Actually, Spider-Man 4 is shooting this summer

Well, well, well, look who’s press training finally kicked in. Tom Holland has been going around talking about the next Spider-Man movie like it’s not yet a sure thing (“I don’t want to make another movie for the sake of making it”). But it turns out that he was just waiting for the biggest possible platform to give the fans the green light. “Next summer, we start shooting. Everything’s good to go—we’re nearly there,” Holland said during an appearance on The Tonight Show. “Super exciting. I can’t wait!”

In fairness to Holland—a notorious spoiler machine—he wasn’t precisely lying on the rest of his non-alcoholic beer press tour. He previously confirmed he’s interested in doing more Spider-Man (“many more”), but the way he spoke about his struggle to responsibly wield his leverage and take a bigger role in the creative process made it sound like consensus on the film was further out. “It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me,” he shared on The Rich Roll Podcast. “Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room, like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.”

When we last left Holland’s Peter Parker, a spell from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) completely erased Peter from the world’s memory after his secret identity became exposed. Not only did he lose his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), but also his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) (and, presumably, all the Avengers!) completely forgot who he was. As his peers all headed out for college, Peter began a new, anonymous life in New York City. 

It was previously reported that Destin Daniel Cretton would helm the next Spider-Man installment. (Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi, was apparently offered this consolation prize after getting bumped off the next Avengers movies in favor of the Russo Brothers.) Given Holland’s confirmation, we can assume the fourth Sony script accomplished what the actor noted was one of its bigger “challenges,” which is fitting “into that timeline at the right time to benefit the bigger picture” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Meanwhile, on the Disney side, they can’t even figure out how to make Blade work. Sheesh!