Sony and Marvel are still yet to make any official Spider-Man 4 announcement, nor has Tom Holland 100% confirmed his return as Peter Parker. Despite this, sinister forces are already gathering around the webhead as not one, but two of his deadliest foes have revealed that they are more than ready to return to their iconic roles in the MCU.
Coming just days after Willem Dafoe refused to rule out a further comeback as the Green Goblin, one of the Norman Osborn actor’s fellow Sam Raimi trilogy veterans has likewise made it clear that they would be willing to face off against the Spider yet again. Especially if they actually got to appear in the flesh next time.
While speaking to TheDisInsider, Thomas Haden Church admitted there were initially plans for Flint Marko aka Sandman to have a bigger part to play in No Way Home that would’ve better tied into his Spider-Man 3 storyline. So Church definitely feels there are still places to go with the character:
“John [Watts] and I and Amy [Pascal] and Kevin [Feige], we all had a lot of conversations. And I would say that conversations have been had about the possibility of Sandman coming into an a future iteration of it. The conversation has happened about him coming back, and maybe picking up a more fulfilling story. You know? With Flint and being not just Sandman, but returning to human form.”
Of course, any return for the Sinister Five would have to deal with No Way Home‘s ending, which saw the three Peters “cure” their enemies and send them back to their own universes. So it’s possible Sandman might not even be Sandman anymore, and the option is on the table for a role as the purely human Flint. “That’s been discussed,” was what Church had to say on that eventuality.
Given that the MCU’s current downturn in quality is leading to renewed appreciation for Raimi’s oft-hated threequel, maybe what we need to complete its redemption is for Spider-Man 3‘s villain to star in his own trilogy of movies.