Spider-Man is swinging back to theaters facing a new threat that could put the people he loves in danger. Tom Holland returns to his Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) role for Peter Parker/Spider-Man, after the world forgot who he was.
*Warning: Spoilers from all Spider-Man films ahead*
In the newest trailer, it has been revealed that Peter has developed organic webbing, allowing him to make webs within his body.
This change comes with problems causing Peter to loose control in a battle with Mac Gargan/Scorpion (Michael Mando), a vital storyline for the character. After a rough battle, Peter seeks the help of familiar scientist Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to help suppress his powers.
With the help of Frank Castle/Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Peter finds himself facing a new threat in the city, as an invisible, mind-controlling villain torments Peter with the help of mixed-martial art group called The Hand.
With all this new information about the movie, fans can’t help but wonder what more they can expect from the first Spider-Man to get a fourth film.
Looking Back: Maguire’s Spider-Man
Spider-Man has long been one of the most popular superheroes in Marvel Entertainment. Spider-Man’s first appearance into the MCU was in 2002, in a film directed by Sam Raimi. Maguire portrayed Peter Parker, sharing the screen with other stars like Willem Dafoe, James Franco and Kirsten Dunst.
This film follows the comic accurate version of Spider-Man, with the exception of his webbing. In the 2002 film, Spider-Man has organic webbing coming from his body, while comic Parker makes his own webbing in a lab and uses web-shooters.
With the immense success of the first film, Maguire’s Spider-Man got two more films including “Spider-Man 2″ (2004) and “Spider-Man 3” (2007). The second film’s plot revolved around Peter’s quarrels with villain Otto Octavius/Doc Ock (Alfred Molina).
Spider-Man 3 and the cancelled fourth film
“Spider-Man 3” (2007) follows Peter gaining new powers that give him superhuman strength when an alien-like liquid called a symbiote attaches itself to him and takes over his entire personality.
Peter tries to free himself from the symbiote, which then attaches itself to photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). Eddie takes the symbiote, and becomes Venom.
An old friend of Peter’s, Harry Osbourne (James Franco), seeks revenge on Peter for killing his father Norman (aka The Green Goblin). Flint Marko, a man on the run from the police falls into a nuclear testing site gaining the ability to become a sand-like human.
Together, Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Eddie Brock/Venom team-up to kill Parker. Harry ends up dying, sacrificing himself to save Peter from being impaled by Venom.
Sony had a planned fourth film. Raimi chose to walk away from the franchise. Eventually, Sony made the decision to cancel the fourth Spider-Man film due to an underdeveloped script and the third film’s low performance.
The Amazing Spider-Man
After the Cancellation of “Spider-Man 4,” Marvel made a deal for Sony to release a Spider-Man film. If not, all licensing rights would be reverted back to Marvel.
Sony had to shift to a darker, character-driven route and decided to follow the ultimate Spider-Man storyline. Marc Webb signed on as director to reboot the franchise entirely.
Andrew Garfield was cast for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in “The Amazing Spider-Man.” This film follows Spider-Man and has some differences between Raimi’s version.
For one, Peter Parker’s love interest becomes Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and not Mary Jane Watson. While the past films had Peter gain his powers by being bit by a radioactive spider, Garfield’s Spider-Man is bit by genetically modified spider.
Peter faces the Lizard/Curtis Conners (Rhys Ifans) in the final battle. The success of this film gave light to three more films in the franchise.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
“The Amazing Spider Man 2” (2014) follows Peter fighting familiar friend Harry Osbourne (Dane DeHaan). Harry takes over his father Norman Osbourne’s (Chris Cooper) company, Oscorp. Max Dillon/Electro (Jamie Foxx) is introduced as the villain after falling into a bucket of eels giving have electrical-like powers.
The franchise was ultimately cancelled due to similar reasons like Raimi’s film’s underperformance. So, Sony shifted to a newer version of Spider-Man that was introduced into the MCU.
Spider-Man Home Trilogy
In 2016, Sony reintroduced Spider-Man in “Captain America: Civil War,” now played by Holland.
Following the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” Spider-Man gets his solo film. The plot follows Peter finding technology that could cause harm to the civilians of New York City. One of the threats is Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton), who sells Avengers technology to people on the black market.
After the success of this film, the “home-themed” trilogy began.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
“Spider-Man: Far From Home,” takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), in which Peter struggles with the loss of his mentor, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.).
Hoping to take the edge off, Peter attends a class trip to Europe. Danger awaits him as new elemental-like humanoid creatures of water, fire, sand and air emerge.
A man from a different universe from where the elementals came from, Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) seeks Parker’s help, only for Peter to discover that Beck is not who he says he is.
Spider-Man No Way Home
The third installment in the “home” trilogy, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021), follows a plot In which Peter’s identity as Spider-Man is revealed to everyone by Mysterio who framed Peter for his death.
Peter tries to derail the situation by getting help from sorcerer Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). The two cast a spell causing everyone to forget Peter’s identity. This goes haywire, causing new threats from different universes to seep through.
Former Spider-Man villains from the original Spider-Man films, like Green Goblin (Dafoe), Doc Ock (Molina), Sandman (Church), The Lizard (Ifans) and Electro (Foxx) come to Peter’s (Holland) universe. With the intention to help these individuals get rid of their darker halves, Peter is blindsided and defeated by Goblin.
After not hearing from Peter, MJ/Michelle Jones (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) get ready to use a magical box wielded by Doctor Strange to finally send the villains back to their universes.
Ned uses a ring that can open portals to find Peter. He then opens a portal to Garfield’s universe and brings in Spider-Man (Garfield). He then also uses the ring to find Peter again and it opens another portal into Maguire’s universe.
Together, the three Peter’s come together to fight all of their villains.
What Is Next For The Three Spider-Men?
To reverse the spell that caused all this chaos. Peter (Holland) asks Dr. Strange to let everyone in the world forget about Peter and his identity. This spell causes everyone to forget that Peter is Spider-Man, including Strange and his closest friends.
This film brought up the idea of the original Spider-Men getting their respected sequels, with Reddit users discussing what they would like for the future of Spider-Man.
One user said they would’ve liked to see the original Spider-Men a little older with a family following the stories from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
Questions were raised whether or not Garfield’s Spider-Man, Maguire’s Spider-Man or Sony’s animated Miles Morales spinoff had their own unique sequel concepts.
Fans theorize the characters will appear in films like “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars,” focusing on the multiverse in the MCU. However there hasn’t been any confirmation for these theories so far. So fans will just have to wait and see where the future of Spider-Man lies.
You can catch “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in theaters July 31.
