Spider-Man 4 will swing into theaters in July 2026 – and I'm already worried about its story and place on the Marvel timeline

Spider-Man 4 is set to swing into theaters in mid-2026 – and it'll seemingly act as the connective tissue between the next two Avengers movies in the process.

Announced by various outlets, including Deadline and Variety last Friday (October 25), the webslinger's next solo film will officially debut in cinemas worldwide on July 24, 2026. Shang-Chi filmmaker Daniel Destin Cretton is also reportedly on directorial duties.

For anyone who hasn't been keeping tabs on Marvel's ever-evolving theatrical release schedule, that means it'll be sandwiched between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars – the fifth and sixth Avengers movies that'll cap Marvel's Multiverse Saga. Those films are due out in theaters on May 1, 2026, and May 7, 2027, respectively.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie's confirmed launch date was announced just days after current Spider-Man star Tom Holland provided an exciting update on Spider-Man 4's filming schedule. Speaking on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Holland, who's been on a self-imposed acting hiatus for over a year, revealed the movie would start shooting in mid-2025. Unless the co-developed Sony and Marvel film's release date is pushed back at any point over the next 18 months, then, the turnaround between shooting the superhero flick and releasing it is going to be a tight one.

That isn't the only potential problem that's already worrying me about Spider-Man's next standalone adventure, though. The year-long gap between the start of principal photography and the film's big-screen debut notwithstanding, I'm also concerned about the movie's story, especially now that we know Spider-Man 4 will bridge the divide between Avengers 5 and Avengers 6.

Okay, tentatively discussing Spider-Man 4's plot on the Rich Roll podcast earlier in October, Holland admitted he and co-star Zendaya were incredibly excited about its narrative. Indeed, the latest incumbent to play the iconic wallcrawler in a live-action capacity said: "It [the draft] needs work but the writers are doing a great job. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me. Zendaya and I sat down, read it together, and we at times were bouncing around the living room."

To some, that'll sound like proof enough that the Marvel Phase 6 movie will be epic. As a massive Spider-Man fan, I really hope that's the case, too, but I can't shake the feeling that Spider-Man 4's positioning between Doomsday and Secret Wars is somewhat misguided.

For starters, the next two Avengers films will, as I mentioned, bring the Marvel Multiverse Saga to a close. Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame wrapped up the Infinity Saga in a similar fashion but, like Spider-Man 4, they were split by another MCU film in Ant-Man and the Wasp, which acted as a palette cleanser to Infinity War's soul-crushing finale.

Spider-Man 4 isn't likely to perform an equivalent role, however. Holland is one of the most beloved actors around right now. Spider-Man is also one of the most popular, not to mention marketable, superhero characters of all time. Put the two together and you've got a recipe for instant box office success. It's nailed on, then, that Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man will be one of the leads in Avengers: Doomsday alongside the likes of Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, and – providing she's revealed to be alive by the time Avengers 5 rolls around – Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch.

If, as expected, Holland plays a major role in Avengers 5, I'm anxious about the direction that Spider-Man 4's story will go in. For all intents and purposes, Doomsday is being primed as this saga's Infinity War, i.e. it'll be a movie where the villain – Doctor Victor von Doom, who'll be played by none other than Robert Downey Jr. – is likely to defeat our heroes. If he does and, in the process, causes the complete breakdown/destruction of the Marvel multiverse, I suspect we'll see the creation of Battleworld, a planet made up of fragments of multiple Earths following the multiverse's collapse as seen in Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars comic book storyline.

In my view, that'll all but end my hopes of seeing Spider-Man and Daredevil unite for a street-level silver screen adventure, which would've been another great fan service-y Spidey flick, particularly in light of the MCU's inhabitants forgetting who Peter Parker is following Spider-Man: No Way Home's finale.

It also mean Spider-Man 4 is likely to be another multiverse-centric film in the vein of No Way Home. Crowd-pleasing as it was to see Holland's Spidey team up with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's iterations of the webslinger, I'd prefer it if Spider-Man's fourth MCU flick wasn't No Way Home 2.0 in all but name. 

In fact, there are only two things that might such an approach worthwhile. The first could see Spider-Man ally himself with other heroes he's crossed paths with in Marvel comics – a Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Wolverine team-up, especially after Deadpool and Wolverine's success earlier this year, wouldn't go amiss. Another option could be him bonding with the Venom goo, as seen in No Way Home's post-credits scene, to get his iconic black suit, which increases his power levels and helps Spidey to help defeat Doctor Doom in Secret Wars. That could set up a fifth MCU Spider-Man movie that fully introduces Venom to Marvel's cinematic franchise. Otherwise, I can't see the appeal of the webhead starring in another solo multiversal adventure.

Of course, my worries could be completely unfounded, and I'd love Sony and Marvel to prove me wrong with whatever they're cooking up for Spider-Man 4. But, with Marvel supposedly pausing production on all non-multiversal stories (according to industry leaker DanielRPK, anyway) until this saga has ended, the evidence that's stacking up is doing little to assuage my concerns that Spider-Man's fourth MCU movie will be the one I want it to be. Given how inconsistent and divisive the Marvel Multiverse Saga has been, I imagine many other MCU fans will feel the same way – and that's another big problem for Marvel to contend with.

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