Spider-Man 4 is the best chance the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to finally make sense of a bizarre but promising villain twist, two years after the biggest shake-up in Spider-Man’s MCU history. The history of the MCU’s Spider-Man will continue to expand after the shocking events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which left Peter Parker (Tom Holland) completely alone after Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) final spell. Although there have been movies post-spell in the MCU, none have properly explored its consequences yet.
The events of Spider-Man: No Way Home were felt across the multiverse, which includes Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Venom: Let There Be Carnage was the movie that confirmed Sony’s universe is part of the MCU’s multiverse, as, in its post-credits scene, Venom and Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) were transported to the MCU, where Venom recognized Peter Parker. However, it was Morbius the one that had a huge surprise, as Adrian Toomes a.k.a. Vulture (Michae Keaton), the villain of Spider-Man: Homecoming, was transported to Sony’s universe. This was confusing and nonsensical, but Spider-Man 4 can finally make sense of it.
As the crack in the multiverse continued to open and more villains and Spider-Man enemies crossed into the MCU, Holland’s Spider-Man had no other option than asking Doctor Strange to cast a second and final spell. Spider-Man asked Strange to make everyone forget Peter Parker, that way, the villains would have no reason to cross into the MCU looking for him. This time, the spell was successful, and at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter was completely alone as no one remembered him, so now he has no family left, no friends, no loved ones, and no superhero friends who remember he’s Peter Parker.
However, it’s still unknown how far Strange’s spell reached and if it also affected the identities of the other Peter Parkers in the multiverse, but Morbius’ post-credits scene hinted at the spell not reaching beyond the main MCU timeline. In it, Vulture was transported from a prison in the MCU to one in Sony’s universe, and it was implied he stayed in this universe for quite a while, giving him time to rebuild his Vulture suit and look Morbius up. Vulture wasn’t in the MCU when Strange’s second spell was cast, so it’s possible that Vulture still remembers Peter Parker.
One of the most confusing parts of Vulture’s arrival in Sony’s universe is that, in his interaction with Morbius, he said he was putting together a group to go after Spider-Man. At the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, he kept Spider-Man’s identity a secret when Mac Gargan asked him about it, so he doesn’t really have a personal beef with Peter or Spider-Man – however, being suddenly pulled into another timeline, far away from his family, would be enough reason for him to stop protecting Spider-Man and unleash his revenge against him.
Spider-Man 4 is the MCU’s best chance to finally address this bizarre and confusing moment with Vulture and the multiverse and make sense of it, more so as the MCU has already ignored it in two movies and Sony’s universe doesn’t seem to be planning to give the necessary answers. Vulture can now be a lot more dangerous than before thanks to his unintentional multiverse journey, and would have a good reason to want revenge against Peter Parker, while also being, quite possibly, the only MCU character who still remembers him.