How Spider-Man: No Way Home Sets Up Spider-Man 4, According To Producer

Where does the Spider-Man movie franchise go after the redefining events of Spider-Man: No Way Home? Millions of Spider-Man fans are now asking that very question, while still trying to wrap their minds around the film that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures just put out. It's been confirmed that Sony and Marvel are already actively developing Spider-Man 4 with Tom Holland returning, and Sony has indicated that there could be an entirely new trilogy of Spider-Man movies in the plans. Well, according to producer Amy Pascal, she and Marvel's Kevin Feige have a lot to work with, going forward. 

Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige sat down with NYT to do some dissection on Spider-Man: No Way Home, as well as addressing what's next for Spider-Man movies. According to Pascal, the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home was purposefully constructed to open a wide door into the future of the franchise: 

"You see Spider-Man make a momentous decision, one that you've never seen him make before," Pascal explained. "It's a sacrifice. And that gives us a lot to work within the next film."

WARNING – Spider-Man: No Way Home MAJOR SPOILERS Follow! 

The ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home borrows from one of Marvel Comics' most infamous storylines, "One More Day". In this Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptation, Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) erase all memory of him (Peter Parker) from the minds of any and everyone who knows him. Peter is essentially given a blank slate life since all his relatives are dead (RIP Hot Aunt May...) and his friends and superhero colleagues have all forgotten the boy behind Spider-Man's mask. 

For Spider-Man fans, No Way Home essentially gave them the long-awaited wish to see Spider-Man movies return their focus to the namesake of the franchise – instead of all the other MCU characters (or Marvel movie characters in general) that ended up crowding the Spider-Man 'Home' Trilogy. Now, Marvel and Sony also have achieved the feat of essentially pulling off an in-universe soft-reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. 

As Pascal says, they can now literally take Peter Parker/Spider-Man in any kind of direction they want: from the grounded solo character story that's now clearly in front of us – to the possible mystic/cosmic implications of what Peter has done to the world – to the full-fledged new Venom origin and eventual symbiote event that No Way Home's post-credits scene set up. 

What would YOU like to see? 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in theaters.