Spider-Man: No Way Home came out nearly three years ago, but Marvel and Sony have yet to share any official details about the next entry in the franchise. We know Spider-Man 4 is coming, we just don’t know anything about it quite yet. One challenge Marvel might be facing is deciding who exactly Tom Holland’s Peter Parker will face off against, as most of the famed Spider-Man villains are currently wrapped up in Sony’s comic book movies.
According to leaker Daniel Richtman, there simply aren’t many existing Spider-Man villains left for Marvel Studios to introduce in the MCU. Richtman claims that whenever Sony uses a villain in one of their SSU movies — such as Venom, Morbius, or the upcoming Kraven the Hunter — they effectively block Marvel from using those characters in the MCU.
As we’ve seen in the trailers, Sony’s Kraven the Hunter takes Rhino, Calypso, Chameleon, and Kraven himself off the table for Spider-Man 4.
As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Homecoming and Far From Home had Spider-Man face off against Vulture, Shocker, Scorpion, and Mysterio. In No Way Home, we were reintroduced to Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Sandman, the Lizard, and Electro.
At this point, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have just about exhausted all of the A-list villains from Spidey’s rogues gallery. Most of the B-listers, too. Unless there are plans to run it back with some of the aforementioned characters or introduce new variants, Marvel’s going to have to get creative when it comes to Spidey’s foes going forward.
On the other hand, this lends credence to the rumor that Kingpin will play a significant role in the next Spider-Man movie. Although many fans were introduced to Kingpin in Netflix’s Daredevil TV series, he first debuted in a Spider-Man comic in the 1960s. Compared to the vast majority of the remaining Spider-Man villains that we’ve yet to see in the MCU, he would be a perfect threat for a Peter Parker no one remembers to make a name for himself against in Spider-Man 4.