I gravitate towards, given the last 8 films."
Since then, he's continued to express an interest in the project, and the possibility of Spider-Man 4 has become at least a little more real (when the trades started reporting on his remarks, you know it got the studio's attention).
Asked by a fan for an update earlier today, Tomlin wrote, "Slow and steady wins the race. There won’t be anything to say about that for a long time (if ever!) because it involves a lot of people and politics and things going right that have nothing to do with me, but I haven’t gotten a 'no' yet!"
We'll see what happens, but with the Multiverse in play, the most likely next destination for Maguire's Spider-Man will be in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Whether those movies could serve as a launching platform for the story that Tomlin wants to tell remains to be seen.
Asked in 2022 about possibly returning for Spider-Man 4, Raimi, who helmed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for Marvel Studios, said, "Well, I haven’t heard about that yet. I did read that, but I’m not actually working on it yet. I mean, Marvel and Columbia are so successful with current Spider-Man [movies], and the track there, and I don’t know that they’re going to go back to me, and say, 'Well, folks, we can also tell that story!'"
He added, "I’m not sure, but I love all the new Spider-Man movies. I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was really, super powerful seeing Tobey [Maguire] again in it."
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