Spider-Man 4: Destin Daniel Cretton Is the Perfect Director to Bring a Different Side of Tom Holland to the MCU The Global Tofay

But then his trilogy of solo films slowly brought the MCU Peter back to his comic book roots. By the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, he’d lost Stark and Aunt May, and MJ and Ned had forgotten who he was. As he swung off for the final time, we were left with the sense that this next phase of Spidey’s crimefighting career would see him face many of the more grounded struggles that come with having powers and a secret identity without any actual resources (and, in this case, any of his closest loved ones).

This shift not only gives the MCU the kind of Spider-Man who has existed in the comics for decades, but also gives Holland a chance to play a more complex character who doesn’t have a rich and/or powerful benefactor guiding him through his journey. This would be a welcome shift for the franchise’s star. With the exception of MCU movies and, uh, Uncharted, Holland clearly has an interest in playing more dramatically rich characters and stories, as seen in Cherry, The Devil All the Time, and The Crowded Room. Although these projects have been largely substandard, Holland has been solid in all of them.

Now that Peter has real problems, Holland can bring some of those chops to his signature character, moving him from hero living the charmed life of a billionaire’s mentee to someone who doesn’t know how to balance his great power with his overwhelming responsibilities. This setup also perfectly complements Cretton’s own strengths as a filmmaker.

Destin Daniel Cretton’s Dramatic Potential

Those who mostly watch blockbuster films might only know Cretton as the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, a superhero film tinged with fantasy worlds and kung fu action. But Shang-Chi is an outlier in his filmography. Most of Cretton’s films are very good, very earnest dramas such as Short Term 12 and Just Mercy.

While the shift to Spider-Man is bad news for Shang-Chi fans who hoped for a sequel, Spider-Man 4 certainly seems like a better fit for Cretton’s filmmaking sensibilities than the movie formerly known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which he was at one point set to direct. While Shang-Chi featured some of the best action in the MCU, its most powerful moments were actually the dramatic ones. Cretton had the sense to slow things down in that film to let Tony Leung’s Wenwu discuss the importance of names, moving the Mandarin away from the Yellow Peril caricature from the comics.

Now that Peter has lost so much, there’s again plenty of space for Cretton to use his dramatic skills. Short Term 12, The Glass Castle (both of which star Captain Marvel‘s Brie Larson), and Just Mercy (which stars Black Panther‘s Michael B. Jordan) all feature idealists who struggle for a better world, despite the many disappointments they experience.