'Spider-Man 4' Release Now Uncertain as Sony, Marvel Battle

The next Spider-Man movie is still in the works, and while no set release date has been announced, Sony and Marvel are reportedly fighting behind the scenes about it. Not only that, but it seems as though Sony may be quietly but actively trying to sabotage the success of the upcoming fourth Spider-Man film by rushing its release.

 The sequel to the hugely successful Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) was confirmed in May 2023 when producer Amy Pascal said, “Are we going to make another movie? Of course, we are.”  These comments were made during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike when almost nothing was being worked on, but since then, we can only assume that the early stages of pre-production have restarted. Considering the amount of work and time that go into a project the size of a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie, we shouldn’t expect to see Tom Holland as Spider-Man on the silver screen any time soon, but the heads of Sony may have a different opinion on the matter.

Cosmic Marvel shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) revealing information leaked by insider @CanWeGetToast, saying, “Kevin Feige is reportedly “spread too thin” and cannot work on ‘SPIDER-MAN 4’ fast enough to release it in 2025. Sony still wants the film to release in 2025. (via@CanWeGetToast).”

Kevin Feige is reportedly “spread too thin” and cannot work on ‘SPIDER-MAN 4’ fast enough to release it in 2025.

Sony still wants the film to release in 2025.

(via @CanWeGetToast) pic.twitter.com/ZAwv25fAOQ

— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) February 19, 2024

Comments on the post seemed to be united in pointing blame at Sony for wanting to rush the project before its due time, with some even mentioning that rushing timelines was what ultimately led to the demise of the previous trilogy. “That’s the problem with Sony they always wanna rush with Spidey movies . The same situation happened with Spiderman 4 Sony wanted it to be released in 2010 but Sam raimi couldn’t meet the date plus there was creative difference which ultimately scraped the thing,” responded @S_o_H_a_MB.

“Sony needs to chill and yes, Kevin Feige is spread way too thin with the quantity of project announced. Plus, Sony keep releasing stuff we don’t want (Madame Web, Morbius,..)They both need to work their shit up,” replied @CdrickPelletie1. Madame Web was recently released under Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, only to be met with horrible reviews and a severely disappointing box office performance that rivaled the failure that was Morbius in 2022. “They need to back off and let Kevin Feige do his thing! sony has already shown how bad they are when it comes to their own live action spider-verse. Madame Web is pretty much the final nail in the coffin on that disaster! Last thing we need is a rushed Spider-Man 4 making things worse!” @FPL_WadeWilson agreed.

This report also comes after other recent allegations that things behind the scenes of Spider-Man 4 are troubling, with even more issues being wrought between the two studios. Apparently, Sony  was on board to bring back Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s iterations of the web-slinger in order to replicate some of the success from the highly profitable No Way Home. However, Marvel  Feige was reportedly focused on making a more grounded Spider-Man, which would make sense considering the ending shot of the last movie showed the hero in a much simpler and comic-inspired outfit. This “street level” approach is similar to what Marvel and Disney+ have done with shows like Hawkeye, Daredevil: Born Again, She-Hulk, and Echo, which could see the iconic web-slinger join forces with some of these “smaller” characters.

Unfortunately, as Sony and Marvel fight over the power and ownership of the Spider-Man films, it very well could either lead to a bad movie or a scrapped release if the two are unable to come to agreeable terms. As the MCU works to continue to build its expansive plotline and multiverse, Sony is struggling to create a live-action Spider-Verse that doesn’t feature the main character. Hopefully, they’ll allow Marvel the time necessary to work on the highly-anticipated release, although that’s looking like a slim possibility at the moment. If it does end up that Sony rushes Marvel’s release, it could very well be the end of Tom Holland and the MCU’s beloved Spider-Man.

Would you rather see Spider-Man 4 release in 2025 or wait until 2026? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!