Spider-Man 4 represents a significant change for the MCU’s friendly neighborhood web-slinger. Peter Parker is settling into a new world where he’s completely anonymous, and with not even his best friend and girlfriend knowing who he is, the movie will be as close to a hard reset as the series can get. But a new premise isn’t the only way Spidey is getting a fresh start. We now know who will shepherd Spider-Man into his next era, and it’s a Marvel veteran who could and should bring hisown vision to the franchise.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is in talks to direct Spider-Man 4. The position is vacant after Jon Watts, who directed the three previous movies, left to pursue projects outside the MCU. Tom Holland is set to return as Peter Parker, and filming is slated to begin early next year.
Cretton is no stranger to the MCU. After Shang-Chi, Cretton was attached to write and direct a sequel, although development has since stalled. He then was picked to direct the next Avengers movie, Kang Dynasty, which would have featured Shang-Chi as a lead character, but left the project before it was retooled into Avengers: Doomsday. He’s also the co-creator of the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man, so he has plenty of Marvel experience, even if much of it hasn’t seen the light of day.
That experience could be just what Spider-Man 4 needs. While other takes on Peter Parker have shown him fighting off (more or less) terrestrial threats within the confines of New York City, the MCU’s Spider-Man has strayed from this formula. Far From Home brought Peter on a whistle-stop tour of Europe, while No Way Home incorporated sorcery and the multiverse. Both were fun adventures, but they weren’t exactly the “street-level” action fans associate with the web-slinger.
With Spider-Man 4, Cretton has the opportunity to fix this. Shang-Chi had high stakes, but it was ultimately a personal story with a smaller scope focused on Shang-Chi’s friends and family. A story like that would be perfect for Peter Parker. With Spider-Man remaking his image and career from scratch, there’s no obligation to build on his previous films. A more scaled-back adventure in the vein of Shang-Chi would help bring Spider-Man back to his roots and offer Marvel fans a refreshing change. Not everything needs to be about the fate of the multiverse; sometimes, it’s easier to care about a few blocks of New York City.
