After watching Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 1, I am worried that a mistake has been made concerning Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4. The ending of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man proved the show to be one of the MCU’s biggest surprises in recent years. Admittedly, I was never overly excited about the concept of a series set separate from the main MCU continuity. Still, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man‘s exciting Easter eggs, its fantastic cast, its new take on characters, and the overall sense of Spider-Man goodness changed my mind very quickly.
With Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2 already confirmed to be in development, audiences who feel the same way as I do will not have to wait much longer to see how the show continues. Above all else, this makes the future of the iconic Web-Slinger all the more exciting, with upcoming Spider-Man movies and shows coming in abundance. One such movie is Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4 in the MCU, and while I still cannot wait for the next installment of the series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man raised some concerns that a crucial mistake has been made during the former’s production.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Is Perfectly Street-Level, Unlike The MCU’s Version
MCU Spider-Man Has Been Much More Integral To Universe-Altering Projects
Firstly, it is worth exploring a major difference between Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy that has caused me to worry a mistake has been made with Spider-Man 4. The difference in question is the street-level tone of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the lack thereof in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies. Of the three MCU films, only Spider-Man: Homecoming has a sense of street-level Spider-Man, but this was nestled between big event movies like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, essentially omitting Spider-Man as a street-level MCU hero.
This made it feel like the MCU’s Spider-Man being a street-level hero was not necessarily the norm, especially with Avengers: Infinity War somewhat reversing Peter’s decision to stay closer to the ground as a, well, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man from Spider-Man: Homecoming. The big event movies then saw Peter be involved in the universal stakes of the fight against Thanos, before Spider-Man: Far From Home ushered in a change of location and multiversal aspects. Then there was Spider-Man: No Way Home, which, as fantastic as it was, told a multiversal story with little to no street-level elements.
With Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the opposite has been proven to be true. While the story’s premise is inherently multiversal given that it takes place in a different timeline, Peter’s journey itself avoids these elements. The story focuses intently on Peter’s journey as Spider-Man, his friends, relationships, and several of his iconic comic book villains, all while keeping him a grounded hero in a world of major players like Captain America, Iron Man, and Doctor Strange. Much more than Holland’s MCU stories, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man understands what it means to be street-level and is all the better for it.
The MCU’s Spider-Man 4 Is Reportedly Going To Be Another Multiversal Adventure
Holland’s Spider-Man Future Seems Committed To Big Stories
Herein lies my worry about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4 story in the MCU. The story and tone of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man as a small-scale Spider-Man adventure has only reinforced how much I want to see Holland’s version of the hero utilized similarly. Holland is a fantastic Spider-Man, and while I do like his trilogy a lot, I cannot deny that I have a desire to see him taking on crime bosses like the Kingpin or going up against some of his iconic rogues, like Scorpion or the MCU’s versions of Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin.
Based on what has been reported about Spider-Man 4, however, it seems that I will not be getting my wish anytime soon. Early reports indicated that Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios opted for another multiversal story for the film. Admittedly, this certainly makes sense given the almost $2 billion haul of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Sony Pictures reportedly wanted Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to return once more and, while this is still conjecture, all signs point to another multiversal storyline.
Another element that supports these reports is the release slate of upcoming MCU movies. Spider-Man 4 is currently scheduled for release on July 24, 2026, nestled between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Therefore, the film will likely be tied to the overarching Multiverse Saga and remove the possibility of more street-level aspects.
I’m Disappointed Spider-Man 4 Likely Won’t Be A Street-Level Story (Especially After Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man)
Although the concept of another multiversal Spider-Man movie still excites me regarding Spider-Man 4, I cannot deny that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has increased my worries that opting for a multiversal story for the former is a mistake. A lot of street-level elements of the latter prove that this tone is where Spider-Man shines, from his interactions with other heroes like Daredevil to his battles with crime bosses and the overall grounded, relatable stories that Peter Parker excels in. From a pure storytelling standpoint, a lot of these elements are simply not possible in large, multiversal stories.
This is not to say that multiversal Spider-Man movies cannot get the character right, however, and I still have complete faith in Marvel to tell an intriguing Peter Parker tale. That said, I still long for a smaller-scale sect of the MCU to be carved out for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. While this is still possible beyond Spider-Man 4, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has only made me worry that we will not get a street-level vibe for Holland’s iteration of the Web-Slinger sooner rather than later.
