Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is to direct Spider-Man 4 for Sony and Marvel.
It’s been a long time coming but it looks like Marvel and Sony have finally decided on a successor to director Jon Watts, meaning that Spider-Man 4 can press ahead with reports suggesting that the film is eyeing a 2026 release date.
Watts directed all three films in the current Spider-Man trilogy, which stars Tom Holland as the webswinger. After spending years in the Marvel sandbox, Watts was clearly ready for a break and has since directed Wolfs, an Apple Studios thriller starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
Watts has recently signed up for a sequel to that project.
Marvel and Sony’s live action Spider-Man series has been left with something of a blank slate forthe character following the events of the last film, 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s the perfect time for a new filmmaker to take over the series and according to The Hollywood Reporter, Destin Daniel Cretton has been handed the opportunity to do that.
Cretton has a very strong working relationship with Marvel, having directed 2021’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.
Since then, Cretton has served as the showrunner for Marvel’s upcoming Wonder Man series and at one point, he was reportedly attached to direct the next Avengers film when it was set to be The Kang Dynasty.
Of course, that version of Avengers 5 was abandoned after Jonathan Majors was fired by Marvel and the focus shifted away from the Kang character. Now it looks like Marvel and Sony have found another key role for a creator whom they clearly value.
In his Spider-Man trilogy, Jon Watts channelled 1980s John Hughes films to give Peter Parker’s teenage woes a charming and comedic feel. With the character now older and shorn of many of those relationships, we wonder what kind of tone Cretton will be looking to create for what we presume will be another trilogy of films.
Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are also back on script duties, according to the report. Shooting is said to be slated for early next year.
One of the key questions that fans will be wondering about will be which villainous member of Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery will be lining up against the webhead this time around. The Kingpin has been the rumoured name for a while now but nothing has been confirmed.
We’re also curious to find out how those reported story disagreements between Marvel and Sony were hashed out. Will the story once again have a grand multiverse element as Sony are said to have wanted? Or will it return to a street-level Spidey tale as Marvel are believed to have pushed for? When we hear more on this one, we’ll let you know.
