Spider-Man 4's Villains: Kingpin & Venom

The Turning Point for Peter Parker

After his most recent appearance, Tom Holland's MCU tenure as Peter Parker has reached a turning point, with theories abounding over which new villains he could face in Spider-Man 4. After Doctor Strange wiped the memories of everybody who knew him, Peter started life afresh as the anonymous man behind the mask just as he embarked on a new personal trajectory by going to college.

Split image of kingpin and venom from Marvel comics

This has brought Parker full circle, poised to reassert himself as a street-level protector of New York City - which has opened up questions over which street-level villains he could now encounter in upcoming MCU releases.

New Players in New York

At the same time, New York has seen the rise of multiple new main players, both villainous and heroic. Daredevil has officially made himself known as one of the MCU's newest saviors, while Disney seems to have made the rest of the Defenders canon after incorporating their respective Netflix shows into the official MCU timeline.

Custom image of Kingpin, Spider-Man, and Venom.

As for New York villains, a couple of teases have set up two prime candidates to become Spider-Man's newest nemeses in the MCU.

The Case for Kingpin & Venom

Daredevil and Kingpin have been making the rounds in recent MCU installments, from Matt Murdock's initial cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home to Wilson Fisk's central role in Echo. It was in this appearance, after establishing yet another arch enemy in Maya Lopez, that Wilson Fisk seemed to be eyeing up running for office as New York's mayor - a job he could very well secure.

With Spider-Man 4 set to depict Parker's return to form as New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, a run-in with Wilson Fisk as a newly established villainous mayor is all but inevitable. Venom, meanwhile, enjoyed a fleeting foray into the MCU after Eddie Brock found himself transported from Sony's Spider-Man Universe to Peter Parker's universe, only to be zapped back home after a short conversation with a bartender.

The post-credits scene in which this was portrayed made sure to highlight a piece of Venom that he inadvertently left behind, confirming that No Way Home wasn't the last that the MCU would see of the Venom symbiote. It stands to reason that Spider-Man 4, therefore, will be the movie to immediately pick up on this exciting MCU plot thread.

Venom and Kingpin are two of Spider-Man's most iconic rivals - and there are a lot to choose from. This fact alone is enough to generate an inordinate level of hype for Spider-Man's fourth MCU outing if two of his biggest enemies were to star alongside him. Additionally, having these villains rear their heads in the same movie would facilitate a particularly compelling story as part of Peter's new narrative trajectory.