Sony's Spider-Man 4 (sequel to "No Way Home")

[Andrew NDB]

Saw it. I thought it was pretty awesome overall, a pretty grown-up Spider-Man movie. It's probably easiest to talk about what I was looking forward to that didn't see:

Spoiler:

* The Hand being utilized in an appropriately fearsome fashion. They weren't. They were just puppets. Kind of even ruined, really, post-Daredevil Netflix. And if we see Elektra alive in Daredevil: Born Again season 3 -- because we do -- why is the Hand without a leader?

* Jean Grey using her powers to remove the memory block from MJ and Ned. She couldn't have done him that one favor? I was fully expecting that at the end but she just goes off into the distance.

* Frank not even killing one person. I know, it's PG-13, but you can still kill plenty of people in a PG-13 movie as long as it's not bloody. The way these Hand people were handled in the movie, he might as well have gunned down some of them. As we saw in Daredevil season 2, he's no stranger to shooting them dead anyway.

* Peter not reuniting with MJ. It's weak. It's basically forcing things down the road in the comic book "Brand New Day" story that just about nobody liked. They'll "fix" lots of things in comic storylines people didn't want fixed and make things much worse, but they won't actually fix one of the biggest things the fans famously hated?

* Wasting the opportunity with the Hulk scene to have Hulk (not Bruce) remember Spider-Man/Peter like in the comics.

Originally Posted by neatoman

Well, yeah, I don't think it was ever any doubt that the MCU X-Men would be the MCU's own new version of the X-Men, rather than the FOX Universe getting folded into the MCU.

While yes, (and while I also think the people that did expect the Fox-Men to just get folded into the MCU were dumb) I think MOST people were pretty adamant that there was no way mutants and X-Men could have existed in the world of, say, Iron Man 1 or so on, that it could ONLY be some other non-Fox-Men universe where there's X-Men that come to the MCU, like the Fantastic Four did in the last movie. I've always maintained that it could be fairly easy for the mutants to have existed in secret throughout all Phases so far but that the way it was starting to LOOK, some multiversal stuff was looking like what Marvel was going to do. Mostly that in since the time that Disney/Marvel acquired the X-Men rights, in like 8 years now the ONE and like only breadcrumb they've dropped is the dead Celestial from Eternals being mined for adamantium. That's been it. The only thing, until Jean Grey.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Spoiler:

* Peter not reuniting with MJ. It's weak. It's basically forcing things down the road in the comic book "Brand New Day" story that just about nobody liked. They'll "fix" lots of things in comic storylines people didn't want fixed and make things much worse, but they won't actually fix one of the biggest things the fans famously hated?

.

Spoiler:

My best hope for that is the trilogy concludes the way Nick Spencer's run on ASM did, which ended the BND era very briefly, though in doing so it also served as a potential finale for Spider-Man

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Spoiler:

My best hope for that is the trilogy concludes the way Nick Spencer's run on ASM did, which ended the BND era very briefly, though in doing so it also served as a potential finale for Spider-Man

According to that latest video interview with Pascal and Feige, there IS no "new trilogy." Just one by one. Which eh... is different from the first trilogy how, though? And if Holland is to believed several years ago now, the only reason the third movie in that trilogy happened as such was because he called Iger drunkenly and begged him to re-sign with Sony. Otherwise we would have gotten a third movie with Holland in the Sony-verse with Morbius and all that stuff.

What's a little more concerning is Holland's most recent interview. Where he says there's been a big working path for a while now for him "passing the torch" that they're still working towards. Which one would hope would just to mean, "Until the next Spider-Man actor picks up and we recast Peter when it will make sense to do so" but given the way the MCU has been forced to work so far, he certainly really must mean "When Peter Parker will get old and no longer be Spider-Man and Peter Parker will pass the torch to Miles Morales and he will be the MCU Spider-Man."

There's really no reason they couldn't introduce Miles Morales into the MCU as a supplemental Spider-Man (sort of the equivalent of what Nightwing is to Batman)... but the moment they try a full-on "This is your NEW Spider-Man, replacing Peter Parker from this moment on!" I think they're going to have egg on their face.

[ZariusTwo]

I'm not going to take the side of Nerdrotic or the Drinker on their views of Miles, he's not like Sam Wilson or the other replacements. He's got a pretty big fanbase and the animated movies demonstrate his popularity.

Peter's story has been over for almost three decades IMO. It ended in 1998 when Spider-Girl launched and Byrne tried resetting it with Chapter One. It's been a bunch of peaks and valleys ever since and the Peter that's come out of it all is hardly recognisable or aspirational. Spider-Man comics are horrible now. I want Peter retired or a dad. Just like he is in Spider-Girl. Miles can have his territory, I'm not bothered. Anything's better than what we have now.

[Coola Yagami]

I am surprised that Tombstone, Boomerang and Tarantula were just a montage cameo after all that hoopla. Especially Tombstone since he got a lot of articles/announcements about him being in the movie and who cast him and whatnot.


Jean was confusing since her powers never worked that way. Before Peter faced her directly I thought it was some Spider-Man villain I never heard of and somehow Jean would end up helping out.

So glad Punisher got more to do.

Surprised Yelena was in this. Sure she didn't do much in terms of action but with all these announcements, Hulk is in it, Punisher is in it, Jean might be in it, The Hand is in it, I'm surprised there was no mention of Florence Pugh.

Also while greatly appreciated it's weird to see the OG Hulk return in a Spider-Man movie.

Between this and the Sam Wilson film there was a hidden Hulk movie we never got to see due to the whole Universal thing and I guess this is the best they could do.

[Andrew NDB]

Probably my most "I'm tickled" moment was actually the few minutes (maybe 4?) when it was exclusively Spider-Man and Punisher vs. Hulk. That gave so much I've always wanted to see.
.
And obviously I wouldn't worry about Jean Grey. She will literally grow into this role by design. Powers and otherwise.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Probably my most "I'm tickled" moment was actually the few minutes (maybe 4?) when it was exclusively Spider-Man and Punisher vs. Hulk. That gave so much I've always wanted to see.
.
And obviously I wouldn't worry about Jean Grey. She will literally grow into this role by design. Powers and otherwise.

From my understanding Jean was quite the menace before she found Xavier and joined the X-Men.

I'm glad they redeemed her. At first she was such a cackling villian that I was thinking 'ok so this is the same Jean we're supposed to be rooting for whenever the new MCU X-Men movie is made right?'

It was odd to have Jean as the antoganist, you know, in a Spider-Man movie. That would be like a Fantastic Four being about stopping Apacolypse.

[IMJ]

The truth is that they could, in theory even retcon the X-Men into the battle with Thanos - Xavier just mind wipes their presence from everyone using Cerebro later.

It would be lame, but it would coincide with the fact that mutants have always been there.

I think we are probably going to see this on Sunday.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by IMJ

The truth is that they could, in theory even retcon the X-Men into the battle with Thanos - Xavier just mind wipes their presence from everyone using Cerebro later.

It would be lame, but it would coincide with the fact that mutants have always been there.

I think we are probably going to see this on Sunday.

IDK, the Jean Grey kinda implies the mutant thing is a relatively new phenomenon.

one weird thing is the mutating Spider-Man thing never got resolved. So, he's just good with suddenly having organic webbing now? He's not worried he might mutate further? And then with all the Doomsday and Secret Wars coming up, that's all gonna be shoved to the wayside.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

IDK, the Jean Grey kinda implies the mutant thing is a relatively new phenomenon.

one weird thing is the mutating Spider-Man thing never got resolved. So, he's just good with suddenly having organic webbing now? He's not worried he might mutate further? And then with all the Doomsday and Secret Wars coming up, that's all gonna be shoved to the wayside.

That sort of bring the question then - do you think that Xavier's school already exists in the MCU or it's something we will see established?

[ZariusTwo]

The whole film briefly got leaked in full on X this past Friday

https://deadline.com/2026/07/spider-...ak-1237015116/

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by IMJ

That sort of bring the question then - do you think that Xavier's school already exists in the MCU or it's something we will see established?

Maybe get to see it get established. It's confusing since we got the Fox-Men dropping in.

I am glad Peter made a ref to 'Peter 2'. I mean he met a guy with organic webbing. It would almost be a plot hole to not mention it.

I lost track how many final sendoff movies the Fox-Men had.

[Stu_Padasso]

Sorry, still not interested. I am done with these massive shared universes.

It’s like finding a TV show that you really like only to find out that you have to watch a dozen other shows that you don’t care about or dislike in a certain viewing order. Otherwise, you’re going to be completely lost when a character you’ve been following gets killed, mutilated, or turned into a leprechaun because someone in a different office thought it was a good idea. And even if I wanted to, you’ve priced me out watching these things legally.

I also like to go outdoors every once in a while.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Stu_Padasso

Sorry, still not interested. I am done with these massive shared universes.

It’s like finding a TV show that you really like only to find out that you have to watch a dozen other shows that you don’t care about or dislike in a certain viewing order. Otherwise, you’re going to be completely lost when a character you’ve been following gets killed, mutilated, or turned into a leprechaun because someone in a different office thought it was a good idea. And even if I wanted to, you’ve priced me out watching these things legally.

I also like to go outdoors every once in a while.

Yeah... I mean Punisher, Jean Grey, OG Hulk comes back, New Avengers reference, The Hand. It's wild.

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by Stu_Padasso

Sorry, still not interested. I am done with these massive shared universes.

It’s like finding a TV show that you really like only to find out that you have to watch a dozen other shows that you don’t care about or dislike in a certain viewing order. Otherwise, you’re going to be completely lost when a character you’ve been following gets killed, mutilated, or turned into a leprechaun because someone in a different office thought it was a good idea. And even if I wanted to, you’ve priced me out watching these things legally.

I also like to go outdoors every once in a while.

You can skip most of the Disney plus garbage even Feigie has said it’s become too much like homework so they are not doing that anymore

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

You can skip most of the Disney plus garbage even Feigie has said it’s become too much like homework so they are not doing that anymore

yeah, it's mostly remembering the first 3 Spider-Man movies and I guess, knowing that Banner surpressed the Hulk over the years.

Apparently Spider-Man ran into the Punisher in some off-screen adventure, and it's not like Tom Holand is going to appear in the Punisher show, so there's nothing to know except he exists.

[Andrew NDB]

"Spider-Man had an aunt May and she died, somehow Peter had a spell cast making MJ and Ned forget who he is, Peter has been Spider-Man for a while now."

That's literally all you need to know going into this. Nothing else is paying off from anything else, anywhere. Even Tony Stark isn't so much as even mentioned, kind of surprisingly. Even things you might think would be paying or leading off from other stuff like Banner or Yelena or The Hand don't.

One quibble: why in the world couldn't J Jonah Jameson come back in this? Even if it was just his little news bits. Little 5 second things would have been perfect interjected, like when Spider-Man accidentally attacked that cop. Another: what exactly is Peter doing for work these days? The movie doesn't shed any light at all. Anonymously helping the police isn't going to pay.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

"Spider-Man had an aunt May and she died, somehow Peter had a spell cast making MJ and Ned forget who he is, Peter has been Spider-Man for a while now."

That's literally all you need to know going into this. Nothing else is paying off from anything else, anywhere. Even Tony Stark isn't so much as even mentioned, kind of surprisingly.

One quibble: why in the world couldn't J Jonah Jameson come back in this? Even if it was just his little news bits. Little 5 second things would have been perfect interjected, like when Spider-Man accidentally attacked that cop. Another: what exactly is Peter doing for work these days? The movie doesn't shed any light at all. Anonymously helping the police isn't going to pay.

That's one thing my wife brought up after the fact. "So like... what was Peter's job? How can he afford to live there?"

It was sorta implied things were tight with Ned and he was counting on MJ finally getting a job to help out. Whenever the cop lady was telling Peter to finally relax, a random line like 'between work and being Spider-Man' could have gone a long way even if they couldn't find time to show or mention the actual job.

[Andrew NDB]

Or "Mr. Stark left me a little money. I miss him."

[Stu_Padasso]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

You can skip most of the Disney plus garbage even Feigie has said it’s become too much like homework so they are not doing that anymore

*Most* of the garbage on Disney +? What about all theatrically released stuff like Captain Marvel, Eternals, or Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten C*ck-Rings or whatever?

Seriously, I’ve been thinking about dumping Netflix and sticking to Roku and my arial antenna. I’ve been waiting until the Fallout series gets released on Blu-Ray because I’m cutting back on subscriptions so I don’t pay for crap I don’t want. They’ve turned into the cable companies that they used to compete against.

I think these executives who are pulling in seven figures or more are out of touch with their customers. It’s like how MGM and Caesars in Las Vegas are going after these whales who will drop 50k on a hand of poker while everyone else struggles because there’s no foot traffic . Even the Heart Attack Grill closed down.

Little wonder why comic book stores are selling Funko Pop’s instead of comics.

I like capitalism but don’t be a d!ck about it.

Anyway, that’s my take.