Spider-Man 4 may secretly be adapting a bizarre body horror story from the comics.
Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man 4, also known as Spider-Man: Brand New Day, will be released in United States theaters this coming July. Directed by Wonder Man and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Destin Daniel Cretton, the movie will once again see Tom Holland reprise his MCU role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
“Four years have passed since the events of No Way Home, and Peter is now an adult living entirely alone, having voluntarily erased himself from the lives and memories of those he loves,” the synopsis reads. “Crime-fighting in a New York that no longer knows his name, he’s devoted himself entirely to protecting his city — a full-time Spider-Man — but as the demands on him intensify, the pressure sparks a surprising physical evolution that threatens his existence, even as a strange new pattern of crimes gives rise to one of the most powerful threats he has ever faced.”
What body horror storyline may Spider-Man 4 be adapting?
As hinted in both the synopsis and recently released trailer, something is wrong with Peter on a biological level in Spider-Man 4. He wakes up in a cocoon and appears to have organic web-shooters; however, he doesn’t seem to have any control over whatever transformation he’s going through, as Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner notes that Peter’s DNA appears to be “mutating” and it could be “extremely dangerous.”
Peter’s gone through countless transformations over the course of his life in Marvel Comics; a notable example being when he once grew four additional arms overnight. What Brand New Day might be leaning into, though, is Man-Spider — a monstrous man-spider hybrid creature that Peter turns into against his will.
Many Twitter users believe that the Brand New Day trailer is teasing a Man-Spider storyline, especially because of the shot when Peter’s eyes are entirely black.
For now, Marvel fans will have to wait until Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives on July 31, 2026, to see what the movie truly has in store for them.
