It’s hard to believe that almost a year has passed since “Spider-Man: No Home” appeared in theaters and entertained Marvel fans with amazing comic book action and emotional weight. Although an extended version of The Spider movie has recently debuted, many are probably still wondering how things are going with regard to the fourth film in the Tom Holland franchise. Not much has been said lately, but the stars have been asking these questions since the release of the third film. Jacob Batalon, who plays Ned Leeds, became the last graduate of the series who shared his thoughts about creating the fourth part.
Jacob Batalon made his MCU debut as Ned in Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017 and quickly became a fan favorite. After that, the actor reprised his role in two sequels — “Far from Home” and “There is no Way home”, as well as in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Finale”. So, after all this, how does Batalon feel about playing “the guy in the chair” again? Well, in a recent interview, the star said that he would be ready to sign a contract — he just needs more details about such a project first:
”It seems to me that actors are the last to be recognized. I think people assume that actors are always hiding secrets. I promise you, we don’t know anything. But again, if it’s the right place, at the right time, with the right group of people we’ve been with, I’d say, why not? But other than that, everything that happens happens. In fact, these decisions are made by the big bosses, the people who sign the checks. We are open to this idea, but we do not hope for it.”
Unsurprisingly, the actor knows little about what will happen next in a very successful film franchise. As he mentioned to Collider, the only people privy to key details are high—ranking officials.
Such a person would be Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who was instrumental in bringing Spider to the MCU in the first place. Uncertainty aside, some people will certainly be happy to know that the star of Reginald the vampire will return. Although it seems that he is not just sitting and waiting for a call.
Around the same time that the movie “No Way Home” opened in theaters, Kevin Feige talked about the future of the Spider-Man franchise. The influential producer did not go into details, but said that he, co-producer Amy Pascal, Disney and Sony are preparing another film. By February 2022, Tom Holland had also discussed his Spider-Man status, stating that he had had conversations with producers, but nothing was set in stone.
One might wonder how the franchise can evolve in terms of storytelling. The third part ended with Peter Parker asking Doctor Strange to erase the universe’s memory of him in order to save the multiverse. At the same time, Ned from Jacob Batalon and Michelle “MJ” Jones from Zendaya did not recognize their friend by the end of the film.
While they continued their lives as civilians, Parker continued his crusade as a masked benefactor. Although it is unknown what will happen next, Amy Pascal said that there will not be one thing in the upcoming Spider-Man films — it will fill the story with a lot of characters.
Personally, I don’t mind a significant break between the webmaster’s exits to the big screen, but I would like to see another solo exit of the hero in the future. I hope this also applies to stars like Jacob Batalon, because there is still a lot that can be done with the character. After all, there’s always a chance (no matter how small it is) that Ned from Batalon will change into a Hobgoblin sometime in the future.
While we’re waiting for news about this, you can get a Hulu subscription and watch all three films from this latest Spider-Man trilogy, as well as keep an eye out for information about upcoming Marvel movies.
