A great deal has happened in the MCU to many characters in Phase 4, but none have been through quite so much as Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. The web-slinger is now in a world where literally everybody has forgotten who he is following the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Fans are, of course, very interested to see where this story goes. And we know that Spider-Man 4 is in the plan, but it appears that the project has been stalled thanks to the ongoing WGA Strike.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has been an important part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since his introduction in Captain America: Civil War. Holland has moved almost continuously from one Spidey project to the next since then. While there was the possibility that the solo franchise could end with a trilogy, following the massive box office of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it wasn't exactly a shock to learn that another movie was on the way.
However, we haven’t heard much about Spider-Man 4 recently beyond assurances from Producer Amy Pascal that Spider-Man 4 is happening. Speaking with Variety, Tom Holland explains that while there have been very early talks about the project, they are on hold due to the writers’ strike. He explained…
I can’t talk about that, but I can say that we have been having meetings. We’ve put the meetings on pause in solidarity with the writers. There’s been multiple conversations had, but at this point it’s very, very early stages.
The three previous MCU Spider-Man movies were written by the pair of Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, and while the writers of Spider-Man 4 have not been officially announced, it seems likely they will return considering the last three movies were all solid hits. While some early pre-production conversations could likely be had without them involved, the team has decided not to do that as a show of support for the striking writers.
Spidey is far from the only Marvel hero that’s seeing a slowdown due to the writer strike. The long-gestating Blade movie is once again on hold as the script had not been completed prior to the strike, so nothing can be done with that project until the strike is over. Other Marvel movies, like Deadpool 3 and Captain America: New World Order, are moving forward, with both projects already filming, though doing so during the strike presents its own share of potential problems.
Spider-Man is still one of the most popular characters in all of media. The fact that the wall crawler is seeing success in both live-action and animation simultaneously is proof of that. There is almost no doubt that another Spider-Man movie will come but fans should be patient as it likely be some time before we know anything about it.
