Spider-Man: Which Marvel Hero Will Peter Parker Team Up With Next?
Spider-Man: No Way Home was the ultimate (live-action) Spider-Man team-up for Marvel fans, but it has left the Spider-Man movie franchise in a truly strange place. Thanks to No Way Home, Tom Holland's Spider-Man has been given a blank slate to start rebuilding his world in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – while Sony's Spider-Man Universe has now been given a new opportunity to branch out and continue Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man saga, or Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man story. With all that on the table, fans are wondering: which Marvel hero will Spider-Man team up with next?
Do We Really Need Another Spider-Man Team-Up?
The first big question on the table is not who should Spider-Man team up with next, but rather if a team-up should even be the next move for a Spider-Man movie. After all, a lot of Marvel fans have been waiting for the opportunity that Spider-Man: No Way Home finally delivered: scaling back the scope of the Spider-Man movies to once again focus on the titular character – instead of an entire universe of Marvel characters around him.
Actor Tom Holland proved in No Way Home that he has acting chops that can outshine an entire lineup of Spider-Man movie alumni – he certainly can hold his own as a solo character in the next Spider-Man movie. With No Way Home leaving Peter Parker in a world where no one knows who he is, Holland essentially gets a sort of fresh start that's never been given to any other actor before him: the chance to do it all again without being recast.
Friendly Neighborhood Heroes
On the other hand, the key difference between Tom Holland's Spider-Man and those played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire is that Holland's Spider-Man exists in an entire universe of Marvel characters. Having Holland's Peter Parker finally be the focus of his own movie without having to share the spotlight with Iron Man, Nick Fury, or leagues of other Spider-Men is great; pretending like this Spider-Man doesn't have everyone from the Avengers to Daredevil running around his sandbox is not such a great idea.
If there is a lesson to be learned from Spider-Man: No Way Home, it's that big Marvel movie team-ups and cameos are great and seemingly without limitation, if they actually add meaning and substance to the storyline. So, if Marvel's Spider-Man 4 goes with some additional MCU characters in its story, whatever hero it is should be a substantial part of that story, and a natural fit. And since Holland's Spider-Man is going back to his "Friendly Neighborhood" roots, it would follow that "street-level" heroes like Daredevil, Luke Cage, or new additions like Moon Knight would be good picks.
Amazing Spider-Man & Venom
This issue is far easier to tackle over in the SSU. A lot of fans are now hoping that Sony brings back Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man franchise, with Garfield serving as THE Spider-Man for Sony's Spider-Man Universe. If that's the case then Garfield's Spider-Man has an obvious first stop for a team-up: Tom Hardy's Venom. Spider-Man and Venom are the pairing fans have been waiting for since each character first made their respective live-action debuts – and No Way Home made it clear that it won't be happening in the MCU (at least not with Hardy). With Sony's Venom films having both succeeded, we know that Hardy will be sticking around for a while – so it seems like the stage is all but set for a team-up with the Amazing Spider-Man.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man
The other big team-up fans are waiting for is the one 'Spider-Man meets Spider-Man' crossover we didn't get in Spider-Man: No Way Home: Peter Parker and Miles Morales. The latter is a mainstream star now, thanks to the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse animated movie; but Marvel fans want to see him in live-action. The question is: where would that happen?
With Marvel Studios and Sony now instituting a 'sharing is caring' policy for Spider-Man characters, Miles could conceivably be a focus of the next MCU Spider-Man movie, or whatever SSU projects Sony rolls out next. Either way, Miles will need a Spider-Man to mentor him, and that story could make for a great Spider-Man in either universe.
Send In The Clones
Look it has to be said: we just did Spider-Man variants, so clones are small potatoes in comparison. The Spider-Man Clone Saga(s) are some of the most infamous (and hated) of the character's story arcs; however, after seeing what No Way Home did with the most hated Spider-Man story ("One More Day"), a live-action Clone Saga could actually workout! Instead of looking for other Marvel characters for Spider-Man to team up with, having a Spider-Man actor play cloned versions of himself would be just as fun. Plenty of Marvel fans would love to see Tom Holland or Andrew Garfield go blonde to play Peter Parker's "brother" clone, Ben Reilly!
What kind of team-up would you like to see next for the Spider-Man movies? Let us know in the comments!